The cost of cyberattacks is rising rapidly as hackers develop increasingly destructive and sophisticated attacks. As a business leader, you should invest in a network security solution provider to combat this issue.

This guide will give you a solid framework for choosing a security provider.

What to Look for in a Network Security Solution Provider

Before examining providers, establish standard features of reliable providers. The following traits are worth considering.

Proactive Threat Detection

Traditionally, cybersecurity systems use historical data to combat threats, but this approach typically results in reactive rather than proactive action. To adopt a proactive approach, providers must use machine learning or AI to establish a baseline of regular activity so it can notify the team when abnormal activity occurs. This approach usually prevents attacks from escalating.

Comprehensive Visibility

The provider should allow for comprehensive visibility into your entire network, including cloud environments, IoT devices and on-premise servers. When you view all these systems, you can spot discrepancies and manage cybersecurity measures from a single place.

Ability to Grow Alongside the Company

As your company expands, your network security should grow with you. The one you choose should be able to handle a large influx of customers or increased system complexity. As you gain new equipment, the provider’s cybersecurity measures should adapt to protect those assets, as well.

Multiple Layers of Security

One layer of security is not enough to protect an entire network, so a good enterprise will establish multiple layers to safeguard your brand, like antivirus software or firewalls. A notable approach is adding a zero-trust layer, which protects different network areas based on a user’s position within the company.

Reliable Customer Support

A final attribute of a provider is reliable customer support. The business should respond promptly in the event of an emergency. The response time must be short, considering some support is time-sensitive. Its team should be dedicated to helping you stay alert to cybersecurity threats.

Best Network Security Solution Providers

After examining some common traits of good brands, the following are the best network security solution providers.

1.   Darktrace

The best overall network security solution provider is Darktrace. It serves around 10,000 customers and uses its own AI-based cybersecurity approach. Darktrace AI learns and adapts to your company’s system and detects many cyberattacks, including AI-driven ones. The service identifies threats across the entire organization in real time.

Darktrace deploys autonomous responses to threats to deliver the fastest possible protection. It also protects the cloud, prioritizes security throughout all levels of your enterprise and gives you visibility across your entire domain. This option works with both large and small businesses to deliver robust cybersecurity.

2.   Check Point

The security solutions provider Check Point uses four principles to establish cybersecurity, including security in hybrid mesh networks, workspaces, AI transformation and prevent-first. The provider has worked in security since 1994 and has a 99.9% prevention rate.

Check Point’s Infinity Platform provides a comprehensive view of your cybersecurity procedures. You can activate a demo to test its full capabilities. The website features multiple customer stories from around the world, reports, a Resource Center and a live threat map for early detection.

3.   Palo Alto Networks

Another security provider is Palo Alto Networks, which utilizes an identity security approach. Its website features many demos and trials to test its products. This entity has a significant focus on AI, as it is one of the most pressing cybersecurity concerns. Palo Alto Networks uses a platform approach to cybersecurity, operating a Strata Network Security Platform powered by Precision AI.

The provider blocks around 30.9 billion in-line attacks per day. It has over 70,000 customers and uses a zero-trust policy. The website features multiple notable brands that use its platform, as well as the many awards it has won. Palo Alto Networks provides real-time cloud security and updates its data daily to remain informed.

4.   Fortinet

The network security solution provider Fortinet hosts an annual conference called Accelerate that focuses on cybersecurity. It serves over 70,000 enterprises worldwide and practices high security assurance standards. The provider focuses on AI-driven security, utilizing its own FortiAI. It has multiple cybersecurity platforms, including FortiOS and Global Cloud Network.

Fortinet blocks around 360,000 malware executions a day. Its website showcases several case studies and customer videos to boost its credibility. It has several articles on its website about the latest innovations, as well.

5.   Cisco

Another notable security provider is Cisco, which serves over a million customers, including many well-known entities. It utilizes AI Canvas for autonomous, AI-driven cybersecurity. Along with AI, it has a team of human employees who focus on hacker intent and security policies.

Cisco protects the cloud and its users with enhanced threat detection and response technology. It operates a hybrid mesh firewall and emphasizes zero-trust access and Cisco AI Defense for its clients.

