Listen Here

| |

Conversation
Highlights

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries, where we explore the forefront of innovation with the trailblazers redefining the tech landscape. Today, we’re thrilled to have Philippe Humeau, CEO and founder of CrowdSec, a cybersecurity startup that’s changing the game with over $21 million in funding

  • Philippe’s Journey into Cybersecurity: From cracking games on Amiga and Atari to becoming a pen tester and finally the CEO of CrowdSec, Philippe’s path is marked by a lifelong passion for security.
  • Reviving and Evolving IDS/IPS: CrowdSec aims to modernize the somewhat forgotten category of intrusion detection and prevention by focusing on behavior-based security and leveraging collective intelligence.
  • The Power of Community in Cybersecurity: By sharing threat data among its users, CrowdSec builds a dynamic global blocklist, showcasing the effectiveness of collaborative security efforts against cyber threats.
  • Navigating Market Categories: Philippe discusses the challenges of defining CrowdSec within the rapidly evolving cybersecurity market categories, emphasizing the need for a solution-oriented approach rather than conforming to trendy labels.
  • Product-Led Growth Strategy: CrowdSec’s open-source model and emphasis on building a vast user network before monetization illustrate a successful product-led growth strategy in cybersecurity.
  • Open Source Challenges and Opportunities: Philippe shares the unique challenges of growing an open-source company in the cybersecurity space, emphasizing the need for community support and sustainable development to ensure long-term success.

Actionable
Takeaways

Embrace Open-Source for Community-Driven Innovation:

Philippe's approach with CrowdSec, leveraging open-source to foster community collaboration, underlines the power of collective intelligence in enhancing cybersecurity defenses.

Understand Cognitive Biases and Decision-Making:

Inspired by "Thinking, Fast and Slow," Philippe emphasizes the importance of recognizing how instinctive and analytical thinking impacts leadership and problem-solving, advocating for a balanced approach in strategic decision-making.

Target Broad Markets with Specific Needs:

Identifying a wide-ranging yet specific target market, such as large corporations in need of reliable threat signals, demonstrates the importance of understanding and addressing the nuanced requirements of different industry verticals.

Adopt a Product-Led Growth Model in Cybersecurity:

CrowdSec's focus on product-led growth, particularly in a field slow to adopt this strategy, underscores the potential for such a model to drive adoption and user engagement, especially when the product directly contributes to its own improvement through user participation.

Prepare for Investor Skepticism with Open Source:

The journey of securing funding for an open-source project like CrowdSec, especially in the cybersecurity space, provides insights into the challenges of convincing investors of the viability and potential profitability of open-source models, emphasizing the importance of demonstrating network effects and the intrinsic value of the data or signals generated.

Recommended Founder
Interviews

Marina Segal

CEO and Co-Founder of Tamnoon

Marina Segal, CEO & Co-Founder of Tamnoon: Over $5 Million Raised to Build the Future of Cloud Security

David Brumley

CEO of ForAllSecure

David Brumley, CEO of ForAllSecure: $38 Million Raised to Build the Future of Security Testing

Austin Ogilvie

Founder of Thoropass

Austin Ogilvie, Founder of Thoropass: $98 Million Raised to Power the Future of Continuous Compliance

Pukar Hamal

CEO and Founder of SecurityPal

Pukar Hamal, CEO and Founder of SecurityPal: $21 Million Raised to Power the Future of Customer Assurance

Michael Assraf

CEO & Co-Founder of Vicarius

Michael Assraf, CEO of Vicarius: $29 Million Raised to Build the Future of Vulnerability Prioritization

Ryan Lasmaili

CEO & Co-Founder of Vaultree

Ryan Lasmaili, CEO of Vaultree: $16 Million Raised to Build the World’s First Fully Functional Data-in-Use Encryption

Spencer Thompson

CEO and Co-Founder of Prelude

Spencer Thompson, CEO and Co-Founder of Prelude: Over $30 Million Raised to Build the Future of Continuous Security Testin

