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Platform Risk & A Personal Message
A SaaS goes belly up, a new format, and 2024 personal reflections
Ayman Elsawah
December 29, 2024
I’m trying a new format today. It’s not that I don’t have anything to write about it, it’s that I have too much to say, and not sure where it should go! If you like what you see here and want to support, please forward or share online. This has been a sponsor free publication since 2019.
If I haven’t heard from you in awhile, or ever, feel free to reply back and say hi, let me know you’re out there.
Happy New Year,
Ayman
Table of Contents
Platform Risk, What Happens When A SaaS Fails
What happens when your bookkeeping and tax platform disappears overnight? Well, that’s what happened when Bench suddenly shutdown it’s website. People and businesses currently can’t access their documents and software, but hopefully will be able to on 12/30. To what extent, that is yet to be seen.
Ironically, they recommended a seed stage startup, Kick, to its customers. Bench was a Series C startup with notable investors such as BainCapital, Shopify, and SVB. Here’s a rundown from their about page:
2015: Raised $7M in Series A funding
2016: Raised $16M in Series B funding
2018: Raised an additional $18M in Series B-1 funding
2021: Raised $60M in Series C funding
Seems like they are a casualty of the startups of old. Reliance on free flowing money and debt, with no impetus for profitability. Not only that, but a tech enabled services (TES) that relies on outsourced human capital (typically low cost off or near shore talent), that is now highly disrupted by AI tooling.
As a business owner, bookkeeping is a painful exercise. Not sure if it’s more painful than security questionnaires, but it’s up there.
I have a friend that signed up for a service, paid up front, as has been waiting 8+ weeks for something. He’s got nothing.
Our reliance on SaaS software is starting to show. As an early adopter of SaaS and IaaS, I used to be a huge proponent and evangelist. There was a lot of trust. As I was exposed to more and more companies and saw some of the grave mistakes that can happen, one gets wiser. You can never have enough backups.
In Other News…
Sharing various articles and media I ran into over the week.
Quantum Entanglement With Common Internet Traffic
DNSSEC Security Anti-Patterns
Phishing and Its Discontents
Interesting discussion on X on the usefulness of phishing. Reminds me of a discussion I had with folks on the topic some time ago.
Everytime I meet someone and I say I'm in cyber security, they almost always bring up phishing. "You're the guys always trying to get us" one guy said.
Some security teams even see it as a game, let's see how many people click.
This is not the relationship we want to foster.
— Ayman Elsawah ☕👋🏼 (@coffeewithayman)
6:56 PM • Dec 23, 2024
What I’m Reading
Currently reading The Almanack of Naval Ravikant which I look forward to everyday. It’s definitely a must read for everyone looking to level up personally or professionally. I don’t think I’ve highlighted and bookmarked a book so much. Here’s a quote:
Happiness is there when you remove the sense of something missing in your life.
2024 Personal Lookback Video
I recorded a quick video on my personal reflections of 2024. (For a roundup and predictions in cyber see here.)
You can’t believe how many outtakes I had. I finally got this in ONE TAKE, whew, so proud of this. No scripts, nothing, thus it’s not polished, just me.
Also, I haven’t shaved in like a week of two lol. 🧔🏻♂️
Happy New Year! 🎇
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