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Mason Technologies
Award-WinningFounder of Several Award-Winning Companies

Founder. Board Member. Technologist.

For more than 25 years Andrew Mason has founded, scaled and sold cybersecurity businesses. Today he sits on boards, backs founders and stays hands-on with the technology: network security, penetration testing, data protection and practical AI.

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7
Businesses founded
3
Successful exits closed
£1M+
Venture funding raised
25+
Years in cybersecurity and risk
Andrew Mason
Andrew Mason
Founder · Board Member · Technologist
Angel Investor
Backing Early-Stage Founders
BoardNon-Executive Director
Exits Closed
3
About Andrew

An Operator, Not a Slide Deck.

Built, Scaled and Exited. Now Helping You Do the Same.

Andrew Mason
Andrew Mason
Founder · Board Member · Technologist
Each company operates at the forefront of cybersecurity, risk management and digital resilience.

Andrew is an entrepreneur and technology leader with a strong track record of building, scaling, and exiting high-growth technology businesses. He is the founder of several award-winning companies including RandomStorm, Data Protection People, RapidSpike, Pentest People, and DarkInvader. Each operates at the forefront of cybersecurity, risk management, and digital resilience.

Specialising in organic growth, Andrew has led multiple organisations from early-stage development through sustained scale, building high-performing teams and robust operating models that support long-term value creation. His experience spans both bootstrapped growth and venture-backed expansion, having raised over £1 million in venture capital for a SaaS-based startup. He has also completed the sale of three businesses, giving him first-hand experience of exit planning, due diligence and post-acquisition integration.

Andrew is technical by trade and began his career in hands-on security and infrastructure roles, which continues to inform his strategic decision-making at board and executive level. He holds a wide range of professional qualifications across information security, risk management and technology leadership, and is a published author of IT security books with numerous whitepapers and industry articles to his name.

Alongside his commercial achievements, Andrew is an active angel investor, backing early-stage technology founders with capital and hands-on operating experience. He holds an MBA from Leeds University Business School, completed in 2014. This combination of academic grounding, technical expertise and real-world entrepreneurial experience underpins his reputation as a trusted advisor, founder and leader within the technology sector.

MBA
Leeds University Business School, 2014
Discipline
Cybersecurity, risk and digital resilience
Authored
Multiple IT security books and industry papers
Track Record
Bootstrapped and VC-backed growth
Investor
Angel, backing early-stage tech founders
Services

Four Ways I Help Technology Businesses Grow.

Each engagement is shaped around the company in front of me, but they tend to start in one of these places. Most evolve into a blend.

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01 / 04

Entrepreneurial Mindset

Embedding founder-grade clarity, risk appetite and commercial discipline into leadership teams that need to think, and act, like the people who built the business.

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02 / 04

Adoption of AI

Practical frameworks for integrating AI into existing operating models, from workflow automation through to product roadmap, without the hype and without breaking what already works.

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03 / 04

Non-Executive Director

Board-level guidance for founder-led and PE-backed technology businesses. Strategic counsel, governance rigour and an operator’s instinct for what really moves the numbers.

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04 / 04

Business Sales Process

End-to-end exit preparation drawn from completing the sale of three businesses: positioning, financial readiness, due diligence support and post-acquisition integration.

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Founded, Scaled and Sold
Mason TechnologiesBoxingOrangeRandomStormPentest PeopleData Protection PeopleDarkInvaderAwareness Marketing
The Journey · Founder

Built, Scaled and Sold: A Career That Compounds

Seven businesses since 1998, from the UK’s first 24×7 SOC to attack surface management and AI search, with Mason Technologies running alongside them all. Each one built on what the last one taught.

1998 to Now

Seven Businesses · Three Exits
  1. Mason Technologies
    1998

    Mason Technologies

    Consultancy, Advisory and NED · 1998 to Present

    Growth, board and exit advisory from an operator who has built it himself: non-executive director roles, consultancy and angel investment.

