I'm Will Pizzano

Cybersecurity Leader based in Sausalito, CA.

Cross-functional business leader.

Hello, I’m Will Pizzano, a seasoned business and technology leader specializing in building companies and teams. As a lifelong cybersecurity technologist and CISO, I continue to provide strategic leadership while remaining hands-on to select clients directly.

Age 39
Residence USA
Consulting Available
Address Sausalito, CA
Business Site wave5.io
E-mail will@wave5.io

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Services

Advisory

Advising cybersecurity product and services businesses from product MVP until exit.

Mentoring

Mentoring cybersecurity professionals to help advance their career to the next level.

Security

Strategic and technical security advisory for software-as-a-service firms.

Speaking

Public speaking including conferences, podcasts and security trainings.

Experience

2024 - Present

Principal @ Fifth Wave Security

Advising and mentoring the next generation of cybersecurity companies and leaders.

2016-2023

Founder & CEO @ Sentant

Founded and bootstrapped a next-generation cybersecurity and IT services provider. Sentant grew to over 30 employees and was twice featured in the Inc. 5000 list. Acquired by Evergreen Services Group (Backed by Alpine Investors).

2017 - 2018

VP, Security & Operations (CISO) @ Hustle

Built and managed security, IT and operations teams at this SaaS messaging startup.

2011 - 2017

Director of IT @ Thrasys (now UpHealth)

Built & managed security and IT at this healthcare SaaS startup which later merged and went public.

2009 - 2011

Senior Engineer @ Iteon (now EchoTS)

Cybersecurity incident response and consulting for technology and venture capital clients.

2007 - 2009

Senior Systems Administrator @ Ryan Associates

Specialized IT & security for major hedge funds and investment banks.

Functions

Sales

I've conducted sales engineering and founder-led sales responsible for >$100MM ARR in my career.

Finance

Seasoned business leader well-versed in accounting, business administration, and mergers/acquisitions.

Legal

Wide-ranging legal knowledge and experience managing corporate counsel. Expertise in security regulations such as HIPAA and GDPR.

Technical

Lifelong engineering background culminating in being a CISO and vCISO for leading technology startups and venture capital firms.

Past Clients

My Tech Story

I’m a technology executive and lifelong engineer with roots in Queens, NYC. My journey began during the early days of the dialup internet. Self-taught in networking and coding, I worked during high school at a local internet provider.

Early in my career, I specialized as a systems consultant and UNIX administrator for NYC hedge funds and banks before moving to San Francisco where I worked in high-stakes security consulting. Later, I joined a healthcare startup as Director of IT, where I built a secure SaaS stack and team. Eventually the company went public via SPAC.

As a startup IT leader, I saw an underserved need for compliance and security services in sensitive sectors such as healthcare. So, I founded Sentant, a comprehensive provider for IT, compliance, and security. I bootstrapped Sentant by balancing a VP & CISO role at an early client, Hustle, and later transitioned to full-time at Sentant in 2019.

Under my leadership, Sentant grew to a team of 30+, with over $6MM in revenue before its acquisition in 2022. I stayed on as CEO, where I achieved the highest CEO performance ratings across the acquirer’s portfolio companies before transitioning to new leadership in mid-2023.

Today, I’m focused on mentoring emerging cybersecurity companies and professionals, while preparing for my next venture.