Audience 1st

Dani Woolf
  • 5.0 (6)
  • MARKETING
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Welcome to Audience 1st. A podcast for tech marketers looking to break out of the echo chamber to better understand their audience and turn them into loyal customers. Every week, Dani Woolf is having brutally honest conversations with busy tech buyers about what really motivates them, the things they hate that vendors do, and what you can do about it. You’ll get access to practical information on how to build authentic relationships with your audience, listen to and talk with your buyers, and apply real customer insights to your strategies and tactics. You owe it to the world to unmute your mic. Are you ready? audience1st.substack.com

  1. The Kid Who Googled "How to Become a Hacker" and Ended Up Wrecking Real Ones

    5D AGO

    The Kid Who Googled "How to Become a Hacker" and Ended Up Wrecking Real Ones

    John Hammond was a kid who Googled "how to become a hacker" and took it seriously. He learned Python, found his way into the Coast Guard Academy, and remembers squaring down a stairwell at two in the morning - rigid military posture, full indoctrination protocol - vibrating with excitement because he was about to sit next to smart people and solve security problems for a living. That visceral, middle-of-the-night certainty became the foundation of everything that followed. Today he's a principal security researcher on the Adversary Tactics team at Huntress, employee number twenty-eight at a company that's now over six hundred people. He's also one of the most recognized cybersecurity educators on the internet, producing hour-long exploit deep dives on YouTube that get more genuine engagement than most vendors' entire content budgets combined. In this episode, John talks about why the cybersecurity industry is stuck on a treadmill it may never get off and whether the business model actually depends on that treadmill keeping pace. He explains why Huntress is deliberately slow about integrating AI into their human-led SOC and why that uncertainty is more credible than the confident claims coming from thousands of other cybersecurity vendors in the space. We also get into territory that most cybersecurity conversations gloss over. John makes the case that the security awareness gap isn't informational - the information exists, he's made it free on YouTube - it's motivational, and most training programs are built around what the security team thinks is important rather than what the end user actually cares about. He talks about why checklists function as a ceiling on curiosity, and why the discoveries that actually matter are the ones that never make it onto the procedure document. And he gets real about burnout - the arc from obsessive passion to unsustainable output that the industry celebrates in keynotes and ignores in its operational expectations. There's a moment near the end where I asked him to describe Huntress in three words and he gave me an internal mantra - ethical badasses - that says more about how the company thinks about culture as a competitive weapon than any mission statement ever could. This is a conversation about what happens when someone who never optimized for credibility becomes one of the most credible voices in the room. Listen and enjoy. A special thanks to our friends at Huntress for partnering with us to tell this story. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit audience1st.substack.com

    37 min
  2. The PhD Cryptographer Who Bet His Career on a Lukewarm Idea and Succeeded

    5D AGO

    The PhD Cryptographer Who Bet His Career on a Lukewarm Idea and Succeeded

    Aleksandr Yampolskiy was doing everything right. He had the tools, the budget, the processes - the full security stack humming along at the e-commerce company where he served as CISO. Then one routine vendor integration blew the whole thing open. Unencrypted credit card data from other customers, just sitting there, inside a platform that had been rubber-stamped by a Big Four firm. In that moment, he realized something most security leaders spend their careers trying not to think about: you can do everything right and still lose your job because someone else didn't. That scar became SecurityScorecard. But here's where the story gets interesting. When Aleksandr, or AY - as he introduced himself when joining me in my studio, started telling people in 2013 that he wanted to quantify cyber risk the same way credit scores quantify financial risk, nobody was excited. The reactions ranged from "that's impossible" to a polite shrug. Most founders would have taken that as a signal to pivot. Alex took it as proof he was early enough to matter. In this episode, we go deep. We talk about why the status quo, not a named competitor, is the most dangerous thing your sales team will ever face. AY tells the story of twenty buyers who all said "I love it, I'll buy it" and then every single one of them disappeared when he came back with the finished product. (Oh, how I resonate deeply with this pain.) He explains how a pediatrician named Dr. Virginia Apgar, who saved tens of thousands of newborns with a simple scoring system, became the intellectual blueprint for how Security Scorecard thinks about risk. And he gets honest about hiring decisions that went wrong because he ignored a gut feeling he couldn't quite articulate at the time. We also get into territory that most cybersecurity podcasts don't touch. AY talks about boards adopting AI to impress Wall Street while CISOs scramble to secure shadow deployments nobody authorized. He walks through why 150 companies control ninety percent of the global attack surface and what that means for everyone else. He makes the case that quantum computing will be a Y2K-scale migration problem much sooner than the industry wants to admit. And he shares a question from his company advisor that I think every GTM leader needs to sit with: Who do you want your customers to become? This is a conversation about how a scientist thinks about risk, why the language gap between the SOC and the boardroom is an actual vulnerability, and what it really takes to build something that changes how an industry operates. Listen in and enjoy. A special thanks to our friends at SecurityScorecard for partnering with us to tell this story. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit audience1st.substack.com

