Time to Trust: Why Cybersecurity GTM Lives or Dies on Credibility

Why winning in cyber isn’t about features or fear, but about earning trust faster than anyone else. Plus a practical GTM mindset for founders who want lifelong customers, not one‑off deals.

Hello Cyber Builders 🖖

Every day, I talk to security pros, MSSPs, CISOs, risk analysts, SOC operators, and more. They tell me what frustrates them, what they want, and where cybersecurity still falls short.

At the same time, I work daily with startup founders—passionate individuals driven to build businesses and innovate.

In today’s world, especially with the speed of AI, change is rapid. But what does not change is how to reach your next customers, build trust, and partner with them. Going to market in cybersecurity requires best practices and has specific requirements.

I’m kicking off a new series on GTM. In the coming weeks, we'll explore topics that help founders navigate the evolving cybersecurity landscape. You can look forward to insights on connecting with security professionals and understanding how the shift towards AI-driven solutions impacts traditional practices. My goal is to enhance your go-to-market strategy effectively.

In this post:

• Why cybersecurity GTM is different from generic SaaS playbooks – and why trust, not features, is your real product.

• How to think like a cybersecurity GTM leader – balancing experimentation with rigor, and urgency with compliance.

• How to build “Time to Trust” – by educating customers, demonstrating credibility, and simplifying how they validate your solution.

• Why intensity is non‑negotiable – what consistent, high‑tempo execution actually looks like for cyber startups.

• How to adopt the correct posture in sales – selling without overselling, focusing on outcomes over features, and knowing your place in the stack.

• Why fear‑mongering destroys long‑term value – and how to build durable trust instead of short‑term FUD.

By the end, you’ll have a practical mental model for designing, testing, and scaling a go‑to‑market motion that actually works in cybersecurity.

The Go-To-Market Mindset in Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity GTM is its own beast. Most SaaS playbooks don’t fit. Sales cycles are longer, stakes are higher, and trust matters more than anything. I already covered it in this piece

In this post, let’s break down the GTM mindset that sets winning cyber startups apart. There are three things to focus on:

• The Mindset: How to think like a cybersecurity GTM leader—balancing urgency with precision, and innovation with compliance.

• The Intensity: Why the pace and energy in cybersecurity GTM are different, and how to sustain momentum in a rapidly evolving threat landscape.

• The Posture: The unique stance you need to take with customers, regulators, and partners—confident, transparent, and always one step ahead.

Each of these elements is critical, and while you can learn from generic GTM wisdom, cybersecurity demands a specific approach. Let’s see how you can leverage that to your advantage.

Time to Trust: The Expertise Gap in Cybersecurity Sales

When you sell a security product, you’re not just selling features or performance—you’re selling trust. And trust in cybersecurity is built on expertise.

Say your product stops a new threat—ransomware, deepfakes, or IoT attacks. Your customer already uses the tech at risk. They have compliance boxes to check, defenses in place, and maybe some battle scars. They want better protection.

But here’s the thing: they don’t know what they don’t know.

Your customer lacks the deep technical expertise to grasp the threat landscape fully. They don’t know the actors, the attack vectors, or the nuances of how vulnerabilities are exploited. They don’t understand all the details of that new regulation. They can’t evaluate whether your solution truly meets their needs—or even how to test it effectively. How can they assess protection against threats they don’t understand?

This is why Time to Trust matters. Your job isn’t just to sell. You need to close the knowledge gap. Here’s how:

• Educate without overwhelming: Help them understand the threat in terms they can grasp, not just technical jargon. Consider customers’ environments and the business impact of potential threats, such as downtime or personal data leakage.

• Show your credibility. Don’t just talk—prove how your solution tackles their real risks. A contextualized demo worth 100 slides. Make the product easy to use.

• Make validation simple. Give them clear, hands-on ways to see your product work, even if they aren’t technical. Onboarding should be smooth, and their first hour should make sense.

In cybersecurity, trust isn’t built overnight. It’s earned through expertise, transparency, and a relentless focus on the customer’s real-world challenges.

