Krista Mollion

Last Business Coach You'll Ever Need I 100% Activator + Rebel 💥 Blow Up Your Solopreneur Business By Joining Profitable Solopreneur/MBA/Accelerator 🚀 Free Masterclass: Path To 10k+ Months 🎯 Content AI Workshop 5/10🧠

What worked at $1M strains at $5M.
What carried you to $8M may stop working at $15M.

Different symptoms.
Same root cause.

Revenue feels harder
Pipeline inconsistent
CAC creeping up
Forecast moving every month

You’ve reached a GTM bottleneck.

Pipeline is active.
Sales is working.
Marketing is producing.

Yet the number shifts.

Your revenue system hasn’t evolved with the company.

That’s where I operate.

I operate at the layer before marketing and sales execution to redesign the system leaders execute within.

I prepare growth-stage companies for structural maturity and turn forecast fragility into defensible revenue.

Predictability is not about slowing down.
It’s about removing growth drag.
When structure matures, growth compounds instead of depending on intensity.

 I work primarily with founder-led B2B SaaS companies between $8–30M ARR, and selectively with earlier-stage companies preparing for scale to stabilize forecasts in 90 days by aligning positioning, demand, conversion, and operating rigor to the company’s next stage.

The tension looks different at each level:

Early Stage ($500k–$8M)
• Activity without concentration
• Offers without pricing power
• Pipeline without predictability

Mid-Stage ($8–$30M)
• CAC expansion
• Longer cycles
• Forecast volatility
• Capital efficiency pressure

Revenue feels harder because the system hasn’t matured.

I install Predictable Revenue Systems aligned to your next stage — not your last one.

So forecasts hold.
So capital compounds.
So growth becomes controllable.

How I Work

Predictable Revenue Foundations™
For $500k–$8M B2B SaaS.
Install the first disciplined GTM engine.

Predictable Revenue Reset™
For $8–30M B2B SaaS.
Private 90-day structural intervention for forecast stability.

Selective Fractional CMO & Advisory available post-engagement.

If you’re a founder who wants structural control — not more activity — we should talk.

20+ years rebuilding revenue systems across US & EMEA.
Founder-led. Operator-minded. Board-ready.


Fractional CMO + Chief Creative Disruptor for SaaS Brands

Attention is currency and it is our mission to get you more of it. 

We design creative, AI-driven, digital and influencer marketing campaigns For micro brands with macro goals

Another International Women’s Day is quietly here.

Some people celebrate it.
Some people roll their eyes at it.
And many probably didn’t even realize it is today.

For some, it’s an important day of recognition.

For others, it feels like a fringe holiday — something associated with radical feminism or corporate virtue signaling.

But after two decades working in SaaS, I think the conversation around women in the workplace is still missing something important.

The problem isn’t women — it’s the environment they’re expected to navigate.

And if you’ve spent years working inside corporate environments, you probably know exactly what I mean.

Over the years I saw patterns many women in tech will recognize.

I remember sitting in conference rooms where I was the only woman at the table.

Sometimes the conversation was productive.

But other times there was a different dynamic — a kind of unspoken pack behavior where ideas were challenged in ways that simply didn’t happen when another man presented them.

And then there were the quieter things.

Comments about appearance that male colleagues never received.

Important deals and relationships forming in informal environments where women weren’t present.

High-visibility opportunities quietly shifting away from women during pregnancy or early motherhood because leaders assumed they wouldn’t be available.

None of this was usually overt hostility.

In fact, if you asked the men involved, many would genuinely say they support women in leadership.

That’s what makes it so difficult to address.

The bias is often subtle, cultural, and largely unconscious.

So when I hear “women should just be more bold,” I think we’re missing half the conversation.

Encouraging women to raise their hand is good advice.

But we also have to look honestly at how opportunity and influence actually flow inside organizations.

Because if the table itself is shaped by a culture that excludes people, telling them to “take a seat” doesn’t solve the problem.

Sometimes the real solution is changing the room.

And sometimes the most rational response is exactly what many women have done:

Build their own tables.

Interestingly, in my consulting work today, most of the founders I end up working with are still men.

I would genuinely love to see more women building and scaling ambitious companies — because the ecosystem becomes stronger when more perspectives are at the table.

Curious to hear from others:
Do we still underestimate how much workplace culture — not individual confidence — shapes who actually succeeds?

You’ve scaled. So why does revenue still feel fragile? I fix the revenue engine when growth stalls (8-30M ARR) | 20+ yrs scaling SaaS revenue systems | Growth, GTM, Marketing Leader | Creator of the 90-Day Revenue Reset™

No alternative text description for this image

You’re in the meeting.

You see campaigns running, deals moving, roadmaps full — and growth still feels heavy.

What’s unfolding is decision drift. Effort keeps increasing while direction stays unsettled, so momentum resets instead of stacking.

This article looks at how unresolved decisions quietly become the real GTM bottleneck, why pressure shows up first, and how activity expands when judgment has nowhere to land.

It’s a pattern many founders recognize only after the cost has already compounded.

