Init Intelligence Atlas

Ryan Kazanciyan

3 min read

Ryan Kazanciyan

CIO & CISO at Wiz — a security-and-IT leader who is simultaneously the buyer for both halves of init.inc’s product (IT service management + security ops), with a deep incident-response and product pedigree (Tanium, Meta, Mandiant).

Snapshot

  • Now: CIO & CISO at Wiz (leads corporate, product, and infrastructure security plus IT operations and risk/compliance).
  • Archetype (for init): Strategic / Operator — CIO+CISO buyer-angel (bullseye).
  • Warm path: Ryan Carlson (ex-Wiz Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer, Jan 2022–Sep 2023) — overlapped with Kazanciyan at Wiz; same exec team.

Why an init.inc angel target

  • Exact buyer persona, both seats. A sitting CIO and CISO is precisely who decides on AI-native ITSM and back-office automation. He is the person init sells to — an angel check from him is a design partner and a reference in one.
  • Security + IT credibility. Carries weight with the security-conscious enterprise buyer init must win; can pressure-test the product on the access, audit, and risk dimensions that make or break ITSM adoption.
  • Product builder, not just a buyer. Ex-CTO/CPO at Tanium (platform + product strategy) — understands building an agentic ops product, useful for the open strategic-angel allocation where operator advice compounds.
  • Distribution into the security/IT leadership network (Black Hat instructor, FBI Cyber Squad, Wiz exec bench) for early enterprise pilots.

Conflict screen

  • Clean. Wiz is cloud security (CNAPP), not on init’s competitor list. Prior roles — Tanium (endpoint management), Mandiant (incident response), Meta (security engineering) — are career history, not angel-investment conflicts; none are ITSM/AI-MSP competitors (Serval, Console, Atomicwork, Moveworks, Aisera, Leena AI, etc.). No known angel/advisor/board check in any init competitor.

Background

  • Wiz (Aug 2022–present): Joined as CISO; now CIO & CISO. Leads security operations, engineering, and risk & compliance across corporate, development, and cloud production environments, plus IT.^[Title progression CISO → CIO & CISO corroborated across LinkedIn headline, Cyber Insurance Academy, and Wiz blog]
  • Meta: Security engineering lead — detection & response, WhatsApp/Messenger security strategy, and M&A diligence.
  • Tanium: Chief Technology Officer (and product/CPO-scope work) — platform and product strategy.^[single-source on the explicit CPO title; CTO is multi-sourced]
  • Mandiant: Technical Director — led dozens of breach investigations involving state espionage and financial crime.
  • Black Hat instructor and FBI Cyber Squad instructor; contributing author, Incident Response and Computer Forensics, 3rd Edition; technical consultant for seasons 2–3 of Mr. Robot.

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