Option Five

The dangerous gap between “like” and “buy”It’s safe to say that Mark’s career has given him a well-rounded perspective. He’s built products, sold products, serviced products, and advised on products in the cybersecurity space. This 360-degree view has made one tough, but important truth obvious:“People can say that they like what you do, but that’s very, very different than them getting out of their pocketbook and spending money on it. That is two different scenarios, completely different scenarios.”This is how it goes in many social or professional settings - people are nice. They will be supportive, offer suggestions, say that it’s great and never buy. Mark learned to find design partners who would be brutally honest about budget, replacement vs. net-new spend, and whether they’d actually pull the trigger.120 CISOs in six monthsWhen building Secure Blueprint, Mark didn’t send out async surveys or run a few user interviews. He talked to 120 CISOs over a 6-month period. It’s worth noting that in these convers