Christina Cacioppo, co-founder and CEO of Vanta, joins Eric Newcomer to talk about the scandal that shook the compliance world. Her $4 billion competitor Delve was caught pre-filling compliance reports without doing the actual security work — and customers had no idea. Christina explains how Vanta figured it out, why fake compliance is a better product experience than real compliance, and what happened to Delve's customers after the story broke.
The conversation also covers the AI hype cycle and whether it is crypto 2.0, why AI is both the biggest threat and biggest tailwind for security companies, the broken VC equity social contract, and what it really takes to build a $4 billion company without losing sight of the fundamentals.
Subscribe for weekly conversations with the founders, investors, and executives shaping the tech industry.
Chapters:
00:00 The $4B Compliance Scandal
00:59 Is AI the New Crypto?
03:09 From Dropbox PM to Vanta Founder
07:29 What Made Vanta's Early Pitch Work
08:08 How Delve Got Caught Faking Compliance
18:01 Why AI Is a Tailwind for Security
24:39 AI Agents and Security Guardrails
27:29 The Broken VC Social Contract
32:31 Can You Build an AI Company Without Fundraising?
36:58 How Vanta Recruits for an AI-First World
38:30 What Benchmark Going Growth Really Means
44:07 Lessons From Building Vanta
🎙️ New episodes every week! Subscribe and turn on notifications to stay ahead of the next big story.
👇 Watch more from The Newcomer Podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0Yg1id5olJMOyUnYF5AZnIo2ZXdyYd-L
🔗 Read more at newcomer.co
🐦 Follow us: @NewcomerMedia
If you want honest, insider analysis from the heart of tech and venture capital…you’re in the right place.
#Vanta #AIStartups #Cybersecurity