Read the full piece here →

Founder | Predictable Revenue CMO for $8–30M B2B SaaS | From Forecast Volatility → Stability in 90 Days

Why busy GTM teams stall — and how decision drift quietly kills momentum You’re sitting in the meeting. Marketing is running campaigns. Sales is worki

Open article: Unresolved Decisions Are the Real GTM Bottleneck by Krista Mollion • 3 min read

Unresolved Decisions Are the Real GTM Bottleneck

You will fire your CMO.

If you haven’t already.

Not because they lack talent.

Because you demanded activity before architecture.

The numbers should make you uneasy:

CMOs have the highest turnover in the C-suite.

In SaaS, average tenure is 18–24 months.
In non-SaaS, it rarely exceeds four years.

That isn’t random.

If month one with your marketing leadership feels like campaigns and execution, risk is already compounding.

If by week two of hiring a new CMO, you say:

“We need campaigns live this month.”

You have just wasted capital.

Because month one is diagnosing revenue architecture.

It defines:

• who owns revenue decisions
• how marketing and sales align
• which targets survive financial scrutiny
• what remains unfunded

And at least two more months in most cases to fix it and re-build it right.

This is where trade-offs get enforced.

Most companies skip it.

Common breakdowns surface fast:

• decision-right confusion
• sequencing gaps
• incentive drift

Layer execution onto that and spend rises.

Alignment doesn’t.

Thirty-day execution is easy to generate.

Twelve-month compounding requires proper foundational revenue architecture design.

So here’s the uncomfortable question:

When you hired your CMO,

did you first design the system for them to operate in —

or did you set them up to burn out so you can rotate to the next one and pretend they failed?

Recycling leadership is not a growth strategy and it doesn't look good on you.

If you've burned through multiple CMOs, it's not them.

It’s the CEO's failure to design a role where marketing leaders can thrive.

Revenue Architect for Scaling B2B SaaS | Designing the systems behind predictable revenue: ICP • Positioning • Pricing • Pipeline Creator of the 90-Day Revenue Reset™ Founder, Unignorable Brands

“Community” is being sold as strategy.

Private groups.
Inner circles.
Founder clubs.

Belonging packaged as growth infrastructure.

Here’s the problem.

Most of it is retention design.

High-touch onboarding.
Constant engagement.
Emotional language.

Until the invoice stops.

Then the signal drops.

Mid-market operators don’t need belonging mechanics.

They need:

• durable relationships
• performance accountability
• long-term trust beyond contract cycles

If the relationship only exists while money flows,
it’s distribution — not partnership.

I don’t sell community.

I build working relationships that survive the contract.

That’s harder to scale.

It’s also harder to fake.

Question for operators:

Do your partnerships survive renewal cycles —
or depend on them?

When does hiring a full-time CMO actually make sense?

Founder-led marketing works.
Until it doesn’t.

Usually around $3M ARR, the cracks show:

• ICP and positioning keep shifting
• Pricing isn’t pressure-tested
• Sales spends half its time explaining
• Budgets exist, authority doesn’t
• Results are hard to defend

Then I hear this:

“Revenue isn’t stable enough for a $300K CMO, so we’re thinking fractional.”

Not wrong.
Wrong frame.

This isn’t a cost decision.
It’s a sequencing decision.

Cost view:
Fractional = discounted exec.

Reality:
Fractional = executive brought in before the system exists.

Hire full-time too early and you lock in cost before clarity.

Then you ask one person to fix a structure they didn’t design.

That’s when:
• frustration builds
• turnover starts
• boards get nervous

A full-time CMO makes sense when:

• the growth engine is defined
• budgets are approved
• ownership is clear
• the job is scale + leadership — not reconstruction

Building the engine and running it at speed are different skills.

Most companies don’t hire the wrong person.

They hire the right role at the wrong time.

That mistake costs 12–24 months.

One clarification:

Fractional ≠ “30-day consultant.”

It’s executive ownership at fractional capacity.

The job is to design the revenue infrastructure above marketing
so your future CMO can actually win.

If this decision feels heavy,
your stage isn’t clear yet.

That’s the real work.

Founder @Unignorable Brands | Predictable Revenue CMO for Founder-Led B2B SaaS ($8–30M ARR) | From Forecast Volatility → Stability in 90 Days | Accelerate and Compound Growth

Three Ways To Work Together

The fastest promotion in marketing history:

Intern → Director → “Good luck.”

No team.
No budget.
No authority.
Just a bigger title and higher expectations.

Titles are cheap.
Revenue risk is not.

This is how companies accidentally create fragility at $8–15M ARR.

They promote execution talent
without redesigning decision rights, capital allocation, or enterprise motion.

Then when growth stalls…

They blame “marketing.”

Nothing here is malicious.

It’s structural.

Founders:

If you want senior outcomes, you must design senior roles:

• Clear revenue layer ownership
• Budget authority
• CRO integration
• Forecast accountability
• Training (if promoted)

Otherwise you’re not building leadership.

You’re increasing risk.

