Cyber Awareness in startups: Proper Timings and Business Model Innovation

Do the startup founders know about cybersecurity-related issues? If yes, at what stage of their organization’s progress, they became familiar with it, and how do they want to tackle this important aspect? Is cyber awareness an accumulating knowledge domain that managers in the digital economy should embrace when creating their venture? Would it be advantageous to have the corresponding internal department from the early creation of their venture considering the cost/benefits framework?

Recent waves of entrepreneurship created an interest for individuals to develop their businesses and provide solutions for society that address unanswered needs. Among the created startups, significant numbers of them deliver digital solutions. Therefore, they are highly susceptible to common threats unique to the digital economy. Among these threats are the cybercrime and cyber warfare that may come to them when they potentially pass the momentum of becoming well-served and responsible for their customers’ security. Therefore, having in mind the cyber-related hazards would make the businesses more agile in responding.

The business model canvas consists of nine elements intertwined together, and managers who have a clearer outlook would have a more comprehensive business model. However, in each stage of the firm’s lifecycle, they need to adapt their business model to the new needs and re-evaluate their business model. With such business model innovations, businesses will shift their core activities to the most updated ones and match other business model elements together. Therefore new business model adaptations will help them survive the turbulent atmosphere of competition with global providers.