Hey there 👋,

Welcome to The Spoonful newsletter!

The last weeks of summer always feel strange: part wrap-up, part countdown. Some folks are squeezing in beach trips, others are stockpiling school supplies, and in our corner of the world? We’re packing our brains (and inboxes) full of CyberMarketingCon25.

Between headlines about funding rounds, layoffs, and the internet saying goodbye to dial-up (RIP), we’re also quietly (...okay, not so quietly) planning the sessions, tracks, and late-night tacos 🌮 that will define December in Austin. Our full speaker lineup will be announced on MONDAY, eep! 😀

So while the seasons change outside, here’s your Spoonful of what’s happening inside the community, plus the latest updates, wins, and news shaping cyber GTM.

Are we seeing you in Austin for CyberMarketingCon25?

Professional development, a huge network, and actual fun, all in one place. That’s what CyberMarketingCon delivers. You’ll learn from industry leaders on GTM strategies that work now, sharpen your AI-powered marketing skills for what’s next, and connect with peers who get it. (Oh, and yes, the late-night tacos are real.)

🎟️ Register Now! 🎟️

Trending News 📰

Do you have cool news from your company? Send it to us! Email media@cybersecuritymarketingsociety.com

SaiFlow + Fortinet team up to secure EV charging and energy networks

The joint solution combines SaiFlow’s Energy Security Platform with Fortinet’s next-gen firewalls and policy management tools. It delivers asset discovery, context-aware zero-trust enforcement, unified threat detection, and automated containment, protecting everything from EV chargers to distributed energy grids. 👉 Read the full story

ConnectWise hit with summer layoffs during “workforce rebalancing”

Less than 100 employees were cut as ConnectWise continues integrating acquisitions (Axcient + SkyKick) and consolidating its 40 products to eight on the Asio platform. Most layoffs affected mid-level staff, with leadership citing pressure to accelerate product development and improve performance. 👉 Read the full story

1Kosmos raises $57M to fight biometric fraud with AI-first identity

Identity verification startup 1Kosmos closed a $57M Series B to scale its AI-powered biometric authentication, expand multi-cloud resilience, and build out a federal government practice. Half the funds go to R&D, and the other half goes to market with plans to open offices in high-growth regions like Saudi Arabia. 👉 Read the full story

AOL is finally pulling the plug on dial-up (we're nostalgic)

On Sept. 30, AOL will shut down its dial-up internet service,  the screechy soundtrack of the ’90s web. Once the largest dial-up provider, AOL still had ~163,000 U.S. households on phone-line internet as of 2023 (Gianna: including my dad!). The move follows AOL Instant Messenger’s sunset (2017) and Internet Explorer’s retirement (2022), marking another end of an internet era. Goodbye earl(ier) internet - we'll miss you. 👉 Read the full story

Partner Corner 💼

Cybersecurity Ads That Convert

Get instant access to the Cybersecurity Ad Strategy that generated $1.15M in pipeline without burning brand or budget. Get it here.

Insights from the CMO Seat

We’re thrilled to welcome Charles Gold, CMO of ThreatConnect and cohost of our Benchmark Funnel Working Group, CyberCMO monthly virtual meetup, and podcast segment CyberCMO Confidential, who’ll share fresh takes and lessons from the CMO seat in this section. This is his first edition (please applaud):

One of the Biggest B2B Mistakes You Can Make
The mistake we make in B2B is that marketing is a department, not something a company does. When we make this mistake, we put all the responsibility for brand, demand, and content on the individuals who work in the department called marketing, and on the leader we call a CMO or a VP.

This is wrong in B2B. And it’s even more wrong in cybersecurity—with sophisticated, skeptical buyers who are inundated with communications, solicitations, and (often ineffectual) messaging.

As marketing leaders, we need to change the way our companies think about this. And it starts with us. Our jobs are to galvanize our companies around truly compelling messaging and to motivate and empower our technical experts and SMEs to play an active role in creating and capturing demand.

Marketing (capital ‘M’—and not just because it’s at the start of a sentence) is a company-level endeavour. And our role is to lead. Yes, our teams operationalize marketing activities, and we must be excellent in this arena. But for marketing to be truly effective and persuasive, it needs to be a team sport. We are the play callers.

**

On a separate topic, I’m a firm believer that the CMO role is the loneliest on the e-staff. It’s tough to find someone who truly understands your challenges inside your company.

