Cyber Go-To-Market Talk: The Cybersecurity Podcast About Cyber Sales, Marketing & Revenue Growth

Mark van Oppen is 90 days into the CRO seat at SecureAuth, after four years selling a developer-led product at FusionAuth. He walks through the pre-call research he wants reps doing to connect technical pain to a business number, and why he tells them to be careful about showing it too early. He also covers his three hiring filters, what a muted seller says to a buyer, and what he's doing with the rep at 200 percent of goal who automated his own follow-up.

In this episode

• Why Mark calls identity a non-optional problem, and what "critical path" changes about the sale
• The step-by-step model for turning an earnings report into a cost per minute and a headcount number
• Why he tells reps not to present that model to a customer straight away
• How he runs the technical-pain-to-dollars conversation inside a one-on-one deal review
• Why "I'm not technical" and "let me bring in my engineer" are career-limiting in this category
• The alley-oop between AE and SE, and what twenty minutes on mute tells a buyer
• Energy, excellence, experience: his three hiring filters, in that order, and why experience comes last
• What he's doing with a rep at 200 percent of goal who built his own Claude workflow

About the guest: Mark van Oppen is Chief Revenue Officer at SecureAuth, which he joined in 2026. He was previously VP of Sales and then CRO at FusionAuth, and before that held go-to-market roles across Blue Box, IBM, Heptio and VMware.

Notable quotes

• "I refer to identity as a non-optional problem."
• "You're not going to be right, but you're going to be in the right ballpark."
• "It should not be the seller goes on mute and disappears for 20 minutes."

Chapters (approximate)

• 00:36 — Ninety days in, and how the SecureAuth motion differs from developer-led
• 04:04 — Identity as a non-optional problem
• 10:28 — The cost-per-minute homework
• 13:24 — Coaching it inside deal reviews
• 19:09 — Empathy for goalposts that moved
• 23:30 — The AE and SE alley-oop
• 25:42 — Energy, excellence, experience
• 32:31 — The rep who automated his own follow-up
• 38:08 — The next 90 days

Support the show

The Cyber Go-To-Market Talk is the show for cybersecurity sales leaders, founders, CROs, and go-to-market operators looking to improve cyber sales performance and build more predictable revenue growth. Hosted by Andrew Monaghan, founder of Unstoppable.do, covering cyber sales leadership, revenue leadership, sales onboarding, forecasting, pipeline generation, and cybersecurity go-to-market execution.

Follow me on LinkedIn for regular posts about growing your cybersecurity startup
Want to grow your revenue faster? Check out my cybersecurity sales consulting and training
Need ideas about how to grow your pipeline? Sign up for my newsletter.

AI made it cheap to produce content, and now every cybersecurity vendor sounds the same. Brian Reed, CMO at Corsha, argues the answer to that sameness isn't more AI, it's the human layer: real stories, congruent brand moves, and community. He gets specific on how to use AI as a story partner rather than a content mill, why your customer is the hero of every story, and how to stand out in a market of 4,000 vendors.

In this episode:

• Why AI content creates "mass sameness," and where humans still create meaning
• The golden triangle: AI as content assistant and community as the source of real stories
• Why your customer is the hero of the story, never your product, your rep, or your company
• The business-card test for a company story simple enough that every employee can tell it
• How to open a sales conversation with a 30-second customer story instead of an agenda slide
• Using AI to find patterns, sharpen, and retitle stories, plus building "persona" agents like his crusty OT engineer
• Where the line sits between a memorable brand moment and a forgettable gimmick (Wiz vs the puppies)
• The three kinds of community, why "build your own" is hardest, and why community is never lead gen

About the guest: Brian Reed is CMO at Corsha, working in industrial and OT cybersecurity. His background runs from database middleware and data warehousing in the 90s through application security and the DevOps / DevSecOps movement, including helping build the All Day DevOps community, and he writes regularly on AI and storytelling.

Notable quotes:

• "The tide raises all boats, but they're all drowning in content, and it all sounds the same."
• "Your product's not the hero, your sales rep isn't the hero, your company isn't the hero. The hero is the people."
• "Community is never, ever about lead gen. It's brand building and giving to get."