Most enterprise SaaS ceilings aren’t demand problems.

They’re leadership design problems.

Replacing a GTM leader feels decisive.

Boards like decisive.

It signals control.
It signals accountability.
It signals movement.

But most resets don’t fix growth.

They reset the clock.

Not because the leader was incompetent.

Because the revenue architecture never changed.

If:

• The ICP economics are inflated
• Decision rights are unclear
• Capital allocation logic shifts quarter to quarter
• Sales capacity doesn’t match segment reality

Rotating leaders won’t compound growth.

It compounds volatility.

Every replacement quietly erodes:

• Forecast credibility
• Institutional memory
• Marginal CAC efficiency
• 2–3 quarters of execution momentum

Churn creates the appearance of discipline.

Structural clarity creates operating leverage.

Leadership replacement is visible.

Revenue architecture work isn’t.

That’s why one gets applause.

And the other gets deferred.

If you keep replacing leaders that don't drive results, it's likely your revenue volatility is a structural design problem, not a talent problem.

The hidden 18–24 month cost most companies never calculate There’s a familiar moment in many companies when growth stalls. Pipeline slows. Forecasts w

Open article: Why Replacing Leaders Rarely Fixes GTM by Krista Mollion • 4 min read

It’s easier to add 50K followers than to fix inconsistent pipeline.

That’s why so many B2B founders double down on visibility.

Here’s the uncomfortable part:

You can grow fast.
You can go viral.
You can build a big audience.

And still have:
• Unpredictable pipeline
• Discount pressure
• Slipping deals

Because it’s easy to build an audience.

It’s hard to build the right audience.

In this article, I break down:
– The real ways to grow quickly
– Why most founders grow the wrong room
– What buyer gravity actually looks like
– And how visibility quietly misallocates capital

Growth is easy.

Alignment is rare.

If you care about revenue more than applause, this one’s for you.

The hidden cost of building attention that doesn’t convert It’s easier to add 50K followers than to fix inconsistent pipeline. That’s why so many B2B 

Open article: How to Grow From 0 to 50K Followers in Under a Year (On Any Platform) by Krista Mollion • 4 min read

How to Grow From 0 to 50K Followers in Under a Year (On Any Platform)

"We tried marketing.”

At $8–15M ARR, that statement is often accurate.

You probably did:

• Hire an agency
• Launch paid ads
• Redesign the website
• Invest in content
• Add SDRs

And growth still didn’t stabilize.

The issue usually isn’t effort.

It’s sequence.

Marketing applied before:

• ICP compression
• Clear ownership
• Capital pacing logic
• Incentive alignment
• Governance over trade-offs

Execution inside structural ambiguity compounds noise.

Not revenue.

Marketing doesn’t fail because it was tried.

It fails because it was layered on top of an undefined system.

That’s not a talent issue.

It’s architecture.

What Really Failed When Marketing Didn’t Work You’ve probably said this at least once. “We tried marketing.” “It didn’t really work.” “We spent a lot 

Open article: Why “We Tried Marketing” Is Usually True — and Still Misleading by Krista Mollion • 4 min read

Why “We Tried Marketing” Is Usually True — and Still Misleading

I used to confuse confidence with permission.

Every time I thought about reaching out to someone who could actually change the trajectory of my business, a voice would show up:

Who do you think you are?
They won’t take you seriously.

So instead of standing cleanly in my value, I performed.

I made jokes.
I name-dropped.
I tried to be “easy” to accept.

Not because that’s who I am—but because it felt safer than claiming responsibility for what I knew I could do.

The problem with that strategy?

It doesn’t just cost you opportunities.
It erodes your clarity.

You start outsourcing your sense of legitimacy to other people’s approval.

At some point, that stops working.

Not because you suddenly become fearless—but because you realize leadership isn’t granted.
It’s assumed.

I don’t need to be liked.
I don’t need permission.
And I don’t need to perform to belong.

I know how I operate.
I know the standard I bring.
And I only work with people who recognize value without needing a show.

If you’ve reached the stage where pretending feels heavier than being precise,
you’re probably closer to clarity than you think.

Speed doesn’t come from urgency.
It comes from clarity.

When roles are clear,
decisions don’t escalate emotionally.

When priorities are explicit,
execution doesn’t reset every quarter.

This is what alignment looks like in practice:
	•	decisions are owned, not endlessly debated
	•	tradeoffs are explicit, not political
	•	metrics guide behavior, not opinions

Most teams don’t need more pressure.
They need fewer unresolved decisions.

When speed feels expensive,
it’s usually because ownership is still fuzzy.

This line has been quietly following me around lately:

“What I’m not changing, I’m choosing.”

For a long time, I thought “not changing” meant being:
patient
thoughtful
responsible
realistic

I blamed timing.
Circumstances.
Life.

I told myself I was waiting for “the right moment.”

Now I see it differently.

Most of the time, not changing is about fear.
About passivity.
About avoiding discomfort.

We stay broke because learning to make money is hard.
We neglect our health because excuses are easier than discipline.
We stay in bad jobs and bad relationships far longer than we should.

