Cleartext is information kept in its readable form. Real, unfiltered answers for seed and Series A security founders — from two people who have founded, sold, and acquired security companies.
Two partners, one on one. Founded, sold, and acquired security companies — now in your corner.
Who it's for
We work with security company founders — the people who know the technology cold, and are figuring out the rest of the job in real time.
You've raised $50M or less, and most of you came up as practitioners — deep on threats and technology, but newer to hiring, GTM, category positioning, product strategy, and corp development. That gap is exactly where we live.
A singular, outsized-consequence moment you'll navigate exactly once. We've led three acquisitions from the buy side — so when the call comes, we run a focused sprint and you walk in clear-eyed.
What we help with
You're already deep on the technology. We're the sounding board for everything around it — the company-building calls that decide whether the technology ever gets its shot.
When to make the hire, how to spot the real thing, and how to set your first eng and security leaders up to succeed instead of stall.
Finding the motion that fits a security buyer — pricing, pipeline, and the first few reps — without torching your credibility with practitioners.
How to name what you do so buyers and investors get it fast, and how to hold that ground as the market and the incumbents shift under you.
What to build, what to sequence, and when a point solution should become a platform — judgment from shipping security product at scale.
The narrative, the metrics that matter for a security company, and how to manage a board and investors without losing the plot.
Partnerships, build-vs-buy, and the high-stakes moment an acquirer reaches out — navigated by people who've run three deals from the buy side.
Approach
No long contracts, no equity, no games. Start with a free fit call, try a fully refundable first month, and decide from there.
Free
Thirty minutes. It's about whether, not what — so there's no free consulting to extract. If you've got a live acquirer conversation, this is where we route you to the sprint instead.
$5,000 · fully refundable
The real thing, not a trial: two sessions, prep, written follow-ups, and async in between. We don't ask you to judge us on session one — session one is the worst session in any engagement. The value shows up around session three.
Yours to make
Continue, or get every dollar back. No conditions, no argument, no exit interview.
$2,500 · once
If we keep going, the onboarding fee covers an in-person kickoff and a written 30/60/90. Then it's month to month — for as long as it's useful, and not a day longer.
Scheduled, on whatever is actually hard that week. Not a curriculum.
We read your materials beforehand and arrive with a point of view.
Every significant decision gets a short written record: what we decided, why, and what would change our mind.
For the things that can't wait for Tuesday. Capped, on purpose — the cap is what protects the quality.
Questions between sessions answered by email within one business day.
Two to three weeks in, we fly out. Dinner, then a half day at the whiteboard, and a written 30/60/90 plan. Covered by the onboarding fee.
About
Cleartext is a boutique, two-partner advisory practice for security startup founders — done one on one, and built on earned credentials rather than borrowed ones.
Between us: we founded, built, and sold a security company (Vectrix → Cloudflare, YC S20); ran product and engineering at scale as VP Product for Cloudflare's Zero Trust and CASB lines; and led three acquisitions from the buy side. We've sat in your chair — and on the other side of the table.
We keep the roster small on purpose. You get the two of us, in the room, every time — not a deck a junior consultant assembled the night before.
FAQ
Still unsure if it's a fit? Justreach out — a short call usually settles it.
Security company founders at seed through Series A who've raised $50M or less — most of them former practitioners, deep on threats and technology but newer to hiring, GTM, positioning, product strategy, and corp development.
$5,000 for the first month — fully refundable. If you continue, a one-time $2,500 onboarding fee covers the in-person kickoff and a written 30/60/90 plan, and then it's month to month. No minimum term.
Yes. After month one you decide: continue, or get every dollar back. No conditions, no argument, no exit interview. The risk is ours, not yours.
Never. No equity, no board seats, no minimum term. We're independent by design — the only thing we're optimizing for is being genuinely useful to you.
No. You're already deep on the technology. We advise you — the founder — on the company-building calls you're newest to: hiring, GTM, positioning, product strategy, and corp development. Think sounding board, not staff augmentation.
That's the sprint. It's a singular, outsized-consequence moment you'll navigate exactly once, and we've led three acquisitions from the buy side. Reach out and say an acquirer is in the picture, and we'll route you straight there.
Corey Mahan and Matt Lewis. Between us we've founded and sold a security company (Vectrix → Cloudflare, YC S20), run product and engineering at scale inside Cloudflare, and led three acquisitions from the buy side. You work with both of us, directly.
Let's talk
Book a free 30-minute fit call. We'll talk through what's actually hard right now and whether we can help. No pitch, no obligation — and if an acquirer just called, say so and we'll route you to the sprint.
Typically replies within one business day.