We sat down recently with Dashlane’s Senior Sales Engineer Chris Hobbick and Efficient App Co-Founders Alex Bass and Andra Vomir (referred to jointly as the A-Team) to talk about big shifts in SaaS and cybersecurity, major “aha!” moments, and their careers in these ever-changing fields.
Read the highlights of our conversation below — and check out their webinar, “Evaluate an Enterprise Password Manager Like a Pro,” to get more of their insights on tech tools and password managers.
Q: How did you get your start in cybersecurity/tech?
CH: My childhood best friend's father owned the local computer shop in town. He was this statuesque Army ranger sniper, and his staff was composed of veterans from the Vietnam War. I used to go there as much as I could after school. In short, these Army guys taught me about building computers, networking, and web development and set the baseline for cybersecurity.
A-Team: Both of us got into tech simply by filling a need.
AB: My stepfather owns a construction company that he ran out of our home. I got to see firsthand the operational inefficiencies within his business. For example, I’d see him putting more than five hours into a proposal only to forget to follow up with customers. He also stored all of his client details on paper in manila folders in a big filing cabinet. Things were everywhere, and it seemed impossible to stay organized.
I did some research and found out about customer relationship management (CRM) tools. I helped him implement one (Copper CRM), along with a handful of other tools, and I learned how to use APIs to integrate his software stack.
I saw a transformation in him and his business. He now had a process in the CRM reminding him to follow up with customers, which increased his close rate and profitability. He told me the penny dropped for him when he was able to take a holiday to Florida with my mom after years and do business on the beach since all his customer information was now on the computer instead of physical files.
AV: I got involved with a small mom-and-pop haircare distributor in Australia. They had a fantastic hair product, but they were struggling to scale as their main sales method was driving to hair salons in person and dropping off samples to salon owners.
I saw the opportunity to use digital ads to help them reach a wider audience. As their leads grew, so did their need for other SaaS tools to support their growing business. The business grew from $23,000 in monthly sales to $160,000, and 16 months later was acquired by a larger distributor. It was through that experience that I saw the power of tech.
Q: What’s one major aha! moment you had related to cybersecurity or SaaS, either personally or professionally?
CH: Some characters you meet in the tech world are, well, out of this world! I was introduced to a networking genius early in my career. He was a bit eccentric. He showed me how to effortlessly hack people’s webcams, how to take over people’s computers remotely, how to hack WiFi networks, how to bypass software license authentications, and how to recover data from hard drives that had been “professionally wiped” with enterprise software.
It was a mind-blowing experience that ultimately showed me “how hackers hack,” and I had a much better understanding of how cybersecurity tools make hacking much more difficult.
A-Team: One of our customers is a financial advisor with a team of about 10 people. We helped their team by streamlining their operations through implementing software and automation. During one of our meetings, we saw the owner tearing up, but weren’t exactly sure why.
We later received two emails. One from him and one from his wife.
His email said that he was holding back tears on our call as he didn’t realize the relief he’d feel from having the business be supported by automation and how there is now much less room for human error. Financial advisors tend to have a lot of regulations they need to adhere to, so errors can be very troublesome in this industry. He said there had been huge amounts of pressure on him, and he felt there was now much more space to breathe.
His wife’s email said that she has seen a change in his stress levels, and she just wanted to thank us. It’s moments like these that you realize you’re impacting real people’s lives.
Q: What’s one question related to cybersecurity/SaaS you are frequently asked in your role?
CH: How is Dashlane more secure than the other password managers?
A-Team: Which software should I use for [fill in the blank]?
Q: What is the most alarming statistic you have seen that should make people care more about the future of cybersecurity?
CH: By 2025, cybercrime will cost the world $10.5 trillion annually. Cybercrime is big business, and hedging against it is complex.
A-Team: The average password length (8 characters—as discovered by looking at leaked password data) takes only a couple of minutes to crack. What people don’t seem to realize is how important password length is in preventing a brute force attack (regardless of special characters or case sensitivity).
We often encourage our customers to play with a password checker website that says the length of time it’ll take to crack (we tell them not to enter their password, but rather words/characters of a similar length), as that helps send the point home. When you see your master password will only take 10 minutes to crack, you start taking creating passwords much more seriously.
This almost always makes people rethink their passwords, especially in tools with sensitive data like their CRM or accounting software.
Q: How are you contributing to "demystifying" tech tools in your field?
CH: Working at Dashlane, a leading password manager, I play a crucial role in simplifying cybersecurity for businesses by empowering users to create strong, unique passwords with embedded two-factor authentication (2FA).
In short, my work in the B2B space is instrumental in making robust digital security accessible and manageable for the enterprise.
A-Team: We write software reviews about the tools we love on our website (efficient.app) and create fun software comparisons on our YouTube channel in a storytelling format that more people tend to relate to.
For instance, instead of listing the pros and cons of tools, we share real stories of how the tools have made a difference to us and how they’ve helped our customers.
Efficient App said Dashlane is their top pick for organizations wanting the most modern UI/UX. Read their full Dashlane Review.
Q: Any big shifts you’ve seen this year that show people are taking cybersecurity/SaaS much more seriously?
CH: As the threat of ransomware attacks grows, cybersecurity insurance policies are increasingly covering ransom payments, leading to skyrocketing premiums.
To mitigate risks, insurers now require companies to implement specific cybersecurity measures, including the use of an enterprise-grade password manager, as a baseline for insurance eligibility.
This trend highlights the importance of strong password security as a key defense in the evolving landscape of cyber risks.
A-Team: We’d be remiss not to mention AI. Teams who are using SaaS are now able to do even more than ever with the new AI features that a lot of the tools on the market have upgraded to in the past year.
Folks are seeing what’s possible by integrating SaaS and AI, and they are certainly realizing that if they don’t upgrade their operational tools in 2024, they’ll be left behind very soon. This is causing more people than ever to research, evaluate, and implement software. When they do, we hope they’ll land on our website, where we explain in simple terms what software will enable them to do and which tools to choose.
Q: What inspires you most about working at your company today?
CH: I have been a champion of Dashlane long before working here. When I first started at Dashlane as a member of the sales team in the B2B space, it was a brand-new department.
Over the last couple of years, we as a company did a 180-degree pivot and in my opinion have accomplished 10 years of development in 18 months. With a hyperfocus on enterprise features, we now have an admin panel and integrations that are truly ahead of the pack, empowering businesses to truly steer their cybersecurity governance for success. Our numbers show we are doing the right stuff, and I’m so proud of that achievement.
A-Team: The potential of how many people we can help when it comes to selecting software! There are so many cool pieces of software out there, and we just want more people to know about them.
For the past decade, we have been helping people one-on-one with implementing software, which meant our advice was only being heard by dozens of people per year. Now, we get over 15,000 visitors per month coming to our website to learn about software. We are excited to guide people to modern tech tools that are fun to use and steer them away from clunky and outdated software that is frustrating and cumbersome.
Want to hear more from Chris, Alex, and Andra? They’ve teamed up to discuss password manager security and functionality features.
Check out their webinar, “How to Evaluate an Enterprise Password Manager Like a Pro.”
Sign up to receive news and updates about Dashlane
Thanks! You're subscribed. Be on the lookout for updates straight to your inbox.
