Why Silence is a Competitive Risk
You’d think deep technical expertise would speak for itself. In cybersecurity, it often does—just not loud enough.
Founders with domain depth get meetings.
Period.
I’ve seen enterprise buyers ignore polished decks and lean in because the founder dropped a line about DNS poisoning that actually made sense.
But too many technical founders treat visibility like vanity.
Personal branding?
That’s for influencers.
Until they hit a wall and realise: nobody buys what they can’t find—and nobody funds who they haven’t heard of.
Early-stage, you don’t have case studies. You have credibility. And if you’re not visible, you’re not credible.
As one CISO put it to me: “I’ll take a 30-minute call if the founder wrote the RFC I’m troubleshooting.”
You don’t need to go viral. But you do need to be visible. Silence isn’t modesty. It’s a missed opportunity.
The First Hour’s High-Leverage Moves
1. Reverse-Engineer Search Intent (Not Ego)
Technical buyers don’t search for “thought leadership.” They Google:
- “EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) false positives 2024”
- “IAM (Identity and Access Management) migration pitfalls”
- “Zero Trust vs SASE cost comparison”
You can use free keyword tools to find questions with >1,000 monthly searches but low competition. Write a 300-word LinkedIn post answering one – today.
2. Weaponise Your Commit History
Open-source contributions are trust signals. If you’ve fixed a CVE or maintained a library:
- Pin the repo to your GitHub profile
- Add a “Contributed to” section on LinkedIn
- Reference it in your bio (e.g., “Patched Kafka CVE-2023-25194”)
3. The 15-Minute Compliance Hack
With GDPR fines hitting €1.2 billion, buyers need explainers. Record a Loom walking through:
- How your product handles Article 32 (encryption at rest)
- A SOC 2 Type II report section (even if you’re pre-certification)
Host it on a simple Carrd page linked in your email signature.
Actionable Wins With Measurable Impact
Track these metrics regularly:
- Inbound lead quality: % of demo requests mentioning your content
- Deal velocity: Days from first contact to technical evaluation
- Share of voice: Google Alerts for your name + keywords
Take-away Challenge
When a prospect Googles your name tonight, will they find proof of expertise – or a ghost town?
Technical founders who ship code and ideas win the talent wars, customer trust, and ultimately, exits.
Just saying…
Leave a Reply