Day One®

In our latest podcast episode we chat with Andre Pinkowski about his career to date, his experience as a founder and invaluable tips for scaling startups.

As a consultant, Laura Bell-Main earned a reputation for being “the Mary Poppins of security”, swooping in to fix problems with her big bag of tricks. More recently, she made the leap from consulting into founding a product company, securing funding from VC firm Blackbird with the aim of building SafeStack into an online training platform that can help orgs of all sizes design secure software.

In this episode, Laura chats with Cole Cornford about the challenges of becoming a startup founder, the current state of AppSec training & education, Laura’s vision for SafeStack’s legacy, and plenty more.

Secured by Galah Cyber with Cole Cornford website

4:19 - Laura’s career background.

7:45 - no clear pathway into a career in AppSec.

8:40 - Cole’s experience at a career expo @ Newcastle uni.

12:00 - Large and small companies AppSec needs are different.

14:00 - A large company like Facebook is very different from the average company.

16:40 - Security has a tendency to get lax for software not being actively developed.

18:10 - Laura: the theme of this conversation “you will fail and this will make you stronger”.

19:00 - Why Laura is in AppSec.

20:00 - Laura speaks about being a salesperson + having a product company.

21:20 - Cole: I anticipate AppSec will grow Laura: software rules the world.

25:10 - SafeStack: for profit with purpose, balancing purpose and profit.

27:50 - Laura: discussing Blackbird’s investment in SafeStack.

29:40 - Laura’s background as a consultant.

30:20 - Laura: customers called me “Mary Poppins of AppSec”.

32:50 - Laura’s transition from consulting to founding a product company.

34:20 - Laura: on building a company, I sometimes joke “I used to be in security”.

37:40 - The leap from idea to product.

38:30 - Laura’s vision for SafeStack’s legacy.

40:10 - SafeStack’s “one hour AppSec”.

Mentioned in this episode:

Call for Feedback

Ken Johnson is co-founder of Dryrun Security and co-host of the Apsolute AppSec podcast. Ken has many years experience working in AppSec in a variety of roles, including CTO of nVisium and Application Security Engineer at GitHub. Ken chats with Cole Cornford about taking an agnostic approach to AppSec, transitioning from being an employee to a founder, how AI might change cybersecurity, and plenty more.

Secured by Galah Cyber with Cole Cornford website

• 9:10 - When Ken started running AppSec conferences.
• 12:00 - Ken: an “agnostic approach” to appsec really resonated with people.
• 14:30 - Ken: “by nature we are always behind the curve”.
• 15:40 - Ken: appsec is getting much harder.
• 17:00 - Cole also advocates for an agnostic approach to appsec.
• 18:50 - Ken’s favourite thing about Github: the culture.
• 20:30 - discussing Github.
• 25:00 - Appsec education.
• 26:30 - quality software is secure software.
• 27:30 - AI & Appsec.
• 33:50 - Brief overview of Ken’s professional life, transition to being a founder.
• 36:30 - Cole: people who plan to build a product alongside consulting.
• 38:20 - Cole’s experience starting a consulting business.
• 39:40 - Ken’s interests outside AppSec.
• 40:40 - How Ken got into brazilian ju jitsu.
• 44:10 - Cole’s pandemic experience.

Mentioned in this episode:

Call for Feedback

In this episode of the NewyTechPeople Podcast’s Digitally Diverse Series, Ellen Bennett has an insightful chat with Ash Ivory, Head of Product at Askable. Ash shares how they amplify the collaborative culture at Askable, gives a peek into the projects their team have been working on, the key learnings they have acquired over their career, and the innovative ways they weave AI into their day-to-day workflow.

In the latest episode of Secured, Cole Cornford chats with Iain Dickson, Full Spectrum Cyber Practice Lead at Leidos Australia, a technology company working across defence, aviation and national security. Iain is also the co-founder of ComfyCon, an online cyber security conference which was started in response to the many event cancellations caused by the 2020 covid lockdowns. 

Iain chats with Cole Cornford about taking a risk-based vs a compliance based-approach to cybersecurity, why punishing a company for their security breaches can sometimes be a bad idea in the long run, the importance of communication skills, and plenty more.

Secured by Galah Cyber with Cole Cornford website

4:30 - Iain: my entire career is finding issues in things.

7:15 - Are security professionals naturally risk averse?

8:00 - Compliance vs risk approach to cybersecurity.

9:00 - Cole: I try to understand the business before talking security.

9:15 - Iain: discussing optus breach & risk vs compliance.

11:00 - Should we persecute companies for having security incidents?

11:15 - The tenant of “zero trust.”

12:00 - Cole: as soon as you start being punitive, no one will want to work with you.

16:15 - Cole: a business is there to achieve an outcome.

16:50 - Cole: a lot of security challenges are user experience challenges.

18:15 - Cole: passwords solved the wrong problem (spicy take).

20:00 - Iain’s spicy takes.

21:40 - Companies claiming to help people meet “essential 8 compliance.”

25:35 - Essential 8 note very relevant to appsec.

28:35 - Iain’s background.

30:00 - Iain: I have a rule with vendors I work with: no selling.

31:30 - Cole: no Australian likes to be sold to.

33:30 - Cybersecurity in the OT space.

