Cyber security or growth? They don't have to be mutually exclusive

Most startups – no matter what industry they operate in – must endure a common balancing act. On the one hand, they need to rapidly scale and secure a solid footing in the market. On the other, they need to protect themselves against numerous cyber threats that could derail those growth ambitions in an instant.

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, which is why it’s become such a hot-button topic for leaders in the Australian startup scene.

It’ll be one of the headlining discussions at Unicorn Day, a free event hosted by Startup Daily and AWS Startups, with presenting partner Plerion and the support of Vanta, at The Timber Yard in Port Melbourne on October 24 (get in quick, reserve your spot here).

Among the all-day lineup, cloud security experts Plerion will lead a session titled Startup Scaling Secrets: Navigating the Tension Between Cybersecurity and Growth.

With an expert panel including Rob Erdin, Linktree’s Senior Director & GM, Engineering – Platform, and Cache Invest founder Caleb Gibbons, the session will teach startups how to navigate cyber security concerns without sacrificing growth.

We sat down with panel host Daniel Grzelak, Chief Innovation Officer at Plerion, to get his advice on what startups should be doing to protect themselves today while planning their growth efforts for tomorrow.

The cyber security dilemma for startups

Grzelak admits that startups are often on the receiving end of contradictory advice about cyber security.

“Depending on who you ask, you’ll get vastly different answers on how much security you need,” he says. “Ask a security professional, and they’ll tell you to do everything – get all the certifications, run through all the penetration tests, hire your first security person right away. But talk to a founder or product leader, and they’ll see it as a distraction. They just want to grow and achieve product-market fit.”

This tension feeds into confusion, which can hamstring early-stage startups trying to manage a minefield of decisions about where to allocate limited resources.

Because startups generally run on lean budgets, knowing when and where to invest in security can make or break your growth potential.

A consumer tech company, for example, might not need to roll out the same security measures as a business that handles sensitive financial or healthcare data, which are subject to much stricter regulations.

Common mistakes startups make

As part of a startup himself, Grzelak is no stranger to security pitfalls that can appear in the early stages of running a business.

“One mistake we made at Plerion was trying to operate with big-company security protocols even though we were still a small company,” Daniel tells us. “When I first joined, it took days to get access to certain things, and we couldn’t afford to move that slowly. We were in a stage where we had to be the fastest because we were the smallest.”

He sees this as a common mistake among startups trying to “do everything right” in terms of security, only to stifle their own agility. Overburdening your team with unnecessary security measures, especially early on, can hamper growth rather than ignite it.

Why every startup needs its own path forward

Plerion helps startups cut through this confusion with their cloud security platform, built to identify the risks that actually matter for businesses running on AWS and similar infrastructures.

“Our mission is to simplify cloud security, so you can spend your time where it’s needed most,” Grzelak says, adding that startups don’t have time to address a giant list of best practices – they need to focus on the risks that will truly hurt them if ignored.

By helping startups prioritise their security checklists, Plerion keeps them on track while protecting what’s most important.

Rather than overwhelming startups with exhaustive audits and laundry lists of potential vulnerabilities, Plerion takes a streamlined, data-driven approach that highlights the most urgent issues – those that could cause immediate harm, or even result in business failure, if left unchecked.

Cyber security tips for 2025 and beyond

With 2025 coming up, Grzelak says there are a few basic principles of cyber security that should be top of mind for startup leaders.

“When you’re a startup, you’re just beginning your security journey,” he says. “The most advanced threats or emerging risks aren’t necessarily what you should focus on. They are a distraction. What you should be focused on is getting the basics right – things like making sure you have multi-factor authentication in place, not leaving sensitive data exposed and making sure your systems are secure at the ground level.”

For early-stage companies, he adds that it’s easy to get distracted by flashy new technologies or advanced security systems – but this could be more of a hindrance than anything else.

“If you’re a three-person startup with some angel funding, your focus should be on basic measures, like having anti-malware software on all of your laptops and having a security advisor who you can call to help figure things out,” he advises.

As you grow, you can layer in more advanced measures, he adds. Remember, your business will evolve as it scales up, and your security measures will need to as well, but it should never be at the expense of your agility.

Find out more about Unicorn Day 2024 (24 October), where Grzelak will host a panel of experts sharing practical advice and strategies for startups facing a broad range of security and growth challenges. You can also learn more about what Plerion does and how they help startups balance cyber security and growth.

Get in quick – register now for Unicorn Day