Andrea P.

Strategic Brand Designer | Fashion Brand Owner + Creative Director | Podcaster

I spend my days as the brand designer at a startup where I conceptualize ideas and create designs that push the brand forward.

After hours:

🍏 I'm building Andrea Pascual (my fashion brand), where I focus on limited-quantity, superb quality accessories and leather goods

🍏 I'm creator and host of my podcast, Sushi Fridays, where I share stories about style, culture, biz, and design from the POV of creative entrepreneurs

🍏 I work with community-first brands to design their strategic visual identities

Send me a message to get in touch.

Founder & Strategic Brand Designer

Say “Cool Eye” out loud and it sounds like “Kulay” — the Filipino word for “colour.”  Our studio is named Cool Eye because we dream in colour, we design in colour, and we work with diverse entrepreneurs.

Notable clients:
☀️ Bank of Montreal for Elevate Festival
☀️ M&A Ventures Group
☀️ Untapped Investing
☀️ New Money Social Club
☀️ Resume By Nico

Tools:
📱 Illustrator
📱 Photoshop
📱 InDesign
📱 Lightroom
📱 Figma
📱 ConvertKit
📱 Notion
📱 Procreate
📱 Squarespace
📱 Instagram
📱 TikTok
📱 LinkedIn

Calling all design peeps in my network!
I can refer you to the hiring manager for these roles:

⭐ UX Researcher
📍 Toronto, Canada - Hybrid
💵 $140K - $160K

⭐ Sr. Product Designer
📍 Toronto, Canada - Hybrid
💵 $180K - $200K

If you think you could be a fit, DM me and I will share the deets.

I know about these roles because I'm part of the Twill network, where we help our friends/network/community get fast-tracked to their next role. There are also a ton of other roles in Engineering, and some in Sales and Growth. Let me know if you want me to share. 🙂

Andrea Pascual

Brand Designer, Cool Eye ⭐️ Owner & Creative Director, Andrea Pascual Fashion Brand ⭐️ Creator & Host, Sushi Fridays The Podcast

Lester Chng

Cyber CEOs Brand Strategist. I build your brand as you build your business. | Senior Cybersecurity Advisor | Author | Naval Officer | CISSP | 🇨🇦🇸🇬 |

You head a leading cybersecurity firm.
But your online presence doesn't reflect it.

In fact, being invisible is damaging. 

You understand the power of thought leadership.
You know LinkedIn shapes deal flow and adds credibility in the industry.
You just don’t have the cycles (or the copy) to share your expertise and experience.

You have stories worth telling.

The insights from being in the trenches.
The deep conversations with your ace teams.
The hard discussions with your clients. 

Don’t let this wisdom go to waste.

That’s where I come in.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How we work together.

Profile & Positioning
=> Rebuild your LinkedIn profile so visitors see industry authority, not “another vendor.”

Content engine
=> Ghostwritten posts that leverage your insights and expertise into engaging LinkedIn posts. 

Outreach campaign
=> Targeted DM campaigns and audience-building strategies that build your authority and land you on podcasts and conference stages.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You focus on growing your firm and protecting your clients.
And we will ensure the industry, clients, prospects, and investors can’t ignore it.

Let’s build the personal brand that commands the cybersecurity conversation and drives business.


Worked with global client portfolio 
- MSPs
- MSSPs
- Agentic AI SOC
- AI-powered GRC 
- Operational Resilience 

Senior Advisor, Financial Crimes Unit Exercises. BMO Fusion Centre

Execution of Financial Crimes Unit Exercise and Drill Program
• Design and execution of exercises and drills to operationalize the Financial Crimes Unit Fusion Centre
• Scenario creation and exercise execution for Information Security, Enterprise Fraud Management, Physical Security, and Global Crisis and Continuity Management teams 
• Providing effective challenge of incident response readiness through exercise observation
• Execution of enterprise-wide Purple Team Exercise


Cybersecurity Exercises: Purple Team, Ransomware, DDoS, Malware, Data Corruption, Data Breach, 3rd Party Incidents
Fraud Exercises: ATOs, Attack on Payment systems, Business Email Compromise, PII Breach
Physical Security Exercise: Active Assailant, Civil Unrest, Bomb Threats
Crisis Exercises: Disaster Recovery, Business Continuity, Operational Resilience, Fire Incidents, Natural Disasters, Utilities Disruption

15 Feb 1942 - The day Singapore surrendered to Japan.
This day was chosen as a solemn commemoration.
"Never Again".

It wasn't until 1984, that the Total Defence concept was launched. The government saw the necessity for a whole-of-society approach that went beyond just the military.

