Bryan Schielke 0:00

Kate, thanks for joining. Really appreciate it and uh looking forward to chatting with you today.

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Thank you, Brian. Happy to be here.

Bryan Schielke 0:05

Yeah. Well, let's jump right in and uh we'll start with question one. You often say the best product does not automatically win. The clearest narrative does. What made you realize positioning is everything in cybersecurity?

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Yeah, you know, Brian, that was that was a big epiphany for me in my career. And it started years ago when I was working at a managed services company, and I was the first marketing hire, and we were struggling to generate pipeline from marketing and from sales. It really took a series of testing different campaigns, and then I had this epiphany like, okay, you know what, we're not actually in the managed services business. We're in the high trust acceleration business. And that's when I completely repositioned the whole company, the whole product, and the pipeline actually started coming in. And so that's when I learned that you know, the managed services is the how, the how we deliver this, but it's not the outcome that we deliver. And so that's when I got just obsessed with figuring out how to position products in my industry in the cybersecurity industry.

Bryan Schielke 1:19

Wow, that is very cool. And that is a big shift. Good for you. That's very cool. Great example. I appreciate that. All right, let's hit the next one here. You've built go-to-market and demand generation systems from scratch multiple times. What separates companies that scale quickly from those that stay stuck?

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Yes, that is a great question. So what I see a lot of times is that because I these are very um, you know, early stage companies that I'm going into. And what I find is that oftentimes founders have a certain vision in mind. They feel like they built a certain product with a certain value prop, but that may not be working, that may not be resonating out in the market. And oftentimes it's very difficult for a founder, you know, who it is is emotionally attached to a certain vision to realize like this story is not resonating and we have to pivot the story. I've also seen it the other way where it's a more mature company and they, you know, go to a marketing agency and they pay all this money and they get this fancy schmancy marketing messaging and positioning, and it sounds really great, and we're all giving each other high fives because when we read it, you know, it just it hits hard. But when you take it to the market, it doesn't mean just because it sounds good on a board slide, doesn't mean that it's gonna resonate with prospects. And I I had I worked at one company where that's exactly what happened. We love the story internally and it sounded great, but it took a very long time to explain. And that's when I realized if it takes you more than 10 seconds to resonate with your ideal customer, then you don't have your thumb on the right problem and you got to go a level deeper. And so that's where my work lives is figuring out exactly what that 10-second positioning pitch is that lands, that drives urgency with your target buyer and generates traction with buyers. And a lot of times it means editing out 90% of what you and your your founders might think that they built.

Bryan Schielke 3:35

Yeah, that could be a tough sell for, again, like you say, founders that are emotionally attached.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

Yeah, because they want to talk about everything, and of course you do, because you you built, you put your heart and soul into this, and and there's a way to talk about it, right? That's why I have a positioning framework that I build, because there's a place where you talk about those features, right? And the narrative framework that I build, it has six levels, and at the top is the positioning, and so that's when you get very specific, like I said, your 10-second pitch that lands. But when you get later in the framework, level three, you talk about your solutions, that's where you can talk about the other things that you do, but you just don't lead with it. It's the difference in just it's knowing when in the buying process that you can talk about what because you might you have great features, but it doesn't mean that those features are conversation openers. Those features are saved for after later in the conversation, you're already speaking with the buyer, they're already interested.

Bryan Schielke 4:28

That totally makes sense. I appreciate that. Fantastic. All right. Cybersecurity is becoming more human-focused with AI-driven attacks and deepfakes. How should leaders rethink trust and communication moving forward?

SPEAKER_00 4:41

It's about training employees with the right training for them. Because, you know, a marketing person experiences very different attacks than a, you know, help desk person or then, you know, a clinician in a healthcare organization experiences. So it's about making sure that the right people are receiving training based on the attacks that they are going to face this week. And that may change next week and changing your training next week.

Bryan Schielke 5:11

Yeah, there is always something new, that is for sure. All right. Great job. All right, next question. You talk a lot about narrative architecture. What does a strong narrative actually look like when building a brand or company?

SPEAKER_00 5:22

Yes, I was telling you about my narrative architecture. So a strong narrative, the way I do it, it has six levels. So you have your positioning statement at the top, then you have level two is the problem you solve, level three is the solutions you offer, level four is the benefits, and then it goes all the way down to features. So it's about organizing it in a way that, like I said, your your marketing team and your sales team are talking about the right things at the right time. And I personally I get obsessed with that top level because that's your conversation opener. And so a strong narrative architecture has a positioning that is crystal clear. And what I found with a lot of companies in my industry in cybersecurity is that like I said, they have a a product that has a lot of breadth, and the positioning state will be will be some form of the everything platform, the full life cycle platform. I don't want to call anyone out, so I'm not gonna say anyone's tagline, but there's a lot of companies with taglines that say the complete security platform, right? And it might be true, but that's not how you open conversations because buyers have a very specific problem, and you open conversations by being laser focused on that one problem that you solve better than everyone else. And then those other 99 problems you can solve, you can still talk about them, but they don't belong at your positioning statement, which is where your whole messaging is essentially supporting.

