The agenda is subject to change. To experience the full conference, we recommend you arrive to attend the first workshop (12pm CT on Sunday, Dec 7) or at least the Opening Night Reception (7pm CT on Sunday, Dec 7) and leave after 3pm CT (CyberMarketingCon) or 8pm CT (CyberCEO Summit) on Wednesday Dec 10. Save the sessions you like on the conference app!
Only one in every 1,000 venture-backed enterprise software companies reaches $100M ARR. Even fewer get there with the same marketing leader in the seat from seed to centaur. I’ve been lucky—with a healthy dose of stubborn optimism—to be one of them. This isn’t a story about brilliant overnight success. It’s about the long game: showing up every day, evolving with the company, and learning how to build a marketing org that can scale without collapsing under its own growth. Because in cybersecurity, a lot has to go right—and a lot is just staying consistent through the chaos. In this candid and prescriptive session, I’ll share the GTM lessons forged over six years as CMO of Semperis—from scrappy startup to nine-figure ARR. You’ll walk away with stage-specific insights on: - What actually changes at $2M, $20M, and $100M ARR - The early GTM bets that worked (and the ones that didn’t) - How to scale a marketing org without losing your mind (or your job) - Why brand, demand, and product marketing must evolve in sync - How to stay aligned with sales and the CEO across every phase - The shift from marketing leader to Chief Market Officer—and what that really means Whether you’re a founder hiring your first marketer or a CMO trying to grow without burning out, this session is for anyone scaling go-to-market with clarity, staying power, and just enough duct tape to keep things moving.
The cybersecurity market is increasingly crowded and noisy. Every company claims to be a "leader" and promotes its ability to solve "critical" use cases – to the point that such statements no longer hold meaning. As marketing budgets are slashed and teams are required to achieve more with less, how can companies rise above the rest to prove their value and achieve true market leadership?
In this session, offered by Tracey Moon, CMO for BlackCloak, she will share her strategic formula for building brands and maximizing impact. With a track record that includes numerous acquisitions and growth milestones, she'll share the key components to demonstrating value, trust, and differentiation of a company's solutions while creating a sense of necessity and urgency, including: keeping a laser focus on high-impact activities, building multi-pronged campaigns across relevant channels, and fostering a collaborative team environment for internal and external contributors. As a result, marketing teams can prove their worth in feeding the funnel, driving bottom-line results, and elevating the brand to become a standout in the crowd.
Key Takeaways:What high-impact activities to focus on to build brand awareness and credibility. The value of multi-pronged campaigns – the relevant content and distribution channels that drive results without breaking the bank. The importance of building social media advocacy within an organization and among external stakeholders. How to demonstrate the value of Marketing to company leaders and increase resources and budget allocation.
Venture capital partners are more than just a source of funding—they’re strategic allies with deep networks, industry insight, and marketing muscle. But are you fully leveraging that relationship? In this session, we’ll explore how cybersecurity marketers can turn their VC partnerships into powerful marketing engines. From co-branded campaigns and thought leadership initiatives to event collaborations and product launches, we’ll cover real-world strategies for working with your investors to amplify reach, build credibility, and drive growth. We’ll also dive into best practices for communication, alignment, and setting mutual expectations—so you’re not just asking for help, you’re building a true marketing partnership. Whether you're an early-stage startup or scaling fast, this session will give you actionable ideas and frameworks to bring back to your next VC check-in.
Key Takeaways 1) How to Leverage Your VC’s Marketing Resources - Discover the often-overlooked marketing assets VCs bring to the table—from content distribution channels to brand credibility—and how to tap into them effectively. 2) Frameworks for Collaborative Campaigns - Learn how to co-create content, events, and PR initiatives with your VC partners to extend your reach and amplify your message. 3) Best Practices for Communication and Alignment - Get actionable tips on how to structure updates, set expectations, and keep your VC partners engaged as strategic marketing allies—not just investors. 4) Real-World Examples of High-Impact Partnerships - See case studies of cybersecurity companies that have successfully teamed up with their investors for impactful marketing outcomes.
Everyone claims their product is "AI-powered" – but what does that actually mean to buyers, and how do you position AI features without falling into meaningless buzzword territory? In this hands-on workshop, Andrew Stiefel, Senior Product Marketing Manager from Endor Labs, will guide you through the critical decisions that shape effective AI positioning in cybersecurity products.
You’ll learn when AI is truly the product, when it’s just a feature or enabler—and why confusing an agent with an MCP server can kill your credibility. We’ll dig into when to give AI a personality (and when not to), how to navigate the technical skepticism of security buyers, and why “AI-powered” might be the worst phrase you can use. Through real-world examples and interactive exercises, discover how to position AI as either a core differentiator or enabling technology based on your audience, market maturity, and competitive landscape.
Key takeaways include:
Whether you're marketing an AI-native startup or adding AI capabilities to an existing solution, you'll leave with actionable strategies to cut through the AI noise and connect with security buyers who've heard it all.