6.   Zscaler

The network security provider Zscaler uses an AI security platform with a zero-trust policy to protect your business. It reduces costs and complexity while accelerating cloud adoption. The provider helps you embrace AI securely, since improper usage brings about its own cybersecurity challenges.

Zscaler helps make your enterprise invisible to attackers by providing automated security operations. It also assesses your current data security posture and provides suggestions for improving it. The website features multiple customer success stories, as well.

7.   AlgoSec

Utilizing the AlgoSec Horizon platform, AlgoSec provides an application-centric security management solution. The provider has served over 2,200 organizations since 2004. It works with many notable brands and provides coverage across your business’s entire estate.

AlgoSec is ideal for brands with employees working in hybrid environments, protecting systems across many devices and in multiple locations. It automates security changes to maintain continuous compliance. AlgoSec works well with data center and multi-cloud network security and offers an eBook on application security for your education.

Security Provider Comparison Table

The following table outlines each security provider’s key features for a quick comparison.

Methodology for Choosing Security Providers

The security providers were chosen according to each’s key features, including customer outreach, platform or AI utilization, and its security visibility. The rankings were selected based on comparisons of key features and similar lists.

Find the Best Network Security Provider

It’s vital to invest in a reliable security partner that fits those needs. To find the best network security provider for your business, assess your own needs and consider the criteria outlined above.

One of the plaintiffs in the Supreme Court case that challenged President Donald Trump’s tariff authority says Friday’s ruling against the president’s authority is “not enough.”

On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against Trump’s tariffs. Later that day, however, Trump announced a 10% global tariff, which he later raised to 15% on Saturday.

One plaintiff, Illinois toymaker Rick Woldenberg, CEO of Learning Resources, called the ruling a “small improvement.” He joined the case against Trump’s tariffs after his toymaking company was adversely affected, as many of his toys are imported from China.

TRUMP RESPONDS TO SUPREME COURT RULING REJECTING SWEEPING TARIFFS POWERS: ‘A DISGRACE’

Woldenberg’s companies, Learning Resources Inc. and hand2mind Inc., sued in April to invalidate the tariffs as exceeding Trump’s authority. (Taylor Glascock/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

“An asphyxiating tax is an economic depressant,” he told “The Claman Countdown” on Monday. “Federal plus state plus IEPA tariffs on our company last year exceeded our earnings. So, make a dollar pay, more than a dollar in taxes.”

Woldenberg argued that Trump’s tariff policy over the last year has hurt consumers and caused significant turmoil for his business.

He said his business faced a hard choice when dealing with the economic impacts of Trump’s tariffs.

WHY TRUMP IS WRONG TO CALL DISSENTING REPUBLICAN JUSTICES AN ‘EMBARRASSMENT’ FOR VOTING AGAINST HIS TARIFFS

“Either we’re gonna liquidate our business into the pockets of the federal government or we have to pass the costs on,” Woldenberg explained. “So, the tariff which falls on us becomes a regressive tax falling on the folks on the lower end of the economic spectrum.”

“I’m very uncomfortable with that. I think regressive tax is immoral,” he added.

The toymaker clarified that his case against Trump was not personal but rather a call for law and order.

President Trump’s emergency use of tariffs was ruled to be against his presidential authority in a 6-3 ruling on Friday. (Getty Images / Getty Images)

TRUMP REVEALS HIS ‘NEW HERO’ SUPREME COURT JUSTICE AFTER TARIFFS RULING

“We’re not for Mr. Trump or against Mr. Trump, we’re against the misapplication of law,” he told FOX Business.

Woldenberg will attend Trump’s State of the Union on Tuesday.

FOX Business host Liz Claman asked Woldenberg whether he thinks it will be awkward to see Trump in person after he called him and his fellow plaintiffs “sleazebags.”

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY SAYS ‘GRIZZLY’ TRUMP SECURED TRADE WINS DESPITE SCOTUS TARIFF BLOW

“I’m not embarrassed to be there – obviously don’t appreciate being called names,” he said.

