Cybersecurity & Digital Forensics Startup Mentorship

An exclusive 90-day program by Thiago Vieira that turns technical expertise into a validated, sellable business ready to grow — combining business diagnosis, market validation and assisted go-to-market execution.

The mentorship integrates business diagnosis, analysis of strengths and weaknesses, market validation and assisted go-to-market (GTM) execution. The mentor guides and challenges decisions; the founder executes.

Thiago brings the view of a court-appointed digital forensic expert, lawyer in Brazil and Portugal, and founder of Cybertech Acceleration — the technical, legal and commercial lenses that cybersecurity buyers apply before they sign.

Who it is for

Technical founders in cybersecurity, digital forensics, incident response, threat intelligence and adjacent solutions.

Specialists without commercial experience
Founders with an MVP and no traction yet
Startups with first customers and unpredictable sales
Founders evaluating internationalization

Admission criteria: commitment to execution, access to technical capacity, minimum clarity on intellectual property ownership and willingness to test hypotheses with real buyers.

Expected outcomes

Prioritized ICP
Offer and value proposition
Risk map
Pricing strategy
Acquisition channels
Initial pipeline
Indicators
180-day roadmap

Criteria are adapted to ideation, MVP and startups that already have customers.

Phase I — Strategic diagnosis (Days 1–30)

Founder, startup, solution, market, business model and sector requirements.

1. Founder & leadership — Technical and entrepreneurial experience, vision, sales and negotiation skills, leadership, availability, co-founders, delegation and ability to learn from the market. Deliverable: Founder Strategic Profile and individual development plan.
2. Startup & technology — Problem and use cases, MVP stage, architecture and scalability, technical debt, intellectual property, security, operations, team, burn rate, runway, contracts, customers and pipeline. Deliverable: Business & Technology Maturity Report (not an independent audit or certification).
3. Market & opportunity — Urgency of the pain, cost of inaction, buyers and influencers, competitors, willingness to pay and buying barriers — comparing Brazil, Portugal/EU and the US when relevant. Deliverable: Opportunity Map and priority hypotheses.
4. Cyber & forensics specifics — Detection, response, cloud, identity, SOC and PoC requirements; evidence acquisition, integrity, chain of custody and jurisdictional requirements; data protection and compliance. Deliverable: Commercial, Technical & Regulatory Readiness Matrix.
5. Business model — B2B SaaS, enterprise licensing, managed services, project-based forensics, usage-based, hybrid software-service and indirect channels — costs, margins and delivery capacity. Deliverable: Economic model diagnosis and strategic options.

Gate 1 — Readiness decision — Advance to validation, fix prerequisites or reconsider the offer.

Phase II — Strengths & validation (Days 31–60)

Strengths, gaps, ICP, positioning, monetization and commercial validation.

6. Strengths & development points — Matrix across technical, technology, market, commercial, finance, leadership, compliance and internationalization, classifying gaps as blocking, fixable during execution or later improvements. Deliverable: Strategic Matrix and Priority Development Plan.
7. The startup's commercial ICP — CISO/CIO, IT leadership, legal, compliance, law firms, forensic teams and SMEs — size, sector, geography, budget, buying triggers, cycle and decision unit. Deliverable: Prioritized ICP, personas and decision-maker map.
8. Positioning & value proposition — Who it is for, the pain, economic impact, verifiable results, trust evidence and differentiation — validated in interviews without unproven technical or legal claims. Deliverable: Value proposition, sales narrative and competitive positioning.
9. Offer & monetization — Entry offer (diagnosis, demo or PoC), core offer, recurrence and expansion; pricing, delivery cost, margin, contract terms and paid-PoC criteria. Deliverable: Initial Commercial Portfolio, Pricing and Proposal.
10. Commercial validation — Indicative targets: 15–20 qualified interviews, 5–8 in-depth conversations and 2–3 pilot or proposal opportunities. Verbal interest alone is not validation. Deliverable: Evidence report and recommendations.

Gate 2 — Commercial entry decision — Advance with enough evidence on problem, buyer, value, offer and delivery capacity — otherwise narrow the ICP, reposition or repeat tests.

Phase III — Go-to-market (Days 61–90)

GTM, prospecting, sales process, sales materials, indicators and growth plan.

11. GTM strategy — Where to play, who to target, what to sell, why us, how to reach, how to convert and how to scale. Deliverable: GTM document with owners, budget, hypotheses and metrics.
12. B2B sales process — Account identification → prospecting → qualification → technical discovery → demo/PoC → proposal and negotiation → contract and onboarding, including enterprise procurement and security review. Deliverable: Sales Playbook and operational CRM.
13. Acquisition & authority — LinkedIn and social selling, ABM, consultative outbound, integrators, MSPs/MSSPs, law firms, events, technical content and ecosystems — qualified conversations before paid ads. Deliverable: Channel plan, cadences and prospecting targets.
14. Trust & sales materials — Company deck, 30-second/3-minute/10-minute pitches, discovery script, use-case demo, technical-commercial proposal, security and privacy evidence, objections and onboarding. Deliverable: Sales Enablement Kit.
15. Indicators & growth — Qualified accounts, meetings, conversion, opportunities, proposals, contracted revenue, ticket, margin, burn rate and runway; CAC, retention and LTV only with enough data. Deliverable: GTM dashboard and 180-day roadmap.

12-week schedule

Founder and goals
Startup and maturity
Market, competition and regulation
Gate 1
Strengths and gaps
ICP and positioning
Offer and pricing
Interviews and Gate 2
GTM strategy
CRM and prospecting
Demos and proposals
Review and continuity plan

Follow-up model

Initial 2-hour diagnosis
12 weekly 90-minute mentoring sessions
6 fortnightly 30-minute checkpoints
Weekly activities and validations executed by the founder
Formal reviews on days 30, 60 and 90
Final executive presentation
About 23 synchronous hours, excluding preparation and feedback

Final dossier — Startup GTM Blueprint

360° Diagnosis
Strengths & Weaknesses Matrix
Market Opportunity Assessment
ICP & Buyer Personas
Value Proposition & Positioning
Business & Revenue Model
Go-to-Market Strategy
Sales Playbook
GTM Performance Dashboard
180-Day Growth Roadmap

Governance and success criteria

Mentor deliverables, the founder's execution obligations and external results are kept separate. Progress is assessed on execution, validation and traction according to maturity. The program does not guarantee revenue, investment, contracts or regulatory approval — a hypothesis rejected early can be a learning success that preserves capital.

Methodological references

Frequently asked questions

Who is the cybersecurity founder mentorship for?

Technical founders in cybersecurity, digital forensics, incident response, threat intelligence and adjacent solutions — from specialists without commercial experience to startups with first customers or evaluating internationalization.

How long is the program and how much time does it take?

90 days: an initial 2-hour diagnosis, 12 weekly 90-minute sessions and 6 fortnightly 30-minute checkpoints — about 23 synchronous hours, plus weekly execution by the founder.

What do founders receive at the end?

A Startup GTM Blueprint with a 360° diagnosis, strengths and weaknesses matrix, market opportunity assessment, ICP and personas, value proposition, revenue model, GTM strategy, sales playbook, GTM dashboard and a 180-day growth roadmap.

Does the mentorship guarantee revenue or investment?

No. The mentor guides and challenges decisions and the founder executes. The program does not guarantee revenue, investment, contracts or regulatory approval.

Which startup stages are accepted?

Ideation, MVP and startups that already have customers; criteria are adapted to each stage.

Apply for the mentorship · About Thiago · Cybertech Acceleration