--- title: How ATICO Vets Emerging Technology Companies (and Why Fewer Than 1 in 5 Make It Through) description: Discover how ATICO evaluates emerging tech companies and why informed bets on young innovators are crucial for security and IT success. image: https://www.aticoatx.com/hubfs/emerging-security-it-startups.png --- [Skip to content](https://www.aticoatx.com/blog/how-atico-vets-emerging-technology-companies-and-why-fewer-than-1-in-5-make-it-through#main-content) [![FullLogo\_Transparent\_orange](https://www.aticoatx.com/hs-fs/hubfs/FullLogo_Transparent_orange.png?width=581&height=130&name=FullLogo_Transparent_orange.png)](https://www.aticoatx.com/) - Services Show submenu for Services - [Enterprise Selling](https://www.aticoatx.com/enterprise-selling) - [Marketing Services](https://www.aticoatx.com/marketing-services) - [Event Services](https://www.aticoatx.com/event-services) - [Customer Advisory Board Services](https://www.aticoatx.com/customer-success) - [Recruiting Services](https://www.aticoatx.com/recruiting-services) - [Helix Cybersecurity Services](https://www.aticoatx.com/helix-cybersecurity-services) - [Clients](https://www.aticoatx.com/clients) - [Events](https://www.aticoatx.com/events) - [About Us](https://www.aticoatx.com/about-us) - [Contact Us](https://www.aticoatx.com/contact-us) - [ATÍCO Careers](https://www.aticoatx.com/careers) - Services Show submenu for Services - [Enterprise Selling](https://www.aticoatx.com/enterprise-selling) - [Marketing Services](https://www.aticoatx.com/marketing-services) - [Event Services](https://www.aticoatx.com/event-services) - [Customer Advisory Board Services](https://www.aticoatx.com/customer-success) - [Recruiting Services](https://www.aticoatx.com/recruiting-services) - [Helix Cybersecurity Services](https://www.aticoatx.com/helix-cybersecurity-services) - [Clients](https://www.aticoatx.com/clients) - [Events](https://www.aticoatx.com/events) - [About Us](https://www.aticoatx.com/about-us) - [Contact Us](https://www.aticoatx.com/contact-us) - [ATÍCO Careers](https://www.aticoatx.com/careers) ![menu-toggle](https://21645388.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/21645388/menu-toggle.svg) ![menu-close](https://21645388.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/21645388/menu-close.svg) Search [get started](https://www.aticoatx.com/contact-us) # How ATICO Vets Emerging Technology Companies (and Why Fewer Than 1 in 5 Make It Through) [By \- Kate Turchin,](https://www.aticoatx.com/blog/author/kate-turchin) Nov 09, 2026 ![ Featured Image](https://www.aticoatx.com/hs-fs/hubfs/emerging-security-it-startups.png?width=1671&height=941&name=emerging-security-it-startups.png) If you run security or IT today, you will have to bet on young companies. The only open question is whether you make that bet with the facts in hand. AI is rewriting what both functions require. On the security side, AI-native threats demand AI-native defenses. On the IT side, the way endpoints are managed, data is protected, and work gets delivered is being rebuilt around AI and automation. The technology built for this moment is coming from new companies. The oldest AI-native security companies are three or four years old. Established vendors move slowly, and they often wait to acquire what startups build rather than build it themselves. Waiting isn't a neutral choice. By the time a category is obvious, the advantage is gone, or an incumbent has bought the leader and slowed it down. So the real question for CISOs and CIOs is not whether to adopt early. It's how to make that bet an informed one. ## Why your usual evaluation process breaks down Your evaluation playbook was built to check history, and young companies don't have any. Years in market, a long list of reference customers, analyst coverage, a support organization you can see: these are how CISOs and CIOs have always de-risked a purchase. A three-year-old company can't pass that test, even if its technology is exactly what you need. So the process either filters out the most relevant vendors or gets skipped altogether. Meanwhile, the noise has never been louder. Hundreds of new entrants compete for your attention through pitches, analyst reports, and conference floors. Well-funded marketing and genuinely differentiated technology can look almost identical from the outside. The cost of guessing wrong lands on both sides of the house. You inherit an integration to rip out, a roadmap that stalls, a vendor that isn't there next year, and the operational disruption of replacing it while your teams keep the lights on. ## 150+ evaluated, 27 represented We have evaluated more than 150 emerging security and IT companies, and we represent 27 of them. Fewer than 1 in 5 make it through. That selectivity is the point, not a side effect. ATICO exists to do the diligence a track record would normally do for you, so that when we put a company in front of you, the hard questions have already been asked and answered. Here is how we do it. ## Four questions a track record would normally