MGA Entertainment CEO Isaac Larian also joined “The Claman Countdown” and said Trump’s push to bring back U.S. manufacturing through tariffs was “impractical.”

Larian, whose company manufactures Bratz dolls, said shifting production to the United States would make it impossible to maintain current price points for American consumers.

An employee works at a toy factory specializing in solar-powered plastic gadgets in Yiwu, China’s eastern Zhejiang province on April 11, 2025. (ADEK BERRY/AFP / Getty Images)

“This Bratz is right now a number one selling toy…” Larian said. “They are made in China right now, and they sell for $25. There is no way to make that in America and if it was, it would be $50 instead of $25.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Larian also said Americans deserve to know whether they will get rebates tied to the tariff policy over the last year.

“The Supreme Court says these tariffs were illegal. If they’re illegal, they’re an illegal tax on Americans. And Americans deserve clarity on the refunds,” he said.

The Economics Have Fundamentally Changed

The traditional formula—double revenue, double headcount—is breaking down. AI-native startups now average $3.48 million in revenue per employee compared to traditional SaaS companies at $610,000. Even excluding outliers, AI-enabled companies average $2.47 million per employee—over four times conventional benchmarks.

Palantir demonstrates what’s possible: $1.14 million revenue per employee in 2025 while growing revenue 56% and adding just 5% headcount. Their CEO’s declaration captures the shift: ‘We will grow 10x with fewer employees than we have today.’ This isn’t aspiration—it’s operational reality backed by an industry-leading 114% Rule of 40 score.

The driver is agentic AI—systems that don’t just automate tasks but execute entire workflows autonomously. McKinsey reports 88% of organizations now use AI in at least one business function, with 23% actively scaling agentic systems. The agentic AI market is projected to explode from $12-15 billion in 2025 to $80-100 billion by 2030, a compound annual growth rate exceeding 40%.

What Leading Companies Are Actually Achieving

The performance data validates both the opportunity and urgency. Salesforce realized $50 million in cost savings in 2025 by reassigning 500 customer service workers to higher-value roles, achieving productivity gains exceeding 30% in engineering teams. Marc Benioff announced the company will hire ‘no more software engineers in 2025’ due to AI productivity gains—unthinkable three years ago.

ServiceNow is saving $100 million in staffing costs through internal AI deployment. Their CEO envisions ‘a company that could still operate if every employee called in sick on the same day.’ HubSpot maintained flat headcount in customer support while growing revenue 19% in Q2 2025, with AI automating prospecting, engagement, and content creation.

Customer success platforms show 80% of routine inquiries now handled by AI, delivering $3.50 return for every dollar invested while achieving 25% cost reductions and 45% satisfaction increases. Teams that previously managed 1,000 accounts can now effectively serve 5,000, with account managers focusing exclusively on complex strategic relationships.

Strategic Imperatives for Leadership

Rethink Talent Allocation, Not Headcount

The question isn’t how many people to hire—it’s where human judgment creates irreplaceable value. ChurnZero’s 2026 research confirms ‘CS roles are evolving faster than job descriptions. Leaders will hire less for task execution and more for decision-making under pressure.’ Automate administrative work and shift that capacity into deeper customer conversations, strategic planning, and complex problem-solving.

Establish AI Governance Now

Gartner estimates 70% of enterprises will implement AI governance frameworks by 2026, driven partly by regulations like the EU AI Act. Only 22% had visible strategies in 2025—creating significant competitive advantage for early movers who demonstrate their automation operates ethically, transparently, and with continuous risk monitoring.

Centralize Through AI Studios

Leading organizations are adopting enterprise-wide AI strategies through centralized ‘AI studios’ that bring together reusable tech components, frameworks for assessing use cases, testing sandboxes, deployment protocols, and skilled people. This structure links business goals to AI capabilities while maintaining governance and surfacing high-ROI opportunities.

Prepare for Pricing Evolution

Traditional subscription models are giving way to hybrid approaches. Gartner predicts over 30% of enterprise SaaS solutions will incorporate outcome-based components by end of 2025. Salesforce pioneered ‘Agent Engagement Licensing Agreements’—flat fees providing budget predictability while encouraging AI adoption. Customers increasingly pay for results delivered rather than seats occupied.