Because change is scary.

Humans are wired to avoid risk.
To stay small.
To not place bets.

So we wait.

We tell ourselves we’ll deal with it “later.”
When things are calmer.
When we’re more confident.
When we feel ready.

But later rarely comes.

There were so many things I thought I’d still have time to say to my dad.
Then he died.

So many places I wanted to see.
Then work and kids arrived.
And “maybe later” became never.

What comes instead is repetition.

The same patterns.
The same frustrations.
The same quiet knowing that something is wrong.

A loop.

And slowly, that becomes your life.

Not through one big decision.
Not through one dramatic failure.

Through thousands of small delays.

A quiet choice.
Made daily.

And once you see that…

You can’t unsee it.

Where in your life are you choosing by staying the same?

And when will you decide you’re done waiting?

At $10M+, attribution debates aren’t marketing arguments.

They’re governance leaks.

When leadership fights over “what drove the deal,”
they’re not debating dashboards.

They’re exposing confusion about how growth actually works.

Credit fights don’t start in Salesforce.

They start when:

• Capital allocation logic is fuzzy
• Influence isn’t defined
• Decision rights are politically negotiated

The model explains the click.

It doesn’t explain conviction.

Revenue confidence forms long before the tracked touchpoint.
Before the demo.
Before the opportunity.

If attribution arguments resurface every quarter,
it’s not a reporting issue.

It’s a trust issue.

Incomplete data is survivable.

Incomplete alignment corrodes quietly.

And when capital decisions rely on partial models,
risk doesn’t explode.

It accumulates.

Attribution isn’t a marketing layer.

It’s a board-level question:

What counts as influence —
and who has authority to define it?

Full breakdown here →

What Attribution Can’t Explain About How Deals Actually Get Done You’ve probably been asked this in a meeting: “What actually drove this deal?” You pu

Open article: Why Attribution Keeps Failing (Spoiler: It’s Not a Tools Problem) by Krista Mollion • 4 min read

Why Attribution Keeps Failing (Spoiler: It’s Not a Tools Problem)

Most founders experience marketing as lead generation.

That makes sense — leads are the most visible output.

But when pipeline looks active and decisions still stall, leads aren’t the real problem.

Marketing’s real job is decision acceleration.

If a qualified buyer can’t confidently say yes or no within one sales cycle, something is broken — and it’s rarely Sales.

Here’s where marketing actually earns its keep:

At the founder level
Marketing reduces decision friction.
Clear positioning. Clear tradeoffs. Fewer “we need to think about it” loops.

At the revenue / board level
Marketing makes the risk math explicit.
Risk vs. status quo. Risk vs. delay.
Boards don’t approve stories — they approve defensible decisions.

At the execution level
If uncertainty around price, value, or switching costs isn’t resolved quickly, friction wins.

Awareness doesn’t close deals.
Clarity does.

And the hardest competitor you’re always up against?

The status quo.

If this feels familiar, marketing probably isn’t broken.
It’s just not designed around how buying decisions actually get made.

Marketing only feels expensive when it’s doing the wrong job.

When:

– it can’t clearly explain its impact
– it produces motion without reducing risk
– it optimizes channels before defining direction

That isn’t a talent issue.

It’s a leadership design failure.

When governance is explicit, marketing behaves like capital allocation.

When governance is loose, marketing feels like overhead.

The budget didn’t create the discomfort.

Ambiguity did.

Compounding depends on which system you built.

How cost becomes the symptom of role confusion Marketing starts to feel expensive when every dollar requires explanation — and effort elsewhere doesn’

Open article: Why Marketing Feels Expensive When It’s Doing the Wrong Job by Krista Mollion • 4 min read

Why Marketing Feels Expensive When It’s Doing the Wrong Job

Bad news for many.

Your ideal client is not seeing your LinkedIn posts.

They probably don’t know you exist.

The “post consistently and the algorithm will reward you” advice?

It works.

For employees.

LinkedIn was built for:
• job seekers
• recruiters
• corporate teams
• enterprise sellers

The algorithm clusters by function.

Marketers see marketers.
HR sees HR.
Founders see founders.

So when you post about marketing?

LinkedIn shows it to other marketers.

Great for peer visibility.

Terrible for revenue if your buyers sit outside your function.

You’re building authority in the wrong room.

And celebrating engagement from people who will never buy.

Revenue isn’t driven by volume.

It’s driven by precision.

So be honest:

Are your buyers seeing you —

or just your competitors?

Comment “ALGO” if you want the fix.

Growth at $10M feels very different than growth at $2M.

Earlier stages run on instinct:

• speed
• conviction
• hustle
• rapid iteration

Mid-stage runs on structure:

• defined decision rights
• explicit sequencing
• capital discipline
• constrained focus

Instinct carries you through early expansion.

Structure determines whether growth continues.

 In the early stages of growth, scrappy works.
 
Mid-stage, scrappy becomes dangerous.

The companies that break through define:

• who decides
• what gets funded
• what stops
• what qualifies

Mid-stage rewards sharper decisions, not more activity.

