In this episode, I sit down with Gianna Whitver, Co-Founder and CEO of the Cybersecurity Marketing Society, to dig into marketing in the cybersecurity industry, including the role founders play in telling their company’s story and how AI is changing marketing strategy.
Gianna describes the Society as an ISAC for marketers, built to help marketers and marketing in cybersecurity succeed. It started as a Slack channel with about 10 friends she and her co-founder Maria Velasquez met at RSA and Black Hat, after Gianna found that the B2B tech marketing that worked in other industries didn’t work in cyber. It has since grown to more than 5,000 members, almost entirely through word of mouth.
We start with why founders have to shape the narrative and vision themselves, even when they are deeply technical builders who don’t see themselves as storytellers. From there we get into how to talk about AI to skeptical security buyers, and Gianna is clear that proof points and tangible results carry far more weight than the label.
We also get into the challenges of hiring marketing leaders, from timing that first hire to setting realistic expectations for what a new marketer can fix in their first months. Gianna explains why founder presence on social media matters, how the founder’s role changes as a company scales from $5M to $20M ARR, and how the metrics that hold marketing accountable should evolve as the company matures.
We close on CyberMarketingCon and the CyberCEO Summit on November 18 in Austin, which Gianna and the team built to equip founders with the tools and knowledge to get their marketing right.
Gianna was last on the show with Maria in 2025 for The State of Cybersecurity Marketing, so I was glad to have her back.
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We discuss:
How the Cybersecurity Marketing Society grew from a Slack channel of about 10 friends into a community of more than 5,000 members working to help cybersecurity marketers succeed
Why the B2B tech marketing playbook from other industries didn’t work in cyber, and the community resources that grew out of that gap
The founder’s role in shaping the company’s narrative and vision, even when the founder is a technical builder rather than a natural storyteller
How the first marketer and the founder build the story together while the product changes on the way to product market fit
Why proof points and tangible results matter so much when marketing AI to skeptical security buyers
Asking “so what?” until you get to the substance, and Andy Ellis’s habit of pressing vendors on the RSAC show floor
Matching the first marketing hire to the company’s stage and needs, and why seed or even pre-seed can be the right time
Realistic expectations for marketing hires, and why the message or the product may be the real pipeline problem
The mismatch of hiring a later-stage CMO from a heavily resourced company into an early-stage startup
Why founders should build a personal brand on social media, and why even an hour a week matters
How the founder's role in marketing changes as the company scales from $5M to $20M ARR
Using AI as a partner in creation while keeping an original point of view
How marketing metrics evolve from target account penetration early on to revenue later
CyberMarketingCon, the CyberCEO Summit, and why community and networking matter for founders and marketers alike
Key Takeaways
Founders own the story
"Founders have the story of the company like inside of them. That sounds very fluffy, but this is the underdog story. You're building a company for a reason because you want to change the status quo, because you see a way things could be different, more efficient, more successful, keep the world safer, right? So this is incredibly powerful and it has to come originally from the founder."
"So that first marketing hire is not gonna be able to just completely create the entire brand and narrative without the founder, but should be able to work hand in hand with the founder to create something that is easy for the market to understand while remaining true to what the founder vision is."
Vision is the word that stuck with me. Founders have to make that case to prospects, customers, and partners, and they have to use it to recruit talent too.
If you’re going to be a founder, you have to get outside your comfort zone and communicate with the community. Early on the product is probably not very mature, and that vision is really what you’re selling.
Proof points matter a lot
"I think the challenge is communicating AI without it just sounding like AI... proof points matter a lot, and that's tough for early stage companies to get, but proof points matter a lot, and a little bit more of how, right?"
“Because AI as it's on its own doesn't mean anything... it's the result that really matters, even if AI is that cool, shiny thing that leads you to that result."
“Ask yourself so what? Or who cares or who gives a blank over and over again until you get to like more of the meat.”
Show me, don’t just tell me. Everyone is claiming to be AI native because that’s where the funding goes and that’s where the buyer’s attention is.
