The AI Advantage in Cybersecurity: Startup Grind feat. Tiffany Ricks (HacWare)
Details
Every startup founder begins with a mission to solve a pressing problem. (If you didn't, you're just a vitamin.)
But as your company grows, new challenges emerge, requiring you to adapt, innovate, and think bigger.
For Tiffany Ricks, founder and CEO of HacWare, this journey led to a unique intersection: the convergence of AI and cybersecurity. Starting with a consulting service and evolving into an AI-driven platform, Tiffany has consistently addressed the complexities of technical development, market demands, and the ever-evolving threat landscape.
All while navigating a male-dominated industry and expanding a startup during economic uncertainty.
But how does a founder like Tiffany ensure that the solutions she builds not only meet today’s challenges, but also anticipate tomorrow’s? And how can the integration of AI elevate your startup’s impact?
Join us on Tuesday, September 17th to hear directly from Tiffany as she shares her experience in transforming HacWare into a leader in cybersecurity education. Learn how to leverage AI to stay ahead, make critical decisions that shape your product’s future, and maintain your startup’s core mission amidst rapid technological change.
Attendees will also receive a free cybersecurity awareness course as a special giveaway!
Tickets for this event include food and drinks, as well as exclusive access to this entrepreneur who will show you how to take small, actionable steps toward integrating AI into your business, and explore ways to protect your investments by prioritizing cybersecurity.
You'll also meet dozens of other high-performing entrepreneurs who are creating their next big thing. Seriously, it's some of the best founder networking in the city.
Getting a ticket includes food, drinks, and guarantees admission. No long lines outside. No waitlist.
We're meeting LIVE AND IN-PERSON at The Yard, a coworking space at the intersection of innovation, creativity, design, & play -- with locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Philly, and DC -- with a variety of shared and private workspace options. If you are interested in learning more or scheduling a visit, you can do so here.
And don't miss our recurring founder social events over coffee or cocktails. It's a great opportunity for operators to network with each other to share best practices and find new resources to build your startup the right way. See the full event lineup here.
Agenda
6:00 PM: Networking with food and drinks
7:00 PM: Conversation with Tiffany Ricks
7:45 PM: Community shoutouts
8:00 PM: More networking
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Speaker
Tiffany Ricks - HacWare (Founder & CEO)
Tiffany Ricks is the founder and Chief Executive Officer at HacWare, Inc., an award-winning Cybersecurity startup that provides AI-powered advanced cybersecurity education to help lean security teams to combat phishing attacks.
Mrs. Ricks is a cybersecurity expert with over 15 years of experience in the software and cybersecurity industry. She has been recognized as a 2022 Top 500 In…
Hosted By
Joshua Ness, Managing Director, Startup Grind
Joshua Ness is the Manging Director at Startup Grind NYC and is a Director of Emerging Technologies with IEEE. He works with enterprise, startups, and academic teams to drive innovation. He also works to educate, inspire, and connect the dots for businesses interested in moving forward with emerging technology.
Tova Feldheim, Cofounder
Alex Koshykov, Events Team
Journeying back to 2016, I planted a pioneering seed as a co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of BeKey LLC. Over these years, BeKey evolved into a dynamic entity, deeply rooted in the domains of software and hardware development. It's an American-registered company, headquartered in Israel and a development center in Ukraine.
Also, actively working on building a few products on my own.
Have a blog on YouTube about digital health: https://www.youtube.com/c/BeKey-Hub
Jenny Sumeragi, CEO & Founder, JS Global Investment
Arjun Mehta, Co-founder
Arjun Mehta is a recent graduate of NYU, holding a degree in Business and Tech Management with a concentration in Finance. During his time in college, Arjun gained invaluable experience through internships at a VC firm, a startup, and his own passion project. At the VC firm, he evaluated the growth potential of numerous health tech startups, analyzed pitch decks, and contributed to investment strategy meetings. Arjun also hosted strategic advisory calls for over 30 startup teams, gaining a comprehensive understanding of the startup VC ecosystem.
His longest tenure was at Invincible Entertainment as a Business Development Associate, where he utilized CRM tools to engage over 100 leads, significantly boosting sales outreach. He also closed multiple licensing deals and developed no-code AI tools to enhance workplace efficiency. Recently, Arjun co-created a chatbot for NYU's ambassador program, streamlining operations and reducing the need for on-shift counselors. Arjun is now seeking a role at a high-growth seed-stage startup to leverage his skills in sales, partnerships, and business strategy.
Michelle Xie, Software Engineer
Valencia Tong, Global Board Member and Marketing Lead
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Global Partner
Snowflake (https://www.snowflake.com)
Snowflake delivers the Data Cloud - a global network where thousands of organizations mobilize data with near-unlimited scale, concurrency, and performance. Inside the Data Cloud, organizations unite their siloed data, easily discover and securely share governed data, and execute diverse analytic workloads. Wherever data or users live, Snowflake delivers a single and seamless experience across multiple public clouds. Snowflake's platform is the engine that powers and provides access to the Data
Builder (https://www.builder.ai/)
Builder.ai is an AI-powered composable software platform for every idea and company on the planet. The AI-powered assembly line fuses together Lego-like reusable features, using Building Blocks™ automation to reduce human effort, leveraging a verified network of experts to vastly extend development capabilities, and producing apps at almost zero failure rate that are multitudes cheaper and faster than traditional software development.
Partner
The Yard (https://theyard.com/)
The Yard is a coworking space at the intersection of innovation, creativity, design, & play -- with locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Philly, and DC -- with a variety of shared and private workspace options.
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Startup Grind is a global startup community designed to educate, inspire, and connect entrepreneurs. We host monthly events in more than 600 cities and 125+ countries featuring successful local founders, innovators, educators and investors who share personal stories and lessons learned on the road to building great companies. Our monthly fireside chat interviews, startup mixers and annual conferences provide ample opportunities to connect with amazing startups and the people behind them, tap into a strong support network, form meaningful connections and gain inspiration for the startup journey ahead. For more information visit StartupGrind.com or follow us on twitter @StartupGrind.
Complete your event RSVP here: https://www.startupgrind.com/events/details/startup-grind-new-york-city-presents-the-ai-advantage-in-cybersecurity-startup-grind-feat-tiffany-ricks-hacware/.