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Entrepreneurs don’t rise and shine, they rise and grind. And for good reason. Starting from nothing and building to something is fraught with risks that run the gamut of “Do I have enough cash to get me to my next major milestone and until I complete my next raise?” to “Will one of my large whale competitors knock me out of business?” Yet there’s a larger risk out there lurking under the surface ready to sink an entrepreneur’s dreams: a successful cyber attack.
As a four-time founder, I have to admit, this risk wasn’t even on my radar. I was consumed with all of the other risks out there. But that’s because I thought that as a small business I wasn’t an attractive target for cyber criminals. Unfortunately nothing is further from the truth, because according to a recent study by Verizon “43 percent of all cyber-attacks target small businesses.”
But, I get it. I don’t just hear the old me’s grumbles of how much I already have to worry about as a founder, I also hear the grumbles today from entrepreneurs when I’m either doing due diligence to determine if I want to invest in them or mentoring startup founders. Here’s the thing though, sure there are a ton of risks out there. We know that 95% of all startups fail within 5 years. However, according to many sources, a successful cyber attack can cause massive damage to a small business or even force it to close in less than a year. So let’s be honest, would you rather go out of business because of a successful cyber attack or head on over to the Global Cyber Alliance’s Cybersecurity Toolkit for Small Business and take steps to protect yourself at no cost?
I know which option a successful entrepreneur would choose.
The author, Joshua Lawton-Belous, is the Global Business Officer for the Global Cyber Alliance. You can connect with him on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter.