Please join us on Friday July 18, 2025 for Super Cyber Friday.
Our topic of discussion will be “Hacking Vendor Competition: An hour of critical thinking about how to get noticed.”
REGISTER for 7-18-25 Super Cyber Friday
Got feedback? Join the conversation on LinkedIn.
Joining David Spark (@dspark), producer of CISO Series for this discussion will be:
- Andy Ellis, principal of Duha
- Gianna Whitver, co-founder and CEO, Cybersecurity Marketing Society
In preparation for our discussion, think about the following:
- What creative approaches have vendors used to get your attention that actually worked?
- How can vendors build authentic relationships with security teams beyond just the sales cycle?
- How do you evaluate vendor claims when everyone says they’re “the only solution” for a problem?
- What role should industry analysts and third-party validation play in vendor competition?
- How do you handle situations where vendors make promises about roadmap features to win deals?
- What’s your take on vendors who position themselves as “category creators” versus established players?
- How do you balance vendor innovation claims against proven track records?
- How do you handle vendors who try to create artificial urgency around security threats?
- What transparency do you expect from vendors about their own security practices and incidents?
- How should vendors approach contract renewals differently from initial sales?
- What does good vendor competition look like in a mature, ongoing relationship?
- How do you want vendors to handle it when they acquire competitors you’re already using?
It all starts at 1 PM Eastern/10 AM Pacific. At the end of the hour [2 PM Eastern/11 AM Pacific] we’ll switch gears to our meetup where everyone will get a chance to chat face to face.
ALSO…
- Best bad ideas get first responses in “Department of YES” or “Beat the Bad Idea”.
- The BEST bad idea wins an award and a really awesome CISO Series jacket. Also, if you register early by the Tuesday (5pm PT) of that week’s video chat, you will be entered into a raffle where one lucky register will win a jacket (Winners must be US residents. Repeat winners get a $25 Amazon gift card).
Super Cyber Fridays are open discussions where all viewers and listeners are welcome to become participants. Before the scheduled event, connect your webcam and microphone (avoid Bluetooth). During the discussion, if you have a question or comment, let it be known in the chat room and our producer will do his best to get as many of you into the conversation. We look forward to you joining us.