Humble beginnings

I was pondering why in most projects or companies that get started, security is not a real consideration. When so many people make the same default decision there must be something behind it. I am not beyond calling everyone out for being wrong, given enough extraordinary evidence, but I behave the exact same way historically and I do believe strongly that I am not a complete idiot. First hand experience and all that.

What does security protect?

In a business sense, security protects the value of your assets specifically. Whatever the current sales value of your business or just your potential future earnings as a sole proprietor, this is what is at stake if you mess up or get unlucky.

If that is a big motivating factor has a lot to do with the state your business is in. A security incident is like a heart attack, potentially very deadly but not something you expect to happen tomorrow. A newly started venture has to first ensure it is economically viable, which is more like a bleeding wound, address it now or pass out shortly after.

Under this lens doing something to protect the long term value of your business no longer seems like as pressing a need.

When the bleeding stops

Every successful business eventually arrives at a place where the owner starts worrying about the loss of their venture at least as much as they worry about it stagnating. In our metaphor you are now no longer injured but should start to care for your long term health and fitness. This is the time to start thinking about growing your business but also about protecting what you’ve built.

We will try to quantify this in a future article but you probably have a feeling already