• Civil Defence
• Social Defence
• Military Defence
• Economic Defence
• Psychological Defence

Digital Defence was added as the 6th Pillar, 35 years later in 2019. 

• fake news
• cyberattacks
• disinformation campaigns

There was a need to tackle these new challenges.

Additionally, a fourth Service of the SAF, the Digital and Intelligence Service (DIS), was stood up to underline the importance of this domain.

Would I have crossed over if I were still in active service...

Here are things I avoid on LinkedIn. 

But some of you dive head in. 

- rants
- politics
- religion
- complaints 
- sensitive info
- overly personal info
- every trending or news event 

What else do you see others posting about that should be avoided?

undefined undefined

bootcamp

Sign up here:
https://catalystcorporatetraining.classe365.com/form/view/AutoBootCamp?_gl=1*9rfqtg*_ga*MTQ4NTczNDM0MC4xNjk4MjQxODM1*_ga_YYXBQS6S5Q*MTcwNzgzMzEyNi4xODEuMS4xNzA3ODMzMTYwLjI2LjAuMA

LinkedIn

You know Canada is on the up when Dad sends you a TikTok (no i dont have an account) about the upcoming increase in defence spending.

What about Canada do you appreciate?

I like the cold...... what about you?

Anyone can design and run a tabletop ex 
  
→ Research a few cyber attacks  
→ Create injects and deck  
→ Add in facilitation qns 
  
All the information is available online. 
Most govt bodies even have templates. 
We can even use AI to generate the deck. 
  
Sure.  
Then why aren't you doing it yourself? 
  
→ Most internal teams have bias 
→ Lots of preparation go into design 
→ A third party executing it has its merits 
  
Still unconvinced? 
Want to do it on your own? 
 
Here are a bunch of references for your: 
 
The Essential Cyber Exercise Playbook 
- lnkd.in/gBS3G8P3 
 
CISA Tabletop Exercise Packages 
- lnkd.in/gnsa5cxJ 
 
NIST SP 800-84 
- lnkd.in/gcY_rNeJ 
 
FEMA HSEEP 
- lnkd.in/gEW4bad8 
 
UK NCSC 
-lnkd.in/gFk_85ig 
 
FFIEC IT Exam Handbook 
- lnkd.in/gKH5-5eV 
 
OSFI I-CRT Framework 
- lnkd.in/ghtfXTv6. 
  
Too much work and need someone to run a cybersecurity exercise for you? 
 
You know where to find me. 
 
My colleagues and I at Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, Toronto Metropolitan University have been doing this for years.

Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, Toronto Metropolitan University

Building a cyber company is not for everyone.

Do you even have the commitment to do so?

I interviewed Eldon Sprickerhoff to get his insights for the next generation of founders. He is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence and a mentor at Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, Toronto Metropolitan University. 


𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿. 𝗦𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 “𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗱”

𝘘: 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴?


I kept seeing the same patterns: some passionate and brilliant technical founders hitting predictable walls - raising capital without understanding dilution consequences, scaling teams without proper foundations, pursuing growth without sustainable unit economics, or worse: flailing in the market with a product/offering that didn’t have an obvious value or importance.

What frustrated me was that these weren't unsolvable problems. They were challenges we had faced and eventually figured out, often painfully. I realized this knowledge could help others avoid the same expensive mistakes.

The recurring theme was the gap between technical excellence and business fundamentals. Founders could build incredible technology but struggled with identifying their true “ideal client profile”, minimally viable offering, go-to-market strategy, fundraising dynamics, or organizational design. "Committed" became my way of sharing survival strategies that weren't readily available elsewhere.


𝘘: 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴?

Right now, I'm focused on helping the next generation of cybersecurity founders build enduring companies. Through my consulting and advisory roles, I'm seeing exceptional technical talent that needs guidance on the business side.

