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.
Graduates of the Founder Institute are creating some of the world's fastest growing startups, having raised over $1.85BN in funding, and building products people love across over 200 cities worldwide.
See the most recent news from our Grads at FI.co/news, or learn more about their stories at FI.co/journey.
