Stop listening to this and go hang out with your friends and family!

We're hard at work behind the scenes, and will return to our regular programming on January 8th. But in the meantime, thank you for listening and for supporting the pod. That is your gift to us, and we appreciate it!

2023 is winding down. George K and George A are busy behind the scenes for next year. Today is a reflective episode, featuring a collection of critical insights from a few guests over the past few months:

• Jason Carrico on sales process
• Mike Privette on the cybersecurity market in the larger macroeconomic picture
• Chris Lieu on his approach to outreach
• Dani Woolf on operationalizing customer research

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Today we have a special episode. George K and George A interview an anonymous cybersecurity professional about her experiences with sexual harassment. To protect her identity, we’ve changed her voice, and the image accompanying this episode uses a portrait rendered in Midjourney.

Warning: This episode contains descriptions of repeated verbal and physical harassment that listeners may find distressing.

How do you stand out in a crowded cybersecurity market? Pete Johnson, CMO at Cranium.ai, jumps into the ring to talk about creativity and building relationships with practitioners. George K and George A talk to Pete about:

💡What today’s leaders can learn from Gen Z

🌯 Burrito marketing! And the lessons from spontaneity…

📢 The value of “narrow-casting” vs broadcasting when it comes to cyber messaging

🤝 How and why leaders to need lifting others as they go

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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Rate the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, it helps others find the podcast!

🥳 Episode 51! Dani Woolf jumps into the ring to talk about getting to know your customers! Market research is one thing, but how can you use customer research data to drive results?

George K and George A jump in head first. In this episode:

📊 The cost of novelty vs consistency

💡 The differences in What, Now What, and So What in decision making

🧭 Forces at work in a changing cyber landscape: market maturity, outreach fatigue, and Google cracking down on bulk email sends

💪 How to operationalize customer research for the rest of your marketing team!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Rate the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, it helps others find the podcast!

✅ Subscribe to Bare Knuckles and Brass Tacks, wherever you get your podcasts!

🙌 Today is World Children’s Day! We’re thrilled to bring you a series of interviews with the children of cybersecurity friends and colleagues, ages 9, 11, 14, 17, and 23. From curious to career-bound, George K and George A cover a lot of ground. In this episode:

🎩 Staying safe from “Black Hat” hackers!

🤖 Will the future be made of helpful or harmful robots?

🔐 Protecting your personal data and staying safe on social.

🎓 What excites a current student about a career in cyber!

The kids are alright. Let’s meet the moment and work on making technology safe for them!

🙏 Many thanks to the kids and parents for making the time for these interviews over the last month.

Oh, and another milestone: our first “clean” episode! 😂

✅ Subscribe to Bare Knuckles and Brass Tacks, wherever you get your podcasts!

In September, we joined forces with our friends at The Cyber Ranch Podcast and Simply Solving Cyber to issue the #CyberCommunityChallenge! We challenged:

• Vendors to adapt their campaigns for Cybersecurity Awareness Month to give back to the practitioner community.
  
• Practitioners to spread the cyber mission outside the walls of their organizations.

We saw a lot of posts, and we're excited to announced the winners!

Globetrotting SDR Chris Lieu jumps into the ring! He’s got a storied background and he’s new to cyber, so George K and George A wanted to find out:

🤔The role curiosity has played in his career so far

🤙How he establishes connections with prospects

😳Why he’s turned DOWN meetings

⏳ And how to value CISOs’ time

We also bring back the Sales Gauntlet! 🐉🔥

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What's the ideal cyber sales experience? Terra Cooke jumps into the ring to share the story of the best sales interaction she's ever had! George K and George A examine this further...

In this episode: 

🚨Why you should never go around someone's back to their boss, be it the CISO or whomever

💯 How to keep it real throughout the process

🤝 Why humility and humanity will get you far

🎯 How to listen for when your prospect identifies the target buyer

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CISO, market observer, and newsletter author, Mike Privette, joins the show to talk about how a new financial reality is shaping the cybersecurity industry.

George K and George A talk to Mike about:

💡 Where companies now need to focus their energy in a new VC reality.

📉 How the end of free money affects sales culture and outreach methods

🤔 How security leaders are thinking about purchases, with tightened budgets

🪗 Why the cyber ecosystem is more like an accordion than anything else!

🎧 Check out Mike’s excellent newsletter, “$ecurity, Funded”