Former Chronicle CSO Launches Secretive New Company

Mike Wiacek has launched a new venture following his departure as chief security officer from Chronicle, the cybersecurity initiative of Google, approximately one year ago.

During his 13 years with Google, Wiacek established the Threat Analysis Group, a team focused on mitigating hacking activities originating from governments and nation-states. He also played a key role in the creation of Chronicle, which was later integrated into Google Cloud following the exits of several leading executives, including Wiacek himself.

Leveraging over ten years of accumulated knowledge, Wiacek is now leading Stairwell, a newly formed cybersecurity company. Stairwell has recently emerged from a period of quiet development and has successfully raised $4.5 million in seed funding. This funding round was spearheaded by Accel, with additional investment from Sequoia Capital, Gradient Ventures, and Allen & Company.

According to a company statement, Stairwell aims “to equip security teams with intuitive, user-focused solutions that enable them to grasp the critical connections between their external and internal data. This enhanced understanding will allow organizations to more effectively anticipate and neutralize complex and severe cyber threats.” Wiacek further explained in a discussion with TechCrunch that his objective for the company is to “enable any security team to effectively defend against all types of attackers.”

Notably, the founder chose not to disclose the specific strategies the company will employ to achieve this goal. While Wiacek affirmed that Stairwell is developing at least one product, he refrained from providing any specifics regarding its functionality, features, or release timeline.

This decision understandably presented a challenge during the subsequent discussion.

Wiacek also announced that Jan Kang, who previously served as chief legal officer at Chronicle, has joined the startup. The seed funding will primarily be used to expand the Stairwell team, which currently consists of 10 employees with a strong emphasis on engineering. The company also intends to recruit designers, physicists, and applied mathematicians.

Regarding the company’s ongoing projects, Wiacek stated, “I believe we will simply need to observe and learn as it unfolds.”

It appears that observation will be necessary.