Structure compounds.

Instinct exhausts.

Which system is driving your company right now?

HubSpot isn’t making a mistake.

It’s doing exactly what every successful SaaS company eventually does.

It’s moving upmarket.

Almost every SaaS platform starts the same way.

They welcome small businesses.

Freelancers.
Consultants.
Small teams.

Low-cost tiers make the platform accessible and help it spread quickly.

But as the platform matures, the strategy changes.

Pricing rises.
Partner programs evolve.
Enterprise customers become the focus.

HubSpot is simply the latest example.

The company is sunsetting its low-cost partner tier and replacing it with a paid program starting around $400/month.

For freelancers and small consultancies that built their practices around the platform, that’s a big shift.

But the bigger story here isn’t HubSpot.

It’s the SaaS lifecycle.

Platforms often start with small companies — and gradually move upmarket as they grow.

I wrote a short breakdown of what’s happening and what it means for smaller companies trying to build their revenue systems. 👇

Curious to hear from founders and operators:

Has HubSpot become overkill for smaller companies?

The moment you realize
you have to explain your own account history again
to every new representative…

the system is already broken.

I learned this the hard way during what has become the most disorganized service experience I’ve ever had with a financial provider.

Like many entrepreneurs, I decided last year to upgrade how I handled my bookkeeping and taxes.

I wanted an all-in-one service — bookkeeping, tax advisory, and filing — supported by a modern platform to keep everything organized.

Like many founders, I was simply trying to simplify something that had become too complex to manage alone.

From the outside, everything looked solid.

The company’s website highlights that it serves 35,000+ small business owners, which gave me confidence I was choosing an established provider.

Instead, over the next nine months I was handed off between at least 12 different people.
(I eventually created a list just to keep track.)

Meetings were missed.
Emails went unanswered.
Conversations had to be repeated.

Around that time the company itself was going through a major transition following an acquisition.

That’s when I realized this wasn’t just a communication issue — it was a systems problem.

At some point I realized I had become the project manager of my own tax filing — coordinating teams that were supposed to be coordinating with each other.

The real breaking point came when my taxes were filed three months late.

And then I discovered something worse.

They had been filed in the wrong state.

I primarily live in Europe, which had been clearly discussed multiple times.

When I asked for the return to be amended, a correction was drafted — but no one could clearly explain the next steps or walk through the changes.

Weeks passed.

As of today — March 2026 — my 2024 filing still hasn’t been finalized.

I had also paid for tax advisory services described as helping “maximize tax savings.”
Unfortunately, I never received that part of the service.

As an operator, experiences like this are fascinating because they reveal where systems inside a company are actually breaking down.

In this case, the disconnect appeared to span multiple layers — sales, customer service, bookkeeping, and tax advisory — operating in parallel rather than together.

As a marketer, it’s also a reminder that the brand promise communicated in marketing and sales must ultimately match the experience customers receive.

For clarity, I’ve kept a full record of the calls, emails, and timelines.

I’ve also reached out privately to leadership in hopes this can finally be resolved.

At this point my goal is straightforward:

finish the 2024 filing correctly so I can move forward with 2025.

Has anyone else experienced something like this with a service provider?

For now, I’m hoping this situation can be closed out the right way.

As of today, I’m still waiting.

Wish me luck.

At $10M ARR, pipeline isn’t driven by effort.

It’s driven by capital design.

Marketing at this stage is not creativity.

It’s capital allocation.

If you hire a CMO but:

• Don’t fund demand
• Don’t fund enablement
• Don’t fund analytics
• Don’t fund positioning
• Don’t define revenue ownership

You didn’t build a growth engine.

You installed constraints and called it leadership.

Some CMOs aren’t underperforming.

They’re operating inside undercapitalized systems.

Boards don’t blame engineering for missed velocity when headcount is thin.

But marketing gets graded on pipeline — regardless of what was funded to produce it.

Pipeline isn’t just output.

It’s a funding signal.

When pipeline weakens, the first question shouldn’t be:
“What is marketing doing?”

It should be:
“What did we actually finance?”

Growth follows capital clarity.

Operators — be honest:

Are you evaluating performance?

Or revealing flaws in your capital architecture?

Lester Chng

Cyber CEOs Brand Strategist. I build your brand as you build your business. | Senior Cybersecurity Advisor | Author | Naval Officer | CISSP | 🇨🇦🇸🇬 |

You head a leading cybersecurity firm.
But your online presence doesn't reflect it.

In fact, being invisible is damaging. 

You understand the power of thought leadership.
You know LinkedIn shapes deal flow and adds credibility in the industry.
You just don’t have the cycles (or the copy) to share your expertise and experience.

You have stories worth telling.

The insights from being in the trenches.
The deep conversations with your ace teams.
The hard discussions with your clients. 

Don’t let this wisdom go to waste.

That’s where I come in.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How we work together.

Profile & Positioning
=> Rebuild your LinkedIn profile so visitors see industry authority, not “another vendor.”