The Widening Gap

The divergence between automation-first companies and traditional models is accelerating. Competitors operating at $1+ million revenue per employee don’t just have better margins—they have fundamentally different cost structures, pricing flexibility, and strategic options. They can undercut on price to capture market share, maintain premium pricing for superior margins, or over-invest in product development. Traditional players built on linear headcount-to-revenue assumptions lack these degrees of freedom. They’re structurally disadvantaged.

With 88% of organizations already using AI and 76% of SaaS companies actively exploring AI for operations, the competitive baseline rises monthly. Companies treating automation as a 2027 priority are already behind. The executive skill set required is notably different: automation-driven scaling rewards leaders who identify high-leverage opportunities, redesign processes around AI capabilities, and manage lean organizations doing complex work. The CEO who built a 3,000-person company might struggle to build an equally successful 300-person company in this paradigm.

The question facing leadership teams is whether you’re architecting this transformation deliberately or reacting to competitors who are. The former creates defensible competitive advantages. The latter creates obsolescence. Based on current adoption curves, the window for deliberate action is narrower than most boards realize. The mathematics of scale have fundamentally changed. The only question is whether your strategy has changed with them.

Q4: 2026-02-18 Earnings Summary

EPS of $0.10 beats by $0.00

 | Revenue of $43.77M beats by $4.35M

This article was written by

Follow

If your outbound calls are showing up as “Spam Risk” or “Scam Likely,” it can feel maddening when you have already done the “right” thing and implemented STIR/SHAKEN.

Here is the reality. STIR/SHAKEN is about caller ID authentication, not caller reputation. It helps carriers confirm whether a call is likely spoofed, but carriers still use reputation analytics and user feedback to decide whether a call should be labeled or blocked. Even platform providers like Twilio explicitly note that SHAKEN/STIR will not remove nuisance labeling.

This is why many teams reduce their dependence on cold outbound calling and shift more first contact to messaging. Tools like Meera, for example, can engage leads via SMS in a compliant way, qualify intent, and pass only serious prospects to your team, which reduces the call patterns that often trigger spam labels.

In this guide, we will break down what STIR/SHAKEN does, why calls still get flagged, and what you can do to fix labeling across carriers.

What STIR/SHAKEN Actually Solves and What It Does Not?

STIR/SHAKEN is a technology specifically designed to digitally authenticate calls as they pass through carrier networks and eliminate the risk of illegal robocalls and caller ID spoofing.

However, it is important to note that it doesn’t guarantee deliverability, answer rates, or a clean reputation score because carriers and call protection systems can still label and filter calls using their own analytics. AT&T, for example, explicitly distinguishes between “verified” indicators and calls marked as spam or fraud risk, and notes that spam risk calls may not receive verification indicators.

So if you are asking, “We have STIR/SHAKEN, why are we still being labeled?”, the most logical answer is that although you have authentication, your traffic still looks suspicious to carrier analytics, which causes it to be labeled.

What are the Most Common Reasons Legitimate Calls Still Get Labeled?

Carrier labeling systems do not rely on just one factor, but a mix of behavioral patterns, to determine whether a call appears trustworthy. This could be identity consistency, historical reputation, or even user feedback.

Businesses can follow all standard protocols, but still get flagged if the carrier system’s analytics pick up on any of these factors, and their calling activity unintentionally indicates spam-like behavior, which is why, before you look into technical solutions for this problem, it is important to understand what is the reason you’re getting labeled.

Here are some underlying issues you can address to resolve the problem:

Your calls have partial or weak attestation

Even in a STIR/SHAKEN world, calls can be signed with different attestation levels, commonly described as A, B, or C.

An A-level means the provider knows the customer and the caller ID is authorized, while lower levels indicate less certainty. If your traffic is frequently signed at B or C, carriers may still treat the calls as higher risk, especially when combined with other suspicious signals.

Your call patterns match spam behavior

Spam detection is heavily pattern-based. High call volume from one number in a short period, short call durations, and low answer rates can all look like robocall behavior, even when you are a legitimate business. This is especially common when teams use power dialers and rapidly cycle through lists.

