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Conversation
Highlights
Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech’s most innovative B2B founders. In today’s episode, we’re speaking with Tiffany Ricks, CEO & Founder of HacWare, a security awareness platform that’s raised $2.6 Million in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
- Transition to Product: Tiffany transitioned from running a consultancy to building HacWare after identifying phishing as a recurring vulnerability in her clients’ businesses.
- Phishing Impact: Phishing attacks lead to significant breaches, with 3.4 billion phishing emails sent daily and 71% of small businesses experiencing phishing attacks that lead to ransomware.
- Automated Solution: HacWare automates phishing simulations and security awareness training using AI, significantly reducing the labor hours required from 40 hours a week to just 1 hour a month.
- Educated Buyers: Small and mid-market businesses are becoming more knowledgeable about cybersecurity needs, understanding the importance of solutions like VPNs, password managers, and security awareness training.
- Continuous Improvement: HacWare releases software updates weekly, maintaining focus on customer pain points and continuously enhancing their platform’s capabilities.
- Future Vision: In five years, HacWare aims to provide comprehensive human risk assessments across various digital platforms, similar to credit scores, to identify and mitigate potential security risks.
Actionable
Takeaways
Automate Manual Tasks:
Automate repetitive tasks to save time and reduce the burden on lean teams, especially in areas like security awareness training.
Continuously Update Software:
Regular software updates can keep your product relevant and effective, meeting evolving customer needs and threat landscapes.
Educate Customers:
Help your customers become knowledgeable buyers by providing them with the information they need to understand the importance and impact of your solutions.
Focus on Pain Points:
Identify and target specific pain points of your customer base to create a product that directly addresses their needs and challenges.
Leverage AI for Personalization:
Use AI to personalize phishing simulations and training, making them more realistic and effective in changing user behavior.
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