Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew Ostashen.
Andrew, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My brother (Peter Ostashen) and I started Vulsec three years ago, my brother being a VP of IT for a private equity company focusing on the defensive end of information security and myself focusing on the offensive side of information security created Vulsec. Vulsec started out as a services company to generate revenue to create a software company.
Both of us are Eagle Scouts, members of Infragard, and went to a technical high school gaining experience within the IT realm early in our careers. Vulsec is focusing on Information Security Program Orchestration by creating a data aggregation center that collects risks from our partners, correlation engine to quantify risks, and a CISO marketplace to streamline remediation for our clients.
We are able to monitor and maintain hundreds/thousands of companies through our security management platform by providing a data-centric approach to risk remediation for the board of director, executives, and engineers within the company.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Being a bootstrapped company there have been many ups and downs throughout the journey of creating Vulsec. Having to be meticulous in how the money is being spent and not being able to take certain opportunities by the horns due to funds like hiring specific staff members, getting specific software (some companies are not startup friendly), or hiring specific consultants.
We have been swindled by software development companies by not holding true to their words but their contracts were bulletproof where Vulsec went into the engagement trusting that the contractors would hold true to their words but untimely Vulsec lost vast amounts of time and capital without getting a deliverable.
Vulsec had to conduct a layoff at the end of 2017 as we were growing but the information security market took a turn were our bootstrap capital could not keep up with the burn rate we were in. This was extremely hard as this negatively impacts the life of other individuals who wanted to be within the Vulsec team because they understood our dream of revolutionizing the information security landscape.
Lastly when growing a company at this stage and to this level, when we were speaking with venture capital firms, most of them would not speak with us because we did not have a specific ARR/MRR and would negate the revenue that was generated through consulting vs or software platform. It seems to be easier to generate outside funding off of a napkin or when you are looking for a 5 million dollar check vs a seed investment.
It is a tough situation to be in with having 10 dollars to your name, zero credit cards due to credit score starting a business, having student loans, and having to research intermittent fasting to ensure that it ok to go a day or two without food.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Vulsec attacks security risk from a technology standpoint instead of a policy standpoint.
By doing so allow us to verify that the infrastructure in place is beholding to the police that should protect an organization. By incorporating our security management platform with our automated risk discovery, risk correlation platform, and CISO marketplace we provide a full-service solution to ensure your organization is secure and operating within budget.
We are able to provide our software platform to CISOs that scales from one company to 2,000 companies for a CISO to manage information security risks throughout the organization and business units.
We are most proud of building a successful, profitable business with a small team against other organizations for having 10s of millions in funding in on of the most complex industries (information security).
What were you like growing up?
Growing up my brother and I were always creating businesses whether it was modifying computer cases and reselling them in middle school to starting a computer consulting business for local businesses. We grew in a town with more cows than people were playing outside and sports throughout or childhood was a must to keep us entertained until our business mindsets kicked in. Having a great support system from our parents allowed us opportunities that we are very fortune to have had when we were younger.
During our technical internship in high school I remember that I was not able to call people over the phone due to shyness but now running an information security company at the age of 28, a lot has happened in 16 years.
I still remember the times I got into hacking and information security when my mother tried to install internet monitoring software but I was always able to get around the application and then got into hacking video games.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.vulsec.com
- Phone: 617-648-9815
- Email: aostashen@Vulsec.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Vulsec
- Twitter: twitter.com/vulsecllc
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewostashen
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