Your number has a poor history or a lost reputation after porting

If your number was previously abused, or if it is newly activated with no history, it can get flagged more easily. Porting can also disrupt reputation signals between ecosystems and temporarily increase labeling risk.

Caller ID data is inconsistent or incomplete

Carrier analytics do not only look at signatures. They also look at whether the caller ID looks consistent and trustworthy. Mismatched caller name data and inconsistent presentation can contribute to suspicion.

End users and call protection apps are reporting you

User feedback matters. When recipients mark your calls as spam, it can influence your reputation, and many consumer protection products use network analytics and machine learning to identify spam patterns.

How to Diagnose the Real Cause of Labelling?

Here are some steps you need to follow to diagnose the real cause of labelling:

1. Treat this like a funnel problem, not a telecom mystery.
2. Look at what changed in the last 30 to 60 days. Did you increase calling volume too quickly? Did you start using new numbers? Did you port numbers? Did you change your outbound provider?
3. Look at the signals carriers care about.
4. Check your answer rate and average call duration. If a large portion of calls are going unanswered and the average duration is very short, your traffic can resemble nuisance calling.
5. Verify your STIR/SHAKEN attestation level. If you are not consistently getting strong attestation, you may have an upstream configuration or identity problem.

What Actually Fixes “Spam Risk” Labeling?

There are various approaches to fix the “Spam Risk” labelling issue, and we have mentioned some of the most effective solutions below:

Improve identity consistency and attestation quality

Work with your voice provider to increase the likelihood of A-level attestation where possible and ensure caller ID data is consistent. The attestation levels exist specifically to express how confidently the caller ID can be trusted.

Adjust call patterns so they look human, not robotic

If you spin up a new number and immediately push heavy outbound volume, you often get flagged. Some providers explicitly recommend warming numbers and ramping volume gradually.

You also want to reduce behaviors that carriers interpret as nuisance calling, like repeated short-duration calls.

Monitor and remediate reputation, not just authentication

STIR/SHAKEN helps prove calls are not spoofed, but analytics and reputation still drive labeling decisions. This is a widely discussed issue in the industry, including by reputation-focused providers who stress that authentication alone does not solve labeling.

If your business relies heavily on outbound calls, proactive monitoring and remediation should be part of operations, not a one-time setup.

Consider branded calling and richer identity signals

Some carriers and industry discussions point to branded calling and richer caller identity data as an additional trust layer beyond basic authentication.

Best Tools to Reduce Cold Calling Reliance and Keep Leads Warm

A practical way to reduce spam labeling risk is to lower the volume of repeated outbound attempts and move early-stage qualification to channels that feel less intrusive.

Meera

If your team is calling lots of leads just to figure out who is serious, an SMS-first qualification layer can remove a huge amount of outbound call pressure. Meera is an AI texting platform that can respond instantly, qualify intent through two-way SMS conversations, and route warm prospects to your team when they are ready.

HubSpot workflows with messaging integrations

If your pipeline lives in a CRM like HubSpot, workflow automation combined with messaging integrations can help you respond quickly and keep follow-ups consistent, without requiring your team to personally manage every thread.

Twilio for custom messaging and call flows

If you want full control, Twilio provides programmable building blocks for SMS and calling. Twilio also notes that SHAKEN/STIR does not remove nuisance labels, which is a helpful reminder that deliverability requires more than authentication alone.

Plivo for Custom Messaging and Call Flows

If you want full control over your voice and messaging infrastructure, Plivo offers programmable APIs for SMS and outbound calling. It allows teams to build customized call flows, manage caller ID configuration, and integrate directly with internal systems. Like other programmable voice providers, it is important to remember that STIR/SHAKEN authentication does not automatically prevent spam labeling, since carrier analytics and reputation signals still influence call treatment.

Wrapping It Up

STIR/SHAKEN is necessary, but it is not a guarantee that carriers will stop labeling your calls. Carrier analytics, reputation signals, calling patterns, and user feedback still determine whether a call gets marked as Spam Risk.

The fix is usually a combination of stronger identity consistency, healthier call patterns, and reputation monitoring. And for many teams, the fastest relief comes from shifting early qualification to SMS so outbound calling is focused on warmer prospects instead of brute-force dialing.

