📅 Date | March 2025 |
✒️ Author | Chris Hodson |
Strategic Cybersecurity and Business Guidance for Early-Stage Startups
Building and selling cybersecurity solutions requires more than just technical expertise—it's about creating value that resonates with buyers and investors. Our retainer serves founders across the entire security ecosystem, whether you're building products, delivering services, or connecting talent with opportunities.
The Startup Advisory Retainer is designed for cybersecurity product vendors, service providers, and specialised executive search firms. We provide direct coaching and high-impact advisory to help you refine your market positioning, navigate enterprise relationships, and build scalable frameworks for growth.
🚨 This is a hands-on, outcome-driven engagement—not generic consulting and lukewarm introductions. The engagement needs effort on both sides. At echo5, we passionately believe that how you do anything is how you do everything. If you're not up for honest dialogue and hard work, don't apply!
Our Process
Think of us as your trusted advisor and coach - we're here to provide guidance across anything and everything your startup needs. Through our weekly strategy sessions, we'll help you tackle challenges like pricing strategy, product positioning, or finding your next VP of Engineering. Our engagement leverages echo5 Founder Mode templates - built on our founder's decade of experience in cybersecurity startups. These templates ensure you receive professional, repeatable artefacts with clear baselining and actionable insights, not just standard advisory approach of 'comments in the attached Google doc'.
We track all progress and deliverables through echo5OS, ensuring you're always moving forward. But we're not just reactive - we'll proactively reach out with compelling messaging examples, smart product ideas, and valuable industry insights.
You'll have direct access to our expertise via email, echo5.live, and Slack.
Sometimes you just need a second pair of eyes on a pitch deck, or you're looking for an introduction to the right contact. Whatever the challenge, we're here to help you navigate the complex journey of building a successful cybersecurity startup.
Who is this for?
- Early-stage cybersecurity startups (Pre-Seed and Seed).
- Founders needing structured, no-BS guidance on product positioning, go-to-market execution and bootstrapping your own security organisation.
- Business executives in the cybersecurity ecosystem including executive search firms and PR agencies seeking specialist industry expertise.
- Startups looking for mentorship without hiring full-time leadership.
What You Get
✅ Weekly 1:1 Strategy Call – A dedicated call with the echo5 founder to review progress, refine execution, and solve real-world challenges.
✅ On-Demand Email Support – Get quick expert input on investor asks, hiring and supplier management, customer objections, product development, and security positioning.
✅ Document Review & Optimisation – Detailed review and improvement of two key documents monthly, spanning pitch decks, product roadmaps, recruitment and talent planning, sales collateral, marketing materials, and PR communications.
✅ Access to echo5OS – Your pane of glass for managing client deliverables, booking meetings, tracking execution progress, and budget allocation.
How This Helps You Win
🔹 Accelerate Enterprise Readiness – Get security aligned with GTM to support sales conversations without bloating product cycles.
🔹 Prepare for Investor Due Diligence – Position your security posture to build credibility and remove friction from funding rounds.
🔹 Develop Messaging That Lands – Ensure security and product differentiation actually resonates with buyers.
🔹 Execute with Confidence – Avoid costly missteps and fast-track execution with clear direction and hands-on coaching.
Pricing
💰 £3,500/month – A simple, transparent retainer for high-impact advisory and execution support.
What This Isn't
At echo5, we believe in complete transparency about our service offerings. This Founder Mode tier is purposefully designed to provide focused, high-impact advisory within specific time and budget constraints.
While our 
Our commitment is to deliver exceptional value whilst being candid about service boundaries. If you're seeking more comprehensive support, we're happy to discuss our other engagement tiers.
Founder Mode Templates
Whilst the Founder Mode Retainer doesn't include access to the comprehensive echo5 Vault, we've crafted a suite of premium templates specifically designed for early-stage startups. These templates ensure you receive the same level of professional quality and actionable content that echo5 is known for.
Sample templates include
![Pitch Deck Review [Founder Mode]](https://images.spr.so/cdn-cgi/imagedelivery/j42No7y-dcokJuNgXeA0ig/24caf58a-c9c1-445a-a08e-7fe9e8f85090/stods21_Create_a_hyper-realistic_cinematic_front-facing_shot__6ae59a29-f1d1-4685-87c5-814128239208_1/w=1920,quality=90,fit=scale-down)
Empower your cybersecurity startup with expert guidance. Whether you're building security products, delivering specialised services, or running an executive search firm, our hands-on advisory retainer provides the strategic direction you need. Get weekly coaching, document optimisation, and direct access to proven frameworks that accelerate your path to market success.