Praetorian: Solving Your Cybersecurity Problems

To have the best in cybersecurity backing you is the dream of every enterprise. Because anything lesser than that is a risky proposition. With Praetorian, you, as a company, get a collective of security expertise that will ensure your IT infrastructure’s protection and safety.

Recognized cybersecurity leader Nathan Sportsman founded Praetorian in 2010. Today, the company is a collective of highly technical engineers and developers offering deep security expertise. The company boasts of having a workforce that includes the top 5% - software developers, computer scientists, and electrical engineers recognized as researchers, open-source developers, speakers, and authors.

Praetorian solves the toughest challenges faced by today’s leading organizations across an ever-evolving digital threat landscape. Its solutions enable clients to find, fix, stop and ultimately solve cybersecurity problems across their entire enterprise and product portfolios.

Nathan has successfully instilled a “customer first” mentality that has become part of the DNA of the company, which has led to unprecedented customer satisfaction reviews, as reflected in a historical net promoter score of 86%. This reputation for delivering value to the customer has resulted in a three-year growth rate of 214%. “Praetorian always considers the broader set of enterprise services we have here at Qualcomm so reports and recommendations can be actionable,” says Gabe Lawrence, Senior IT Security Engineer, Qualcomm.

Praetorian acts as an extension of its client’s team, offering deep security expertise. Its information security solutions deliver unbiased expertise. But where does the value come from in their work? The value stems directly from Praetorian’s engineering culture, which continuously pursues efficiency and improvement in all operations.

From proprietary methodologies and toolsets to project management and back-office operations, the company delivers quality results while decreasing the costs. “Rarely have we been so impressed and pleased with a tech services vendor! Praetorian executed the entire engagement flawlessly, and they gave us a huge push forward in tightening our systems security,” says a Director of IT from an internationally recognized institution. Recently, Inc. magazine recognized Praetorian is on its annual Inc. 5000 list, the most prestigious ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies.

Series A Funding

Praetorian had achieved profitability and cash flow positive operations through eight years of bootstrapping. And they had no intention of raising outside capital. But after Praetorian and McKinsey entered into a strategic partnership to help clients solve complex cybersecurity challenges and secure innovation, the company reexamined this thinking. Earlier this year, the company raised $10 million in a Series A round of funding. The investors include Bill Wood Ventures and McKinsey & Company. Praetorian Founder and CEO Nathan Sportsman said, “Investors that are not constrained by the mechanics of a traditional fund give Praetorian the flexibility to take a long-term view that aligns client and shareholder interests and that nurtures the experimentation cycles of innovation. Bill Wood and McKinsey share our conviction that there are no shortcuts to building an enduring institution with the client at the center.”

The Visionary

Nathan Sportsman, Founder and CEO

He is responsible for championing the vision, maintaining the culture, and setting the direction of the company. He also holds the additional duties of CTO, where he is responsible for overseeing the innovation and development engine of the company, keeping the firm well positioned to defeat the ever evolving cybersecurity threat. Under Nathan’s leadership, the company has earned national recognition on the Inc. 5000 list multiple times, the Cybersecurity 500, CIO Top 20, and locally on Austin’s “Fastest 50” growing firms.

Prior to founding Praetorian, Nathan worked in various technical roles at industry-leading companies such as Sun Microsystems, Symantec, and McAfee. His experience has cross cut most industry sectors, and customers have ranged from Wall Street and Silicon Valley to government intelligence agencies and renowned educational institutions. He is nationally recognized as a leader in the cybersecurity field. He is a frequent public speaker, and is a contributing author to the world's best-selling computer security book, Hacking Exposed. He is also a U.S. patent holder, and has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

He holds a BS in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

Testimonials

"Praetorian's approach was very professional, to the point and comprised of in-depth analysis of the security vulnerabilities, which was greatly beneficial to us." – Fakhr Ul-Islam, Director Product Management IOT, Kimberly- Clark

"Praetorian was very quick to respond with quotes, very thorough in their testing procedures, and very accommodating to our schedule limits and tight deadlines. Will be back in touch soon to talk about additional work." – Mark House, Information Security, Associated Press

"I was very happy with the team, everyone was professional, the items found were useful, and I've received positive feedback from others here in engineering." – Mike Yoder, Software Engineer, Cloudera

“We help today's leading organizations gain confidence that their place in the next wave of innovation is secured.”

“Praetorian is a collective of highly technical engineers and developers with decades of industry experience. Our singular focus on information security solutions delivers unbiased expertise.”

“Our people are the top 5%—software developers, computer scientists, and electrical engineers recognized as researchers, open source developers, speakers, and authors.”