Audit season has a reputation for being one of the most stressful periods in any finance team’s year. The weeks leading up to it tend to involve late nights, frantic email chains, and a growing pile of documents that should have been organised months ago.

For many businesses, the experience feels like cramming for an exam they knew was coming but never quite prepared for.

The thing is, most of that stress is avoidable. It doesn’t come from the audit itself. It comes from the systems and processes sitting underneath it, the ones that were never really set up with audit readiness in mind.

The real source of audit stress

When auditors arrive, they need a clear trail of evidence. They want to see how financial decisions were made, who approved what, whether purchases were properly authorised, and whether the numbers in the accounts match the supporting documentation. That’s the job. And when everything is well organised and accessible, audits move quickly and cost less.

The problem is that in many small and mid-sized businesses, that evidence is scattered across inboxes, spreadsheets, shared drives, and sometimes the memory of the person who handled the transaction. Approval records might exist as a forwarded email from six months ago. Purchase orders might have been verbally agreed. Expense claims might have been signed off on paper and then filed in a drawer that nobody has opened since.

Research from Ardent Partners found that organisations without automated processes take an average of 17.4 days to process a single invoice from receipt to payment. When you multiply that kind of lag across hundreds of transactions, you start to see how the documentation trail can become fragmented well before audit season even begins.

Your tech stack is either helping or creating extra work

Most businesses have some form of accounting software in place. That’s a given. But the accounting system itself only tells part of the story. It records transactions after they’ve happened. What it doesn’t always capture is the decision-making process that led to those transactions – who requested the spend, who reviewed it, who gave the go-ahead, and whether it fell within budget.

This is where the broader tech stack matters. The tools that sit around your accounting system, handling approvals, managing purchase orders, routing invoices for review, and capturing supporting documentation, are what determine whether your audit preparation takes days or weeks.

When those tools work well together, the audit trail builds itself as part of everyday operations. Every invoice that gets approved, every purchase order that gets signed off, every expense that gets reviewed leaves behind a clear, searchable record. When audit time comes, you’re not reconstructing the story from fragments. You’re simply sharing what’s already there.

What auditors actually want to see

It helps to think about this from the auditor’s perspective. They’re not trying to catch you out. They’re trying to verify that your financial records are accurate, complete, and supported by proper controls. The easier you make that for them, the faster the audit goes, the fewer follow-up questions come back, and the lower the overall cost.

There are a few things that consistently make auditors’ lives easier:

• A clear record of who approved each financial transaction and when
• Evidence that purchase orders were raised before invoices were paid, not after
• Documentation showing that spending stayed within approved budgets
• An accessible trail of comments, notes, and supporting documents attached to each transaction

None of this is revolutionary. But producing it reliably and consistently is where most businesses struggle, especially when the process for capturing it is manual or informal.

Building audit readiness into daily operations

The most audit-ready businesses aren’t the ones that scramble to prepare in the weeks before auditors arrive. They’re the ones where preparation happens automatically as part of how the business runs day to day.

This is the shift that makes the biggest difference. Instead of treating audit readiness as an annual project, it becomes a byproduct of good financial processes. When your accounts payable automation captures every step from invoice receipt to approval to payment, and when your approval workflows log every decision with timestamps, comments, and the identity of each approver, you’re building your audit file continuously without anyone having to think about it.

The UK’s accounting and auditing industry is valued at £8.8 billion as of 2024, and audit fees have been rising steadily. For SMEs, where every pound spent on professional services matters, reducing the time your auditors need to spend requesting and verifying information can have a direct and meaningful impact on the final bill. Auditors typically price by time, so anything that reduces the hours they spend chasing documentation is money back in your pocket.

The controls gap that catches businesses out

Beyond documentation, auditors also look at internal controls. They want to understand whether your business has proper checks in place to prevent errors and fraud. This is where businesses that rely on informal processes tend to get caught out.

If a single person can raise a purchase order, approve the invoice, and process the payment without any oversight, that’s a control weakness. If there’s no systematic way to check whether an invoice matches the original order, that’s another one. These gaps don’t just create audit findings – they create real financial risk for the business.

