In this episode of Cyber Security District, we sit down with Kim van Lavieren, co-founder and CTO of Dawnguard, a cybersecurity startup that raised millions in funding before registering a company or launching a product. Kim’s story is anything but ordinary, from leading Marines on no-sleep missions to building offensive hacking tools for the Dutch military, to managing massive security teams at Amazon in the U.S., his path combines discipline, vision, and deep technical mastery. Together with co-founder Madi Abdurazak, Kim is now on a mission to completely rethink how cybersecurity should be done, by starting not with alerts or vulnerabilities, but with architecture, policy, and real business risk. Dawnguard is building a platform that automates secure-by-design architecture using AI, aiming to replace an entire category of cloud security tools before most companies even realize there’s a better way. In this episode, we cover: What the Dutch Marine Corps taught Kim about discipline and decision-making How a military comms officer became a cybersecurity architect Building secure systems after discovering flaws in weapons room access Writing offensive tools for the cyber division of the Dutch Armed Forces Why cyber soldiers may be more impactful than boots on the ground Kim’s journey to Amazon and running third-party security at massive scale The mindset shift from “no” to “how” in security engineering The origin story behind Dawnguard and raising millions pre-product How Dawnguard is building a new category for architecture-led security Using AI to design, verify, deploy, and enforce security from day zero Advice for cybersecurity newcomers, and why the industry must rebrand How Dutch risk aversion is holding back innovation — and how to break through Timestamps: 00:00:00 – Intro00:00:47 – Kim's Background: From Marines to Cybersecurity00:03:29 – Training Under Extreme Pressure00:06:28 – Becoming a Communications Officer & Discovering Security Gaps00:08:18 – First Lines of Code at Age 1000:10:19 – When Tech & Physical Endurance Collide00:11:04 – Offensive Cyber Capabilities in the Military00:14:22 – Why Cyber Soldiers Now Matter More Than Physical Ones00:17:05 – Consulting, CISO Roles & Joining Amazon00:18:49 – The Scale & Speed of Security at Amazon00:21:00 – The Origin of Dawnguard00:23:00 – Automating Architecture Compliance with AI00:25:08 – Using Threat Intel & Policy as a Starting Point00:28:02 – Building the Engine: 5 AIs and a Moonshot00:30:46 – Meeting Madi & Finding the Perfect Co-Founder Match00:33:29 – Raising Millions with No Product — and Building a Dream Team00:36:37 – Rise Into Resilience: What the Dawnguard Slogan Really Means00:38:08 – Rebranding Cyber: Why the Industry Needs a Makeover00:39:44 – Advice for People Trying to Break Into Security00:41:03 – Advice for Aspiring Cyber Entrepreneurs00:44:42 – Certifications, Labs & Reality Checks00:47:25 – Going Big Means Accepting Uncertainty00:49:00 – The 5-Year Vision: Replace Entire Security Categories00:50:30 – Final Signal Message to CISOs: Security Is Balance, Not Absolutes Connect with the guests: Kim van Lavieren: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kim-v-0645931b4/ Learn more about Dawnguard: https://dawnguard.ai/ Follow Cyber Security District:Laurens Jagt (Host): https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurensjagt/Website: https://www.cybersecuritydistrict.comAll channels & newsletter: https://beacons.ai/cybersecuritydistrict