Chapters (approximate):

• 00:58 — The ugly underbelly of AI content: sameness
• 04:41 — Who the hero of the story really is
• 07:13 — The business-card test and "us and them"
• 13:13 — Using AI as a story partner, and the crusty OT agent
• 19:05 — Standing out vs gimmicks: Wiz, Island, and the puppies
• 27:53 — The coffee truck, and de-risking bold bets
• 33:16 — The three kinds of community
• 37:05 — Why community is never lead gen

Support the show

The Cyber Go-To-Market Talk is the show for cybersecurity sales leaders, founders, CROs, and go-to-market operators looking to improve cyber sales performance and build more predictable revenue growth. Hosted by Andrew Monaghan, founder of Unstoppable.do, covering cyber sales leadership, revenue leadership, sales onboarding, forecasting, pipeline generation, and cybersecurity go-to-market execution.

Follow me on LinkedIn for regular posts about growing your cybersecurity startup
Want to grow your revenue faster? Check out my cybersecurity sales consulting and training
Need ideas about how to grow your pipeline? Sign up for my newsletter.

Patrick Dillon, three months into the CRO seat at Nudge Security, joins Andrew to talk about what "AI-first" actually means when everyone at RSA has slapped AI on the booth. The conversation runs from product (AI-native vs. bolted-on, and the shadow AI hiding inside companies) to the go-to-market side: how he's rebuilding the team around technology, process, and people, in that order, and who he'll hire to run it.

In this episode:

• Why companies without a deep AI strategy could be "zombie companies" that don't know it yet
• The difference between AI-native, AI-first, and just connecting an LLM to your old stack
• How one prospect thought they ran 2,000 apps and actually ran 5,300
• Why the buyers now include CFOs, compliance, and corporate counsel, not just security
• Flipping "people, process, technology" to "technology, process, people" for an AI-first GTM
• Why AI replaces reps who won't use AI, not salespeople as a whole
• How Patrick screens candidates for want-to, including whether they used AI to prep for the interview
• Why buyers now demand in one to three months what used to be a twelve-month roadmap promise

About the guest:
Patrick Dillon is CRO at Nudge Security. He and Andrew first spoke on the podcast at RSA 2025, when Patrick was launching a channel program at Airlock. Nudge closed its Series A last November.

Notable quotes:
"You can't secure, you can't govern what you can't see."
"The call is literally coming from inside your house."
"It's not a skill thing or an age thing. It's really a want-to thing."

Support the show

The Cyber Go-To-Market Talk is the show for cybersecurity sales leaders, founders, CROs, and go-to-market operators looking to improve cyber sales performance and build more predictable revenue growth. Hosted by Andrew Monaghan, founder of Unstoppable.do, covering cyber sales leadership, revenue leadership, sales onboarding, forecasting, pipeline generation, and cybersecurity go-to-market execution.

Follow me on LinkedIn for regular posts about growing your cybersecurity startup
Want to grow your revenue faster? Check out my cybersecurity sales consulting and training
Need ideas about how to grow your pipeline? Sign up for my newsletter.

Emily Matthews, founder and principal of NOLA Marketing, partnered with the Ponemon Institute to ask CISOs directly how vendor marketing influences their buying decisions. The resulting State of Cybersecurity Marketing Influence Report 2026 holds some surprises: webinars beat CISO dinners, hands-on workshops build the peer references buyers trust most, and the first visitor to your website is increasingly a machine.

In this episode:

• The top two CISO complaints about cyber marketing: it differs from product reality, and it's too high-level. Emily's fix starts with coffee-walk conversations with your engineers.
• Why 44% of security leaders ranked webinars the most valuable event format, while peer roundtables and CISO dinners came last.
• Why hands-on workshops should always be free: "You should be paying them, not them paying you."
• How workshops become "investments in peer influence," the #1 credibility source in the research.
• The shift to answer engines: Bain's 80% zero-click prediction and how to make your website a better "buffet for LLMs."
• Emily's case study method: start with your selling points, validate them in the customer's voice, and pack the piece with reusable quotes.
• Why buyers rely on analysts less than they used to, and what fills the gap for the ~3,700 vendors outside the magic quadrants.
• Her advice for marketers coming from outside tech: keep asking why. "Fast is not an answer."

About the guest: Emily Matthews is the founder and principal of NOLA Marketing. A history and English major who started in mainframe system software, she has spent her career in technical product marketing and previously worked with the Ponemon Institute on the original Cost of a Data Breach report.

Notable quotes:

• "You should be paying them, not them paying you."
• "If it sounds like BS to us, it's probably going to smell bad to them too."
• "If you make up a case study, it sounds made up. Interview someone. Because it's real, it comes across."

Support the show

The Cyber Go-To-Market Talk is the show for cybersecurity sales leaders, founders, CROs, and go-to-market operators looking to improve cyber sales performance and build more predictable revenue growth. Hosted by Andrew Monaghan, founder of Unstoppable.do, covering cyber sales leadership, revenue leadership, sales onboarding, forecasting, pipeline generation, and cybersecurity go-to-market execution.

