Built for the gap most startups fall into.
About Palay
Most early-stage startups hit a point where they need real IT and security leadership, but they're not ready to hire a full-time CIO or CISO. They end up patching things together, scrambling before audits, or putting it off entirely.
Palay exists to fill that gap. We embed with your team as a fractional partner — hands-on, experienced, and built for your stage.
The name Palay comes from the Tagalog word for unhusked rice — the raw material before it becomes something. That's where we meet our clients: before the chaos, before the audit panic, before the breach.
Meet the Founder
Vanessa CuananFounder, Palay Consulting
I built Palay because I love working with startups. The pace, the innovation, the constant push to build something better - it's the kind of environment where I do my best work!
My background spans both global enterprise IT and early-stage startups - which means I know what "done right" looks like at scale, and I know how to get there fast when resources are tight and everything is moving at once. I've taken companies through SOC 2 and ISO 27001, built out MDM and IAM from scratch, and been the person responsible for keeping the whole foundation running while the rest of the team focused on building.
That's exactly what I want to do for you. There's nothing I find more rewarding than helping a founder build something that lasts - with the right infrastructure and security foundation underneath it from day one.
Based in the Pacific Northwest