Growth-minded marketers are increasingly looking beyond traditional tactics and turning to the power of ecosystems—partnerships, channels, and alliances—to amplify reach and accelerate revenue. This panel brings together experienced partnership, channel, and alliance marketing leaders to unpack how these roles are reshaping the modern marketing playbook. We'll explore how collaborative go-to-market strategies unlock new audiences, how co-marketing with partners delivers measurable impact, and what it takes to build programs that scale. Whether you're in brand, demand gen, or product marketing, this session will show how aligning with the partner ecosystem isn't just a nice-to-have—it's a powerful growth multiplier.
Key TakeawaysEcosystem Marketing Drives Growth: Partnership, channel, and alliance marketing strategies are essential tools for marketers looking to scale their impact and accelerate revenue beyond traditional marketing approaches.
Collaboration Unlocks New Opportunities: Co-marketing and aligned go-to-market strategies with partners enable marketers to access new audiences, strengthen brand presence, and deliver greater value to customers.
Marketing Must Embrace Ecosystems: For marketers in any function—whether brand, demand generation, or product marketing—working within partner ecosystems is no longer optional; it's a strategic advantage for staying competitive and driving results.
SIEM Marketing in the mid-market is a whole new challenge. Buyers are more informed, more risk-conscious, and more collaborative in how they evaluate tools. At this growth stage, security vendors often hit a wall; messaging that worked in the early days doesn't resonate with cross-functional decision makers. Instead of selling to a single engineer or founder, you're now marketing to stakeholder groups that include CISOs, DevSecOps leads, and business-minded buyers, and they all have different definitions of value.
In this session, Alexis Horn, Director of Product Marketing at Graylog, shares how he evolved Graylog's Go-to-Market approach to speak directly to this new class of buyers. You'll learn how to modernize your persona-based messaging, align it to revenue-driving discovery motions, and address the common blockers mid-market SIEM buyers throw up.
If you're scaling from startup to mid-market and watching conversion slow, this session will show you how to realign your messaging and GTM rhythm for today's buyer reality.
1. How to scale messaging beyond founder-led sales and early adopters2. How to identify and target multiple buying personas inside a mid-sized org3. How to turn 'We already have a SIEM' into a mid-market wedge opportunity4. How to align messaging with MEDDPICC discovery for a more qualified pipeline5. How to frame product outcomes that resonate with both technical and business stakeholders
Whether it's AI, geopolitical events, COVID, competitors or technology advancements, marketing leaders need to constantly be aware and in sync with customers, markets and world events to adapt their marketing strategy to continuously find new opportunities, demonstrate value, maximize results, and drive brand leadership. Those who do, are putting themselves and the company in a position for success. Those who don't, risk everything.
What you will learn from this session:- Specific examples of shifts in marketing strategy based on technology, market and world events - Changes in GTM strategy and alignment with executives and sales - Examples of standing out and leading in your market segment - The importance of building strategic relationships with customers for long term success
What does it take to break into a crowded cybersecurity landscape, win attention against billion-dollar incumbents and buzzy disruptors, and still drive real revenue impact?
In this session, Valerie Zargarpur, VP of Marketing at Hopper, shares the behind-the-scenes strategy and execution behind Hopper’s stealth launch—how a lean team built a GTM motion that stood out in a saturated market while aligning deeply with high-conviction technical buyers.
Stealth launches aren’t what they used to be. In today’s noisy landscape, attention is currency, and differentiation is survival. Whether you're launching a seed-stage startup or rebranding an existing product, this session will help you think more strategically about breaking through the noise and converting interest into traction.
Attendees will learn how to: - Position a startup against both legacy platforms and emerging competitors without relying on fear-based or buzzword-heavy messaging - Build a GTM engine that balances storytelling with technical depth for high-conviction buyers like CISOs, AppSec leaders, and DevSecOps teams - Create a differentiated narrative that connects emotionally with developers and aligns with security buyer pain points (without relying on buzzwords like “AI”) - Show value in the first 5 minutes of interaction—website, deck, demo, or POC—using real examples from Hopper’s launch
The world seems to be changing at a feverish pace. AI is eating software, hardware...maybe even your job.In the cybersecurity industry, GTM teams and cyber defenders alike are trying to untangle AI truth from fiction and build strategies to take advantage of - and protect against - the disruption this still-novel technology will bring. Beyond the endless sea of AI snake oil, there is truth in the massive changes AI will have on the cybersecurity industry. There are also vital trends and movements happening beyond AI, which are going under-noticed (or unnoticed) due to the AI hype. Futurist, investor, thought leader Dr. Chenxi Wang is here to explain the signal in the noise of AI in cyber, and share key infrastructure, cultural, societal, and "frontier tech" changes that will impact the cybersecurity market in 2026, so that you can understand what's coming next and how the industry is changing.
- Why today’s marketing leaders are shaping not just demand—but destiny- In an age of disruption, cyber marketers must be both credible and growth focused- How it is key to make a brand that both stands out with authenticity and impact
