Startup of the Day: 1.security, a Polish cybertech startup
Launched by Adam Żaczek and Mateusz Olek, 1.security offers a SaaS product that addresses the challenges in permission management. The product was developed in partnership with German cybersecurity firm CISOCON. 1.security claims it is committed to democratizing cybersecurity within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, making it intuitive and accessible for all businesses. Recently, the startup raised $500,000 from Sunfish Partners.
In the Startup of the Day column, Adam Żaczek, co-founder of 1.security, shares the details about the startup’s idea, its product, and future plans.
The Startup of the Day column on AIN.Capital is dedicated to tech projects from all sectors that originated from the CEE countries. If you would like to introduce your project, please fill in the questionnaire.
Tell us about your startup. How does it work?
1.Security solves the problem of ‘who has access to what and why’ for the complex and opaque Microsoft 365 permission ecosystem. It integrates with Microsoft 365 to provide visibility and control over users, files, sites and groups to their relationships.
How did you come up with the startup’s idea? What was the reason/motivation behind it?
The escalating sophistication of cybersecurity threats, coupled with the frequency of high-profile breaches in recent years, has deeply motivated me to seek out effective solutions. The Microsoft 365 ecosystem, with its complex and opaque permission access landscape, represents a prime opportunity for stopping cybercrime.
How long did it take to reach the prototype or MVP? What did you encounter?
We encountered an unexpected challenge that wasn’t part of our initial assessment — group management within Microsoft 365, a critical aspect that essentially set users up for failure.
Groups that are crucial for organizing work and sharing permissions in OneDrive and SharePoint present a unique challenge. Their variety, combined with their lack of visibility in a single, accessible location, complicates the management process. Moreover, constructing a comprehensive list of all group members becomes a daunting task, especially considering the possibility of nesting groups within groups, where one group’s members can be another’s owners, and so on. This intricacy significantly escalated the difficulty of answering seemingly simple questions like “who has access to this folder and why?”.
This revelation forced us to reevaluate our approach, leading to solutions tailored to navigating and simplifying the convoluted group management system in Microsoft 365. The experience not only highlighted the depth of the challenge but also sharpened our focus on creating a tool that offers clarity and control, making cybersecurity intuitive for every user.
When exactly did you launch your product? Or when the launch is planned?
We have a closed-access launch in 2 months. We plan the open-access launch in 4 months.
Tell us about the startup’s business model. How do you monetize your product?
Our startup is committed to democratizing cybersecurity within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, making it intuitive and accessible for all businesses, regardless of size or technical expertise. To align with this mission, we’ve chosen a pay-per-user monetization approach that scales with the needs and sizes of our customers.
What are your target markets and consumers?
Our solution caters to 345 million paid Microsoft 365 users, ranging from small businesses to large enterprises, across various industries. The three notably big sectors are banking, IT and construction.
What about your team? How many people are working in the startup? If you’re looking for new employees, indicate whom exactly.
Our team at 1.Security comprises five dedicated software engineers, each with a deep understanding of cybersecurity challenges and a strong background in developing intuitive, user-friendly solutions. From the outset, we had a clear vision of the expertise needed to bring our project to life, and we’re fortunate that all of our top-choice candidates embraced our mission and joined us.
In addition to our core team, we’re supported by a distinguished group of three advisors. These individuals bring a wealth of experience, having founded successful cybersecurity firms and spearheaded significant initiatives within large tech companies. Their insights and guidance have been invaluable, helping us navigate the complexities of the cybersecurity landscape and refine our product strategy.
We believe that the synergy between our team’s technical prowess and our advisors’ strategic acumen is a cornerstone of our platform’s success. This blend of skills ensures we’re not just developing a product but are also deeply attuned to the evolving needs of our users and the broader cybersecurity ecosystem.
As we continue to grow and evolve, we’re always on the lookout for talented individuals who share our passion for making cybersecurity accessible to everyone. Specifically, we’re interested in expanding our team with roles in product development, customer success, Microsoft 365 and software engineering.
Have you already raised any investments? Provide us with more details on each funding round: the amount, investors, the purpose of the investment.
We’ve raised $500,000 from Polish-German fund Sunfish Partners for launching the product and going from ideation stage to first paying customers.
What’s next? Tell us about your future plans.
In the long term, we envision transforming the landscape of permissions management. Our goal is for our platform to become the gold standard in addressing the critical question of ‘who has access to what and why’ across organizations worldwide. We believe that within a few years, our solution will not only simplify permissions management but also significantly enhance cybersecurity and data governance practices.
This initial closed-access period is crucial for us. It’s a time for focused improvement and iteration, allowing us to perfect our product based on user feedback before we introduce it to the broader market. Once we’re confident that we have achieved our high standards of usability and effectiveness, we’ll proceed with a full launch,
In the short term, our focus is on closely collaborating with our early adopters. We’ve identified a select group of customers who are as excited as we are about the potential of our platform. Together, we’ll refine and enhance our solution, drawing on their feedback and experiences to ensure that it meets the real-world needs of businesses navigating the complexities of MS 365 permissions.
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