Follow me on LinkedIn for regular posts about growing your cybersecurity startup
Want to grow your revenue faster? Check out my cybersecurity sales consulting and training
Need ideas about how to grow your pipeline? Sign up for my newsletter.

Are you struggling to capture the attention of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) in a saturated cybersecurity market? Join us in this enlightening episode of The Cyber Go-To-Market Talk podcast for cybersecurity sales and marketing teams, where we unpack the secrets to effective cyber security sales strategies that can elevate your approach and drive revenue growth. 

Host Andrew Monaghan sits down with Chris Camacho, co-founder and COO of Abstract Security, who brings a wealth of experience from his previous roles as a buyer at financial services companies. Chris shares invaluable insights into the shifting dynamics of selling cybersecurity solutions, particularly to Fortune 500 companies. He emphasizes the critical need for cyber sales teams to either reduce current spending or replace existing vendors to gain traction, making a strong first impression that resonates with decision-makers. 

This episode dives deep into Chris's unique journey from being a buyer of cybersecurity products to becoming a builder and seller, offering listeners a rare perspective on what works and what doesn’t in the realm of cyber security sales. With around 3,900 vendors vying for attention in the cybersecurity space, standing out is no easy feat. Chris discusses the challenges of differentiation and the evolving role of AI in both sales and product development, providing actionable insights that can help your team navigate these complexities. 

Building and maintaining relationships is key in the cybersecurity landscape, and Chris stresses the importance of leveraging networks effectively to understand clients' specific needs. By creating tailored solutions that demonstrate clear ROI, sales teams can not only meet but exceed client expectations. Listeners will walk away with practical takeaways on sales onboarding, sales coaching, and metrics that matter in insurance, all aimed at accelerating growth in a rapidly changing environment. 

This episode is packed with cybersecurity marketing insights and go to market strategies for anyone involved in cyber security sales. Whether you're part of a startup or an established company, the lessons shared here will empower you to grow sales and enhance team management capabilities. Tune in to The Cyber Go-To-Market Talk podcast for cybersecurity sales and marketing teams and discover how to navigate team challenges while building trust and scaling sales teams effectively. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to get better at marketing and drive predictable revenue growth! 

About the guest: Chris Camacho spent around ten years on the buy side in financial services, an early adopter of vendors like Crowdstrike and Flashpoint, before crossing over to build and sell security products. He is co-founder and COO of Abstract.

Chapters:

• 00:51 — Crossing from the buy side to the "dark side"
• 02:55 — Why he bought CrowdStrike and Flashpoint early
• 11:45 — A market with thousands of vendors, and the spend arms race
• 15:33 — Three ways to fill a regional CISO event
• 18:23 — Relationships, Ninja Jobs, and meeting his co-founder
• 22:20 — What he interviews for (and what he doesn't)
• 26:22 — When an AI lab lands in your category
• 29:59 — What CISOs are telling him about AI
• 32:22 — Reduce or replace: the way in now
• 34:17 — AI for sellers, and his 17-year-old BDR

Support the show

The Cyber Go-To-Market Talk is the show for cybersecurity sales leaders, founders, CROs, and go-to-market operators looking to improve cyber sales performance and build more predictable revenue growth. Hosted by Andrew Monaghan, founder of Unstoppable.do, covering cyber sales leadership, revenue leadership, sales onboarding, forecasting, pipeline generation, and cybersecurity go-to-market execution.

Follow me on LinkedIn for regular posts about growing your cybersecurity startup
Want to grow your revenue faster? Check out my cybersecurity sales consulting and training
Need ideas about how to grow your pipeline? Sign up for my newsletter.

Most people think revenue leadership begins after product-market fit. Rob Witmer joined Onyx Security before there was a finished product, before the company emerged from stealth, and before the market fully understood the problem they were solving.

In this episode, Rob shares what revenue leadership looks like when you're employee number 11 and the first go-to-market hire. We unpack how he approached the first 30, 60, and 90 days, why experienced sales leaders can create leverage long before a company reaches its first million dollars in revenue, and how close alignment between product and go-to-market execution accelerated Onyx's growth.

Rob explains how the team validated market demand for AI-agent security, how they handled customer objections when the category was still emerging, and why transparency became a competitive advantage when selling as an early-stage company. He also shares the characteristics he looks for when hiring early-stage sellers, why recruiting is one of the most important responsibilities in revenue leadership, and how speed and low-friction execution became core principles inside Onyx.