Content engine
=> Ghostwritten posts that leverage your insights and expertise into engaging LinkedIn posts. 

Outreach campaign
=> Targeted DM campaigns and audience-building strategies that build your authority and land you on podcasts and conference stages.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You focus on growing your firm and protecting your clients.
And we will ensure the industry, clients, prospects, and investors can’t ignore it.

Let’s build the personal brand that commands the cybersecurity conversation and drives business.


Worked with global client portfolio 
- MSPs
- MSSPs
- Agentic AI SOC
- AI-powered GRC 
- Operational Resilience 

Senior Advisor, Financial Crimes Unit Exercises. BMO Fusion Centre

Execution of Financial Crimes Unit Exercise and Drill Program
• Design and execution of exercises and drills to operationalize the Financial Crimes Unit Fusion Centre
• Scenario creation and exercise execution for Information Security, Enterprise Fraud Management, Physical Security, and Global Crisis and Continuity Management teams 
• Providing effective challenge of incident response readiness through exercise observation
• Execution of enterprise-wide Purple Team Exercise


Cybersecurity Exercises: Purple Team, Ransomware, DDoS, Malware, Data Corruption, Data Breach, 3rd Party Incidents
Fraud Exercises: ATOs, Attack on Payment systems, Business Email Compromise, PII Breach
Physical Security Exercise: Active Assailant, Civil Unrest, Bomb Threats
Crisis Exercises: Disaster Recovery, Business Continuity, Operational Resilience, Fire Incidents, Natural Disasters, Utilities Disruption

15 Feb 1942 - The day Singapore surrendered to Japan.
This day was chosen as a solemn commemoration.
"Never Again".

It wasn't until 1984, that the Total Defence concept was launched. The government saw the necessity for a whole-of-society approach that went beyond just the military.

• Civil Defence
• Social Defence
• Military Defence
• Economic Defence
• Psychological Defence

Digital Defence was added as the 6th Pillar, 35 years later in 2019. 

• fake news
• cyberattacks
• disinformation campaigns

There was a need to tackle these new challenges.

Additionally, a fourth Service of the SAF, the Digital and Intelligence Service (DIS), was stood up to underline the importance of this domain.

Would I have crossed over if I were still in active service...

I lost my voice on many occasions.  
 
But LinkedIn helped me find it again. 
 
I lost my voice when I left the Navy. 
12 years in service.  
It remains a part of me. 
Naval terms. Military speak.  
Barking orders and receiving them. 
 
And then I left the Navy.  
 
I lost my voice when I left the country. 
34 years in the land. 
I will always belong there. 
Singlish, slang, and all I knew. 
Culture, habits, being a local. 
 
And then I left the country. 
 
I lost my voice when I began abroad. 
8 years since I landed. 
I wonder if I'll ever belong. 
New nuances, new circumstances. 
 
And then I began again. 
 
I lost my voice when I lost my job. 
I will never forget the letter. 
"Changing business requirements" 
I told myself this will never be a chore. 
 
And then I found my voice. 
 
You may find this platform a bore. 
"I need a job" 
"I am excited to...." 
"🚀🚀🚀🚀🤖🤖🤖🤖" 
"Are you interested in buying.." 
 
But it has allowed me to find my voice. 
 
Cause one day, I may lose it again. 
 
Have you lost your voice before?
What steps are u taking to mitigate?

Running naval wargames and designing cyber exercises at a bank are more similar than people expect.

It did help that the big boss at the bank was a former naval aviator. 

He knew with a fusion centre structure of managing security incidents across cyber, fraud, physical security, and crisis management, the teams needed a robust training program to drive operational excellence and achieve full operating capabilities. 

That was the first task. 

Get back to basics. 
Sort out the procedures. 
Drill the response teams. 

Do you run drills for your teams?

Or assume they will respond to your expectations?

You know Canada is on the up when Dad sends you a TikTok (no i dont have an account) about the upcoming increase in defence spending.

What about Canada do you appreciate?

I like the cold...... what about you?

bootcamp

Sign up here:
https://catalystcorporatetraining.classe365.com/form/view/AutoBootCamp?_gl=1*9rfqtg*_ga*MTQ4NTczNDM0MC4xNjk4MjQxODM1*_ga_YYXBQS6S5Q*MTcwNzgzMzEyNi4xODEuMS4xNzA3ODMzMTYwLjI2LjAuMA

LinkedIn Ghostwriter for Cyber CEOs | Senior Cybersecurity Advisor | Author | Naval Officer | CISSP | 🇨🇦🇸🇬 |

It is RSAC in a couple of weeks. 
Yet your meeting calendar is scarily empty.

Your VP Marketing has been urging you to post more on LinkedIn during the lead-up to RSAC.

But is has been crazy busy with client demos, contract negotiations, partner agreements, manpower turnover, investor updates, fund-raising, and just LIFE.

The start of the year flew by and you didn't realize RSAC is just around the corner. The conference that costs a pretty penny but you don't feel like you have good momentum going into the event.

