GuardVest / Cybersecurity Advisory

Build boldly.
Grow securely.

Cybersecurity advisory for startups and growing businesses.

GuardVest helps you understand your risk, strengthen your security operations and prepare for commercial and federal customer requirements as your business grows.

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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.

Business disruption

Downtime, exposed data, recovery costs.

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.

Operational disruption

44%

of breaches involved ransomware.

Have a response plan before your team needs to use it.

Build your readiness

Third-party exposure

30%

of breaches involved a third party.

Understand the dependencies your business relies on.

Assess your security

Exploitable weaknesses

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.

Security Assessment

Choose this when you need a clear view of current security gaps and a prioritized 90-day plan.

Security Readiness Program

Choose this when you need the assessment plus ClearSight, operating documents, an incident tabletop and service recommendations.

GuardVest 360

Choose this when you need the full Readiness Program plus continuing advisory support over six months.

GuardVest ClearSight

Choose this when you need an independent review of your source code and a fix-first report for your engineers.

SOC 2 Readiness

Choose this when customer requirements or a planned Type I or Type II examination call for a control and evidence plan.

CMMC Self-Attestation Readiness

Choose this when a defense contract, SBIR award or subcontract calls for cybersecurity self-assessment and leadership affirmation.

FedRAMP Readiness

Choose this when federal cloud customers need a defined class, evidence plan and preparation for agency requirements.

Ask GuardVest

Choose this when you need an expert conversation about a specific security decision or question.

Single-Purpose Engagements

Choose this when you have one defined security assignment and need a finished work product.

Your next stepGuardVest / Let’s talk