The conversation also explores the realities of scaling a cybersecurity company in a rapidly changing market, the influence of Israeli startup culture on execution speed, and why outcomes matter more than features when communicating value to customers.

The Cyber Go-To-Market Talk is the show for cybersecurity sales leaders, founders, CROs, and go-to-market operators looking to improve cyber sales performance and build more predictable revenue growth. Hosted by Andrew Monaghan, founder of Unstoppable.do, covering cyber sales leadership, revenue leadership, sales onboarding, forecasting, pipeline generation, and cybersecurity go-to-market execution.

About the guest: Rob Witmer is in his 26th year in software, roughly 20 of them as an individual contributor before moving into leadership. He was Onyx Security's first go-to-market hire, joining as employee 11 while the company was still in stealth.

Notable quotes:

• "I was the first BDR, the first sales rep, the first operations guy, I was the first product manager."
• "Microsoft did more for AI agents than anyone else out there."
• "We want to be known as the easiest company to do business with."

Chapters (approx.):

• 00:00 — Joining Onyx as employee 11
• 03:31 — Why early CISO reactions were humbling
• 07:07 — How Microsoft flipped the agent market
• 16:33 — Why hire an experienced sales leader this early
• 22:44 — The three traits to look for
• 28:49 — Differentiating in the noisiest market
• 35:14 — Tim Youngblood and the people process

Support the show

The Cyber Go-To-Market Talk is the show for cybersecurity sales leaders, founders, CROs, and go-to-market operators looking to improve cyber sales performance and build more predictable revenue growth. Hosted by Andrew Monaghan, founder of Unstoppable.do, covering cyber sales leadership, revenue leadership, sales onboarding, forecasting, pipeline generation, and cybersecurity go-to-market execution.

Follow me on LinkedIn for regular posts about growing your cybersecurity startup
Want to grow your revenue faster? Check out my cybersecurity sales consulting and training
Need ideas about how to grow your pipeline? Sign up for my newsletter.

Are you facing the challenge of breaking into a new vertical with no prior experience? Wondering how to accelerate credibility and revenue in unfamiliar markets? Curious about how effective networking can create exponential sales opportunities in cybersecurity? This episode tackles these questions by unpacking hands-on strategies for rapid market entry and leveraging the power of the network effect.

In this conversation we discuss

👉 Navigating and mapping new industry ecosystems for accelerated sales growth
👉 Transforming small initial deals into major multi-account wins through strategic networking
👉 Building authentic, mutually beneficial reference and networking strategies that drive brand advocacy

About our guest

Jarrett Benavidez is the SVP of North America Sales at Lumu Technologies, a veteran in cyber sales since 1999. With leadership experience at Trustwave, BeyondTrust, and CloudKnox, Jarrett specializes in opening new markets and building high-impact sales teams.

Summary

The conversation focused on how a deliberate ecosystem approach, purposeful networking, and delivering real value can help sales teams break into new markets and unlock significant revenue growth. Tune in for actionable insights and proven tactics from a cybersecurity sales leader—listen now to learn how you can successfully accelerate your go-to-market efforts.

Support the show

The Cyber Go-To-Market Talk is the show for cybersecurity sales leaders, founders, CROs, and go-to-market operators looking to improve cyber sales performance and build more predictable revenue growth. Hosted by Andrew Monaghan, founder of Unstoppable.do, covering cyber sales leadership, revenue leadership, sales onboarding, forecasting, pipeline generation, and cybersecurity go-to-market execution.

Follow me on LinkedIn for regular posts about growing your cybersecurity startup
Want to grow your revenue faster? Check out my cybersecurity sales consulting and training
Need ideas about how to grow your pipeline? Sign up for my newsletter.

Are your discovery calls turning into data dumps that stall deals instead of moving them forward? Frustrated by sales cycles that take forever to close, or feel like discounting is your only lever at the finish line? Looking for actionable strategies to help your team become both faster and more effective in closing cybersecurity deals? This episode brings you proven frameworks from a leader who faced (and fixed) these very challenges.

In this conversation we discuss

👉 Compressing lengthy sales cycles by restructuring discovery approaches
👉 Motivating and aligning sales teams for aggressive growth
👉 Leveraging AI and tools to enhance call coaching, follow-ups, and pipeline management

About our guest

John Chiappetta is the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) at Xona, having joined as Head of North America Sales before recently earning his promotion. With firsthand experience scaling OT at cybersecurity startups, he brings insights into transforming sales effectiveness and team performance.

Summary

Listen in as John shares how he shortened discovery calls for better engagement, eliminated discounting as the only closing tool, and led his sales team to significant growth. If you want to transform your cyber sales results, this episode is packed with actionable takeaways—tune in now!