  2. BoxingOrange
    2001Exit

    BoxingOrange

    Cisco MSSP · 2001 to 2007

    A Cisco managed security service provider that ran the UK’s first 24×7 security operations centre, watching customer networks round the clock.

    Acquired
  3. RandomStorm
    2007Exit

    RandomStorm

    Penetration Testing · 2007 to 2015

    Testing networks and applications for weaknesses before attackers find them. Acquired by Accumuli plc in 2014.

    Acquired
  4. 2014 RandomStorm Sold to Accumuli plc and an MBA completed at Leeds University Business School.
  5. Data Protection People
    2015

    Data Protection People

    GDPR and Privacy · 2015 to Present

    Helping organisations handle personal data lawfully and meet their GDPR and privacy obligations.

  6. Pentest People
    2017Exit

    Pentest People

    Penetration Testing and PTaaS · 2017 to 2026

    Penetration testing delivered as a service, so findings live on a platform clients can use rather than in a one-off report.

    Acquired
  7. Along the Way £1M+ Venture Funding Raised for a SaaS-based start-up, alongside years of bootstrapped growth.
  8. DarkInvader
    2022

    DarkInvader

    External Attack Surface Management · 2022 to Present

    Finding and monitoring everything an organisation exposes to the internet, seen the way an attacker would see it.

  9. Awareness Marketing
    2024

    Awareness Marketing

    Generative Engine Optimisation · 2024 to Present

    Helping brands get found and cited in the answers that AI assistants give, as search moves from links to generated answers.

  10. Now Three Exits, Four Active Companies and a seat at the board table.

The Scoreboard So Far

Funding and Exits
Founded
7
Businesses founded since 1998
Exits
3
Successful exits closed
Funding
£1M+
Venture funding raised for a SaaS start-up
Growth
Bootstrapped and VC-Backed Growth
Non-Executive Director

A Board Member Who Has Built It Himself

Strategic counsel, governance rigour and plain-English cyber risk for founder-led and PE-backed technology businesses.

Discuss a Board Role
25+yrs
In network security and risk
Founder-Led and PE-Backed
Technology businesses he advises
Technologist

Still Hands-On After 25+ Years

Boards get an operator who still understands the detail: the attack paths, the data flows and what the latest tools can really do.

  • Penetration Testing
  • Data Protection
  • Network Security
  • Practical AI
  • MBA, Leeds University Business School
  • Published Author
andrew@masontech: ~
$ education
MBA · Leeds University Business School · 2014
$ stack
Security · Infrastructure · Practical AI
$ authored
IT security books, whitepapers and industry articles

Cybersecurity

Penetration testing, network security and data protection, learnt on the tools before running the businesses that sold them.

Penetration TestingNetworksData Protection

Practical AI

Shipping AI-assisted products first-hand, and helping boards adopt AI where it pays, without the hype.

AdoptionGovernanceDelivery

Hands-On Building

Security tooling, AI experiments and working prototypes, still built by hand, so his advice comes from current practice.

ToolingPrototypesAutomation
Side Projects

Apps I Make Around My Own Hobbies

Small, private apps for iPhone and Apple Watch, built for the things I do away from the boardroom.

Twenty Knots Today screen
Twenty Knots session screen

Twenty Knots

Live on the App Store

Émile Coué’s method, with your own affirmations counted on a knotted cord, in your own voice.

twentyknots.app ↗
Tidal Breath breathing screen
Tidal Breath technique library

Tidal Breath

Coming Soon

Resonance breathing paced by a tide, with gentle haptics on your wrist.

tidalbreath.app ↗
Tidal Contrast This Week screen
Tidal Contrast cold session screen

Tidal Contrast

Coming Soon

A sauna and cold water coach, with clear time limits for heat and cold.

tidalcontrast.app ↗

Tell Me What You’re Trying to Build

A board role, an exit or a technology question. I read every message personally.

What Is It About?

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