Dave Mor

CEO and Co-Founder of OneLayer

Dave Mor, CEO and Co-Founder of OneLayer: $15 Million Raised to Protect Private Cellular Networks

Arie Zilberstein

CEO and Co-Founder of Gem Security

Arie Zilberstein, CEO and Co-Founder of Gem Security: $34 Million Raised to Power the Future of Cloud Detection and Response

Stephen de Vries

CEO and Co-Founder of IriusRisk

Stephen de Vries, CEO and Co-Founder of IriusRisk: $40 Million Raised to Build the Future of Threat Modeling

Kyle Hanslovan

CEO & Co-Founder of Huntress

Kyle Hanslovan, CEO of Huntress: $160 Million Raised to Build the Future of Managed Security

Arjun Bhatnagar

CEO & Co-Founder of Cloaked

Arjun Bhatnagar, CEO of Cloaked: $25 Million Raised to Build the Future of Data Privacy

Paul Lewis

Founder and CEO of Calamu

Paul Lewis, CEO of Calamu: $20 Million Raised to Build the Cyber Storage Category

Jag Lamba

Founder and CEO of Certa

Jag Lamba, Founder and CEO of Certa: $52 Million Raised to Build the Future of Third-Party Management

Scott McCrady

CEO of SolCyber

Scott McCrady, CEO of SolCyber: $20 Million Raised to Build the Future of Managed Security

Tiffany Ricks

CEO and Founder of HacWare

Tiffany Ricks, CEO and Founder of HacWare: $2.6 Million Raised to Build the Future of Security Awareness

Peter Prizio Jr

CEO of SnapAttack

Peter Prizio Jr, CEO of SnapAttack: $8 Million Raised to Power the Future of Threat Management

Mollie Breen

CEO and Co-Founder of Perygee

Mollie Breen, CEO and Co-Founder of Perygee: $6.4 Million Raised to Build the Future of IT/OT Security

Paul Valente

CEO and Co-Founder of VISO Trust

Paul Valente, CEO and Co-Founder of VISO Trust: $17 Million Raised to Build the Future of Third-Party Cyber Risk Management

Jason Martin

Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Permiso Security

Jason Martin, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Permiso Security: $10 Million Raised to Build the Future of Cloud Security

David Etue

CEO of Nisos

David Etue, CEO of Nisos: $33 Million Raised to Build the Future of Managed Intelligence

Sivan Tehila

Founder and CEO of Onyxia

Sivan Tehila, Founder and CEO of Onyxia: $5 Million Raised to Build the Future of Cybersecurity Performance Management

Justin Beals

CEO, Co-Founder of Strike Graph

Justin Beals, CEO of Strike Graph: $12 Million Raised to Build the Future of Automated Security and Compliance

Christian Almenar

CEO & Co-Founder of Monad

Christian Almenar, CEO of Monad: $19 Million Raised to Solve the Cybersecurity Big Data Problem

Tom Jermoluk

CEO of Beyond Identity

Tom “TJ” Jermoluk, CEO of Beyond Identity: $200 Million Raised to Build the Future of Multi-Factor Authentication

Josh Shaul

CEO of Allure Security

Josh Shaul, CEO of Allure Security: $6 Million Raised to Help Businesses Win the Battle Against Online Scammers

John Milburn

CEO of Clear Skye

John Milburn, CEO of Clear Skye: More Than $20 Million Raised to Build the Future of Identity and Access Governance

Ryan Schonfeld

Founder & CEO of Hivewatch

Ryan Schonfeld, CEO of Hivewatch: $25 Million Raised to Build the OS of Physical Security

Stijn Vande Casteele

Founder of Sweepatic

Stijn Vande Casteele, Founder of Sweepatic: $4.4 Million Raised to Build the Future of External Attack Surface Management

Danny Lopez

CEO of Glasswall

Danny Lopez CEO of Glasswall: $60+ Million Raised to Make the Content Disarm and Reconstruction (CDR) Category Mainstream