The masterclass is a way to scale that impact. I can only mentor a handful of founders directly, but the principles I learned building eSentire are broadly applicable. I want to help founders avoid the mistakes that nearly killed our company early on and accelerate their path to product-market fit and sustainable growth.

What excites me most is seeing founders take these lessons and apply them in ways I never imagined - solving problems that didn't exist when we started eSentire. The cybersecurity landscape keeps evolving, and I want to help the best founders navigate it successfully.


If you enjoyed this interview series, please follow Eldon and get his book at https://lnkd.in/gS2HNAnY


P.S. Have you read Committed? 
Get it already.

Having a brilliant idea is exciting.

But how you overcome uncertainty with conviction is key.

I interviewed Eldon Sprickerhoff to get his insights for the next generation of founders. Eldon is an active entrepreneur, investor, mentor, author, advisory and board member at the intersections of information security, computer science, machine learning, SaaS, and finance. He is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence and a mentor at Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, Toronto Metropolitan University. 

He is best known for founding eSentire, a leading global cybersecurity Managed Detection and Response company.

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗲𝗦𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱

𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 ‘𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢’ 𝘵𝘰 ‘𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺’?

I suppose that the most uncertain part was whether organizations would actually pay for continuous security monitoring as a service. In 2001, companies were used to buying products or hiring consultants for projects - not ongoing security operations.

What gave me conviction was simple: I knew from my time in New York that security threats didn't take breaks, but most companies couldn't afford 24/7 security teams, even if they knew that the threats existed. The gap between the threat reality and what organizations could resource internally was massive and growing. That disconnect was the opportunity.


If you enjoyed this interview series, please follow Eldon and get his book at https://lnkd.in/gS2HNAnY

He aims to be the Rick Rubin of Canadian cybersecurity startups: helping the right teams sharpen their edge, amplify their strengths, and scale faster.

P.S. What is the current opportunity in Cyber?

Scaling Cybersecurity Companies: Strategic Advisor & Growth Architect

eSentire

Your LinkedIn profile is a huge gold mine.

Especially cybersecurity founders.

If you are relying on company pages.

If you are relying on marketing campaigns.

If you are relying on conference leads.

Or worst, if you are relying on cold emails.

P.S have you asked CISOs what they think about cold emails and incessant phone calls from your SDRs?

Dear LinkedIn,
Here is what it is like using the app. 

Suggested

Suggested

Suggested

Sponsored

Suggested

Sponsored 

Suggested

Sponsored


What’s up with this feed?

Did you even consider the experience?

Pls bring my connections’ posts. 

Sincerely,
Everyone.

Canada is in the top ten healthcare spenders in the world.
Leaders are drooling over potential AI efficiencies.
McKinsey & Company estimates CAD$14 - 26B net savings.

But it's not a straight golden ticket.

Here are 3 problems for small-med health organizations.

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝟭:
Unmanaged health data breach risk undermines trust, compliance, and growth.

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝟮:
Limited ability to adopt AI and advanced technologies securely and ethically.

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝟯:
Resource-constrained resilience posture: small teams are under-prepared for cyber incidents and resulting in operational disruption.


This is a problem for the entire ecosystem.
It is not going to be solved overnight.
But we can take steps in the right direction.

Join us for an expert panel discussion on 𝗙𝗲𝗯 𝟭𝟭, 𝟭𝟬𝟯𝟬𝗮𝗺.

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗜: 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝘆𝗯𝗲𝗿-𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝗠𝗘𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗢𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗼

Patricia Thaine - Co-founder, Private AI
Gila Pyke - VP Enterprise Risk, WELL Health Technologies Corp. (TSX: WELL) 
Loreen Wales - Founder & CEO, My Viva Inc.
Anne Genge - CEO, Myla Training | AI Privacy for Healthcare 

This webinar will explore the intersection of cybersecurity, privacy, and AI. The expert panel will cover topics such as specific challenges for health-data custodians, privacy and regulatory context and AI adoption risks and opportunities.



𝟲 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗽 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀

This will be followed by a hands-on and interactive bootcamp co-developed and co-led by health privacy expert Patrick Lo, CISSP, CIPP/C and myself.

Offered virtually for 2 hours/week for 6 weeks, this bootcamp launches on Feb 17 and Mar 31 - but don't wait, we've already had to close the first cohort and added new dates.

