Business disruption
Downtime, exposed data, recovery costs.
GuardVest / Cybersecurity Advisory
Build boldly.
Grow securely.
Cybersecurity advisory for startups and growing businesses.
GuardVest helps you understand your risk, build your security operations, and get expert guidance as your business grows.
Rooted at Lake Merritt / Oakland, CaliforniaPractical expertise. Clear next steps.
The challengeGuardVest / 01
Security gaps put growth
and operations at risk.
Growing companies face real cyber threats and customer scrutiny—often without a dedicated security leader.
Delayed opportunities
Missing policies and weak evidence holding up customer reviews and investor diligence.
Unclear priorities
Spending on services you don’t need while real gaps stay open.
The evidenceGuardVest / Why readiness matters
One incident.
More than one impact.
Your operations, customer relationships and next business decision all depend on security. These breach patterns show where preparation matters.
$264K
Average incident cost for SMEs.
50%
of SME claims of at least $1,000 involved ransomware or business email compromise.
Source: NetDiligence 2025 Cyber Claims Study, pp. 1–2. Incidents 2020–2024; SMEs: revenue below $2B; incident-cost sample: 8,936 claims. Insurance-claim data describe this sample, not your likelihood of loss. This is not a startup-specific loss estimate.
44%
of breaches involved ransomware.
Have a response plan before your team needs to use it.
Build your readiness ↗30%
of breaches involved a third party.
Understand the dependencies your business relies on.
Assess your security ↗20%
of breaches began with vulnerability exploitation.
Identify weaknesses and prioritize remediation across your environment.
Explore our services ↗Source: Verizon 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report, analyzing 12,195 confirmed breaches. These are shares of observed breaches, not the probability that your business will be breached. Categories can overlap; the data are not specific to startups. GuardVest’s source-code scan covers an agreed code snapshot, not every vulnerability across your environment.
Our approachGuardVest / 02
Work shaped
around your
business.
Understand the business
Start with risk, customer requirements, stage of growth.
Make the work practical
Deliver findings, documents and agreed assignments people can use.
Stay close to the client
Explain decisions clearly, adapt priorities as needs change.
Ways to work togetherGuardVest / 03
Start where you are.
Build what you need.
01Security Assessment
Understand gaps and prioritize action
02Security Readiness Program
Assessment, code review, documents and service recommendations
03GuardVest 360
Readiness foundation plus continuing advisory support
04Ask GuardVest
A prepaid call with GuardVest experts; one-hour minimum
05Single-Purpose Engagements
A scoped work product using prepaid hours
Your next stepGuardVest / Let’s talk
Build boldly.
Grow securely.
Let’s talk about what your business needs. In a 30-minute scoping call, we discuss your priorities and recommend the right scope of support.
info@guardvest.co
Scan to book a free
30-minute scoping call
Practical guidanceGuardVest / 04
Make your next security
decision with confidence.
Startup security guide
Preparing for your first customer security review
A practical starting point for founders facing questionnaires, requests for policies and questions about how customer data is protected.
Read the guide ↗Startup security guide
Security assessment, code scan or penetration test?
They answer different questions. Understand what each examines, what you receive and how to choose the right scope.
Read the guide ↗