Bryan Schielke 7:03

That makes total sense. Yeah. People's attention spans are not very long these days.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

Yeah, and people, they like I said, they especially if you're a startup, like we don't know who you are. You're the complete platform, like, no, I just have this one problem. It's you know, Shadow AI, or it's social engineering. You know, they're like, I need a solution for this. Exactly. So if you're like, we do everything, you're gonna get lost in like the who are you? I've never heard of you. If I want everything, I'm gonna go to Palo Alto Networks or, you know, a big vendor that I trust.

Bryan Schielke 7:35

Yeah, completely makes sense. All right, good stuff. That's great. All right, let's jump to the next one here. You've had massive growth results across multiple companies. What is one growth lesson you learned the hard way?

SPEAKER_00 7:47

Wow, that's a good question. A hard growth lesson I learned is don't scale your go-to-market until you've nailed that narrative because it will result in a lot of wasted money and a lot of rework that you have to go back and do. So I can't stress how important it is to do that work. Like it's easy, you want to move fast, you want to go, go, go. Like you get a new job, you're at a new startup, you want to, you know, do SEO and launch ads and start bringing in leads. But if you're not leading with the right story, you're not gonna bring in relevant leads. You're gonna bring in leads, but you will not bring in deals. And like until you figure out what your story is, you don't even know what SEO keywords to go out, go after. Like I worked at one company that we we made that mistake. We got a huge amount of funding and we went out and we spent so much money on SEO and events, and we generated leads, but not pipeline, and everyone panicked. And we went after every SE SEO keyword in cybersecurity, and it's like, and we got a lot of traffic, but we couldn't convert that traffic into deals because we hadn't nailed our story yet. So I know patience is hard, it's very hard for me, but you really have to do that work. You really have to nail the narrative, you have to test it to test it in the field out at events before you massively scale that up. And I recommend a tool. It's called Ask Rally, it's amazing, and you it's free. You can use a version of it for free, and you can spin up virtual cohorts of your ideal profile. So for me, I'll type in like CISOs in the US, in these industries, these size companies, and it'll spin up virtual people that you know they'll make some of them are conservative and some are liberal and some are Jewish and one is gay. Like it'll make them all different, and you'll bounce you can bounce ideas off of them. And that's a way that I found I can accelerate nailing the narrative because they'll give me feedback and it'll be like, oh, well, this person didn't like it because of this. How do I refine that? Or maybe I refine my ICP. Maybe we don't go to international because the person in Dubai didn't like it, you know. Like, so that's a way you can really accelerate nailing your narrative and your messaging with AI.

Bryan Schielke 9:56

Wow, that sounds like an amazing tool. That's fantastic. I appreciate the tip. Definitely gonna check that out. Good stuff. All right, let's uh let's hit the final question here. Between leadership, career growth, and motherhood, how's your definition of ambition changed over the years?

SPEAKER_00 10:11

Yeah, it's definitely changed with especially with I have two kids, I have two little boys, and yeah, before I had kids, I, you know, not only was very ambitious in my career, but I also, you know, went to the gym for two hours every day. And I always thought I was gonna be a mom that was like super fit. And then life happens, and you have to reshuffle your priorities. And when my kids are home, I can't work out. They're all they're all over me. The kitchen has to be clean, you know. So it's like, and I so I can only work out during work hours, and I'm always working at startups that have me wearing a million hats because I like that for some reason. So yeah, I've had to realize that like I'm I'm not gonna go a hundred percent at everything. I have to, my kids, I have to do that, right? Like, I don't want to mess them up. They're only gonna be young once. And yeah, my career is very important to me, and I think when my kids are a little older, I'll probably be very, very fit again. But yeah, I've I've definitely had to realize that right now I don't do everything a hundred percent, and I forgive myself and I do what I can.

Bryan Schielke 11:17

Good for you.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

I eat well, but I don't always exercise.

Bryan Schielke 11:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

And that will change. And that's okay.

Bryan Schielke 11:23

And that's again, it's you have to be understand the big picture and and you know, be good with a different level of balance. That's and that's a challenge. You're you're right. And you do have to, you know, give yourself some grace around not everything can be at a hundred. And that's that's okay. So good for you. That is amazing.