This questionnaire is intended for founders and management teams of Series A and Series B companies to complete and deliver to venture deal teams as they perform their due diligence. It is designed to capture the full cybersecurity picture, including core security controls and newer risks tied to AI-assisted...
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Minimum Cybersecurity Expectations for Series A/B Companies
This document outlines the baseline cybersecurity expectations typically applied in venture-stage due diligence for Series A and Series B software companies. It reflects recent changes in the threat landscape, including stronger expectations around SaaS identity controls, browser-based phishing and session theft, AI-assisted development, agentic AI systems, prompt injection, and...
What You Want in a Non-executive Chair
I am happy to repost an excellent piece I first read in March 2013 that is as applicable and useful today as it was then. Many thanks to Mr. Henry Wolfe for his wisdom, candor and expertise. What You Want in a Non-executive Chair By Henry D. Wolfe, Chairman...
Exit Advice from “Exits – Traps and Triumphs” CEOs
Well, the CEO panelists for “Exits – Traps and Triumphs” at Drexel did not disappoint the audience one bit. Jean Anne Booth, Founder and CEO of UnaliWear, Paul Litwack, CEO of Axcentria Pharmaceuticals, Gerie DiPiano, Chairman, President and CEO of FemmePharma Healthcare, and Lars Bjork, former Founder and CEO...
Buying In – Cybersecurity Risk and Due Diligence
Cybersecurity issues are deal breakers. In a recent survey on software mergers and acquisitions conducted by West Monroe Partners, more than half of the respondents surveyed reported discovering a cybersecurity problem after deal closing. Cybersecurity issues were the second-most common reason that deals were killed, and the second-most common...
A Panel of CEOs Speaking About Exits to CEOs and Business Owners
Here is the scoop on the CEO panel discussion on exits on which I have been working with Chuck Sacco at the Close School of Entrepreneurship at Drexel University. “Exits – Traps and Triumphs” is a conversation by CEOs for business owners, CEOs and other C-level executives who want...
What Worries CEOs When They Exit
Whenever I speak to CEOs I usually get the impression that they totally have their act together and do not experience fear, worry or regret when running their companies and leading their teams. And I guess that for the most part, that is true because in their predominant domain...
Cyber Security Problems in M&A – Real, Not Imagined, and Hitting Hard
Cyber security problems in M&A deals are no longer for the other guy to worry about. If you think that it is only software, communications and related information technology companies that are impacted by cyber security issues before, during and after their sale, then you are flirting with potential...
Cyber Security Summits – Great Content; Deep Learning; Excellent Connections
I have had the good fortune this spring to feed my addictive interest in cyber security by attending several high quality conferences full of great content, deep learning and excellent connections. The first one this year was the Financial Times Cyber Security Summit in Washington. I had the pleasure...
The CEO at Exit: Prepare; Talk; Listen; Empathize
CEOs were never trained for the complex, confusing and convoluted process that is the exit from their business. Yet in taking care of their team by Preparing, Talking, Listening, and Empathizing, they will succeed.