Ep. 80: Pen Testing, Persistence & Product/Market Fit—with Jacob Hansen of Cobalt

The Boost VC Podcast

When you’re building a startup, it is easy to get caught up in creating the product itself and assume that the technology is the most important thing. But Jacob Hansen argues that an early focus on users is necessary in finding product/market fit. And as your company grows, attracting the right talent becomes just as important as the technology itself.
Jacob is the co-founder and CEO of Cobalt, a security platform that is reinventing the pen test for web applications, mobile apps and APIs. An advocate of crowdsourcing and cybersecurity, Jacob has been featured in Forbes and The Verge, and he has delivered keynotes at OWASP AppSec USA and O’Reilly Security NYC, among other international conferences. Prior to his work with Cobalt, Jacob served as a consultant with Accenture, delivering Enterprise IT Solutions for Fortune 100 clients.
Today, Jacob joins us to discuss the need for cybersecurity and explain the concept of pen testing. He speaks to the growth of Cobalt, describing the company’s milestones, the scaling of its values, and his evolving role as CEO. Listen in for Jacob’s insight around product/market fit, the importance of attracting talent, and why persistence is key in building a company!

Topics Covered

The need for online security
Bad actors try to get something of value
Access to bank account, cryptocurrency
Damage reputation or influence election

The definition of pen testing
‘Good hackers’ test security of apps
Blend art and science to find issues

How Jacob got interested in security
Background in finance and business
Lost Bitcoin in hack of large exchange
Learned key management

How to scale values as your startup grows
Live values every day
Transparency, openness and hard work

How Jacob and his co-founders got to the US
Start company in Buenos Aires
Accepted to Boost VC Tribe 3

The advantages of being in Silicon Valley
Makes fundraising easier
Learn to build, scale faster

The big milestones for Cobalt they scale up
Move to Silicon Valley
$1M raise in angel round
Finding product/market fit
Hit $1M in revenue
Learn to manage team of 50

Jacob’s insight on product/market fit
Mistake to build product first
Focus on sales early on

The top themes in the security space
Developers/engineers responsible for fixing issues
Collaboration between developers and engineers

Jacob’s assumptions on how to start a company
Thought all about technology
Realizes importance of sales, hiring

Jacob’s role as a ‘decentralist’
Central institution storing data bound to go wrong
Cobalt empowers talent to work directly with clients

How to evaluate security testing talent
Rating system
Find exploits and explain potential damage

Jacob’s advice around fundraising
Celebrate the NO
Persistence is key

How Jacob grows with his shifting role at Cobalt
Read several books on each new function
Listen to podcasts and reach out on LinkedIn

Jacob’s definition of success
Respected by friends, peers
Accomplish something of value