The Forgecast

There’s unlimited potential to create innovative software with just a laptop, an internet connection, and your mind.   It’s a motto that Ricardo Villadiego lives by and has driven him to solve complex technology problems and start two companies: Easy Solutions in 2009 (acquired by Centersquare- formerly Cyxtera- in 2016) and Lumu in 2019. Today, Lumu is a market leader in Network Detection and Response, helping over 2,500 businesses of all sizes continuously measure their state of compromise to stay ahead of threats in real time.  In this episode, Forgepoint Capital Managing Director Leo Casusol speaks with Ricardo about his early career in engineering and sales, overcoming obstacles as a Colombia-based cybersecurity entrepreneur, venturing into international markets, using AI at Lumu to make “magic” and uncover network threats, shifting to meet the evolving threat and technology landscape, SecOps automation, advice for other entrepreneurs, and more.   

Few cybersecurity startups develop strong customer relationships with 25% of the Fortune 100, attract an incredible team of experts, and become a market leader– all without any funding.  That’s precisely what Bishop Fox did for over a decade before raising a Series A round in 2019 to invest in the future of offensive security testing at scale.   Bishop Fox co-founder and CEO Vinnie Liu has helmed the company through it all, working to proactively protect the company’s customers from the latest threats.    In this episode, Forgepoint Capital Managing Director Ernie Bio speaks with Vinnie about working with the NSA at 17, co-founding and bootstrapping Bishop Fox, deciding to pursue venture funding, what it takes to build a customer-centric business, developing a scalable offensive security platform, trends in Gen AI and enterprise resiliency, and more.

Cybersecurity is no longer exclusively a technical endeavor focused on stopping and responding to cyber threats. It’s also a strategic enabler of business growth and innovation. It’s an evolution that Eddie Borrero, Vice President and CISO at Blue Shield of California, has experienced and contributed to firsthand during his 20+ year career in the field. In this episode, Forgepoint Capital Co-Founder and Managing Director Alberto Yépez speaks with Eddie about the Crowdstrike outage, his early career in technology and cybersecurity, the evolving role of the modern CISO, developing relationships with board members, crafting a narrative, AI governance, giving back to the community, and more.

The deck is stacked against you when you build a cybersecurity startup. Entrepreneurs navigate a maze of technical and business hurdles to turn their vision into a successful company.   Ross Haleliuk’s pragmatic approach to company building is a gold mine for founders, practitioners, and investors alike.   In this episode, Forgepoint Capital Managing Director Ernie Bio sits down with Ross to discuss his early career, starting the popular Venture in Security blog, launching an angel investing syndicate for security practitioners, his bestselling book Cyber for Builders, unique challenges in starting a cybersecurity company, successful partnerships, how cybersecurity companies fail, and more. 

Modern companies collect, generate, and access massive amounts of data. The challenge is finding meaning amidst the noise to derive actionable insights.   That’s exactly what Pascal Millaire and CyberCube are doing for the cyber insurance market.   In this episode, Forgepoint Capital Co-Founder and Managing Director Don Dixon sits down with Pascal to discuss his early career as a McKinsey consultant, CyberCube’s incubation within Symantec, building analytical models to predict loss and price cyber risk, cyber risks from terrorism and war, the symbiotic relationship between insurance and cybersecurity, and more.  

The hours, days, and weeks following a ransomware incident can bring the most challenging moments a person faces in their career and an organization confronts in their history.   Nobody understands this better than Billy Gouveia, CEO and Founder of incident response firm Surefire Cyber.   In this episode, Forgepoint Capital Managing Director Andrew McClure speaks with Billy about his background in the United States Army, lessons learned in enterprise risk management consulting, leading through crisis situations, creating a unique business model and go to market plan to found Surefire Cyber, the evolution of the ransomware landscape, and more. 

99% of companies are small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), yet most cybersecurity innovations cater more to the enterprise.   Kyle Hanslovan’s cyber warfare experience at the NSA taught him the power of small teams leveraging automation. He saw an opportunity to make global change by protecting SMBs at scale with a SaaS platform.  The result: Huntress.   In this episode, Forgepoint Capital Managing Director Ernie Bio speaks with Kyle about his experience supporting cyber operations in the U.S. Intelligence community, the importance of complementary founders and teams, raising capital as a Silicon Valley outsider, scaling Huntress from a point solution to a platform, and the company’s path forward.  

Cybersecurity is a key driver of digital transformation, especially in the most regulated industries. Julie Talbot-Hubbard understands this through firsthand experience at every level- as a security practitioner, an enterprise executive, and now as the President of Services and Chief Operating Officer of security technologies supplier Cyderes.   In this episode, Alberto speaks with Julie about effectively working with regulations and auditors, managing change, the centrality of identity and data in modern organizations, and the importance of building a network and giving back.  

Entrepreneurs face countless obstacles as they bring innovative ideas to life, build sustainable businesses, and grow globally. Dr. Neil Costigan has overcome these challenges and many more in his career.  In this episode, Alberto sits down with Neil to discuss the early years at BehavioSec and the company’s acquisition by LexisNexis Risk Solutions, finding product-market fit and scaling startups, and the importance of building effective global teams.  

CISOs need technical acumen and relationship-bulding skills to collaborate and protect their companies and customers. Andres Andreu has both in spades.   In this episode, Alberto sits down with Andres to discuss his wide-ranging career across public and private sectors, the human quality in cybersecurity, getting out of your comfort zone, and his current role as SVP and CISO with EdTech learning platform 2U (NASDAQ: TWOU).

The cybersecurity community needs leaders with diverse perspectives to protect critical assets and systems across enterprises and governments.   In this episode, Alberto Yépez sits down with Erin Joe, Senior Executive at Google Cloud's Office of the CISO (OCISO), to discuss her career in the FBI, the importance of public-private partnerships, leveraging unique experiences and skillsets to lead effectively, and Google’s approach to responsible AI. 

As the first Chief Trust Officer at SAP, Elena Kvochko is a seasoned technology and cybersecurity executive who has led global information security for multiple enterprises such as Barclays and The Bank of America. In this episode, she discusses the importance of trust and how industry professionals should prioritize it for a successful, trusted, collaborative environment. 

In an increasingly digital business world, the need for cybersecurity professionals is at an all-time high and organizations need a “secret sauce” to harness unique perspectives and strengths. In this episode of the Forgecast, Alberto Yépez speaks with cybersecurity expert Dr. Yonesy Núñez on the importance of diversity, inclusion, and a culture of authenticity, the need for new talent, and leadership succession within the cybersecurity industry.

The cybersecurity industry depends on innovation and innovators but faces a talent shortage. In this episode of the Forgecast, Forgepoint Co-founder Alberto Yépez speaks with Ron and Cyndi Gula, Co-founders of Gula Tech Adventures and the Gula Tech Foundation. Ron and Cyndi are a power couple with a mission to get more people involved in cybersecurity. They discuss innovation, education and outreach, developing cybersecurity leaders, and the importance of philanthropy.

When CISOs need answers, they turn to one of their own: Dr. Ed Amoroso, CEO and Founder of TAG Infosphere. Forgepoint Co-founder Alberto Yépez sits down with Ed to discuss the growth and evolution of being a CISO, his thirty-one years at AT&T, his ‘fun’ career switch to TAG Cyber (now part of TAG Infosphere), the opportunistic future of AI, and the importance of working with a purpose.