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From Mary Poppins of Security to Startup Founder: Laura Bell-Main's Journey
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As a consultant, Laura Bell-Main earned a reputation for being “the Mary Poppins of security”, swooping in to fix problems with her big bag of tricks. More recently, she made the leap from consulting into founding a product company, securing funding from VC firm Blackbird with the aim of building SafeStack into an online training platform that can help orgs of all sizes design secure software.
In this episode, Laura chats with Cole Cornford about the challenges of becoming a startup founder, the current state of AppSec training & education, Laura’s vision for SafeStack’s legacy, and plenty more.
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Timestamps
4:19 - Laura’s career background.
7:45 - no clear pathway into a career in AppSec.
8:40 - Cole’s experience at a career expo @ Newcastle uni.
12:00 - Large and small companies AppSec needs are different.
14:00 - A large company like Facebook is very different from the average company.
16:40 - Security has a tendency to get lax for software not being actively developed.
18:10 - Laura: the theme of this conversation “you will fail and this will make you stronger”.
19:00 - Why Laura is in AppSec.
20:00 - Laura speaks about being a salesperson + having a product company.
21:20 - Cole: I anticipate AppSec will grow Laura: software rules the world.
25:10 - SafeStack: for profit with purpose, balancing purpose and profit.
27:50 - Laura: discussing Blackbird’s investment in SafeStack.
29:40 - Laura’s background as a consultant.
30:20 - Laura: customers called me “Mary Poppins of AppSec”.
32:50 - Laura’s transition from consulting to founding a product company.
34:20 - Laura: on building a company, I sometimes joke “I used to be in security”.
37:40 - The leap from idea to product.
38:30 - Laura’s vision for SafeStack’s legacy.
40:10 - SafeStack’s “one hour AppSec”.
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