# Justin Beals

> Justin Beals is the Seattle-based co-founder and CEO of Strike Graph, an AI-native governance, risk and compliance platform born from a deal his previous startup lost while scrambling to prove its security posture. A programmer since grade school and a theater graduate, he has spent his career combining technical systems with team craft, from British Telecom and the bootstrapped Roundbox Global to Koru, NextStep and Strike Graph. He also hosts the Secure Talk podcast and has served on boards including Ada Developers Academy, VALID8 Financial and Edify Software Consulting.

- **Role:** Co-Founder and CEO at Strike Graph
- **Organizations:** Strike Graph, Secure Talk, NextStep, Koru, Roundbox Global, British Telecom, Ada Developers Academy, VALID8 Financial, Edify Software Consulting
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** BA in English and Theater, Fort Lewis College
- **Known for:** Co-founded Strike Graph in 2020 after incubating the concept at Madrona Venture Labs., Named a GeekWire Startup CEO of the Year finalist in 2022., Led Strike Graph through an $8.5 million Series A-1 financing in 2023.

## Career timeline

- **Grade school** — Began programming and became fascinated by computers and networks.
- **After college** — Joined British Telecom's global telecom division after finding his programming skills in demand.
- **2000** — Started the bootstrapped technology services company Roundbox Global during the dot-com downturn.
- **2012** — Published research on semantic mapping of learning assets in the International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning.
- **2015** — Was named as a co-inventor on the original Training, Tracking, and Placement System patent application associated with Koru.
- **2016-2018** — Served in technology leadership at Koru, which built predictive hiring software and was later acquired by Cappfinity.
- **Before 2020** — Co-founded and served as CTO of NextStep.
- **2020** — Incubated Strike Graph at Madrona Venture Labs and launched the company with co-founder Brian Bero.
- **2020** — Joined the advisory board of Ada Developers Academy.
- **2021** — Strike Graph was named a GeekWire Startup of the Year finalist.
- **2022** — Was named a GeekWire Startup CEO of the Year finalist.
- **2023** — Strike Graph raised an $8.5 million Series A-1 round led by BAMCAP.
- **2024-present** — Hosts Secure Talk, interviewing practitioners on information security, AI and compliance.
- **2026** — Continued publishing on AI-native compliance, third-party risk and CMMC while leading Strike Graph.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Strike Graph in 2020 after incubating the concept at Madrona Venture Labs.
- Named a GeekWire Startup CEO of the Year finalist in 2022.
- Led Strike Graph through an $8.5 million Series A-1 financing in 2023.
- Co-inventor named on the Training, Tracking, and Placement System patent family.
- Authored a 2012 academic paper on semantic mapping of learning assets.
- Built technology teams across four continents, according to his Ada Developers Academy board profile.
- Hosts the Secure Talk cybersecurity podcast.

## Latest updates

- **2026-08** — Published new Strike Graph resources on choosing AI-powered third-party risk management tools and conducting third-party compliance risk assessments.
- **2026-07** — Published a playbook for starting a third-party compliance risk management program.
- **2026-06** — Continued hosting Secure Talk episodes on CMMC, security, compliance and revenue.
- **2026-03** — Strike Graph announced a 2026 Global InfoSec Award for governance, risk and compliance.

## Links

- Website: https://www.strikegraph.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jubeals
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/StrikeGraph
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@strikegraph
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/strikegraphinc/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/justin-beals
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-26