Get The Memo: Issue 14
Cyber Pop-up
Company Overview
Dr. Christine Izuakor is the Founder and CEO of Cyber Pop-up. She is known as a global cybersecurity leader with a decade of experience solving complex cyber challenges within the Fortune 100 space.
- At 27, she earned a Ph.D. in security engineering from the University of Colorado, becoming the youngest person and first African American woman to do so.
- Her research focused on critical infrastructure security and has been published in several international journals and conferences from Italy to South Korea.
- She also completed a master’s degree in Information Systems Security and is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).
- Lastly, she’s been featured in the Business Crain’s Tech 50 List, Crain’s 20 in their 20’s list, The Wall Street Journal, Cheddar News, and more.
In addition to the talented Dr. Izuakor, Cyber Pop-up has several employees and 3 core advisors.
- Emily Heath (Chief Security Officer of DocuSign)
- Nathalie Cordeiro-Nunes (Former Fortune 100 Diversity Executive)
- Mark Pauly (Financial Strategist)
Market, Model & Inflection Point
Cyber Pop-up is an on-demand platform for cybersecurity services powered by vetted and highly skilled freelancers. They have a subscription model in which customers can access vetted experts for a certain amount of hours per month and then request special add-on one time projects when needed. By doing this, they’re bringing the gig economy to the cybersecurity industry in a way that is trustworthy, flexible and efficient for companies of all sizes. That is what makes us unique. A key problem that tech leaders experience is that cybersecurity teams are understaffed and overwhelmed. 76% of companies experienced a breach last year, and 75% of companies report having a hard time finding cyber experts. Existing solutions aren’t working, especially for small and medium sized businesses. Traditional consulting agencies are expensive and slow to ramp up while traditional freelancer platforms are not trustworthy or built with the sensitive nature of cybersecurity in mind.
Cyber Pop-up is capitalizing on three industries accelerating at once.
1. 350% rise in cybersecurity talent demand
2. 300% increase in cyber attacks
3. 15% growth in the gig-economy over the last year.
Cyber Pop-up’s model takes advantage of these current trends to create a solution that meets the cyber security needs of companies today and in the future.
Cyber Pop-up ‘s customers consist of small to medium sized companies who tend to have cyber needs, but may not be at a stage where they can hire a full-time cybersecurity resource our build out a massive team. They additionally target highly regulated industries such as healthcare and finance where compliance to certain frameworks and regulations is paramount. They source customers through strategic partnerships.
The market and demand is expanding. With the prominence of remote work and the push to explore cost-cutting options for most companies, the gig-economy is becoming increasingly popular among companies looking for cybersecurity work. The prospect of being able to outsource various requests versus having to pay a team of professionals full-time wages is an enticing option for companies, especially small to medium sized ones.
Competition
While there currently isn’t a freelance platform dedicated to cybersecurity services in existence today, Cyber Pop-up’s indirect competitors include companies like Fiverr and Upwork, where you can hire freelancers to complete specific tasks. The options are great for low risk projects like graphic design and marketing. However, due to the critical nature of cybersecurity more vetting is needed. Within the cybersecurity space, there are some crowdsourced penetration testing networks that exist such as Synack and HackerOne, however the scope of work tends to be limited to network security and testing which is just a small segment of cybersecurity. Cyber Pop-up is a specialized first mover of a broader platform of this kind. What Dr. Izaukor says will keep them ahead of competition is being first to market and thus the first to build strategic long-term partnerships and alliances across the industry.
How would you deploy capital if you would hit your next milestone?
Cyber Pop-up’s priorities are on ramping up their operations and technology. To do so, they would allocate any capital received to hiring a CTO, COO, and customer success managers, building out version 2.0 of their platform with a better customer experience and increased automation, and executing on their freelancer recruitment program strategy.
The biggest challenge right now is capital to scale our technology and operations. When it comes to delivery, they need to upgrade their technology and operations to meet current demand. Cyber Pop-up has conducted customer feedback sessions and designed a customer experience around that. They have designed the tech architecture, wireframes, etc. that are needed to build the system and have found a developer to bring it to life once they have capital.
Cyber Pop-up believes that the most critical step is the have a comprehensive strategy. They’ve established one that focuses on 3 key initiative areas that will enable them to reach their milestones. Those areas are built around:
- Demand (Customer Acquisition via Partnerships)
- Supply (Freelancer Talent Development via Partnerships)
- Delivery (Technology Platform Development and Operations Management)
What is the legacy you as a Founder want to leave?
My purpose in life is to inspire people from all walks of life to reach their full potential, by simply striving to reach mine and sharing the journey. My role as a founder is one of many ways that I progress towards fulfilling that purpose. I came from humble beginnings and, at times, had no clue how I would make it. But, I have a dream, a vision, and an execution strategy. And by bringing it to life through entrepreneurship, I have become a living testament to anyone (especially women and people of color) that anything is possible if you believe in yourself and try your best.
