Squadra Ventures

On the journey to building a great cybersecurity product, there’s no skipping steps. That was a message I heard loud and clear during my recent conversation with Rick Gordon, the Co-Founder CEO of Tidal Cyber. Rick has the unique role of both serving as the CEO of a company, and advising other founders and CEOs. I think you’ll find it interesting to learn about how he is putting the lessons he’s learned into practice across Tidal Cyber's product, team, and approach to the market. What’s one step an aspiring founder can’t skip? “Go talk to 50 customers before you build a stitch of code.” It’s serving Tidal Cyber well. Watch the full conversation at the link in the comments!

🚨 Critical Security Flaws Expose Smart Factory Software to Major Cyber Risks Manufacturers using factory automation systems from Mitsubishi Electric and Rockwell Automation could be facing serious cybersecurity threats, according to a new disclosure from CISA. The vulnerabilities, which could allow remote code execution (RCE), authentication bypass, and denial-of-service (DoS), highlight just how vulnerable critical infrastructure can be if overlooked. With nation-state attacks targeting ICS sectors on the rise, it’s more important than ever for organizations to apply patches and strengthen security measures. ➡️ Click below to learn more about the attack and vulnerabilities disclosed. #ICS #Cybersecurity #SupplyChainRisk #IndustrialAutomation #CriticalInfrastructure #Infosec #DevSecOps #Firmware #VulnerabilityManagement

As we approach the 2024 elections, the IT compliance landscape is set to shift dramatically. New regulations could mean stricter data protection and cybersecurity measures that impact your business strategy. 📈 Stay ahead of the game! Discover how you can adapt to these changes and turn compliance challenges into growth opportunities: https://lnkd.in/eWvJ6nkY #ITCompliance #CyberSecurity #DataProtection #Election2024 #BusinessGrowth #Sicura

Kicking off an exciting week for team Overwatch, with scenerio-based flight testing of our latest and greatest AI enabled Smart Sendor (TK-11), strategic customer meetings for our Automated Sensor Operator (ASO) software and HQ visits with reps from major programs. 🔥 Right technology, right time!

⚠️ In the News:  A recent breach of U.S. federal wiretapping systems has raised urgent questions about national security and network vulnerabilities. This deep-dive article explores the breach, believed to be conducted by a Chinese state-sponsored group, which potentially exposed sensitive intelligence and law enforcement data. Our own Terry Dunlap, Senior VP of Corporate Strategy & Development at NetRise, weighs in on the critical role of network segmentation and the challenges of securing federal communications. His perspective on developing private, isolated networks underscores the complexities in securing critical infrastructure amidst evolving threats. 📖 Read more about the breach, its implications, and insights from cybersecurity experts below. #Cybersecurity #NationalSecurity #ThreatHunting #CyberAttack #InformationSecurity #Infosec #SupplyChainRisk #IoTSecurity #DevSecOps #Exploitation #ReverseEngineering #ICS #XIoT #NetRise

Shift5 welcomes Dennis Lu and Samantha Segall to the team! A veteran of Palantir, Lu will oversee product delivery at Shift5 through its next phase of growth, and Segall will lead the development and implementation of political and industry affairs strategies. https://ow.ly/rHkB50TXso5 #ourendpointsarecooler

Unlock new levels of efficiency at the API World + CloudX 2024 Hackathon on November 6th! Join Kendall Moore, Chief Product Officer at Sicura, as he shares insights on conquering the complexities of cloud environments. Imagine beginning with any base image, instantly applying security policies, and scaling your infrastructure effortlessly with an open-source policy engine embedded right in your pipelines. Can’t make it in person? Join us for the live online session on November 13th! More details are coming soon. Register now: https://lnkd.in/gKUXP_Yb #APIWorld2024 #CloudX2024 #Hackathon2024 #CloudSecurity #DevOps #CloudInfrastructure #SecurityAutomation #InfrastructureAsCode #SecureDevOps #TechTalks

