The Pope Visits Security Incite + Securosis

When I joined eIQ, I did a "POPE" analysis
on the opportunity, to provide a detailed perspective on why I made the move.
The structure of that analysis was pretty well received, so as I make another
huge move, I may as well dust off the POPE and use that metaphor to explain why
I’m merging Security Incite with Securosis.

People

Analyzing every “job” starts with the people. I liked the
freedom of working solo, but ultimately I knew that model was inherently
limiting. So thinking about the kind of folks I’d want to work with, a couple
of attributes bubbled to the top. First, they need to be smart. Smart enough to
know when I’m full of crap. They also need to be credible. Meaning I respect
their positions and their ability to defend them, so when they tell me I’m full
of crap – I’m likely to believe them. Any productive research environment must
be built on mutual respect.

Most importantly, they need to stay on an even keel. Being a
pretty excitable type (really!), when around other excitable types the worst
part of my personality surfaces. Yet, when I’m around guys that go with the
flow, I’m able to regulate my emotions more effectively. As I’ve been working
long and hard on personal development, I didn’t want to set myself back by
working with the wrong folks.

For those of you that know Rich and Adrian, you know they
are smart and credible. They build things and they break them. They’ve both
forgotten more about security than most folks have ever known. Both have been
around the block, screwed up a bunch of stuff and lived to tell the story.

And best of all, they are great guys. Guys you can sit
around and drink beer with. Guys you looking forward to rolling your sleeves up
with and getting some stuff done. Exactly the kind of guys I wanted to work
with.

Opportunity

Securosis
will be rolling out a set of information products targeted at accelerating the
success of mid-market security and IT professionals. Let’s just say the
security guy/gal in a mid-market company may be the worst job in IT. They have
many of the same problems as larger enterprises, but no resources or budget.
Yeah, this presents a huge opportunity.

We also plan to give a lot back to the community. Securosis
publishes all its primary research for free on the blog. We’ll continue to do
that. So we have an opportunity to make a difference in the industry as well.

To be clear, the objective isn’t to displace Gartner or
Forrester. We aren’t going to build a huge sales force. We will focus on adding
value and helping to make our clients better at their jobs. If we can do that,
everything else works itself out.

Product

To date, no one has really successfully introduced a
syndicated research product targeted to the mid-market, certainly not in
security. That fact would scare some folks, but for me it’s a huge challenge. I
know hundreds of thousands of companies struggle on a daily basis and need our
help. So I’m excited to start figuring out how to get the products to them.

In terms of research capabilities, all you have to do is
check out the Securosis Research Library to see the unbelievable
productivity of Rich and Adrian. The library holds a tremendous amount of content
and it’s top notch. As with every business trying something new, we’ll run into
our share of difficulties – but generating useful content won’t be one of them.

Exit

Honestly, I don’t care about an exit. I’ve proven I can
provide a very nice lifestyle for my family as an independent. That’s
liberating, especially in this kind of economic environment. That doesn’t mean
I question the size of the opportunity. Clearly we have a great opportunity to
knock the cover off the ball and build a substantial company. But I’m not
worried about that. I want to have fun, work with great guys and help our
clients do their jobs better. If we do this correctly, there are no lack of
research and media companies that will come knocking.

Final thoughts

On the first working day of a new decade, I’m putting the
experiences (and road rash) gained over last 10 years to use. Whether starting
a business, screwing up all sorts of things, embracing my skills as an analyst
or understanding the importance of balance in my life, this is the next logical
step for me.

Looking back, the past 10 years have been very humbling. It
started with me losing a fortune during the Internet bubble. I’ve sold the
company I founded for the cash on our balance sheet because we couldn’t find
enough customers. I tried to start two other companies – to no avail. I’ve
gotten fired (or laid off) three times. Quite a decade, eh?

Yet, I persevere. I lived through that and had lots of
successes as well. Each of those experiences helped me get to this place and
become ready to do this. And I’m ready. So hold on, it’s going to be a great
ride.

Note: I’ll be writing over
at Securosis moving forward. The blog is http://securosis.com/blog, and
you can sign up to get our writing via email the link is on the blog web page.
See you there.

Photo credit: "Pope" originally uploaded by bayat

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Mike Rothman's blog authored by Mike Rothman. Read the original post at: http://securityincite.com/blog/mike-rothman/the-pope-visits-security-incite-securosis