In many respects, launching a startup has never been easier: founders can build products with AI, they can quickly spin up cloud infrastructure in minutes and they can even reach global customers from day one. These aren’t things that were possible a decade ago.
Unsurprisingly, however, there is indeed a catch. While there certainly are many things that make launching a startup easier these days, there are also plenty that make it more difficult. Cyber threats are becoming more sophisticated, compliance requirements are growing and enterprise customers increasingly expect startups to demonstrate robust security practices before signing contracts.
The question now is about just how difficult cybersecurity is making the process for founders. Is it merely a challenge, or is it actually becoming a barrier to startup innovation?
According to the experts we spoke to, it’s not quite as serious as a full-on barrier, but misconceptions about cybersecurity could still be creating unnecessary hesitation for founders in the startup space.
The Fear Is Real, But The Barrier May Not Be
Many founders assume that they need enterprise-grade security before they can launch, particularly if they’re handling customer data or targeting larger businesses. Trevor Horwitz, Co-Founder and CISO, believes that this perception can make cybersecurity seem a lot more intimidating than it needs to be. According to Horwitz, “Founders may assume they need enterprise-level security tools, consultants and compliance programs from day one, which can feel overwhelming when capital and resources are limited.”
Several experts agreed that cybersecurity is often viewed as an expensive, complex problem that absolutely must be solved entirely before a startup can move forward. But Kevin Walker, Cybersecurity Consultant at Black Swan Cybersecurity Solutions, disagrees, saying that this mindset can be counterproductive: “Starting a business takes enough courage and cybersecurity advice should help you get going, not prevent you from starting.”
Instead of chasing every possible security tool or compliance framework, experts recommend focusing on the risks that are most likely to impact the business, rather than absolutely everything in the world that could possibly go wrong.
AI Is Starting To Change the Landscape, Here’s Why
While cybersecurity may not be stopping startups from launching, the threat landscape certainly is changing rapidly. Daniel Di Nardo, Founder at IntelliBreach, points out that AI is making cyberattacks easier to execute and harder to detect. According to Di Nardo, phishing emails can now closely mimic the writing style of founders and employees, while AI-powered tools can automatically search for vulnerabilities around the clock. What used to require a skilled team of attackers can now, more than ever before, be done by a single person using AI tools.
That reality is creating understandable concern among founders, particularly those building online products or managing customer information. But still, most experts argue that this fear alone shouldn’t delay innovation.
Going Back To Basics
One sentiment that came up repeatedly throughout my conversations with experts was that good cybersecurity is often surprisingly unglamorous. Multi-factor authentication, access controls, secure backups, managed authentication providers and limiting the amount of customer data collected were among the most commonly recommended steps, and it’s safe to say they’re not the most exciting things in the world.
Mykyta Chernenko, Founder of AIWriteBook, believes founders often overcomplicate the challenge. According to Chernenko, “A startup that never ships is very secure and has no customers.”
Along the same lines, Scott Neve, Founder of Ops Intel, argues that many founders simply haven’t defined what “enough” security looks like for a business at their stage of growth. Rather than attempting to eliminate all risk, experts recommend understanding which systems, data and processes would cause the most damage if compromised and prioritising those first.
Security Should Be An Enabler, Not An Obstacle
Perhaps the most interesting takeaway is that many experts see cybersecurity as something that can actually help startups grow. Enterprise buyers are asking questions about security before they’re purchasing software, particularly in sectors handling sensitive data. Founders who can clearly explain how they protect customer information may gain a competitive advantage over those who treat security as an afterthought.
As Nishanth Sirikonda, Cloud Solutions Architect at FirstDay Foundation, pointed out to us, security belongs in early product discussions rather than being simply bolted on later.
Ultimately, it seems like the overall agreement is that cybersecurity is unlikely to stop a great startup idea from succeeding. Rather, the bigger risk may be having founders either ignoring security completely or becoming so overwhelmed by it that they never launch at all.
And that would be a real pity.
