As a co-founder and CEO, every day I lead by example with my actions and voice, so I make the time to:
- Get to know our customers’ highest goals and challenges, to help them secure their organizations and better serve their customers
- Build relationships across the cybersecurity industry, regardless of whether we work together directly today
In this second category, I help lots of my colleagues think through their career moves and what to look for in a “winning team”. Where I often take this conversation: businesses won’t succeed long-term without collaborative and cohesive go-to-market (GTM) business functions, which typically includes Sales, Customer Success and Marketing. After spending my career leading high-performing GTM leadership teams, I know that serving our customers – and ultimately growing our business – requires GTM leaders who understand every piece of the customer journey and experience.
That’s why today I am thrilled to announce that Story Tweedie-Yates has joined KSOC as our VP of Marketing, reporting directly to me. With a wealth of experience in product marketing and having led two product marketing teams at hyper-growth companies Auth0 and Aqua Security, Story brings a proven track record of success to our team. In her past life, Story was a professional tennis player, competing in over 30 countries around the world, bringing a competitive edge and a global perspective to our company. As the leader of the Marketing team, Story will drive the development of product marketing, demand generation, brand and go-to-market strategies, positioning KSOC for continued growth and success. (At some point, too, I’m hoping Story will coach me on my forehand!)
Here’s an intro conversation I had with Story last week as we prepared today’s exciting announcement about her arrival:
Story, we’re so glad you’re here! Could you tell us why you decided to join KSOC?
First, I was impressed with the focus on culture and values in such a small company. Many times founders view this as a second priority, but I see it differently. In the cloud native industry, where talent is so coveted, hiring and retention is your key to success. You and Jimmy understand this and make hiring and retention a priority. KSOC is also a remote-first workplace with employees around the world, indicating to me that we can hire for and work with the best, regardless of location.
Second, cloud native security is a fascinating and busy space. I believe that businesses are not yet adequately addressing major challenges related to Kubernetes, such as RBAC. KSOC is solely focused on addressing these security challenges, and I wanted to be part of the team that is going to be there for practitioners and make Kubernetes Security manageable.
What keeps you in the cloud native security space?
Cloud native security is a space that is always changing, and it changes faster than any other security market I have seen. This means there is always something new and many new challenges, but this also means that you get to work with a ton of smart people. At KSOC, you and Jimmy have created a team with a deep understanding of Kubernetes and an intense customer focus. This is exactly the mix of people I want to work with to learn and create the best ways to help customers.
What is your vision for this market and KSOC moving forward?
The market is at a much more mature place in terms of knowledge and adoption of Kubernetes than even one year ago. But the market is noisy. I want customers to find a refreshing voice in KSOC that truly helps reduce the chaos of their Kubernetes reality. We have the leadership and the expertise to do it, I hope to help bring the message home.
Please join me in welcoming Story to the KSOC team!
Brooke