Learn more and register: https://lnkd.in/ghdVa4XE

Offered in partnership by Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, Toronto Metropolitan University and Canadian Cyber Threat Exchange (CCTX) , with funding from the Ontario Government | Gouvernement de l’Ontario.

McKinsey & Company

Co-Founder and Chairwoman @ Private AI | Building the Privacy Layer for Data | Host of The Data Frontier Podcast | World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer 2023 | Maclean’s magazine Power List 2024 🇨🇦

Private AI

Passionate about risk management, privacy, cybersecurity and healthcare interoperability compliance. Harmonized technology is how we let clinicians and technologists focus on their dayjob of improving patient outcomes.

WELL Health Technologies Corp. (TSX: WELL)

Founder & CEO at My Viva Inc.

My Viva Inc.

Use AI Without Blowing up Privacy, Compliance, or Common Sense. — Practical Training for Scams, Hackers & AI Risks* Professional Speaker* Risk Management Professional• AI Privacy & Security Training Healthcare + SME

Myla Training | AI Privacy for Healthcare

CEO, Privacy Horizon Inc.

Canadian Cyber Threat Exchange (CCTX)

Ontario Government | Gouvernement de l’Ontario

When I first moved to Canada, I remember reading about their Navy and Air Force capabilities (don’t ask me why I didn’t bother abt the Army). 

12 Halifax frigates. Ageing, 1990s
4 Victoria subs. Second hand. 
6 OPVs. Still coming online. 
12 Patrol crafts. 

F18s - started from 1982….


And to defend coast to coast….
to the True North

Was an impossible task. 

This Defence budget and Strategy is long overdue and may be the silver lining in this rocky new world. 

We are all pulling in the same direction. 

Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, Toronto Metropolitan University will offer every company in every Catalyst program strategic insights to help them explore and pursue opportunities in Canada’s growing defence sector.

Stay connected and pull together.

Every company begins by solving a problem.

Do you have clarity of exactly what that is?

I interviewed Eldon Sprickerhoff to get his insights for the next generation of founders. Eldon is an active entrepreneur, investor, mentor, author, advisory and board member at the intersections of information security, computer science, machine learning, SaaS, and finance. He is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence and a mentor at Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, Toronto Metropolitan University. 

He is best known for founding eSentire, a leading global cybersecurity Managed Detection and Response company.

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗲𝗦𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘚𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥?

Before starting eSentire, I was providing information security consulting at a prime broker in New York, supporting both the brokerage itself and the hedge funds they hosted. I was building out defensive processes and systems to protect their Internet-connected infrastructure from increasingly sophisticated threats.

What I kept noticing was the gap between what organizations needed and what they could actually sustain. Security didn't operate on business hours - threats were 24/7 - but very few organizations could afford dedicated security operations teams. Even well-funded financial institutions struggled to staff and maintain continuous monitoring. Smaller firms had no chance.

I also saw that traditional consulting wasn't solving the core problem. Companies would hire us for projects, we'd implement solutions, then leave. But security isn't a project - it's an ongoing operational challenge. The defensive systems I built needed constant attention, tuning, and response capabilities.

This experience became the foundation for eSentire. I realized that if sophisticated financial firms couldn't solve this problem internally, there had to be a better model - one where security expertise and continuous operations could be delivered as a service rather than a one-time project or expensive internal build-out. That insight, combined with the operational knowledge I gained in New York, gave me the platform to build something fundamentally different.


If you enjoyed this interview series, please follow Eldon and get his book at https://lnkd.in/gS2HNAnY

He aims to be the Rick Rubin of Canadian cybersecurity startups: helping the right teams sharpen their edge, amplify their strengths, and scale faster.

P.S. What other qns would you ask him?

Basic TTX design: Start w scenario. 
Advanced TTX: Start w objectives. 
Expert TTX: Start w decision points. 

Simple trick. 
Work in this order. 

Start with decision points. 
Build up the objectives. 
Fit the scenario in. 

This makes the exercise effective. 

Sounds simple. 
Until you try it out. 

What have you seen teams start with when designing exercises?

If you’re a cybersecurity CEO going to RSAC 2026, this will either save you… or cost you.