It has to be backed by something. Andy Ellis has spent the last couple of years walking the RSA show floor asking who you’re doing it for, how you’re doing it, and what the outcomes have been, and savvy buyers will do the same.
Hire for your stage, and be realistic
“There’s no magical hire that’ll completely, you know, fix absolutely everything at your company if you’re early stage, if you’re not even at product market fit."
"You hired a marketer, a [VP of marketing], or director of marketing and you expect them to just fix the pipeline immediately. It might not be like the marketing is the problem. It might not be that we need to get the message out there more. It might be that the message isn't resonating."
"If you're hiring someone who's only ever worked at IBM... extremely resourced with tons of headcount and people, then it might be a little bit more of a challenge for them or they might not be the right fit for your startup."
I’ve seen a good bit of churn in marketing leadership, and first-time founders are often part of it. They hire a marketer and expect the pipeline and the deals to switch on.
Early-stage leaders wear six hats and grind it out in the weeds, with no team to task. Leaders in a large, mature organization have to be strong at internal politics, people management, and bigger strategic initiatives, and those are often different people.
I’m very pro founder brand
“I am so pro founder brand because again, it’s like that very special story. A founder’s an underdog, and that's a really strong story to tell."
"I'm very pro Founder Brand. That said, like how much time and money should you spend on it is going to be completely dependent on what your company stage is and where you are."
“If you could eke out an hour or so a week to just post a little bit to make sure people know you’re alive, I think that’s valuable.”
I love hearing from founders after a big exit on shows like Inside the Network. All we see is the headline, and I want the nights and weekends, the grinding, and the times they barely made it.
I love reading that same kind of journey content from founders on LinkedIn. It resonates with the people you hire, the team already there, and with investors.
Scale the team, keep the point of view
“If you're at, you know, twenty million ARR, I hope you have a very good CMO or VP of marketing that's handling most of this for you. Although they'll probably wanna still work with you on being a face of the company."
“There should be a lot less like nitty gritty and you should have a marketing team at that point that can handle a lot."
"Have the thoughts come from you. Have AI be your partner in creation if you need that. But have like an organic original point of view, which you should have anyway, since you're the visionary for your company."
You can’t outsource taste. The tools are amazing for graphics, text, and now even video, and you still have to have an opinion.
That vision and perspective have to come from the founder. Once a marketing team is running the day to day, the founder still shows up on a given day and time as the face of the company.
Metrics should grow with the company
“There are different like KPIs for marketing based on the stage of your company.”
"Because early stage, it might be, for example, exposure or getting into these targeted accounts that you want to get into, right? Like, okay, we've hit X number of our target account lists... And then later on you're going to have more metrics that tie directly to revenue in the business."
Founders and boards should hold marketing accountable for more than generating leads. I have seen first-time founders treat pipeline and deals as something a new marketer should switch on immediately.
That is the wrong standard for the role.
Thank you again to Gianna for joining me and for coming back on the show. If you’re a cyber founder, CEO or investor, the CyberCEO Summit runs Wednesday, November 18 in Austin as part of CyberMarketingCon, which runs November 15 to 18. You can follow Gianna and the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on LinkedIn.
Gianna Whitver
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/giannawhitver
Cybersecurity Marketing Society: https://www.cybersecuritymarketingsociety.com | Cybersecurity Marketing Society on LinkedIn
CyberMarketingCon: https://www.cybermarketingconference.com
CyberCEO Summit: https://www.cybermarketingconference.com/summits/ceo-summit
Timestamps
0:00 Intro
1:40 From a Slack channel to 5,000+ members
3:42 The story only the founder can tell
6:00 What gets a skeptical buyer’s attention
8:49 When to make the first marketing hire
10:20 Common mistakes with early marketing hires
13:00 How much founders should invest in their personal brand
16:04 The founder’s role from $5M to $20M ARR
16:58 Using AI for content without sounding like AI
18:31 How founders should measure marketing
19:42 CyberMarketingCon and the Cyber CEO Summit