Connect with John on LinkedIn, learn more about Zona Systems, or book a meeting with Andrew Monaghan to accelerate your sales success.

Support the show

The Cyber Go-To-Market Talk is the show for cybersecurity sales leaders, founders, CROs, and go-to-market operators looking to improve cyber sales performance and build more predictable revenue growth. Hosted by Andrew Monaghan, founder of Unstoppable.do, covering cyber sales leadership, revenue leadership, sales onboarding, forecasting, pipeline generation, and cybersecurity go-to-market execution.

Follow me on LinkedIn for regular posts about growing your cybersecurity startup
Want to grow your revenue faster? Check out my cybersecurity sales consulting and training
Need ideas about how to grow your pipeline? Sign up for my newsletter.

Ever feel like your cybersecurity marketing just isn’t landing with CISOs? Wondering why, despite tons of spending, cybercrime is still on the rise? Or maybe you’re looking for real ways to build trust and stand out in a crowded, AI-fueled marketplace? This episode dives straight into those questions, with honest takes and actionable ideas you can start using today.

In this conversation we discuss:
👉 How fast-changing tech, and especially AI, is making go-to-market harder and more complex
👉 Why the cybersecurity industry keeps repeating old mistakes and what actually needs to change
👉 Tips for standing out, building trust, and having real conversations with skeptical buyers

About our guest
Karl Van den Bergh is the CMO at Illumio, with previous CMO gigs at Gigamon and DataStax. He’s got a super varied background (not your standard career marketer) and brings a fresh, global perspective to tackling tough industry challenges. And he is also the 2024 Cybersecurity Marketer of the Year!

Summary
You’ll hear why Karl Van den Bergh believes “cyber is broken,” what back-to-basics marketing really looks like, and how authenticity can cut through the noise and spark real sales conversations. Give this episode a listen—you’ll walk away with new ideas you can use right away!

Links & Resources:

• Karl Van den Bergh on LinkedIn
• Illumio website
• Book a 30-minute chat with Andrew Monaghan

Support the show

The Cyber Go-To-Market Talk is the show for cybersecurity sales leaders, founders, CROs, and go-to-market operators looking to improve cyber sales performance and build more predictable revenue growth. Hosted by Andrew Monaghan, founder of Unstoppable.do, covering cyber sales leadership, revenue leadership, sales onboarding, forecasting, pipeline generation, and cybersecurity go-to-market execution.

Follow me on LinkedIn for regular posts about growing your cybersecurity startup
Want to grow your revenue faster? Check out my cybersecurity sales consulting and training
Need ideas about how to grow your pipeline? Sign up for my newsletter.

Are you struggling to sell the “unsellable” in cybersecurity? Wondering how to create or lead a brand-new product category? Curious about how to maintain a winning sales culture and scale your team when you’re growing fast? This episode offers actionable insights for sales and marketing leaders looking to accelerate growth and navigate the changing cybersecurity landscape.

In this conversation we discuss:
👉 Building market category leadership: how Island tackled the challenge of selling a paid enterprise browser against established free products
👉 Evolving sales hiring strategies to fit different growth phases, including missionary selling and scaling to larger deals
👉 Establishing strong company culture and early investments to drive sustained success even during rapid expansion

About our guest:
Eric Appel is the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) at Island, the enterprise browser company. With 25 years of cybersecurity sales and leadership experience, Eric has overseen Island’s growth from stealth mode to 900+ customers in just a few years. He previously held leadership roles at companies like Yahoo and McAfee.

Summary:
Tune in as Eric Appel shares lessons in creating category-defining success, hiring for high-growth sales teams, and ensuring an unbeatable company culture. This episode is packed with real-world examples and strategies to inspire your next go-to-market move. Don’t miss this milestone conversation—listen now!

Connect with Eric Appel on LinkedIn, explore Island at island.io, and book a 30-minute meeting with Andrew Monaghan.

Support the show

The Cyber Go-To-Market Talk is the show for cybersecurity sales leaders, founders, CROs, and go-to-market operators looking to improve cyber sales performance and build more predictable revenue growth. Hosted by Andrew Monaghan, founder of Unstoppable.do, covering cyber sales leadership, revenue leadership, sales onboarding, forecasting, pipeline generation, and cybersecurity go-to-market execution.

Follow me on LinkedIn for regular posts about growing your cybersecurity startup
Want to grow your revenue faster? Check out my cybersecurity sales consulting and training
Need ideas about how to grow your pipeline? Sign up for my newsletter.