Excited to start rolling out my interviews with CEOs! For the last 20 years or so, I've been bringing members together across the United States for CISO interactions at breakfast roundtables. Most of you know that we bring in vendors from the cybersecurity community. And of course, they're paid sponsors, and we hope they can earn some business. But more importantly, they bring us some knowledge of what's happening in the industry.  After all this time, I thought it might make sense to sit down with some of the founders and CEOs of these companies and dig a little bit deeper. So that's what I did. In recent weeks, I interviewed CEOs from companies large and small. Here are the 6 questions I asked each interviewee: ➡ What inspired you to start your company and what gaps are you filling? ➡ What makes your company and solution unique? ➡ How do you cut through the “noise” in today’s crowded security solution marketplace? ➡ Can you share a specific case in which your solution made a significant impact in reducing risk or solving a security challenge? ➡ With the increasing use of AI and machine learning, how will you incorporate those capabilities into your solution? ➡ Lastly, what advice would you give an aspiring cybersecurity startup? I think you’ll find the responses as varied as they are compelling — I know I did. We’re excited to share the interviews in the coming weeks. Keep checking back here for the latest! If there are other folks that you think I should be interviewing, just shoot me a message. Hope you enjoy. #cybersecurity #ciso #entrepreneurship

The Squadra team has been out and about coast to coast! In the last few weeks we've enjoyed spending time at LA TECH WEEK by a16z , the National Security Venture Capital Summit in Colorado Springs, DC Startup & Tech Week (Formerly DC Startup Week), and at the AFCEA International Belvoir October Luncheon! 🚀 LA Tech Week: From El Segundo to Santa Monica, events across the city let Isaac Carp, CFA experience first hand the thriving and dynamic hard tech ecosystem. At the largest events like those hosted by the American Dynamism team at A16Z to small gatherings like the LA Hardware Happy Hour in Echo Park, startups are innovating on everything from nuclear reactors to electronics. Shout out to LA-based Squadra portfolio company Prewitt Ridge for being a part of this thriving ecosystem! 🤝 National Security Venture Capital Summit: Hosted by Catalyst Campus, Colorado Springs, which serves as an innovation hub bringing together industry, academia, and government leaders, had many significant stakeholders join in conversation. Organizations like Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), Army SBIR|STTR Program, SpaceWERX, AF CyberWorx, AFWERX, Army Futures Command, IQT (In-Q-Tel), national labs and test centers, and system integrators like SAIC, RTX, American Enterprise Institute, and BAE Systems, and an impressive group of startup technologies were all represented. The conversations featured many interesting learnings around deep tech and that moves continue to be made on each side of the venture, industry, government, and innovation communities to reduce friction and work together on our nation’s toughest challenges. We were proud to sponsor, Guy Filippelli, Dominic Ventimiglia, and Isaac Carp, CFA were proud to attend, and appreciated the opportunity to share our perspective. Shoutout to Squadra portfolio company Overwatch Imaging for being one of the featured companies! 🏛 DC Tech & Startup Week: From our new office in Downtown DC, being steps away from the events of DCTSW was energizing! Our team members Margaret Roth, Adam Bixler, and Navneet V. spent time at events across the city, and appreciated the highlighted sessions from the US Department of State that supported dual-use tech entrepreneurs on SBIR/STTR funding and navigating the government and commercial markets, and a great VC in DC event at Halcyon with JPMorganChase and Squadra portfolio company VirgilHR. If we missed you this time, we’re already excited for more events in DC in the coming weeks! 🚛 AFCEA Belvoir Luncheon: Featuring Mr. Young Bang, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics & Technology), this excellent discussion spoke extensively to the desire to accelerate innovation. Dominic Ventimiglia and Peter Stephens were particularly impressed by the conversation and the emphasis on accelerated collaboration with private capital. See you out there!  #startups #venture #defensetech #innovation #nationalsecurity

Here's an interesting visual for our spectral band experts out there. This is an image mosaic (in the form of a GeoTIFF viewed in Google Earth) from the NIR band of one of our TK-8 Smart Sensors. The NIR band is particularly effective for imaging oil on water due to the unique ways oil and water reflect and absorb NIR light. Oil generally absorbs more NIR light than water, creating a stronger contrast and helping highlight slicks on the water’s surface. Can anyone elaborate?