Kubernetes, Pizza, and Learning From Our Community
Yesterday was a big day for Lacework. We announced a $24 million series B round of funding which will help us continue our momentum in building the market’s most comprehensive cloud security solution. Even in today’s funding environment, that’s a significant amount, and we already have plans to invest heavily (and wisely) in product development, expanding our marketing presence, and moving sales executives into markets with major demand. The energy level is high and the validation we’ve received tells us that Lacework is making the right moves and set up for continued success.
In the midst of all this goodwill, however, it is not lost on us that the plans and investments we make are only as good as how they serve our customers. Innovation is great, a catchy slogan is cool, but if customers don’t see improvement in their business because of our solution, then what does it really matter?
That’s what made yesterday so interesting. We started the day off with accolades and congratulations, and we ended by hosting a Meetup about Kubernetes security and the conundrum of using containers to operate at speed and scale, yet still in a secure and safe way. If you ever need a reminder of why you’re doing what you’re doing, go to a Meetup; people are curious and encouraging, but they have real issues in their work and they are transparent about what they need to solve them. Good listeners will recognize that, no matter how much you have in the bank, or how many awesome logos you’ve closed, there are always going to be different perspectives and new challenges faced by practitioners. If you aren’t addressing them, you’re eventually going to be out of business.
There were roughly 30 people at the Meetup, which was co-hosted with the good people at training firm, Altoros. Over pizza, beer, and Cokes, we heard people lament that their organizations were stuck in a network-centric security mindset, while others excitedly described how they were creating a container architecture to support their cloud workloads. Some were just curious, while others had sterling pedigrees in AWS management and cloud security posture. We learned a ton; as in any conversation, some things are discovered by what was said, while others by what was left unsaid.
The experience was another very important reminder of how we must always, always, always be listening to the users and practitioners who spend their time dealing with risks and vulnerabilities that could wreak havoc on their organizations. Customers will tell you a lot, but so too will communities of developers and security experts who are tasked with big jobs, but who don’t always have the internal support required to be successful. We recognize that among the many benefits to staying tightly connected with these communities is that we can find ways to always support them.
Our Chief Product Officer, Dan Hubbard, was as always, a witty and prescient host, and walked participants through an overview of Kubernetes, its inherent risks, and how to balance the need for speed with the critical nature of security for Kubernetes.
It was a fun night and an enlightening way to cap off an important day for all of us at Lacework. We did a service by helping educate some new friends but also learned a lot from them as well.
Dan’s slides are available, and we encourage you to read our report about container security which has gotten a ton of attention since we published it a couple of months ago. Keep an eye out for the Lacework team at more Meetups, AWS Community events, and other gatherings.