Kalyani Pawar -- Shaping AppSec at Startups

Kalyani Pawar shares critical strategies for integrating security early and effectively in AppSec for startups. She recommends that startups begin focusing on AppSec around the 30-employee mark, with an ideal ratio of one AppSec professional per 10 engineers as the company grows. Pawar emphasizes the importance of building a security culture through "culture as code" - implementing automated guardrails and checkpoints that make security an integral part of the development process. She advises startups to prioritize visibility into their systems, conduct pentests, develop thoughtful policies, and carefully vet third-party tools and open-source solutions. Ultimately, Pawar's approach is about making security a collaborative, integrated effort that doesn't impede innovation but instead supports the startup's long-term success and safety.The Application Security Podcast is brought to you by Security Journey.About Security JourneyOur training includes theory and immersive learning that teaches the skills and knowledge needed to create a security-first mindset across your organization.→ Learn more about Security JourneyConnect with Kalyani Pawar:→ The Alignment Problem→ ChatGPTMentioned in this episode:→ The Alignment Problem→ ChatGPTFollow the Application Security Podcast:➜ Home➜ X➜ LinkedIn➜ YouTube➜ Instagram➜ FacebookChapters:00:00 Meet Kalyani Pawar: Shaping AppSec at Startups01:24 Yeah, we're going to talk about AppSec and how it intersects05:45 Then that's a conversation to be had, but you should absolutely09:11 Because that's, that's the, that's the results of that. But coming12:51 One of the things about startups, and we kind of hinted15:34 As the startup matures over time, we kind of, you took19:22 Okay. So, let's say now you've got an AppSec team at22:06 At a startup, they'll just step on you if you try24:44 Yeah. I want to double-click on this culture as code, because27:43 The advantage in the startup world is you're starting from scratch31:37 Here we go. All right, so we've got 3 questions, Kalyani34:44 That's a good gauge, yeah. And the third question is, what's37:55 Yeah, people always, always got to focus on the original, right