About me

Everything I’ve done in my life has led me to building TryHackMe - successes, but more importantly, failures. I’ve poured the last seven years obsessively into shaping both the product and the company. I started TryHackMe in 2018 because learning cyber security was really difficult, and there was nothing out there offering guided, hands‑on learning. Before that, I built plenty of sites that went nowhere (5 failed, 1 I was forced to take down). TryHackMe was different because, at first, I built it largely for myself. It was never meant to be a business - it only became one when people started getting real value from what I’d created.

Its controversial, but I don’t believe in work life balance, or a typical 9-5. If you want to understand more about how I like to work, read “Working at TryHackMe isn’t for everyone”. No one ever became successful working 40 hours a week. I want to work with the best people possible - people who are deeply dedicated to their craft and choose to put in insane hours because they love what they do.

Books

Here’s a list of books I’m currently reading or have finished. This is just from mid‑2025 - I still need to add the rest at some point.

• Growth Levers and How to Find Them

• Amp It Up (my favourite)

• Steve Jobs by Waater Isaacson

• Elon Musk by Waater Isaacson

• Understanding Michael Porter: Essential Guide to Competition and Strategy

Investments

Here are the funds and companies I’ve invested in - tend to do one a year

• MKT1 Fund II - June 2023 - investing in early stage B2B companies

• Perplexity AI (Series D) - Nov 2024 - conversational search engine that uses LLMs to answer queries

• Codedex - Feb 2025 - gamified way to learn coding for kids and adults

Where else to find me

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/springben

• Twitter: x.com/0x8445