Our Experts:
- Trevor Horwitz: Co-Founder and CISO
- Kevin Walker: Cybersecurity Consultant at Black Swan Cybersecurity Solutions
- Daniel Di Nardo: Founder at IntelliBreach
- Serhii Nikolaichuk: Founder at The Capital Index
- Scott Stouffer: Co-Founder and CTO at Market Brew
- Lilach Bullock: AI Implementation Consultant and Fractional CMO
- Scott Neve: Founder of Ops Intel
- Mykyta Chernenko: Founder of AIWriteBook
- Viktor Bulanek: Founder, Penetrify
- Cache Merrill: Founder at Zibtek
- Morten Kjaersgaard: Founder at Heimdal
- Nishanth Sirikonda: Cloud Solutions Architect at FirstDay Foundation
Trevor Horwitz, Co-Founder and CISO
“I don’t think cybersecurity is stopping most founders from launching startups, but I do see the perceived cost and complexity creating hesitation. Founders may assume they need enterprise-level security tools, consultants, and compliance programs from day one, which can feel overwhelming when capital and resources are limited.
“The reality is that cybersecurity isn’t about eliminating risk or buying every available tool. It’s about understanding your risk and investing appropriately.
“I’d start with some basic questions: What data am I protecting? Where does it live? Who has access to it? What would materially hurt the business if compromised? From there, I can prioritize the controls and spending that address the greatest risks.
“Security becomes much more expensive and complicated when it’s ignored until a customer, investor, compliance requirement, or incident forces the issue. Done early and proportionately, security shouldn’t prevent innovation. It should help create the trust a startup needs to grow.”
Kevin Walker, Cybersecurity Consultant at Black Swan Cybersecurity Solutions
“I started my business 20 years ago. There’s enough to worry about without being told you need a security budget bigger than your turnover.
“Cybersecurity can feel like a barrier, especially when every conversation comes with another horror story and another subscription. We don’t help ourselves as an industry sometimes.
“I wouldn’t claim people are abandoning business ideas over it without evidence.
“The risks are real, but the answer is proportionate protection. Start with looking at what data do you hold and what would stop you working tomorrow.
“Protect your email with multi-factor authentication. Keep software updated. Give people only the access they need. Check your backups actually restore. If you’re developing a product, build security in from the start.
“You don’t need to buy everything but you do need to understand what matters to your business.
“Starting a business takes enough courage, and cybersecurity advice should help you get going, not prevent you from starting.”
Daniel Di Nardo, Founder at IntelliBreach
“Back in the day, phishing emails used to be easy to spot because of how badly they were implemented. However, with the help of AI, they can now be so personally written to match how your actual founder or employees write, and they can tweak and send them faster than ever.
“AI-assisted bots could also scan the internet around the clock to look for exposed databases and weak spots in code. Some could even help write working exploits once it finds a gap. These bots don’t care how big or small your company is. They just look fr something vulnerable, and if they find it, they’ll go after it.
“What used to take a skilled team of cyber attackers can now be done by a single person with the right AI tools. So I understand why so many founders feel exposed and vulnerable right now, and why some hold back from launching at all.”
Serhii Nikolaichuk, Founder at The Capital Index
“The worry is fair. The paralysis isn’t. Security doesn’t kill startups; treating it as a later problem does.
“We’re a small team building security infrastructure for AI. Our open-source Vault Genome works like passport control for computers: before a machine receives an AI model, its chip must show a passport signed by the manufacturer, and a person must have approved the trip in advance. In our published tests it moved a model between clouds in about 25 seconds and refused seven times when the rules said no. The hardware rents by the hour.
“The real risk is usually a side door. Last month Poppins Payroll, a US payroll service for nannies, may have exposed Social Security numbers, not through its own app but through an outside reporting tool. So: don’t collect data you don’t need, treat every outside tool as a door, and keep logs nobody can quietly edit.”
Scott Stouffer, Co-Founder and CTO at Market Brew
“Cybersecurity can become an innovation barrier when a founder faces an undefined risk instead of a concrete launch requirement. I would make it specific: what data enters the product, who can access it, and what happens if it is exposed or altered?
“Then reduce the initial scope. At Market Brew, our AI connection is read-only and uses the person’s existing account permissions. That lets us offer a useful capability within a clear access boundary.
“For a startup, I would prioritize multifactor authentication, timely updates, restricted permissions, tested backups and a named incident owner. NIST’s small-business guidance provides a starting point. Security concerns warrant action, but should inform product design and launch criteria. A narrower, verifiable release gives a founder a clearer decision than waiting for risk to disappear.”
Lilach Bullock, AI Implementation Consultant and Fractional CMO
“Cybersecurity fear is stalling launches, but most of it is fear of the wrong thing. I’ve advised over 1,000 entrepreneurs, and the ones who stall usually picture a sophisticated attack, when the real risk sitting in their own business is simpler than that. After a break-in at my own office, I moved my backups from weekly to daily and cut my browser extensions from twelve down to five, because those were the actual gaps, not some elaborate hack.