answer Every company we consider is evaluated on four dimensions: architecture, scalability, financials, and leadership. Each one maps to a question CISOs and CIOs already ask, and would normally answer by looking at a vendor's history. | **Dimension** | **What we look at** | **The question it answers for you** | | --- | --- | --- | | Architecture | Product design, the security of the product itself, how it deploys and integrates | Will it hold up in my environment? | | Scalability | Performance at enterprise scale, procurement and compliance readiness | Can it grow with us? | | Financials | Funding, runway, revenue trajectory, investor quality | Will they be here next year? | | Leadership | Founders' track record, execution, ability to survive an enterprise sale | Can this team deliver on the roadmap? | **Architecture.** Whether you're buying a detection platform or a way to manage devices at scale, the product has to fit the stack you already run. We look at how it's built, how secure the product itself is, and what deployment and integration actually involve. **Scalability.** A product that works for a 200-person pilot can buckle at 20,000 seats. We test for enterprise-scale performance and for readiness to clear procurement and compliance review. Where a regulated buyer needs specific certifications, such as FIPS, CMMC, or CNSA 2.0, we cover them directly. **Financials.** We examine funding, runway, revenue trajectory, and the quality of the investors behind the company. The question is simple: will this company still be here when your renewal comes up? **Leadership.** Great technology fails when the team can't execute. We look at the founders' track record, how well they deliver against plan, and whether they can survive the long, demanding process of selling to the enterprise. The last two matter most, and they're the ones neither a CISO nor a CIO can easily check alone. Architecture shows up in a demo. Runway and leadership quality usually don't, and they're what decide whether your bet survives its first year. ## From a long list to the one we'd bet on Every company we represent has gone from a long list of candidates to a single pick for a single problem. The path looks like this: 1. **Source.** We track emerging security and IT companies continuously, through founders, investors, and our network of former technology executives. 2. **Screen.** We sort candidates by the problem they actually solve, not the marketing category they claim. That matters most when a problem sits between security and IT, such as endpoint management, browser-based access, or protecting SaaS data. 3. **Vet.** Companies that look promising go through the full four-dimension evaluation above. 4. **Compare.** Where several strong companies solve the same problem, they go head to head. 5. **Select.** We take on one company for that problem, and only one. *\[Editor's note: confirm stage names and descriptions against the funnel on the "How we vet" page.\]* ## We run the bakeoff, you meet the winner We never represent two companies that compete with each other. When two or three strong companies solve the same problem, we evaluate them side by side and represent only the one we believe is best. That changes what an introduction from ATICO means. You aren't getting a crowded shortlist to sort through, and we have no reason to steer you from one option to another. Every introduction is our single best answer to that problem. It also changes who you meet. Introductions go to the founders, engineers, and architects behind the product, not a sales rep reading from a deck. You get concise briefings and real technical answers, without a vendor gauntlet. ## FAQ **Who pays you?** The companies we represent do. That's exactly why we're selective. We take on one company per problem and often choose among two or three strong candidates. Our reputation with you depends on picking the best one, so a weak pick costs us far more than it earns. **How is this different from a reseller or a VAR?** A reseller carries many competing products and earns on whatever you buy. We carry one company per problem, chosen after diligence, and our advisors put their names on every introduction. **Who actually does the vetting?** ATICO's network includes more than 80 former CISOs, CIOs, CTOs, and senior enterprise operators. They've held the budget, managed the risk, and made these exact decisions themselves. **Why would I bet on a company this young?** Because the technology the AI era demands, in security and in IT, is coming from young companies. Waiting means adopting after the advantage is gone. Our job is to make that bet an informed one. ## Adopt what's next without betting blind The companies building what security and IT need next are young, and that isn't going to change. What can change is how much you know before you commit. ATICO checks the architecture, the scalability, the finances, and the team, then introduces you to the one company we'd bet on for each problem. 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