Most teams treat RSAC like a 4-day sprint.

But the CEOs who win RSAC treat it like a 6-week runway:

• build familiarity in the feed
• earn trust with proof and POV
• then make the meeting ask easy
  
If you skip the runway, you’ll feel it:

• you’ll be “just another booth”
• you’ll get lots of “send me info”
• your SDRs will grind cold outreach at peak noise

So I built a free package for cyber CEOs:

RSAC 2026: 6-Week LinkedIn Content Package

Mon: Authority
Wed: Trust
Fri: Leads (value-driven CTA to meet at RSAC)

Inside:

• 18 complete posts (ready to copy/paste)
• multiple post formats (checklists, lessons, mistakes)
• CTAs tied to real buyer pain and outcomes

Designed for a mid-size cybersecurity company CEO.

Want it?

Comment PACKAGE and I’ll DM it to you.

(Tag someone who you know will benefit from this.)

Most cyber CEOs ask:

What shld I write about on LinkedIn?

Here’s a simple filter I give clients 

Write about this:
- Reason for product pivots
- Questions boards asks
- Insights from clients 
- Investor concerns 
- Tough decisions

Avoid writing this:

- Repost cyber news
- Random infographics 
- Vague “AI is risky” takes
- Generic breach commentary

If another cyber CEO could copy-paste your post and it still works, it’s probably not helping your positioning.

The best way to avoid mistakes is to learn from others who have trodden a similar path. 

I interviewed Eldon Sprickerhoff to get his insights for the next generation of founders. He is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence and a mentor at Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, Toronto Metropolitan University. 

He is best known for founding eSentire, a leading global cybersecurity Managed Detection and Response company.

𝗘𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝗦𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲

𝘘: 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮?

Three lessons stand out:

First, product-market fit isn't a one-time achievement - it's continuous. What worked for early customers often needed to evolve as we scaled. This came from painful experience watching our initial approach struggle as we tried to expand.

Second, in security, trust is everything but takes years to build. This lesson came from losing deals early on simply because we were unknown, regardless of our technical capabilities. We had to earn credibility one customer at a time.

Third, technical founders need to learn business fundamentals or find partners who have them. We learned this through trial and error - understanding unit economics, founder-led sales processes, and operational scaling didn't come naturally but became critical to our survival.


𝘘: 𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘱𝘪𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺’𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴?

A few moments were definitive:

The decision to focus on MDR as its own category rather than trying to be a general security consultancy. This came from recognizing we needed to own a specific problem rather than compete in a commoditized services market.

Choosing to build certain technology components rather than resell others' tools - and this changed throughout the life of the company. This was risky and capital-intensive, but it became our moat. We decided based on the belief that you can't deliver differentiated outcomes with commoditized tools; we made the choice to build on well-established frameworks (enterprise-level plumbing) and then build our own solutions on top.


The choice to pursue enterprise clients over SMB at a certain stage. This shift required completely rethinking our go-to-market, but the economics and retention made it necessary. We made this call when customer acquisition costs versus lifetime value forced us to evolve.


P.S. Are you capturing these moments in your journey?

It’s 2026 and it’s still a VUCA world. 

Volatilite
Uncertain
Complex
Ambiguous 

No wonder there is a continued demand for crisis mgmt professionals. 

VUCA was introduced in 90s to describe the post Cold War period. 
Still as relevant today. 


In fact, things may escalate. 

BANI is added to the frame with pandemics, AI, and whatever’s next. 

Brittle
Anxious
Nonlinear 
Incomprehensible


Stay safe out there. 

P.S Just saw the missile attack on the base in Bahrain where I was stationed back in the day.

I have been writing here for 3.5 years. 

These 3 events forced me to start. 

Perhaps you are on the fence and thinking about whether you should start making your thoughts public. 

Over-analysing the risk v reward. 

I know. I was once in your shoes. 

Perhaps you have been through these events that changed my mind and got me started writing on LinkedIn. 

1. “Wasted” work

I remember preparing a presentation. Missed dinners and worked over weekends. In the end, I sent it to my boss who took a 5 min look, deleted 50% and sent it upwards. 

His boss takes a 3 min look and says “cut it down to 2 slides”.

Those hours of work, thought process, analysis, critical thinking 

All gone to “waste”. 

