Florina Avădanei, CyberEDU, talks about trust and startup challenges: ”Nobody mentions the nights you lose or the long hours you spend working”

The documentary "Romanian Startups: Roaring Tigers of Europe", made by the start-up.ro team, spans across 33 years of history, from the first entrepreneurs in the transitional years to the initial technology company transactions that brought Romania into the international spotlight.

Romanian Startups: Roaring Tigers of Europe - The Extended Series will present the people who built the Romanian ecosystem and who discussed with the VideoCorp and start-up.ro team for this documentary. In this series you will find the extensive interviews and find out the stories of those who built entrepreneurship in Romania.

Florina Avădanei told us more about the two interconnected cybersecurity ventures: Bit Sentinel, a cybersecurity service provider established in 2015, and CyberEDU, an educational spin-off launched in 2020. She was one of our guests for the Romanian Startups: Roaring Tigers of Europe documentary back in 2023.

Bit Sentinel was created to address a significant market gap in Romania, where cybersecurity services were scarce, expensive, and primarily tailored to large corporations.

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Building trust

The founders leveraged their experience with DefCamp, Romania’s largest cybersecurity conference, to build trust and credibility in the community, which helped in bootstrapping the business without external funding.

“Trust is a very big issue when talking to customers, building and growing the startup, because in cybersecurity you need to assure clients that everything is perfectly safe, you’re not doing anything illegal, and that testing their systems is better done by you than by hackers”, says Florina.

CyberEDU emerged from the realization of a critical shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals. The platform focuses on practical, hands-on learning through real-life scenarios, aiming to train future experts and support companies in recruitment by providing reliable skill assessments. Both ventures are deeply rooted in trust, an essential factor for clients in cybersecurity due to the sensitive access required.

A difficult journey

Florina shared more with us on the challenges of startup life, emphasizing the demanding workload, the difficulty in recruiting and retaining skilled experts, and the delicate balance of maintaining transparency and trust with clients.

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“It’s very difficult. It’s not that pink as everybody imagines it. Nobody mentions the nights you lose or the long hours you spend working, because everybody is focused on the results and not that much on the journey until they get there”, Florina said about the overlooked challenges, sacrifices, and hard work behind startup success.

Bit Sentinel initially focused on the local market to build references and credibility but has since expanded internationally, serving clients in the US and Europe. CyberEDU plays a dual role, supporting education and recruitment with tailored online exercises and competitions, especially useful during the pandemic when in-person interviews were limited.

Highlights from the discussion:

• Bit Sentinel was founded in 2015 to fill a gap in affordable, high-quality cybersecurity services in Romania.
• CyberEDU launched in 2020 to train cybersecurity professionals through hands-on, real-world scenarios.
• Trust is critical in cybersecurity services, influencing client relationships and startup success.
• Bit Sentinel started locally but expanded internationally, now serving clients in the US, Europe, and beyond.
• CyberEDU supports recruitment by providing practical skill assessments, especially useful during the pandemic.
• The Romanian startup ecosystem has matured significantly, with growing accelerator programs and European funding opportunities.
• Romanian founders are highly ambitious and resilient but face challenges in talent retention and intra-community collaboration.

Key Insights from Florina Avădanei:

• Trust as the foundation of cybersecurity startups: The discussion with Florina underscores that trust is paramount in cybersecurity. Clients must be confident that their systems and sensitive data are handled ethically and securely. Unlike other industries where reputation is important, cybersecurity firms must consistently demonstrate integrity and transparency because they access highly sensitive information. This trust-building is a continuous process involving clear communication and proven expertise. For startups, establishing this trust early can differentiate them from competitors and secure recurring business.

• Bootstrapping and organic growth in service-based cybersecurity: Bit Sentinel’s decision to bootstrap rather than seek venture capital reflects the nature of service-based cybersecurity companies. Without a tangible product or scalable SaaS offering initially, raising external funding is challenging. Instead, the company relied on reputation and client trust built through Def Camp and delivered services. This approach allowed them to maintain control and grow sustainably. It highlights a critical startup lesson: the business model heavily influences funding strategies, and service startups may benefit more from organic growth initially.
• Addressing talent shortages through educational platforms: CyberEDU was born from the acute shortage of qualified cybersecurity experts. By focusing on practical, hands-on training with real-life scenarios, the platform bridges the gap between theoretical knowledge and applied skills. This approach not only trains new professionals but also helps companies evaluate candidates’ actual capabilities through tailored exercises. This dual role—education and recruitment—enhances the platform’s value proposition and helps alleviate a significant industry bottleneck.
• Challenges in talent retention of cybersecurity startups: Florina highlights the difficulty of retaining skilled employees when competing against large corporations that can offer significantly higher salaries. This is a common challenge for startups worldwide but is particularly acute in cybersecurity due to the high demand for talent. It suggests that startups need to find creative ways to retain staff, such as investing in culture, development opportunities, and equity incentives, to compete effectively.

Roaring Tigers of Europe is a production by start-up.ro and Videocorp, part of the Romanian publishing company InternetCorp, active for almost 20 years on the market. The documentary was made with the support of partners BCR, Orange, and 2Performant. Community partners included Guran Consulting Global, How to Web, Launch, Impact Hub Bucharest, Flaviu Simihaian, Rubik Hub, SoftServe, and the Romanian-American University.

Watch the full documentary in the video below: