Dani Woolf (She/Her)

User Experience Specialist

Founder & CEO @ Audience 1st | Content @ Nucleus Security | Customer Research Certified

Five years ago, I pissed off a CISO so badly in front of my CMO, he helped me build a $1M+ cybersecurity buyer intelligence business. That humiliating moment during a website messaging feedback session? Best career move I ever made. Here's the uncomfortable truth about B2B tech marketing most won't tell you:

Most marketers create buyer personas in echo chambers instead of interviewing real buyers to get direct buyer insights. They're selling to fictional characters while their actual prospects choose competitors.

I learned this the hard way when a CISO, my customer, publicly destroyed me for using a buzzword out of context. At that time, I'd never actually talked to a single security leader about their real problems.

Instead of defending my approach, I asked him for coffee to learn why I upset him. That conversation led to thousands of conversations with CISOs, security architects, and IT leaders who taught me what B2B marketers get dangerously wrong about technical and business buyers.

What I discovered:
→ IT buyers don't trust marketing because marketers don't understand them and their environments
→ The best "research" comes from actual conversations, not survey data
→ Skeptical IT buyers will tell you exactly what they need - if you ask the right questions
→ Authentic relationships beat aggressive outreach every time

Today I help B2B cybersecurity companies understand their skeptical buyers through:

🎯 CyberSynapse - Direct access to vetted IT decision-makers for buyer intelligence that actually drives revenue

🍳 Cooking with CISOs - A TV show that builds real relationships with technical leaders (yes, over actual food)

📺 YouTube/Content - Sharing what 1000+ technical buyers taught me about effective B2B marketing

Some of the most skeptical and hard-to-reach cybersecurity buyers have dubbed me the marketer they actually trust - and I teach other B2B marketers how to earn that same trust and credibility.

Ready to stop operating in the dark and start growing with confidence?

Visit the links in my Featured section to see how I can help.

Founder and CEO

I'm removing the barrier to customer insights for go-to-market teams in growth-stage cybersecurity companies so they can scale growth and retain loyal customers.

Dani Woolf

Dmitriy Sokolovskiy, CISSP, QTE

Semrush

Senior Vice President - Information Security 

Venture Guides

Strategic advisor to cybersecurity startups helping in GTM and Product strategy development.

CISO Advisor

Hub-scale

Providing GTM and product advisory for cybersecurity startups.

Cyft

Assisting Cyft team in product and GTM strategy development and execution

Strategic Advisor

Audience 1st

As the Principal CISO advisor for VCs, enables the founders in their portfolio companies to make smarter product innovation and GTM investments so they can create sustainable and predictable growth OR reach their next growth stage faster.

As the Lead Instructor deliver interactive, face-to-face strategy and feedback sessions to help GTM teams better understand the cybersecurity buyer, specifically the CISO role, responsibilities, struggles, motivations, and desired outcomes (drivers of technology buying) so they can create sustainable and predictable growth.

Principal CISO Advisor, Lead Instructor

The CyberNest

Advisory Board Member

Vation Ventures

Innovation Advisory Council Member

Exium

CISO Advisory Board

Oort

Avid

Built a robust Enterprise Cybersecurity program for a Small Cap NASDAQ listed company.

The team is able to quantify the digital risk facing the company, manage it fully according to the established risk appetite, and provide 450%-500% yearly ROI, inclusive of residual risk and all cybersecurity spend.

VP and CSO/CISO

With over two decades of experience in information security, I am a transformational leader, advisor, instructor, and mentor in the cybersecurity domain. I hold the CISSP and GCED certifications, and I am a founding board member of the (ISC)2 Eastern Massachusetts Chapter and a member of the SANS Advisory Board.

As the Principal CISO Advisor and Lead Instructor at Audience 1st, I enable the founders and GTM teams of VC-backed portfolio companies to create sustainable and predictable growth by understanding the cybersecurity buyer, specifically the CISO role, responsibilities, struggles, motivations, and desired outcomes. I also assist Cyft, an AI-powered MDR selection platform, in product and GTM strategy development and execution. Additionally, I serve as an Advisory Board Member at The CyberNest, a global community of cybersecurity professionals and enthusiasts.

taplio

The Battle

Dani Woolf

Dmitriy Sokolovskiy, CISSP, QTE

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