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AI Hype vs Reality

Written by Field Effect | Jul 12, 2026 10:30:00 AM

In this episode of Cyber Security Matters, hosts Harry Baldwin and Matt Rose sit down with Matthew Holland, Founder and CEO of Field Effect, for a masterclass in building mission-driven cybersecurity companies.

Matt traces his journey from a summer job at Canada's Communications Security Establishment (CSE) that turned into a seven-year career in Tailored Access Operations, through co-founding and scaling Linchpin Labs, later acquired by L3Harris, to his current mission at Field Effect: making enterprise-grade managed detection and response (MDR) accessible and affordable for small and medium-sized businesses.

The conversation digs into the truth about AI in cybersecurity, separating genuine innovation from marketing hype. Matt shares hard-won lessons on staying customer-focused, the value of consistency across a 25-year career, and why he sees solving "insanely hard problems" as both the challenge and the reward of entrepreneurship.