My guest today is Christina Cacioppo, founder and CEO of Vanta, which helps more than 16,000 companies manage security and compliance. 

Five years after our first conversation, we discuss how Vanta became a category leader, what it takes to reinvent a successful software business in the age of AI, and why Christina is betting on agents to do the work rather than simply assist users. 

We also explore the changing economics of software, the war for exceptional talent, AI's impact on cybersecurity, and what it takes to build an enduring company in Silicon Valley's rapidly changing environment. 

Please enjoy my conversation with Christina Cacioppo.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.

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Trusted by thousands of businesses, ⁠Vanta⁠ continuously monitors your security posture and streamlines audits so you can win enterprise deals and build customer trust without the traditional overhead. Invest Like the Best listeners get a special offer of $1,000 off Vanta when you go to ⁠vanta.com/invest⁠. 

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Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant.

Timestamps:

(00:00:00) How Vanta Won a Crowded Category

(00:03:12) Living Through the Software Selloff

(00:05:41) Building an Agent-First Product

(00:07:39) Why Vanta Eats the Cost of AI

(00:10:35) The Search for Outcome Pricing

(00:14:31) Getting People to Actually Use AI

(00:17:46) Why Comp for Top People Is Up 10X

(00:22:13) Valuations, Tenders, and the Endgame

(00:24:20) What’s Overhyped and Underhyped

(00:27:54) The Problem With FDEs

(00:29:34) Why French Startups Use Chinese Models

(00:30:22) Vanta as a Security Company

(00:36:57) What Makes a Great Talk

(00:40:14) Where She Would Invest Today

(00:45:19) The Billboard War

(00:49:35) The AI Trust Crisis

(00:51:39) Security Five Years From Now