Wiz's Check Mate and Advice for Early Stage Cybersecurity Marketing Leaders

The platformization of cybersecurity software is inevitable.

Even the greatest portfolio company, Palo Alto Networks, recognizes the shift to platforms.

Palo's portfolio strategy has got them far...can they shift to a platform play? (Shlomo Kramer says no 🤷‍♂️)

The optimal strategy for cybersecurity startup exits is focusing on a growing customer need and a difficult technical problem for the existing platforms to solve. Look at problems that are 2-years out and hyperfocus there [1].

We did that successfully at Lightspin. We caught a cresting wave in the Cloud Native Application Platform space. Consolidation of various capabilities, with CSPM at the core and expanding outward to CWPP, CIEM, and more.

At Lightspin, we were really good at one thing: cloud native attack paths. Side note kind of fun to see the below screenshot on Wiz's homepage today, it's basically exactly what we were hitting hard from day 1.

Lightspin, er Wiz homepage circa Feb 12, 2025

In the last 24-hours Wiz can take a victory lap against two former CNAPP competitors, Check Point and Cisco.

I tend to agree with Sid here, focus is key for a CP, especially now

Lightspin was acquired by Cisco in June 2023 and later rebranded as Panoptica. Panoptica is being end-of-lifed and customers ushered over to Wiz.

My advice to early stage marketers in cybersecurity is to initially focus on building the brand and story (explaining the tech, riding the trend and showcasing the talent). Demand follows brand initially (since it's founder/sales led pipe creation in first year or two). Building the founders personal brands is key as well in today's social selling world.

Acquisitions of hot venture-backed cybersecurity startups are 25% tech, 25% traction, 50% talent, and 100% narrative.

Don't fight the fit. Marketers hone your company's message for optimal acquisition market-fit and (this is the main catch) product-market fit. You don't have good traction, it doesn't prove out the technology or the team's execution capabilities.

Notes:

[1] The alternative is to try and build a multi-billion dollar company and double down on a new category that doesn't have an existing platform, which I'm not sure there are very many of those anymore. Perhaps GenAI and Agentic security, but most of that will likely be covered by existing companies (API security, model security, etc.). I'd love to be proven wrong here! Everyone wants billion-dollar outcomes, but I see more value accretion to existing incumbents (Palo, Crowdstrike, Palantir, etc.).

[2] Shlomo Kramer did a great recent podcast with the Inside the Network gang where he talks about his journey with Check Point, Imperva, and now Cato Networks. He's a big believer in the platform play.