But you are NOT ALONE. Join our CMO-only spaces to be among people who understand: Each month, Gianna and I host CyberCMO Confidential, a closed meeting for top marketing leaders to discuss challenges, share ideas, and, well, yeah, vent. Sign up here (please note that only CMOs are eligible to attend)!

• You can also join the ‘CMOs Only’ Slack Channel in the Cybersecurity Marketing Society - not in it? Reply to this email.
• We will also do an in-person meetup during the CMO track at CyberMarketingCon in December. We hope to see you there!

From the Community 💌

Members & friends are doing amazing things this week!

• Andy Ellis shared his Black Hat 2025 vendor breakdown: 359 booths, 1 in 5 with unclear messaging, AI everywhere, and code security leading the pack. 👉 Read the post
  
  
• This week's Breaking Through in Cybersecurity Marketing Podcast episode: 🎙️ From Cisco to Startups: Leadership Lessons That Last
  with CMO Sri Sundaralingam (CMO, Xage Security; ex-Cisco, Symantec, ExtraHop) shares what truly carries over between big companies and startups and what you must relearn. Expect practical takes on hiring, testing the IC-to-manager leap, and framing technical ideas buyers can use. 👉 Listen here
  
  
• Michelle Peterson pulled back the curtain on what it’s like to help bring a big security project to life: Continuous Threat Exposure Management For Dummies (NetSPI Special Edition). Her take? Big projects are intimidating at first, but once you dive in, you just want to do it again (and better). She shared three lessons learned from creating the book, and it’s a fun, honest read for anyone who’s ever tackled something that felt a little too big at the start. 👉 3 Lessons I Learned from Creating Continuous Threat Exposure Management For Dummies
  
  
• 👏 Congrats to Judith Wahnon and the team at Seal Security on raising a $13M Series A to advance securing open source code at scale. 👉 Read more

Stuff Worth Reading (Promise)

Fresh reads from the community (or your next “forward this to my boss” moment):

• Webinar Recap: Campaigns That Convert
  How to build and execute high-impact cybersecurity marketing campaigns. [Read More]
• 2025 Buyers Report Update
  The 2025 Buyer's Report has an update! [Read More]
• Cybersecurity Content Strategy
  What works and what’s a total waste of time. [Read More]

Where We’re Meeting Next:

August 26 @ 3 p.m. ET – RSAC ROI Community Meetup (Virtual)
Let’s talk numbers. Join this member-led meetup to swap notes on RSAC results from booth costs to lead quality to what closed. Bring your wins, lessons, and plans for next year.
🎟️ Register here

September 4 @ 2 p.m. ET – Eventapalooza (Virtual)
A rapid-fire livestream for field, event, and demand gen marketers to compare and shop 2026 cybersecurity events without the fluff. One hour, one slide per event organizer, zero sales pressure.
🎟️ Register here

September 18 @ 2 p.m. PT / 5 p.m. ET – The Conversion Cocktail (Virtual)
First-time attendees get a complimentary cocktail (or mocktail) kit, mix drinks with a pro, and swap pipeline-building ideas with fellow marketers. RSVP by Sept 8 to claim your kit.

👉 Reserve your spot

September 25 @ 1 p.m. ET – Fix Your LinkedIn Ad Strategy (Virtual)
Join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society + AdConversion founder, Silvio Perez, for a workshop-style webinar. Three campaigns get live audits, but everyone walks away with a framework to improve LinkedIn Ads.

👉 Register here

Check out the monthly member events calendar! It’s packed with exciting networking opportunities and recurring meetups designed just for you.

Upcoming events: 📆

• Meet & Greet with Melissa Di Giovanna by Priority Experiences: August 27 | Virtual
• Billington Cybersecurity Summit: September 9-12 | Washington, D.C.
• CrowdStrike Fal.Con: September 15-18 | Las Vegas, NV
• International Cyber Expo: September 30- October 1 | London, UK
• INBOUND 2025: September 3-5 | San Francisco, CA

Top Cybersecurity Conferences & Events: Stay updated with the latest events to network and learn about emerging MarTech tools, SecurityMetrics

Just for laughs: Meme of the Week... 😂

Credit to Michael Yehoshua for the meme!

That’s it for this edition! Thanks for reading!

Don't forget: you're the best! 💪

Have a great weekend!

❤️ Gianna & Maria

PS: This newsletter is made by humans. We might not reply, but we read all your responses.

Cybersecurity Marketing Society, 501 1st Avenue N #901, St. Petersburg, FL 33701

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