Graduate Profile: Branden Spikes
What's next for a man who has helped solve some of the most complex IT and security issues on the planet? Over the course of a decade, Branden Spikes served as the chief IT guy and architect of all of Elon Musk's companies, from Zip2 (which became PayPal) all the way through SpaceX.
But it wasn't until his time at SpaceX that Branden envisioned the start of his own company.
When I was at SpaceX I found that the typical way that hackers would tap into our network, was by getting employees to click malicious links. Then, Elon said he wanted to send astronauts into space and I immediately set about trying to solve our security issues to keep those astronauts safe.
During his time at Paypal, Spikes was put in charge of cyber security. He realized that personal attacks and malicious links were a common occurence that employees were running into. With vulnerability of intellectual property and the dangers of malicious software for a majority of companies in this day and age, Branden Spikes set out to find a solution. When asked why he created Spikes Security, he answers the question by saying:
Moral imperative. If I wouldn’t have started this company, it would be like watching a problem that plagues 50% of humanity, knowing you have the solution, but doing nothing about it. I know that my solution works, so it’s my job to fix this problem in the world.
Realizing he needed to know how to take his knowledge of browser security, and translate that into a company that could sustain itself and scale, Branden joined the Silicon Valley Founder Institute. After going through the program in 2012, he came out with a company worthy of raising $2.4M a year later.
It's like getting a industry-specific MBA custom tailored to your business in four months, which, it turns out, is pretty helpful to a guy without a college degree. They don't bother with theory, only real substance and hard facts behind actual steps to success.
Since then, Spikes Security has developed one of the most secure web browsing experiences possible. Spikes Security is cyber security company with innovative, patented isolation technology to prevent browser-borne malware attacks.
By using cloud computing technology to run a web browser on a secure remote computer, personal computers never have to access websites or downloads directly. This solution currently serves larger enterprises who need their network secure and free of malware.
Spikes plans to continue expanding and eventually serve their disruptive technology to an even wider consumer audience, considering it makes web browsing faster and worry free.
News
- April 2015: Spikes Security Wins MVP Award From Computer Technology Review
- April 2015: Spikes Security Wins 2015 Govies Award From 1105 Media
- May 2015: Spikes Security quoted in USA Today
- November 2015: Spikes Security promote new product, AirGap, early in the UK
Updates
- January 2013: Spikes Raises a $2.4M seed round
- October 2014: Spikes raised an $11M series A funding round
- May 2017: Spikes acquired by Aurionpro