My first three loves in life were sports, girls and technology.

In the fifth grade, my school bought new computers — yellowish Apple Macintosh IIe’s — and I fell in love. They did so little at the time, but I was fascinated with the technology. Every chance that I had, I went to the library and used the computers.

I wanted to learn more and ventured into basic computer programming. When I was 14, my dad decided to get internet access for the first time with a company called Prodigy, and I was instantly hooked.

Chad Bennett’s cybersecurity journey began with youthful ingenuity. As a teenager in the 1990s, he taught himself to code in order to hack his family’s dial-up internet, writing a program that bypassed usage limits and granted him unlimited access. This early success in “breaking the rules” sparked a lifelong passion for technology and security. By his college years at Brigham Young University, Bennett had transitioned from hacker to defender – landing a role in one of BYU’s IT departments and quickly moving into a white-hat cybersecurity position to help protect the a portion of their networks. Experiencing security from the defender’s side solidified his mission: to use his talents to protect organizations and individuals from the very threats he once explored.

During my time at Brigham Young University, I was hired for an IT position in one of the largest computing departments on campus. Two weeks into the job, my boss offered me a role in cybersecurity. For the first time, I was on the white-hat side of hacking, learning how to protect networks from the very threats I once explored.

This hands-on experience, combined with classes and certifications, deepened my understanding of cybersecurity at an enterprise level. However, I noticed a significant gap—large organizations had access to security resources, but small businesses and individuals were left vulnerable. That realization planted the seed for what would eventually become HEROIC.

In 2008, I founded Lancera, a managed IT and cybersecurity services provider. This company helped lay the foundation for my next ventures. In 2014, I launched Box Support, a cybersecurity provider focused on consumers. Within 14 months, we had hired over 400 employees in Utah and even more overseas.

But success can be humbling. We scaled quickly, built a massive customer base, and even had an acquisition offer that I declined. Then, a single policy change by Google wiped out our primary customer acquisition channel overnight. We had no choice but to lay off 95% of our workforce. It was a hard lesson in business, but also an opportunity to refocus. This is when I started HEROIC.

The idea behind HEROIC was simple: make advanced cybersecurity available to everyone, not just large corporations. Every business is a target, yet most lack the expertise or resources to properly defend themselves. I saw cyber threats evolving at an exponential rate and knew we had to stay ahead of the curve.

One day, while driving my truck, I had a vision of the future of cyber threats—AI-driven attacks that would change the security landscape forever. If we didn’t build solutions now, businesses and individuals would never be able to keep up. On July 4th, we publicly launched HEROIC’s cybersecurity protection platform to give people control over their own digital security. We chose Independence Day as a symbol of independence from cyber threats and invasions of privacy.

Before the business. Before the platforms. Before the stages—
I’m a husband. A father of six. A protector.

Family isn’t a side note in my story.
It’s the foundation of everything I build, lead, and defend.

Because the work I do in cybersecurity, in business, in leadership—
isn’t about abstract threats or faceless companies.
It’s about real people. Real futures. Real protection.

So when I talk about defending what matters, I mean it.
Because I live it. Every single day.

LET’S MAKE IT 

HEROIC