I wanted to articulate my efforts. 

2. Muted Network

I asked myself, within my org,
how many people knew me. 

And how many fewer knew about the quality of work that I produce. 

I was in a role that needed to interact with many other departments. 

Yet. I counted. 
Maybe 40 ppl knew me. 
And maybe 7 knew my work. 

That needed to change. 
So I took matters into my own hands and started writing and sharing. 

3. Watched others flourish

I started reading what others wrote. 
No the mindless scrolling that u do. 

But reading and diving into posts. 

Soon I realized that I do have valuable things and experiences to share. 


If you are reading this, you probably have similar experiences. 

Start writing. 

P.S what encouraged you to start writing here on LinkedIn ?

P.S.S whose ready for summer?

CEOs are holding back their team if they have no presence on LinkedIn. 

You need to take the lead. 

When your team sees you being active, it gives them the encouragement to grow their own presence and inevitably draw attention to your organization. 

But if you barely bother, they will hesitate and may even be worried. 

What does being active bring?

- more warm leads, less cold spam 
- awareness for the company
- increased partnership opps
- better organic marketing 
- advocacy for yr team

What’s holding CEOs back?

A Mag 7 acquires your Cyber company for Billions.

No wonder everyone is now a cyber founder... BUT

I interviewed Eldon Sprickerhoff to get his insights for the next generation of founders. He is best known for founding eSentire, a leading global cybersecurity Managed Detection and Response company.

𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆’𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀

𝘘: 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘤𝘺𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘴?


The biggest difference is that the market now better understands the category. When we started, we had to explain why continuous monitoring mattered, let alone explaining what we meant by “Embedded Incident Response” or “Collaborative Threat Management” (two early terms we used to describe what benefit we were bringing to the market).

Today, MDR is established - founders don't need to educate the market on the concept, but they face different challenges.

The bar for differentiation is much higher. Buyers are more sophisticated and have many options. You can't win just by being "better" - you need to solve a problem fundamentally differently or serve an underserved segment.

Capital availability has changed dramatically. In the early 2000s, cybersecurity funding was extremely scarce. Today, capital is somewhat more abundant (especially when addressing the market from the perspective of AI), which means you can scale faster but also face better-funded competition earlier. The pressure to grow quickly can actually hurt companies that haven't found true product-market fit.


𝘘: 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘺𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘦-𝘶𝘱𝘴, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩?

I look for a few signals:

Do they have deep conviction about a specific problem, or are they chasing a market opportunity? The best founders I meet can articulate exactly why their solution needs to exist based on real experience, not market sizing slides.

Are their customers renewing and expanding? Revenue growth matters, but retention and expansion tell you if you're actually solving the problem. Churn hides in early-stage metrics.

Can the founder articulate their unit economics clearly? If they can't explain their CAC, LTV, and path to profitability, they're likely building on quicksand regardless of how impressive the top-line growth looks.

Finally, are they learning and adapting? The founders who succeed aren't the ones who execute their original plan perfectly - they're the ones who recognize when something isn't working and adjust intelligently. This has been coined as a new flavour of MVP: Minimally eVolveable Product.



If you enjoyed this interview series, please follow Eldon and get his book at https://lnkd.in/gS2HNAnY

Here are all the teams to invite to a 5-part ransomware tabletop exercise. 
 
1st TTX - Alert and Triage 
Objective - Incident Mgmt 
Teams: 
- SOC 
- IT Ops 
 
2nd TTX - Initial Investigation 
Objective - Incident Response 
Teams: 
- SOC 
- IT Ops 
- App Sec 
- Infrastructure 
- Network security 
 
3rd TTX - Cyber Incident 
Objective - Crisis Response 
Teams: 
- SOC 
- IT Ops 
- Comms 
- Business 
- BCP & DR 
- Risk Mgmt 
- Crisis Mgmt 
- In-house legal 
 
4th TTX - Executive TTX 
Objective - Decision Making 
Team: 
- C-suite 
- PR firm 
- Legal counsel 
 
5th TTX - Business Recovery TTX 
Objective - Impact and reputation mgmt 
Team: 
- C-suite 
- PR firm 
- Legal counsel 
 
P.S what would you edit in this series?

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