36:00 - Challenges in OT that don’t exist in other sectors.

38:45 - Difference when working on tangible vs non tangible software/hardware.

40:15 - Difference between software engineers & developers.

41:15 - Software as a profession hasn't existed very long.

44:50 - Iain’s advice.

49:30 - Cole: too much focus on technical skills.

50:20 - Iain: sometimes, leaders choose to accept risk.

51:15 - … and if you can’t accept that, you’re going to burn out.

53:00 - You can’t live without risk.

54:15 - Founding of Comfycon.

Mentioned in this episode:

Call for Feedback

In the sprint of startups, catch phrases like resilience, tenacity and rebound are brandished as the crowning qualities for success. But who personifies these better than athletes? Immersed in a world of discipline, diligence and constant iterations to improve, they bring in a fierce wave of value into the business landscape. Join us in this episode of Teaching Startups To Fish, where we dive deep into the potency of this ground-breaking synergy.

Chartering this exciting territory with Mladen Jovanovic is no other than Alex Opacic, the brains behind Athlete2Business and a former professional basketball player. Opacic opens up about his personal transformation from athletic stardom to stupendous success in sales, inspiring the establishment of Athlete2Business. Join us to explore how athletes channel their indomitable spirit into pushing groundbreaking strides in sales roles, emerging as true game-changers in the corporate field.

1. Introduction and Background (00:00:15 - 00:04:56): Introduction to the episode, welcoming Alex Opacic, providing a quick introduction about his professional background, his origins, journey to professional basketball, and the transition to sales.

2. Life After Basketball and Beginning in Sales (00:04:56 - 00:09:33): Rehabilitation, interest in PR jobs, transferable skills from professional athlete to sales, and Alex's successful start in sales.

3. Sales Skills and Experiences (00:09:33 - 00:16:18): Keys to successful salespeople, learning through failure, the importance of commercial awareness, and introduction to Athlete2Business.

4. Athletes in Business (00:16:18 - 00:20:49): What sports produce successful salespeople, sectors where athletes excel, business and athletes.

5. Evaluating Skills and Hiring (00:20:49 - 00:34:41): Evaluating various skills such as communication, humble confidence, emotional intelligence, commercial awareness, tips for hiring salespeople, the difficulty of hiring salespeople, interviewing and understanding personal values, changes in the recruitment process, the three stages of interviews, and roleplay in sales interviews.

6. Sales and Recruitment Future Outlook (00:34:41 - 00:41:06): Importance of the discovery call, future predictions about the world of sales, evolution of recruitment and sales roles, discussing technology's potential and limitations, automation in the sales process, the role of humans in sales in the future, final thoughts and wrapping up the discussion, and Alex's contact information and concluding remarks.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexopacic

On this episode of the NTP Podcast, our host Ellen Bennett sits down with Kavita Agarwal, QR Lead at Arq Group.

Ian Yip is the founder and CEO of Avertro, a venture backed startup that creates software to help teams manage and measure their cybersecurity performance. In this episode Cole Cornford spoke with Ian about how being a salesperson is a valuable skill for any security professional, the common fallacy in software of “if you build it, they will come”, the similarities between starting a company and having kids, and plenty more.

Secured by Galah Cyber with Cole Cornford website

• 4:00 - Ian works from different locations around the world.
• 5:20 - Ian’s professional background.
• 5:30 - Ian was in cybersecurity before it was called cybersecurity.
• 8:00 - Cole’s professional background.
• 9:30 - Common misconception: if you build it, they will come.
• 11:20 - Moving from consultant to starting a product company.
• 12:20 - Skills that were useful for Ian when he became a startup founder.
• 13:00 - Ian: I like to be comfortably uncomfortable.
• 14:30 - Cole: I am a naturally good salesperson.
• 16:00 - Selling is a valuable skill for all security people.
• 18:30 - Cole: What scenarios have you pushed yourself to be uncomfortable?
• 21:30 - Cole: I think starting a company is not as big a risk as people think.
• 22:40 - Cole: Public speaking anecdote.
• 25:15 - Cole: Shaving a yak parable.
• 27:00 - Ian: Similarities between starting a business and having kids.
• 31:40 - How Ian came to found his company.
• 35:00 - What drove core product changes for Ian’s company.
• 36:40 - Advice for aspiring SAAS founders.
• 39:10 - Ian: The graveyard of products that nobody uses.
• 40:20 - Approach to startups in the current challenging financial market.
• 44:10 - Quick fire questions.

Mentioned in this episode:

Call for Feedback

On this episode of the NTP Podcast, our host Ellen Bennett sits down with Amanda Chan, Lead Product Designer at Lyka, to discuss the mission of Lyka in creating nutritional food for dogs. Amanda sheds light on the misconceptions surrounding the pet food industry and how Lyka is working to provide transparency and quality in the products they create.

Amanda also shares her journey and career in technology, highlighting her passion for creating products that make a positive impact on people and their pets.

In this episode of the NewyTechPeople Podcast, we sit down with Matt Gardan, the Founder of Digital Native. Matt shares his career journey to date, including his experience working overseas.

He discusses the problems that Digital Native is solving, and how the internet has changed the workplace. Matt also shares his insights on building resilience in the face of adversity, achieving work/life balance, and the importance of networking. This is not an episode to miss!