Every seed stage founder asks the same question: “What security do we actually need right now?”

The honest answer is that it depends on your threat landscape, but there’s a practical framework that applies to most early stage companies. Here’s how to think about security investments tied to your business milestones.

Know Your Threat Landscape First

Before spending a dollar on security, answer these questions:

What data do you handle?

Customer PII, payment data, and health information all carry different risk profiles. A B2B SaaS handling business contact information has different requirements than a fintech processing transactions.

Who would want to attack you?

Most seed stage startups face opportunistic attackers, automated scanners, and credential stuffing rather than