“My advice to founders is to fix the boring basics before launch, starting with two-factor authentication on every account.”
Scott Neve, Founder of Ops Intel
“The fear is real, but it’s mostly fear of the unknown rather than of the risk itself. Founders read about enterprise breaches and enterprise-sized rules and assume they need enterprise-sized security before launch. They don’t. What protects an early startup is a short list done properly: know what data you hold and why, limit who can reach it, use multi-factor sign-in everywhere, check what your suppliers do with your data, and have a written plan for a breach.
“That last one matters more now that so much of it runs through AI tools, which often hold customer data the founder never thought about. The startups that stall aren’t the ones that took security seriously. They’re the ones that never worked out what “enough” looks like for their size.”
Mykyta Chernenko, Founder of AIWriteBook
“In my experience, security isn’t what stops founders from launching. Time and money are. What the fear does do is push people into bad calls, like building their own login system or delaying a launch for months to chase a compliance standard no customer has asked for yet.
“A small team can cover most of the real risk cheaply. Use a managed provider for authentication and the database instead of rolling your own, keep secrets out of the code, give each service only the access it needs, and turn on two-factor login everywhere. That stops the boring attacks, and the boring attacks are the ones that usually hit small companies.
“So the worry is fair, but the answer is good defaults from day one, then launch. A startup that never ships is very secure and has no customers.”
Viktor Bulanek, Founder at Penetrify
“Honestly, I have never met a founder who did not launch because they were scared of cybersecurity. The far more common thing is the opposite. Founders ignore security completely until something breaks, then panic and overspend on enterprise tools they do not need. So cybersecurity as a barrier to innovation is mostly a myth, and a lot of it is sold by vendors who profit from the fear.
“Here is the honest version. At the early stage the risk is real but the fix is cheap and boring. Do not store customer data you do not actually need. Test the thing before you ship it. Rotate your keys. That is most of it. The founders who get hurt are not the ones who worried too much, they are the ones who did none of the basics and told themselves security was a later problem. The fear is misplaced, not the risk.”
Cache Merrill, Founder at Zibtek
“I’ve seen how easy it is for founders to look at security as a long list of problems they need to solve before they can move forward. That can create unnecessary hesitation. A startup does not need the same security setup as a large enterprise on day one, but it does need to understand what would actually cause serious damage if it were compromised.
“I’d start with the systems and information that matter most, such as customer data, credentials, payment information, and production access. From there, basic controls like limiting permissions, securing development environments, protecting backups, and monitoring access can remove a lot of avoidable risk.
“The mistake is waiting for security to feel “complete” before launching. There will always be another risk to address. The better approach is to build sensible protections into the company early and strengthen them as the business and its technology become more complex.”
Morten Kjaersgaard, Founder at Heimdal
“With strong ties to the founder community in the Nordics, I see the main obstacle as a lack of willingness to seek knowledge among the upcoming generations.
“It’s so much easier to found, get funding, and get going today than it was 10, 20, or 30 years ago. I started my first business when I turned 18, and everything was on paper back then. Today it’s all digital. Click, click, click, and off you go.
“Cybersecurity, and the compliance that follows it, isn’t an inhibitor. It’s an enabler for those willing to use the information and structure at hand.
“Today’s baselines and compliance standards mean you can register a business, get cybersecurity in place, and be running in five to 10 minutes. If you have a good idea, you can have angel funding two hours later.
“Acceleration through technology is within reach of everyone who embraces it in these modern times.”
Nishanth Sirikonda, Cloud Solutions Architect at FirstDay Foundation
“Cybersecurity can become a roadblock when founders don’t know which risks need immediate action and which can be handled down the line. An enterprise customer’s security questionnaire can quickly derail momentum, turning a promising deal into weeks of unexpected work for a lean team.
“Caution is key before assuming fear alone is stopping people from launching. The concern is entirely practical, especially when a product touches sensitive data or executes actions directly inside a customer’s environment.
“Founders can strip out much of that uncertainty with a few deliberate choices: collect less data, enforce strict access controls, rely on managed auth providers, test backups regularly, and make one person explicitly accountable for incident response. Just as importantly, they need to map out prospective customers’ security baselines before signing off on feature commitments.
“Security isn’t something to tack on later; it belongs in early product conversations. A startup that clearly explains what it protects, how it contains potential blast radius, and how it plans to recover gives enterprise buyers a solid reason to trust them.”
