How StoryChief’s CTO uses Aikido Security to sleep better at night
Tags: security, cybersecurity, vulnerabilities
Published: 2023-10-24 12:14:54

Losing sleep imagining bad actors infiltrating your awesome new startup’s code? Not anymore! Aikido Security has designed startup security to be affordable, efficient, and fill the needs of CTOs. Let’s have a look at how Aikido transformed StoryChief’s security posture.

We love hearing about the experiences of our customers and partners, especially around startup security. We recently spoke to StoryChief’s co-founder and CTO, Gregory Claeyssens, and we were thrilled to hear about his success story using Aikido Security. In this customer case, we'll break down that conversation to show you how Aikido improved StoryChief’s security posture. And, in doing so, how it allowed Gregory some work-life balance – aka, sleeping better at night! (CTOs, we bet that sounds nice!)

💡 BTW, don’t forget to download our StoryChief/Aikido customer case at the end of this blog post.

## What is StoryChief?

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Ghent, Belgium, StoryChief is a startup offering a user-friendly, all-in-one content marketing solution. StoryChief empowers marketing agencies and content teams to streamline their content production and management. Or, as StoryChief says, ‘End content chaos.’

StoryChief’s collaborative and intuitive platform includes content planning, distribution, scheduling, and AI writing tools. It’s gained significant attention. Notably, StoryChief has raised $5.7 million in funding. That’s a testament to its innovative approach to providing comprehensive content marketing solutions. Currently, StoryChief has a large dedicated development team. And, engagingly, their logo is a likable sloth!

💡 Learn more about StoryChief and what it offers by visiting its website: [https://www.storychief.io](https://www.storychief.io).

<figure><img src="https://d37oebn0w9ir6a.cloudfront.net/account_39169/62dbace99e217327b0f7c0ee-dashboard_cbcbe6625f2f1c1be767e086f8ff72ca.png" alt="StoryChief&#x27;s helpful user dashboard"/><figcaption>StoryChief’s web application has lots of functionality</figcaption></figure>

## Startup Security Challenges

As StoryChief grew, managing the security of its code base, repositories, and infrastructure became increasingly complex. Gregory and his team found themselves in a challenging position to stay ahead of potential security vulnerabilities.

**Being behind the security curve:** Managing its security posture became more and more worrying. Gregory worried that he might be missing or overlooking something crucial. That led to unnecessary stress and concerns.

**Using incomplete and pricey security tools:** StoryChief used security tools that provided some peace of mind. But, there were two main obstacles with these. They didn’t meet Gregory’s full set of security requirements and didn’t target CTO needs. Additionally, there was an unexpected change in pricing by their main security tool provider.

**Notification overload:** Notifications should be useful and relevant. However, using multiple security tools led to an overload of notifications. This led to three results:

1. Some notifications lacked contextual information and accuracy,
1. Overwhelming numbers of notifications became white noise and, therefore, ignorable (they simply lacked value).


In a nutshell, inefficiency drained valuable resources and time. But, despite these headwinds, Gregory managed security effectively and didn’t experience any major security incidents. However, he felt unsettled due to the limitations and costs of their existing tools. Subsequently, this prompted him to search for a better solution.

## How Aikido Security helped improve StoryChief’s security posture

StoryChief's journey to a better security posture led them to Aikido Security, which also enabled  StoryChief to transition from a reactive to a proactive security approach.

**No nasty price tag:** Startup security should be affordable, and Aikido has startup-friendly pricing. This offered StoryChief a cost-effective solution. At the same time, Aikido boosted their confidence in their security posture thanks to the next two benefits.

**I’m a CTO, not a security engineer:** The various tools StoryChief had been using mainly targeted security engineers. However, unlike those tools, Aikido tailors its features and rules to the specific needs of CTOs and developers. Aikido also supplies a continual stream of new rules and features specifically designed to help CTOs out.

**Tell me when it’s important and relevant:** One of Aikido’s key strengths and USPs is reducing false positives. Aikido’s targeted alerts, therefore, provide StoryChief with real, actionable insights rather than overwhelming and ignorable notifications. 

**Shared ownership:** Not only that, Aikido’s notifications are automatically shared with the dev team via Slack, fostering transparency and shared responsibility for security. In this way, Aikido also provided a team-working result. It helped Gregory with his goal of creating a more team-focused effort to manage the security posture.

### StoryChief CTO sums up Aikido’s impact

 > "Aikido was exactly what I was looking for for a long time - the combo of features, being startup-focused, and the entry price. Aikido's made the team aware of security issues. It's created a sense of shared responsibility, engaging everyone in maintaining our security posture."

## Aikido as Startup Security Insurance

Aikido Security is like an insurance policy for StoryChief's security. It offers budgetability and precision. Aikido also offers a clear focus on what really matters for Gregory and his team. With Aikido, StoryChief has not only improved its security posture but also empowered the CTO’s team to take ownership and work transparently. Aikido provides the ordered consolidation and prioritization of information needed to address security concerns.

Most importantly, it has given Gregory a high level of confidence in the security of the product: 

 > "There are always vulnerabilities left - that's normal - but with Aikido at least I know! I have a very good idea of our security posture."

## Download the StoryChief customer case

Download your own copy of the StoryChief X Aikido Security customer case:

[https://share-eu1.hsforms.com/1aSlaLoWiRIeCvVYJTp0vuQfiwyg](https://share-eu1.hsforms.com/1aSlaLoWiRIeCvVYJTp0vuQfiwyg)