    46 min
  3. How to Stop Falling for Fake Cyber Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) Claims

    12/19/2025

    How to Stop Falling for Fake Cyber Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) Claims

    Every vendor in exposure management now says they do CTEM. Nick Lantuh's response: "You don't even know what you're talking about." This episode with Nick Lantuh (CyberProof) and Amy Chaney (Citibank) breaks down how a methodology became a meaningless marketing term and how buyers can fight back. The reality check: CTEM requires connecting vuln scanning, endpoint, SIEM, cloud, email, network—not just one of them Adding CAASM or external attack surface management doesn't make you a CTEM vendor Most organizations doing "CTEM" are actually using spreadsheets and manual threat intel fusion Why services-led beats platform-first (60x revenue growth proved it) The disingenuity problem: vendors spray the term, buyers have to unpack it Amy's evaluated these claims at the world's largest banks. Nick built the solution that actually connects the pieces. Together, they arm you with the filter. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit audience1st.substack.com

    44 min
  4. Why Are You Outsourcing Buyer Intimacy to Gartner?!?

    12/05/2025

    Why Are You Outsourcing Buyer Intimacy to Gartner?!?

    The Gartner debate keeps resurfacing on LinkedIn. Skeptics vs. pragmatists vs. the "it depends" crowd. Same arguments. Same camps. Same circular conversation. Everyone's missing the point. After having hundreds of direct conversations between vendors and CISOs, I've come to a controversial conclusion: The analyst relations industry exists because marketers don't want to do the hard work of actually understanding their buyers. In this episode, I'm going deep on what no one's willing to say: How buyer insight gets distorted through seven (at least) layers of interpretation before it reaches your strategy. By the time Gartner's "insight" hits your roadmap, it's a game of telephone. Vendors expect Gartner to generate pipeline. It generates awareness. That awareness doesn't convert. And the "justification" use case? I don't buy it anymore. I'll tell you what CISOs actually say. Gartner has become a shortcut to avoid the uncomfortable work of direct buyer relationships. More surprisingly, the analysts aren't doing the deep work either. You are the product, not the customer. AI is commoditizing surface-level insight. But the deep nuance, the psychology, the politics, the unspoken objections, that still requires human connection. The differentiator is becoming more human, not less. What to do instead. How to build buyer intimacy as a core competency. Why the vendors who win will be the ones who stop outsourcing the most important work in marketing. This episode isn't about whether Gartner is good or bad. It's about a harder question: How well do you actually know your buyer? If the honest answer is "not deeply enough", Gartner isn't your problem. If you're a cybersecurity founder, marketer, or GTM leader wondering who has even the smallest inkling or intuitive feeling deep down inside that your Gartner investment isn’t worthwhile, this one's for you. Connect with me on LinkedIn Learn more about CyberSynapse This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit audience1st.substack.com

    44 min
  5. From Cost Center to Growth Driver: The CFO’s Playbook for Cloud Security ROI

    06/06/2025

    From Cost Center to Growth Driver: The CFO’s Playbook for Cloud Security ROI

    For years, security has been treated as a necessary evil - a budget line item that CFOs approve without truly understanding its business impact. But what if cloud security could be a revenue driver, an efficiency enabler, and a cost-saving powerhouse? In this episode, Dani Woolf sat down with Chris Thomas, Chief Revenue Officer at AlgoSec, to break down how CFOs should really evaluate cloud security investments, not just as a defensive measure, but as a business accelerator. They dove into the cost of inaction, the inefficiencies draining budgets, and the financial case for security automation - all from a CFO’s perspective. If you’re still treating security as an overhead cost, this conversation will change the way you think about it. To get a demo of AlgoSec, visit: https://www.algosec.com/lp/request-a-demo This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit audience1st.substack.com

    48 min
  6. Why the vCISO Model Is More Than a Stopgap for Organizations Looking for Security Leadership

    05/30/2025

    Why the vCISO Model Is More Than a Stopgap for Organizations Looking for Security Leadership