Your last LinkedIn post was a report of a company announcement 3 weeks ago. Your DMs are all full of spam. And you ignored your VP Marketing's email to post more.

But where do you start? What do you post about?

I have 2 resources for you.
1. The Cybersecurity CEO’s Personal Brand Blueprint
2. 5 LinkedIn Posts Templates for Cyber CEOs

You have 1 week to catch up.

Don't waste another year at RSAC.

DM or comment "RSAC" and I'll send you both.

Building a cyber company is not for everyone.

Do you even have the commitment to do so?

I interviewed Eldon Sprickerhoff to get his insights for the next generation of founders. He is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence and a mentor at Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, Toronto Metropolitan University. 


𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿. 𝗦𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 “𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗱”

𝘘: 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴?


I kept seeing the same patterns: some passionate and brilliant technical founders hitting predictable walls - raising capital without understanding dilution consequences, scaling teams without proper foundations, pursuing growth without sustainable unit economics, or worse: flailing in the market with a product/offering that didn’t have an obvious value or importance.

What frustrated me was that these weren't unsolvable problems. They were challenges we had faced and eventually figured out, often painfully. I realized this knowledge could help others avoid the same expensive mistakes.

The recurring theme was the gap between technical excellence and business fundamentals. Founders could build incredible technology but struggled with identifying their true “ideal client profile”, minimally viable offering, go-to-market strategy, fundraising dynamics, or organizational design. "Committed" became my way of sharing survival strategies that weren't readily available elsewhere.


𝘘: 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴?

Right now, I'm focused on helping the next generation of cybersecurity founders build enduring companies. Through my consulting and advisory roles, I'm seeing exceptional technical talent that needs guidance on the business side.

The masterclass is a way to scale that impact. I can only mentor a handful of founders directly, but the principles I learned building eSentire are broadly applicable. I want to help founders avoid the mistakes that nearly killed our company early on and accelerate their path to product-market fit and sustainable growth.

What excites me most is seeing founders take these lessons and apply them in ways I never imagined - solving problems that didn't exist when we started eSentire. The cybersecurity landscape keeps evolving, and I want to help the best founders navigate it successfully.


If you enjoyed this interview series, please follow Eldon and get his book at https://lnkd.in/gS2HNAnY


P.S. Have you read Committed? 
Get it already.

Having a brilliant idea is exciting.

But how you overcome uncertainty with conviction is key.

I interviewed Eldon Sprickerhoff to get his insights for the next generation of founders. Eldon is an active entrepreneur, investor, mentor, author, advisory and board member at the intersections of information security, computer science, machine learning, SaaS, and finance. He is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence and a mentor at Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, Toronto Metropolitan University. 

He is best known for founding eSentire, a leading global cybersecurity Managed Detection and Response company.

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗲𝗦𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱

𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 ‘𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢’ 𝘵𝘰 ‘𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺’?

I suppose that the most uncertain part was whether organizations would actually pay for continuous security monitoring as a service. In 2001, companies were used to buying products or hiring consultants for projects - not ongoing security operations.

What gave me conviction was simple: I knew from my time in New York that security threats didn't take breaks, but most companies couldn't afford 24/7 security teams, even if they knew that the threats existed. The gap between the threat reality and what organizations could resource internally was massive and growing. That disconnect was the opportunity.


If you enjoyed this interview series, please follow Eldon and get his book at https://lnkd.in/gS2HNAnY

He aims to be the Rick Rubin of Canadian cybersecurity startups: helping the right teams sharpen their edge, amplify their strengths, and scale faster.

P.S. What is the current opportunity in Cyber?

Scaling Cybersecurity Companies: Strategic Advisor & Growth Architect

Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, Toronto Metropolitan University

eSentire

Dear LinkedIn,
Here is what it is like using the app. 

Suggested

Suggested

Suggested

Sponsored

Suggested

Sponsored 

Suggested

Sponsored


What’s up with this feed?

Did you even consider the experience?

Pls bring my connections’ posts. 

Sincerely,
Everyone.

LinkedIn

When I first moved to Canada, I remember reading about their Navy and Air Force capabilities (don’t ask me why I didn’t bother abt the Army). 

12 Halifax frigates. Ageing, 1990s
4 Victoria subs. Second hand. 
6 OPVs. Still coming online. 
12 Patrol crafts. 

F18s - started from 1982….


And to defend coast to coast….
to the True North

Was an impossible task. 

This Defence budget and Strategy is long overdue and may be the silver lining in this rocky new world. 

We are all pulling in the same direction. 

Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, Toronto Metropolitan University will offer every company in every Catalyst program strategic insights to help them explore and pursue opportunities in Canada’s growing defence sector.

Stay connected and pull together.

The reason your posts fall flat? 
They read like press releases.

Most posts I see on LinkedIn read like they were written by a corporate communications team.

They’re clean. Safe. 
Approved by six people.
And boring as hell. 

Here are a few lessons that I gained after writing >1000+ posts. 
⸻

Lesson 1: Write as you would speak. 
You don’t need big words or long sentences.
Short. Direct. Clear.
If you wouldn’t say it in a conversation, don’t write it in a post.

