James de Lacey recently joined Intigriti as Global Vice President of Sales. Find out why he believes now is the ideal time for people to start building their careers in cybersecurity.
Hi, James! Can you tell us a little about your career history? What brought you to Intigriti?
James de Lacey: My attraction to Intigriti was similar to what motivated me to join previous scaleups. Intigriti has a set of very distinguishing characteristics. For me, the three pillars are the technology, the team, and product market fit. These are all super important to me and to Intigriti as a business.
It’s also exciting to have the opportunity to add value on a huge scale and in a sector that’s addressing real challenges. If you look at our use cases, especially given current trends in cybersecurity, the challenges and the cost implications it poses for governments and enterprise are enormous. This is where our value proposition aligns neatly with real-world commercial needs. We offer an agile, continuous safeguard to help mitigate financial, reputational, and regulatory risks, and which translates through to better business performance. I think this is the crux of what we deliver and why we have been selected to work with leading brands like Intel, Yahoo!, and Red Bull.
We also play a role in continually protecting, monitoring, and educating organizations through our community model. So, in addition to working with brands who are driving more sustainable behaviors, Intigriti is also paying it back in a community sense. That, for me, was incredibly novel, and purposeful.
You joined Intigriti as Global Vice President of Sales. How are you finding the role, and could you describe a typical day?
JdL: Every day counts in a scaleup environment, so most of my days are very busy, but structured to operate with intention. As Vice President of Sales, my role is focused on growth and building the machinery to get there, aligning with different departments to ensure we’re all pointing in the same direction, and finally planning for the future. Day to day, it’s everything from ensuring that all our sales systems and processes are working, reviewing pipelines, forecasts, and managing risk, through to hiring new talent and joining the most strategic opportunities to influence deal design and bookings.
Depending on where we are in the calendar, I’m also working on preparing for board meetings, creating focus and collaboration with meetings across C-suite, and working on strategy and planning to ensure our go-to-market agenda is on track.
What do you find most rewarding about your position at Intigriti?
JdL: In addition to the huge opportunities presented by the bug bounty and crowdsourced security industry, I find it rewarding to work in a team of authentic people who have a ‘let’s get big things done together’ mindset. Everyone on the team is a doer and happy to lean in and support each other to make things happen, fast.
More generally, we have an awesome proposition that sets us apart from traditional cybersecurity players. Businesses see that, too. In addition to our platform, one of the key drivers for Intigriti over the last six years has been our trusted community model. We have more than 50,000 ethical hackers on the Intigriti platform, each of whom can make a material difference, no matter where they are in the world.
The bug bounty industry offers efficiencies of scale and scope that traditional security companies cannot provide
James de Lacey, intigriti
What do you feel are the main challenges facing the security and tech industries as we head into 2023? Do you have any tips to help your industry colleagues overcome these hurdles?
JdL: One of the main challenges facing Intigriti and the bug bounty industry is legacy. We are a challenger and contending with well-established names in the security industry. From experience, to be a successful and effective challenger brand, you have to really deliver well on four fronts.
First, you need to be able to tell a great story that gives you the edge and prompts clients to reimagine. Second, it’s about the value and outcomes your product delivers and that incumbent players cannot match. Third is trust; you have to build this into everything you do across the customer journey, particularly understanding what matters most to clients. And finally, purpose. Being able to demonstrate why what you’re doing is not only better or smarter for clients but also actually has real value in terms of taking positive action for people and the planet.
What would you say to anyone considering a career in cybersecurity, and particularly a cybersecurity sales role?
JdL: I would like to think it’s for the same reasons that prompted me to move into the sector, and Intigriti: the rise of cyberthreats, and the scale possibility.
There’s no question that cyber-attacks are not only increasing in scope but are becoming more sophisticated in design, all of which create potential new vulnerabilities. Also, given the acceleration in the digital economy, no organization is immune. There are cybersecurity implications for businesses of any size, whether you’re an enterprise, or small or mid-sized business, it can pose damage with significant impact, including both direct and intangible costs.
As a result, this is our chance to step up and seize the opportunity by meeting the needs of our customers, as well as supporting underserved segments thanks to emerging economies of scale.
So, if you’re a salesperson, and you’re interested in working in an industry and organization where there’s increasing global demand, infinite headroom to acquire new logos, and selling a proposition that is making a positive social impact, this is a unique moment in time.
Ready to jump on board the Intigriti rocket ship? Visit our careers page for the latest employment opportunities.
