Global Startup Spotlight Competition

Roy Firestein is a strategist, seasoned hacker and expert in cyber security, business development and project management. He has a background in security, programming, research, management, marketing and sales with a unique ability to manage multi-disciplinary projects while navigating complex cyber challenges. Roy’s passion lies in Big Data and Machine Learning, especially when applied to cyber security. As a multi-linguist of technology-driven business, he speaks fluent geek, marketer, designer, salesperson and investor.

Anshu Gupta is a seasoned global cybersecurity executive with Fortune 500 advisory experience at EY and KPMG, working with companies including Microsoft, Salesforce, Cisco, and Oracle. He has built and led security programs at high-growth startups and fintechs, including Coupa, HelloSign (Dropbox), Varo Bank, Fast, and SPAN.io. Anshu is the CISO at Fixin Security, Founder of Tejas Cyber Network (a global community for cyber leaders and founders), and an active investor with Silicon Valley CISO Investments (SVCI)

Lawrence Munro is the Chief Information Security Officer at Tide, responsible for the organization’s global cyber security strategy. He has held senior security and technology leadership roles, including Group CISO at NCC Group and Vice President of SpiderLabs at Trustwave, and has experience as both a CISO and CTO. With a background in penetration testing and social engineering, Lawrence has worked across engineering, operations, and executive management. He provides strategic advice on cyber risk, innovation, and resilience to government, investors, and start-ups, and supports international security initiatives with NATO and the UK Government.

Lucas Nelson is a Founding Partner of Lytical Ventures; with roots as an old-school hacker and cybersecurity expert, Lucas brings deep technical expertise to venture capital. A Kauffman Fellow (Class of 2015), Lucas holds an MBA from Dartmouth and a BS in Computer Science from Purdue University.

Lucas began his career as part of the underground hacking scene, joining DefCon in 1995 as a Goon—helping to run what would become the largest hacker convention in the United States. He later joined @stake, one of the first elite hacking consulting firms, where he legally broke into banks and early internet companies from 2001 until its acquisition by Symantec in 2005.

In the venture capital world, Lucas served as a Principal at Evolution Equity and Gotham Ventures before co-founding Antecedent Ventures with his current partner, Steve Berg. Beyond investments, he has held operating roles at Adobe and several startups, giving him hands-on experience in the challenges faced by high-growth companies.

Sid Trivedi is a Partner at Foundation Capital where he leads early-stage investments in cybersecurity and IT. His investments include AirMDR, Prime Security, Stacklet, Aegis AI, DevZero, Nimble Security, Permiso, Pulse Security, Levo, Phenom, Attivo Networks (acq. SentinelOne), CloudKnox (acq. Microsoft), Respond Software (acq. Mandiant), and MistNet (acq. LogRhythm). Prior to Foundation, Sid was an investor at Omidyar Technology Ventures and STG Partners. He is also a co-founder of CyberSeed, a community of over 2,000 cybersecurity founders, and co-host of the Inside the Network podcast, which shares how category-defining cyber startups are built. Outside work, he serves on the advisory boards of Entrepreneurship at Cornell, the California Israel Chamber of Commerce, and Cornell Venture Capital.