Tanya Janca, founder of We Hack Purple, explains how an unsuccessful startup led her to build an application security education business. The conversation covers testing demand with a minimum viable course, combining live and on-demand training, organizing deep work, and creating a company whose decisions follow explicit values.
Tanya is an application security practitioner, author, educator, and former software developer. We Hack Purple emerged after the founders of an earlier product company chose to separate in 2019. Unsure of her next step, Tanya opened her calendar and spoke with people in her online community. Again and again, they asked for structured access to her training.
She began by publishing more articles and charging a small fee for full access. When that produced enough income to support her, she created an early online course with part-time video-editing help. Sales demonstrated demand, while feedback showed that the teaching was strong but the production quality needed work. Tanya then studied online course design and adult education before recording a more complete program.
The interview distinguishes a small business from a startup-style scalable product. Conference talks and live classes generate revenue but remain limited by the team’s available time. On-demand courses can be purchased around the world without Tanya being present for every delivery. We Hack Purple combined both approaches: live training for organizations that valued it and online programs that could grow beyond the founder’s calendar.
This model also gave customers options. A company could compare the economics of a live class for many developers with bulk access to an on-demand course and select the format that best solved its problem.
Tanya uses calendar blocks to reserve time for specific responsibilities and usually avoids meetings before 9 a.m. She keeps one or two days each week free of meetings so that she can write, build slides, or record lessons without repeated context switching. Administrative support can move blocks when priorities change, but the calendar ensures important creation work has a place.
Recovery is equally concrete. Tanya steps outside to work on her small hobby farm when a meeting or task has drained her energy. Gardening, physical movement, and time in nature help lower stress before she returns to work. She also leaves room to sleep longer when her body needs it.
When a salesperson left after taking the company’s course and becoming an AppSec engineer, Tanya resumed sales calls herself. She discovered that prospects who called already had a problem and wanted help choosing a solution. Sales no longer felt like persuading someone to buy; it became an honest assessment of whether the courses could meet their needs. Sometimes the right answer was no.
We Hack Purple made company values part of hiring and employment. Tanya prioritizes kind people because technical and business skills can be taught more readily than character. Values also simplify difficult decisions: if a proposed sale or marketing tactic feels inconsistent with them, the team can decline it.
Customer feedback provides another operating guide. Paying users can reveal errors, suggest useful diagrams, and explain whether a course solves the intended problem. Their experience matters more than defending how a product was originally designed.