Building strong financial controls into your tech stack means that these checks happen automatically. Purchase orders route to the right approver based on value and department. Invoices get matched against the original PO before they can be paid. Budget limits trigger alerts before they’re exceeded rather than showing up as a surprise at month end. And all of it gets logged in a central audit trail that’s ready for review at any time.

The human side of audit readiness

There’s a people element here that’s worth acknowledging. Finance teams that spend weeks preparing for audits are finance teams that aren’t doing higher-value work during that time. They’re not analysing trends, managing cash flow, or supporting business decisions. They’re digging through filing cabinets and chasing colleagues for documentation.

That’s a poor use of skilled people’s time, and over the long term it contributes to burnout, frustration, and turnover in finance roles. A tech stack that handles the documentation and controls automatically gives those people their time back, not just during audit season but throughout the year.

Final word

If audit season still feels like a fire drill in your business, the issue probably isn’t your finance team’s effort or your auditor’s expectations. It’s the gap between how your daily financial processes run and what your auditors need to see at year end.

Here’s what to check right now. First, look at whether your current systems capture a complete approval trail for every invoice, purchase order, and expense claim, or whether you’re relying on emails and verbal sign-offs that will be difficult to produce later. Second, review whether your internal controls are built into your systems or whether they depend on individuals remembering to follow the right steps. Third, ask your team how much time they spent preparing for the last audit and where the biggest delays came from.

Those answers will tell you exactly where your tech stack is working for you and where it’s creating extra work. Closing that gap is one of the most practical things any business owner can do to reduce audit stress, lower audit costs, and give their finance team the space to focus on what actually matters.

Hatu Sheikh is a Web3 entrepreneur and serial founder, who has worked with some of the most exciting and fastest growing companies and businesses in Web3.

In a world where crypto projects rise and fall overnight, few figures have demonstrated the kind of consistent, long-term vision that Hatu Sheikh has brought to the Web3 industry.

From his early days researching crowdfunding economics at Stony Brook University to co-founding DAO Maker and building CoinTerminal from the ground up, Sheikh has always had an appetite for digital growth.

The Strong Holder Offering at DAO Maker, the open-access model at CoinTerminal, and his advisory work across some of Web3’s most recognised projects are all expressions of Hatu Sheikh’s same core belief: that decentralised finance should be genuinely decentralised.

Innovation, Foresight And Logic: The Hatu Sheikh Way

Hatu Sheikh’s decision to base his work in Dubai predates the city’s recent rise as a Web3 hub. He has continued to invest in Dubai too, with Hatu Sheikh leading the initiative on the development of Dubai Fintech District, a large project in Dubai, establishing financial innovation and infrastructure in the world-leading hub that is Dubai.

The appeal was primarily practical; access to a young, multilingual talent pool, clearer regulatory frameworks and early engagement from public institutions made the region attractive for long-term building.

Since his days in education, Sheikh has maintained a high degree of logic, efficiency and strategicness that serves him and his ventures to this day. These are traits which have positioned him as a trusted and respected authority in Web3, crypto and business.

When Did Hatu Sheikh First Get Involved in Crypto?

The journey of Hatu Sheikh into the world of crypto did not happen overnight. His path into the industry was shaped by years of academic research and a growing fascination with how capital moves on the internet, and, more importantly, who benefits from it.

It wasn’t until 2018 that Hatu Sheikh made his move into the blockchain and crypto industry. His initial involvement centred on helping projects improve their brand representation and token economies, as well as bootstrapping funds through private sales and ICOs.

However, the foundations for this transition were laid much earlier. For more than a decade, Hatu’s thinking had been shaped by a consistent question: how does capital move on the internet, and who ultimately benefits from that movement?

That question first emerged through Sheikh’s academic research into crowdfunding, where he examined how early contributors often carried significant risk without sharing proportionally in the value created later.

The Impressive Educational Background Of Hatu Sheikh

Hassan Hatu Sheikh completed his studies at Stony Brook University, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics, Economics, and Business. In 2017, he received the award for “Most Outstanding Student in Finance.” His scholarly work on crowdfunding optimisation pinpointed the empirical data points that enhance startup marketing expenditures.

