We are in unprecedented situation and privacy is no longer a fundamental right.
Our global communication structure is broken, and as we can see every day, every piece of information is now unsafe.
Our very own Alain Obadia, founder of Quantum Trilogy (S20), gives his take on the future of encryption and how we can prepare.
MACH37 works hard to support founder wellbeing. This week our cohort has been reflecting a lot about social wellbeing. In light of current events, we’d like to encourage everyone in our network to do so as well.
Social wellbeing is as much about taking care of others' wellbeing as it is about caring for your own. As humans our wellbeing often rises and falls together. When someone you care for is hurting, you hurt too. What do we need when we're hurting, struggling or beaten down? Support. Compassion. Outreach.
We are proud to announce the start of MACH37's Spring 2020 Cohort, featuring several companies from across the US and around the world addressing some of the biggest challenges in the cybersecurity industry with their innovative solutions. Over the next few months, our teams will work with mentors, attend workshops, and validate their solutions to take their companies to the next level. This experience will provide our teams with the valuable insights and connections needed to tackle the cyber challenges the world faces today and GET LAUNCHED!
Michael Shinn: The security industry was being challenged by the widespread migration to the cloud and cloud-based technologies. To me, it seemed like a classic second mover opportunity caused by a fairly disruptive change to the market. A lot of the existing cybersecurity solutions either couldn’t be used in these cloud environments -- appliances for example -- or they didn’t provide the right value to the customer. The products weren’t designed for that world. They were being bolted on and the customers weren’t happy. We saw this as an opportunity to apply some unique technology and solve the cybersecurity problems in a cloud-friendly way.
Shinn: The value that customers have shared with us is a dramatic reduction in operating cost. We have been told 80% and the number has been shared with us repeatedly. That 80% is based on the fact that there are fewer security incidents they must address after installing Atomicorp. That seems like the obvious place to look for benefits for a security solution. The non-obvious benefit is the reduced dev ops costs because they don’t have to patch their systems so frequently. That has enabled dev ops to do their work without having to go through a lot of security gates.
Shinn: For the traditional players what seems to be happening is this move to the cloud doesn’t work with their current business models. That is a substantial problem. When I talk with my peers at these companies, they are frustrated that their attempts to build cloud-based solutions have not gone well within their organizations in terms of culture, sales model, accounting and product. Cloud platforms are extremely heterogeneous. Solutions are sold by the hour. It’s not a traditional IT environment where you control the network and all of the components. The attack surface is completely different and more dynamic in a cloud environment than an on-prem environment. The problems are different. The solutions need to be different. 
It’s a more challenging environment for traditional cybersecurity companies to build products and more challenging to operate their business because they need to reinvent how they operate. Something as simple as how do you account for revenue in this new model when you are accustomed to selling enterprise licenses is an issue.For the customers, the problem is exasperated by the fact that a lot of the security products are built for security experts which doesn’t help their dev ops teams. That is not what they are looking for. They need products that are easy for non-experts to use.
Shinn: Atomicorp products are built for cloud environments from the ground up and they are designed to be easy to use.
Shinn: Scott and I founded Plesk in 1999 which invented a lot of the technologies that cloud providers rely on today. So we have an intimate knowledge of the technologies that make cloud possible. After we sold that company, we put a lot of thought into what we were going to do next. The idea for this company came from what we learned building those products and serving those customers. The Atomicorp product was built from experience and designed specifically for cloud providers.
Shinn: Customer acquisition and product enhancements. Priority one through five is introducing more customers to Atomicorp. We have a proven product and a lot of customers, but we are looking to introduce Atomicorp to more.
Shinn:
Shinn: The robustness of the educational program was tremendous. That education would cost a lot of money. It is unlikely that a startup could afford it. The Mach37 program is like a compressed MBA and it is tailored to you needs. It is not abstract learning. It is deliverable based. You need to develop your messaging. You have to put together a budget, recruit people and build a real business. Doing that while you are in the program is priceless. I’m not sure there is an MBA on earth that does that.Secondarily, I would point out the relationships. Mach37 has done a wonderful job introducing us to good hires, advisors, investors, and service providers. It’s a very good network. Finally, it’s a very supportive environment. Building a business is hard work. They are good coaches.Learn more about Atomicorp here.
Earlier this month, we announced the acquisition of Cyber Algorithms by Thycotic. Given this is the first exit from the Mach37 portfolio, I wanted to take a few minutes to reflect on its significance to us and our investment strategy.Mach37’s investment in Cyber Algorithms is a perfect example of our unapologetic bias toward investing in technical founders who embody world-class cybersecurity talent. As I articulated in my July 30, 2014 blog, Why Mach37 Loves the Hacker Community,
“the dirty little secret in start-updom is that while it can take years of technical and analytical experience to inspire truly disruptive security innovation, technical founders can buy, borrow, partner with or be taught the second set of target skills within a few months.”
When we first met Tim Brennan, we knew immediately he had that world-class talent. Together, Tim and his co-founder Josiah Smith could deliver their advanced capabilities to address a large-scale problem.Tim and Josiah did an incredible job of conceiving, developing, and validating a security analytic product from concept through acquisition. And, for them, getting it done didn’t mean they needed millions in investment capital and a large team of executives. Rather, they diligently embedded an advanced capability into a software product and engaged their target market to demonstrate product-market fit. By executing basic blocking and tackling, good things came to them – very quickly.Thycotic is one of the most promising and rapidly growing strategic acquirors of cybersecurity capabilities in our region and we are excited that Cyber Algorithms has become part of their team. Congratulations Tim and Josiah.