# Critical Start

Critical Start is a cybersecurity company based in Plano, Texas, with offices across the United States. The company provides managed detection and response services, endpoint security, threat intelligence, penetration testing, risk assessments, and incident response.

## History

Critical Start was founded in 2012 by former RSA Security executive Rob Davis, following nation-state attacks on cybersecurity organizations such as RSA and VMWare Carbon Black in 2011.
In March 2018, Critical Start announced an agreement to acquire the security analytics platform Advanced Threat Analytics to incorporate its Zero-Trust Analytics Platform. As a part of the agreement, Critical Start launched its native iOS and Android mobile security operations center application.
In August 2019, Critical Start published its second annual research survey reporting that security operations center analysts face a "surprising number of alerts each day that are taking longer to investigate". According to an article featured on MSSP Alert, the report surveyed security operations center professionals across enterprises managed security service providers, and managed detection and response providers to evaluate the state of incident response within security operations centers from a variety of perspectives, including alert volume and management, security operations center analyst training, turnover, business models, and customer communications.
The survey found that more than 8 out of 10 security operation center analysts reported that their security operations centers had experienced between 10 percent and 50 percent analyst churn in the past year. Additionally, 70 percent of respondents investigate more than 10 alerts each day – up from 45 percent the previous year – while 78 percent state that it takes over 10 minutes to investigate each alert, which is up from 64 percent the previous year. Critical Start revealed later that month that they would be expanding to a channel-driven model along with the expansion of the company's national distributors and network of value-added resellers.
In June 2023, Critical Start opened two new facilities, one in Lehi, Utah, and another in Pune, India. The facility in India is the company's first Center of Excellence for engineering.

## Culture

Employee reviews on Indeed present differing opinions on working at Critical Start. One review from 2021 described it as having an "awesome culture with a CEO that cares about employees," while another from 2023 stated that "leadership corrodes culture." As of February 2024, the overall rating on Indeed.com was 3.1 out of 5 stars.
On Glassdoor, Critical Start had a rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars based on 112 anonymous reviews. Glassdoor also listed the company as a recipient of Built In’s "Best Places to Work" awards for 2023, 2024, and 2025.

## Funding

In June 2019, Bregal Sagemount, a growth equity firm, invested $40 million in Critical Start as part of the company's first outside investment. According to the Dallas Morning News, the "investment helped accelerate its North American expansion" and partnerships with Microsoft, Splunk, Palo Alto Networks, Cylance, and Carbon Black. It also helped expand the company's market presence for its MDR services, including the opening of new field offices in Los Angeles and New York City – to "serve enterprise customers and its network of channel partners."
DC Advisory served as the financial advisor to Critical Start. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.