Building Cyber Hygiene
Built a free CIS-based assessment tool to warm up cold enterprise leads, achieving high retention and converting them into paid SaaS customers.
Vidyadhar Sharma
Founding Member at Stealth Startup
From their time as
Head of Product
ThinkLink • 2020 - 2023
Overview
Architected a three-product portfolio with a clear funnel logic: a free assessment tool to warm up cold enterprise leads, then two paid SaaS products downstream (Horizon for external attack surface management, ThinkLink Exposure for exposure management). The insight was that enterprises are pitched products constantly, so selling directly is hard. A free tool that delivers real value changes the dynamic.
The Story
Architected a three-product portfolio with a clear funnel logic: a free assessment tool to warm up cold enterprise leads, then two paid SaaS products downstream (Horizon for external attack surface management, ThinkLink Exposure for exposure management). The insight was that enterprises are pitched products constantly, so selling directly is hard. A free tool that delivers real value changes the dynamic.
Built Cyber Hygiene, a CIS-based assessment tool that let enterprises assess their own cybersecurity posture without waiting for external audits. The value proposition was self-service assessment with a feedback loop that showed progress over time. This was novel in a market where compliance audits were slow and expensive.
Distribution was multi-channel: founder network for the first 50 users, paid ads on Facebook and LinkedIn targeting specific personas, partnerships with cybersecurity conferences, and content (YouTube educational videos). The tool achieved 80% annual retention across 1,400+ enterprises. Once leads were warm, the sales team converted them into paid customers, taking the portfolio to $250K ARR in 12 months.