Photo by Daniel Guerra on Unsplash

GTM Mindset - All about Experimentation

Too many founders over-engineer their go-to-market. They spend weeks perfecting a lead generation pipeline, crafting the “perfect” LinkedIn post, or writing the ultimate blog article. But at the early stage, GTM is not about perfection—it’s about experimentation.

You don’t know what will work yet, and that’s fine. Your job is to test, over and over:

• What problems are most urgent for your customers? (Not what you think they are.)

• Which parts of your value proposition resonate? (Not what you hope will resonate.)

• Where are your customers most open to hearing from you? (Not just LinkedIn, email, or events—but a mix of all, and more.)

• How do they want to engage? (Not how you assume they want to engage.)

There’s no magic answer. You have to try, measure, and adjust.

Intensity - A must-have

Here’s another hard truth: One post a week, a few emails, and hoping for the best won’t cut it. If you’re targeting mid-market or enterprise customers, you need to be everywhere, consistently. Think:

• 3+ LinkedIn posts per week (not just one).

• A newsletter every two weeks (not “when you feel like it”).

• Multiple articles, webinars, and 100+ cold outreach efforts per week (not a handful).

If you’re selling to a wide audience, like AI tools for individuals, you need even more intensity. Your buyers see endless options. You have to be in their feed, inbox, and conversations every day. If you’re not everywhere, you’re invisible.

The market rewards speed and hustle, not hesitation. Move fast, learn faster, and outwork everyone else.

Posture: The Art of Selling Without Overselling

You’ve finally secured that meeting. Now, the real challenge begins. At the early stage, your product is still evolving, and your customers are already drowning in tools. Your posture must reflect humility, clarity, and a deep understanding of where you fit, not as a silver bullet but as a strategic addition.

Know Your Place in Their Stack

Don’t oversell

Your customers know you won’t solve all their problems. They’re already juggling a dozen tools, many of which frustrate them. If you walk in without a clear answer to these questions, you’ll lose credibility:

• What specific market segment are you addressing?

• How are you different—not just better—than incumbents in that segment?

• What tangible outcome will your customer achieve?

If you can’t answer these, you’re just more noise.

If you come to them without a clear understanding of your market segment—without being different, not just better, than the incumbents—and without a clear customer outcome, you’ll lose credibility fast.

Outcomes Over Features

From my experience building and exiting businesses in network and OT security, here’s what most customers actually need:

• Better reporting: not more alerts, but clear, actionable insights they can share with execs and teammates.

• Better productivity: tools that save time, not add work. If your product requires a PhD to run, forget it.

Example: One company I worked with wasn’t the “best” cloud security scanner in terms of depth. But they won because they offered a seamless UX—closer to B2C than traditional B2B—and a refreshing, approachable brand. Their unfair advantage? They made security fun and easy, not another chore.

The Power of Simplicity

Cybersecurity management is already a moat. If your product adds complexity, you’ve failed. Your posture should communicate the following:

• “We understand your pain.”

• “We’re here to make this one thing easier.”

• “Let’s start small, prove value, and grow together.”

This isn’t about underselling—it’s about right-selling. Customers respect honesty. They’ll remember the vendor who helped them sleep at night, not the one who promised the moon.

Fear-Mongering Is Not an Option

Let’s be clear: fear-mongering is a dead end. Telling customers they’ll get hit if they don’t buy your tool might get you one sale, but it kills trust. You won’t get renewals, upsells, or long-term relationships that way.

Mid-market and enterprise buyers already have too many tools. They don’t need more fear. They need clarity and real value. If you want trust, show how you make their life easier—not scarier.

Conclusion: Build Trust, Not Fear

Trust is your real currency in cybersecurity. You don’t build it with fear or hype. You build it with honesty, clarity, and by focusing on what customers actually need. You’re not just selling a product—you’re building a partnership.

Experiment, go all in, and remember: the goal isn’t just a sale. It’s a customer for life. That’s how you build a real business in cybersecurity.