Blog
Notes from fifteen years of early-stage IT.
Practical writing on the problems every early-stage company hits: compliance, offices, spend, security, and the people side of IT.
July 20, 2026
HIPAA Security Officer Requirements: What Startups Must Know
HIPAA requires a designated Security Officer and Privacy Officer. Here is what the rule actually says, what the role must do, and whether you can outsource it.
July 20, 2026
Fractional IT vs an MSP: Which Does Your Startup Need?
Fractional IT and managed service providers solve IT differently. Here is how they compare on model, cost, and fit for an early-stage company.
July 20, 2026
IT Support Cost for Startups: What You Actually Pay in 2026
IT support for startups is priced four different ways. Here are the real ranges for hourly, per-user, in-house, and fractional, and what drives the number.
July 20, 2026
How Much Does SOC 2 Readiness Cost? A Startup Breakdown
SOC 2 readiness cost is more than the audit fee. Here is the full breakdown for a startup: readiness, remediation, tooling, and the Type I vs Type II audit.
October 31, 2023
A Summary of OCR's 2023 HIPAA Breach Retrospective
In last October 2023, the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) published a review of HIPAA breach notifications(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnbBxxyZLc8&ab_chan
October 21, 2022
10 Free-ish Ways to Improve HIPAA Compliance at Your Startup
At any given time, I’m either building IT programs from scratch, constructing new offices, or conducting compliance and security assessments as an independ
October 21, 2022
11 Costly Yet Common Mistakes Companies Make with New Office Space
Hello! My name is Dave and I build IT programs from scratch, which often includes constructing new offices and retail locations. I also conduct compliance
October 20, 2022
How to Reduce & Fix Tech Spend Without Impacting Productivity
Nowadays, I’m building IT programs from scratch, constructing new offices, and conducting compliance and security assessments as an independent contractor
May 8, 2022
How I Built Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion into My Consulting Rates
I primarily work with startups to build IT where there was none before (teams, tech, policies, processes). It’s terribly messy and creative, like hacking t
December 22, 2021
Improving the Information Security Posture of Early Stage Companies with Trend Analysis
In The Democratization of IT(https://dfbour.medium.com/the-democratization-of-it-f94e21562d15), I outlined how SaaS reduces barriers for early stage compan
December 7, 2021
The Democratization of IT
This article is part of a larger series entitled “A Short History of IT” intended to answer ‘What problems does IT exist to solve?’ through a review of the
November 9, 2021
The Versatile Manager — Strategies to Manage Up, Down, and Laterally
Hello! My name is Dave and I build IT teams and tech(https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbour/) for early stage companies. I recognized the same challenges at
September 15, 2021
On the Transition from Management to Leadership
A while back, I wrote about what help me in making the transition from independent contributor to manager(https://dfbour.medium.com/on-the-transition-from-
November 8, 2020
On the Transition from IC to Manager
This article is now a full fledged course on Udemy(https://www.udemy.com/course/how-to-transition-from-an-individual-contributor-to-manager/?referralCode=A
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