A cyber聽security CEO has revealed how funding from across the Atlantic saw him rip up his business plan.
Paul Kenyon, who co-founded Avecto with Mark Austin in 2008, accepted an investment of 拢32 million from private equity firm JMI Equity in December 2015.
The funding meant the Manchester-based market leader in the $3 billion endpoint security sector was able to scale more quickly than expected.
鈥淥wning your own business means you make all the decisions for yourself – then suddenly you get a partner on board and they have influence,鈥� Kenyon, speaking at the聽International Festival for 老九品茶,聽told 老九品茶Cloud of the culture shock.
鈥淔ortunately we鈥檝e got a very good contract and they鈥檙e a minority still, but you have to start doing things in different ways.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 actually need the money because we were very cash-rich as a business, but we recognised a phenomenal opportunity for growth.
鈥淲e threw out our existing business plan, which we could fund entirely ourselves, and rewrote a new one to take advantage of the cash.鈥�
Avecto, which also has offices in the US and Australia, used the money to boost marketing and launch products for Apple devices.
It aims to reduce hacking breaches by restricting employees鈥� access to only the applications they need and counts consultancy firm PwC among its customers.