    In this milestone 100th (and birthday!) episode of Audience 1st Podcast, Dani Woolf is joined by veteran cybersecurity leader David Doyle from DirectDefense for a brutally honest conversation about what’s broken in today’s security leadership models and how the rise of the vCISO is more than just a stopgap. Together, they unpack the myths, power dynamics, and misaligned expectations that drive burnout, stall progress, and keep companies from building real security maturity. This episode is a blueprint for cybersecurity executives, CISOs, and vCISOs who are serious about designing resilient organizations that can lead through complexity. You’ll Learn: 1. The real reason CISOs are burning out and why it’s not just about stress 2. How most orgs misunderstand the vCISO role (and end up wasting budget) 3. When to bring in a vCISO and how to avoid hiring the wrong one 4. Why CISOs and vCISOs should be tag-teaming, not competing 5. How to measure progress beyond compliance and build a culture of strategic leadership 6. What makes a good vCISO indispensable, not replaceable Subscribe & Follow: Follow Audience 1st wherever you get your podcasts Connect with Dani Woolf on LinkedIn Learn more about CyberSynapse and qualitative buyer research This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit audience1st.substack.com

    51 min

  7. 05/23/2025

    The GTM Gauntlet in Cybersecurity: What We're Still Getting Wrong | Authenticated by Confide

    In this special episode of Authenticated, Confide brings together a powerhouse panel of security operators, marketers, and founders to dissect the brutal realities of go-to-market in cybersecurity. From failed conference booth investments to relationship-first community building, this conversation goes deep on why most vendors still miss the mark, and what it actually takes to build trust with today’s security buyers. Whether you’re a CISO, product marketer, founder, or GTM leader in security, this episode cuts through the noise with raw, unfiltered truths about what works, what backfires, and where the future of security GTM is headed. Key Themes We Cover Why cybersecurity is one of the hardest GTM motions in tech—period The myth of the CISO as the sole buyer (and who actually influences decisions) How real community works—and why fake ones backfire Why founder curiosity and customer obsession are the biggest predictors of success The buyer psychology behind trust, timing, and transference What not to do at RSAC (and how to rethink your event strategy) The role of failure, redemption, and authentic messaging in building credibility Tactical ways to break through cynicism and engage skeptical security practitioners Subscribe & Follow: Follow Audience 1st wherever you get your podcasts Connect with Dani Woolf on LinkedIn Learn more about CyberSynapse and qualitative buyer research  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit audience1st.substack.com

    58 min
  8. Cognitive Risk, Neurodivergence, and the Unspoken Realities of Security Leadership

    05/16/2025

    Cognitive Risk, Neurodivergence, and the Unspoken Realities of Security Leadership

    In this episode of Audience 1st Podcast, Dani Woolf sits down with Val Popke to explore the unspoken human dimensions of cybersecurity leadership. Val, a veteran, assurance leader, and self-described “Wandering Cyber Vulva,” challenges the industry’s prevailing narratives around hiring, communication, inclusion, and resilience. The discussion goes beyond traditional security frameworks to uncover the cognitive and cultural risks impacting practitioners at all levels. Listeners will walk away with a deeper understanding of why burnout, disconnect, and distrust are systemic, not personal, and how security leaders must evolve to lead in environments of increasing complexity, diversity, and psychological strain. Key Themes: Why psychological safety and cognitive clarity are prerequisites for functional security operations. How the industry’s hidden majority is misaligned with traditional corporate norms and what needs to change. The mismatch between capability and visibility in how cyber professionals are evaluated and excluded. A linguistic and philosophical reframe that emphasizes collaborative understanding over performative inclusion. Why many security professionals are forced to protect their organizations from internal dysfunction while defending against external threats. Trust, mission, and why so many veterans find a natural home in cyber until corporate incentives erode that foundation. Subscribe & Follow: Follow Audience 1st wherever you get your podcasts Connect with Dani Woolf on LinkedIn Learn more about CyberSynapse and qualitative buyer research    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit audience1st.substack.com

    36 min
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5
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

Welcome to Audience 1st. A podcast for tech marketers looking to break out of the echo chamber to better understand their audience and turn them into loyal customers. Every week, Dani Woolf is having brutally honest conversations with busy tech buyers about what really motivates them, the things they hate that vendors do, and what you can do about it. You’ll get access to practical information on how to build authentic relationships with your audience, listen to and talk with your buyers, and apply real customer insights to your strategies and tactics. You owe it to the world to unmute your mic. Are you ready? audience1st.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Dani Woolf
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    103
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Dani Woolf
  • Show Website
    Audience 1st

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