Datasec and RansomWall: from vision to business venture

Shaping a direction

I am CEO and cofounder of Datasec, the cybersecurity company that created RansomWall. This experience sits within my view of the relationship between business and technology: a venture needs a clear direction and an organization capable of supporting it.

Moving from an idea to a business raises concrete questions. What need do we want to address? Who are we addressing? What expertise do we need? How do we choose our priorities? What evidence will help us understand whether we are moving in the intended direction?

I offer these questions as a way to understand the entrepreneurial journey. They make explicit what often remains implicit when attention is focused on the initial idea. Management’s work includes defining the conditions that allow expertise to become an organized contribution.

Connecting expertise and decisions

In cybersecurity, the exchange between technical expertise and managerial responsibilities requires particular care. We need a shared understanding of what words mean, the needs to be addressed and the limits of what can be claimed. Clear communication also affects the quality of decisions.

In my role as CEO, I value the ability to ask precise questions and make dependencies between activities visible. A priority must be explainable. A commitment must have an owner. An uncertainty must have room in the discussion before it is mistaken for a certainty.

This approach to leading a business recognizes people’s contributions and the particular nature of their expertise. A common direction allows us to discuss the implications without expecting everyone to have the same knowledge. Coordination becomes the setting in which these differences lead to understanding and decisions.

Sustaining the work

RansomWall is the project born out of Datasec. In leading the company, I consider it important that the business direction is clear to those involved and can translate into decisions about activities. We need to understand dependencies, discuss priorities and make room for problems that require a decision.

The quality of our dialogue with the organizations we address is part of this responsibility. Understanding how they work, what information they use and what needs they express helps make the discussion relevant. Technical expertise helps make answers precise and clarify what commitments mean.

For me, business development also requires attention to the continuity of this work. A direction needs to be supported over time, through reviews and decisions consistent with the available resources. It is this relationship between vision and implementation that I am interested in discussing with other entrepreneurs.