Front Lines Podcast: What Founders Get Wrong When Pitching CISOs

“It’s never been easier to build a security program. It’s never been harder to secure an organization.”

Socket CISO Andrew Becherer recently appeared on Early Adopters: CISO. Recorded at Black Hat 2026, the conversation explores how security leaders build programs, evaluate new technology, and decide which vendors to trust as AI accelerates both development and the work of securing it.

Becherer draws on his experience building security programs at companies including Datadog, where he joined as the only security employee in 2015. He reflects on how the company’s 2016 breach changed its approach to security, the foundational work that supported its growth, and the lessons he still applies today.

The discussion also examines how agentic coding changes the decision to build or buy security tools. AI can speed up everything from analyzing logs to creating incident-response tooling, but a working prototype brings ongoing responsibilities. Teams still need to consider reliability, changing requirements, and who will maintain the software years after its initial creation.

For founders, Becherer offers a candid look at what makes a security buyer receptive to a pitch. Existing pain, practical answers, and an honest account of security gaps carry more weight than predictions about problems that might become urgent years from now. He shares the straightforward question he asks vendors—and how their answers can build confidence or undermine a deal.

The conversation spans Becherer’s unconventional path into cybersecurity, the experience of starting security teams from scratch, and the growing challenge of securing AI agents. Throughout, he returns to the judgment required to turn better tools into a stronger security program.

Enjoy the full conversation below.