Hassan Hatu Sheikh co-founded DAO Maker in 2018, which is an on-chain fundraising platform boasting more than 315,000 users verified through KYC. The platform was the first to introduce the Strong Holder Offering framework, which rewards long-term commitment based on on-chain behaviour rather than first-come-first-served mechanics that favour bots and insiders, as designed by Hassan Hatu Sheikh himself.

Which Crypto Projects Has Hatu Sheikh Advised?

Hatu Sheikh, a well-known personality within the blockchain industry and one of the founders of DAO Maker, has provided guidance to numerous crypto initiatives, with an emphasis on tokenisation tactics, marketing efforts, and growth of launchpads.

Hatu Sheikh has advised or held leadership roles in the following projects:

• Polkastarter: Acted as a marketing advisor, offering strategic counsel on initial market positioning and financial viability.
• Inspect (NFT Inspect): Took on the role of Strategic Advisor to help with tokenisation strategies and expansion in the AI/NFT data analytics sector.
• GameFi: Served as an advisor on product strategy and token design to assist with platform growth and link his network to the gaming aggregator.

Hatu Sheikh And The Journey To Success

Hatu Sheikh is one of the most recognised and influential figures in the Web3 industry.

From co-founding one of crypto’s most successful launchpads to building a platform that is redefining how retail investors access early-stage projects, Hatu’s journey is one of commitment to making decentralised finance fairer, more accessible and more trusted for everyone.

Established Experience in Web3

Hatu Sheikh has been active in Web3 since 2017, advising dozens of teams and seed-investing in over 100 projects. He is also a trusted advisor to numerous projects and his experience, track record and expertise are coveted and required by a number of companies operating in Web3, crypto and further afield.

Co-Founder Of DAO Maker: Hatu Sheikh’s Innovation

Hatu Sheikh co-founded DAO Maker, the leader in governance technology, data-supported startup funding and institutional on-chain products. It is this knowledge and experience, in part, that Sheikh carries forward and helps other founders and entrepreneurs as well as businesses with.

To date, DAO Maker has registered over $90 million in total amount raised, with more than $2 billion in total FDV, catering to 315,000 KYCed users and serving 1.1 million wallets.

Founder Of CoinTerminal

Hatu Sheikh is the founder of CoinTerminal, a platform that positions itself as Web3’s most liquid primary market. A crypto launchpad and IDO platform, CoinTerminal offers opportunities to buy in pre-sales alongside investors like Binance Labs, Samsung NEXT and Arthur Hayes.

It is large and established companies in the Web3 and crypto spaces like these, who trust Hatu Sheikh with core parts of their growth. It is with trustworthiness and efficiency that Shaikh continues to operate in his field.

What Makes CoinTerminal Different?

CoinTerminal, founded by Hatu Sheikh, became the first truly open-access launchpad in the industry, eliminating token staking requirements that had previously gated participation.

Users could participate without holding native tokens and were only charged when they generated profit. This is something very important to Hatu, who has built multiple relationships within the Web3 and crypto spaces over the years which remain to this day.

How Hatu Sheikh Has Influenced the Crypto Launchpad Industry

Hatu Sheikh has had a profound and lasting impact on the crypto launchpad industry, consistently pushing it toward fairer, more sustainable and more accessible models. At DAO Maker, his Strong Holder Offering framework emphasised commitment over speculation and went on to influence how later launchpads approached fundraising design, a concept that was novel at the time and that many platforms have since sought to replicate.

When the 2022 bear market hit, and approximately 60% of launchpads from that era either shut down entirely or became inactive zombie platforms, the financial discipline and frameworks Sheikh had developed and pivoted, helping DAO Maker survive while competitors collapsed.

Hatu Sheikh’s influence reached even further with the founding of CoinTerminal, the world’s only free-access cryptocurrency launchpad. Hatu has grown this venture to over 620,000 users and facilitated over $80 million in token distribution by removing token gating, eliminating staking requirements and introducing refundable sales, fundamentally changing what retail investors could expect from a launchpad.