Marten Mickos’ Post

Wow, huge news. Will take minute to digest. Congrats! Nine years is an extended chapter.

🥳 True to form you are being transparent and ahead of the game 👏Congratulations Marten and here’s to both your and HackerOne ‘s future 🎉

Great run

When Mårten interviewed for the CEO position, he likened the challenge we faced with the early days of open source which of course he knew well from his years leading MySQL. All the same symptoms were there: skepticism, cynicism, no trust, nobody believed it could be done. Nine years later, we count many of the most risk-averse organizations and businesses in the world as clients who collaborate effectively with the planet’s best hackers. Transparency and community won again!

Marten, so many hackeronies, hackers, customers and other categories of people are so fortunate to have crossed paths with you and your leadership. 3 key memories stick with me: - it’s ok to make mistakes as long as you learn from them. You reassured me when I sent a contract to the wrong customer. And it’s never happened again! This experience made me confident in bringing mistakes to leaders who can help fix them rather than being afraid of exposing the mistake. - being under-prepared ISN’T one of those mistakes that’s ok to make. I showed up to an initial meeting with <european fintech giant> with very little preparation, and you helped me raise the bar for what “prepared” means. We closed that business 3 years later, and the new standard of preparedness ensured the key on-site meeting with their CISO was rock-solid. - set expectations and delight by exceeding them. We were sharing a travel itinerary together for a client on-site in Austria. You told me that you use travel time to recharge, so I shouldn’t expect to chat during our ride to Gatwick. Then you spent the whole time discussing life, leadership and sailing with me. I was delighted! Here’s to enjoyment and success in whatever’s next!

When Zack Urlocker asked me to consult with MySQL, I quickly thought it was a startup that was going to make it. When I joined full-time, I knew I was right. After years of hard work and dramatic ups and downs, MySQL, Zack, and you truly changed my life. A 1 billion dollar aquisition and following years with Sun and Oracle taught me so much that I could move on to an even more amazing career. Thank you Mårten and Zack for such a life-changing impact on my life. I owe you both so much.

None of the standard emoticons do justice to this. The end of an era - no, actually - the end of many eras. Marten you are an amazing leader and daunting competitor. You made us all better at what we do. You live your values more than any other leader I’ve worked with or gone to battle with! Always transparent. Always 💯 respectful to everyone. Always innovative. Always passionate. Always 1000% human! You’ll be missed in the daily running of this amazing, and now wonderfully established, Crowdsourced Security Testing Space! Best of luck and enjoy what’s next!!

One of my favorite CEO lines ever was at a HackerOne all hands when asked what our biggest differentiator was at HackerOne, you answered "Our culture." That was unforgettable 🔥. I fondly remember asking how to decide whether to wear a suit or t-shirt when meeting a two star general at a Hackathon at Black Hat and you said, "Whatever makes you comfortable." Congrats on your accomplishments and thanks for your leadership. Wishing you the best.

Congratulations Marten on what you have made HackerOne become, and thank you for what that has contributed to our industry. I think it’s been instrumental. And I’m not surprised. When you spoke to us at MuleSoft so many years ago, about the “era of architecture” (I’m paraphrasing), you were both prescient and spot on. Thank you for that too! ❤️

Marten - you've been one of the most inspirational leaders I've had the pleasure to learn from and I can't THANK YOU enough for everything you've done for me, both personally and professionally, to make me a better human being. I'm hopeful this decision will allow you much more time on the island and getting some much needed R+R with friends and family!