Why the VP of Engineering at Living Security Went From Investor to New Hire

Brian Wood recently experienced an uncommon role change at Living Security: He went from early investor to new hire. 

Wood said the strength of the co-founders’ vision propelled him to invest in and advise the cybersecurity company when it launched in 2017. But it was the blend of technical expertise and steadfast compassion of the team that motivated him to take a more hands-on role as VP of engineering three months ago.

“As a full-time team member, I’ve seen a different and much more impressive aspect of the business: Living Security’s people,” Wood said.

The company provides a cybersecurity training platform that helps organizations reduce human risk by educating employees on best practices through gamified learnings. Over the years, Wood watched the company scale its reach and land clients like Target, MasterCard, Verizon and JP Morgan in a market that’s expected to grow from $150 billion in 2018 to almost $250 billion by 2023, according to research firm MarketsandMarkets. The team has grown to more than 50 employees today, with around 25 more developers expected to join this year.

Beyond the company’s notable scale, Wood said the team’s desire to give back to the community through charity work following the February winter storm in Texas was just one of the reasons he wanted to make the transition from investor to full-time employee.

In his new role, Wood will scale the engineering team and inject the company’s new human risk management platform with improved data capabilities. The leader said the same vision that enticed him early on will keep the team aligned as they work toward increasing their market share and achieving their mission of putting an end to cybersecurity breaches in enterprise organizations.