From Vision to Value: The Halcyon and Dell Ransomware Resilience Launch

Every startup is founded with an ambition to become the market-defining solution in their category. Very few get there on technical merit alone. That kind of scale only happens when strong technology meets trusted distribution. Real velocity and the associated broad market access happens when a startup earns the right to partner with a large established category leading firm. Such partnerships can serve as a platform to accelerate adoption, credibility, and outcomes for customers.

That’s why Dell and Halcyon’s launch today of commercial PCs equipped with ransomware resilience is such an important milestone for Halcyon. It’s also a testimony to how early-stage companies can successfully partner with enterprise incumbents.

This collaboration didn’t happen overnight. It required clarity of vision from the Halcyon team, sustained evangelism of the solution and joint value potential, reinforcing the technical differentiation, business case, “Better Together Story,” and deep coordination across multiple business unit stakeholders. As GTM-oriented investors and operators, we’ve been alongside Halcyon at nearly every step in helping bring this offer to market.

Why This Collaboration Works

The customer pain point is clear and increasingly urgent: ransomware threats are accelerating and enterprises need a solution that can provide both prevention and resilience, with minimal disruption to enterprise operations. Halcyon brings differentiated ransomware resilience. Dell brings global scale, enterprise trust, and deployment reach. Customers want solutions that address real risk, can be deployed safely, can be integrated into their environments at scale, and have leadership backing from market leading providers they trust. This alignment of customer needs with shared vision and complementary strengths set the stage for a large joint go to market opportunity.

Landing the Enterprise

Building a business case is table stakes to any collaboration between early-stage companies and enterprise businesses. Turning that into a global scale, revenue generating enterprise partnership is a process.

This is a motion that the DTC portfolio development team lives day in and day out. We work directly with portfolio companies to frame and evolve ideas into business cases and then into joint value propositions with measurable and meaningful market potential. This means much more than mapping out stakeholders and finding executive alignment within a potential partnership. It requires building cross functional enthusiasm that motivates leaders to action, specifically to prioritizing this work in the midst of all the other projects and deliverables they’re actively managing.

It's crucial in these relationships to identify internal champions within the enterprise who will advocate for the partnership and help navigate the internal processes, politics, and complexities. These are the people who will secure executive alignment, but more importantly, they’ll help coordinate the necessary resources and help to move the opportunity forward. They’ll to the startup-to-corporate enterprise language translators, help founders pressure-test the market opportunity, build realistic revenue models, and define what “winning together” actually looks like.

At the Speed of the Enterprise

Startups are wired for speed. Enterprises are wired for scale, risk management, and repeatability. Tension here is normal, and survivable... if timelines and expectations are aligned early.

Startups win in enterprise partnerships by developing the patience — and discipline — to operate within the rigidity of enterprise structure. Every stakeholder matters, from security and sales to legal and procurement, and each has distinct incentives and constraints that must be addressed deliberately.

Legal, compliance, and commercial work isn’t optional — it’s the price of scale. It can feel like a Herculean lift early on, but once strategic alignment is achieved and repeatable frameworks are in place, velocity actually increases. That’s when deployment at scale becomes possible.

Strong executive alignment is critical, but execution happens through champions.

They are the ones who will navigate complexity and cut through bureaucracy for the startup — as such, they are invaluable. At the same time, it’s important to remember that life in the enterprise happens because of deadlines. Momentum is created through clear timelines that are managed relentlessly and having shared accountability.

When the inevitable road bump materializes in these joint efforts, escalation is a powerful tool for maintaining momentum. However, the number of “executive leverage cards” that can be played is finite. They should be used sparingly and selectively in these relationships. Executive champions are there to help but only if one, the startup team has done the work; and two, if they can bring the execs solutions instead of problems.  

GTM = Rolling up Sleeves

If exec buy-in and a shared value proposition are fundamental, go-to-market enablement must be equally deliberate. The actual meat and potatoes work is in aligning messaging, developing cohesive marketing materials, and training field teams to communicate joint value effectively. Establishing incentives and support channels early maximizes traction and builds trust with the sales teams.

It can’t be overstated that the real lift happens in the trenches in the field, forging relationships and in developing trust. Trust that you will help the sales teams hit their number, trust that you will help add strategic value to their campaigns, and trust that you will deliver on the commitments they are making to their customers on your behalf.

Following the launch, the focus in these partnerships shifts to driving adoption and often refining the offering based on customer feedback. Sustained success depends on ongoing collaboration, ensuring the partnership delivers value well beyond the initial rollout. The strongest partnerships treat the launch as the starting line, not the finish.

Partnering with enterprise-scale companies can be a notoriously challenging endeavor for small, lean teams with limited resources. But when it works, the upside justifies the effort and more than validates the value of persistence in pursuing these opportunities.

Halcyon and Dell Technologies

Halcyon’s work with Dell demonstrates the importance of shared vision, persistence, and operational discipline when bringing an enterprise-scale joint solution to market. We're immensely proud of Jon Miller and his team for both building a market-leading platform that addresses a persistent and growing threat, and for shaping and scaling a world-class team that can work with one of the largest technology companies on the planet.

Today’s launch highlights the power of combining innovative startup agility with the extensive resources and reach of a global technology leader. It serves as a compelling example of how early-stage companies can evolve to meet large-scale enterprise needs while staying true to their vision. At its core, this collaboration underscores the potential for small teams with big ideas to thrive in even the most competitive markets.

More on this announcement: www.dell.com/ransomware-resilience

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Chris Hillock leads the Portfolio Development team at Dell Technologies Capital.