Feature, Product, or Platform? The Identity Crisis Killing Cybersecurity Startups

When ambition outruns market reality, valuation becomes vapor.

I’ve written often about the evolving role of the CISO and the operational pressures we face. Today, I want to shift the lens to the innovation ecosystem feeding our industry. As a CISO, I’m constantly pitched new technologies—AI-driven analytics, next-generation detection, identity enhancements, cloud visibility tools. I enjoy those conversations. I’m an early adopter by nature. I spend time with founders and investors. I understand both the ambition and the pressure.

What I’m seeing right now is a growing disconnect in our market, not from bad intent, but from a lack of commercial context.

Cybersecurity today is defined by platform consolidation. The large players are expanding aggressively, acquiring niche technologies to increase revenue per customer and deepen ecosystem lock-in.

Companies such as Palo Alto Networks, Cisco, CrowdStrike, and Fortinet are no longer selling isolated tools. They are building integrated security platforms that combine telemetry, response, automation, and increasingly AI into unified operating models.