⸻

Lesson 2: Share what it means, not just what happened.
Describe what you learned from it.
What changed for you? 
For your clients?
That’s the part people care about.

⸻

Lesson 3: Write to one person.
Think of someone specific — a client, a peer, a younger version of yourself.
Write as if you’re speaking to them.
That’s what makes people stop scrolling.

⸻

LinkedIn isn’t a press room.
It’s a coffee chat. 

Incorporate these lessons and the posts will start landing.

Whose posts do you enjoy reading?

Every company begins by solving a problem.

Do you have clarity of exactly what that is?

I interviewed Eldon Sprickerhoff to get his insights for the next generation of founders. Eldon is an active entrepreneur, investor, mentor, author, advisory and board member at the intersections of information security, computer science, machine learning, SaaS, and finance. He is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence and a mentor at Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, Toronto Metropolitan University. 

He is best known for founding eSentire, a leading global cybersecurity Managed Detection and Response company.

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗲𝗦𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘚𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥?

Before starting eSentire, I was providing information security consulting at a prime broker in New York, supporting both the brokerage itself and the hedge funds they hosted. I was building out defensive processes and systems to protect their Internet-connected infrastructure from increasingly sophisticated threats.

What I kept noticing was the gap between what organizations needed and what they could actually sustain. Security didn't operate on business hours - threats were 24/7 - but very few organizations could afford dedicated security operations teams. Even well-funded financial institutions struggled to staff and maintain continuous monitoring. Smaller firms had no chance.

I also saw that traditional consulting wasn't solving the core problem. Companies would hire us for projects, we'd implement solutions, then leave. But security isn't a project - it's an ongoing operational challenge. The defensive systems I built needed constant attention, tuning, and response capabilities.

This experience became the foundation for eSentire. I realized that if sophisticated financial firms couldn't solve this problem internally, there had to be a better model - one where security expertise and continuous operations could be delivered as a service rather than a one-time project or expensive internal build-out. That insight, combined with the operational knowledge I gained in New York, gave me the platform to build something fundamentally different.


If you enjoyed this interview series, please follow Eldon and get his book at https://lnkd.in/gS2HNAnY

He aims to be the Rick Rubin of Canadian cybersecurity startups: helping the right teams sharpen their edge, amplify their strengths, and scale faster.

P.S. What other qns would you ask him?

4 types of people in tabletop exercises.

And how to deal with them.

It is every facilitator's nightmare. You spend hours designing and scheduling a tabletop exercise and you practice and envision every conversation, pushback, scenario.

Yet you still feel unprepared because you don't fully know who the audience is, what they are like, and whether they will chew you up and spit you out.

Here are the 4 archetypes and how to manage these characters.

1. The Know-it-all

If we all conduct a blind survey in the room and ask everyone to close their eyes and point to the person who "Knows-it-all", they will all point to the same person.

How to tell who this person is?

Don't worry. When the exercise reaches the first discussion point, this person will start talking about Step A to Z on what he or his team will do. He knows his plans, critical processes, who to call, what to ask, what to investigate, how long it takes, priorities etc

How do you handle the "Know-it-all"?

This is a good thing.
Don't discourage the sharing. Instead leverage what the person is sharing and post some of the things he raised to other teams.

Example:
Know-it-all: For this particular incident, we will triage and send out the initial report within 30 mins

You: That is excellent. Operations team (or any other team that should receive the report), is the information within the initial report sufficient or what other types of info will help your team's processes?

Know-it-alls are good for keeping the flow of the exercise. Leverage them well.

2. The Forever-Skeptic (FS for short)

Signs of the FS.
- This will never happen
- We have implemented tools for this
- This inject is not applicable for our env

I know. 
You may find yourself sweating at this point. But don't worry, leverage your exercise design partner to help expand on the inject to make it relevant.

OR if all else fails. 
This is one trick that works.

Ask the FS straight up. 
"Is there a similar inject or scenario where in your experience and expertise, you know will triggers an event/incident that needs your team's response?"

1. This strokes FS's ego.
2. You have trapped FS. He can't say there is no such scenario.
3. Smile and pivot from FS's suggestion.
4. Rem to tie it back to the overall scenario.

3. The Conversation Hogger

Signs of the Hogger
- This is a no brainer. If you record the whole, the hogger probably took up 70% of the air time.

It is likely that the hogger has gone too far down a rabbit hole. 

Acknowledge the hogger's contribution and bring others in the convo.

4. The silent ones

No sound. No inputs. No involvement.
Ask them directly what they think or they would do. 
Do it with every inject.

What other characters are there and how do you deal w them?

Running the Naval Wargaming & Simulation Centre provided a strong foundation for running cyber exercises.

Here was what a typical week looked like.

• detailing injects
• designing exercise scenarios
• preparing exercise with instructors
• running exercises for warfare teams
• keeping up to date with naval tactics
• tracking and assessing performances
• planning out future exercise schedules
• conducting pre and post-exercise briefs
• discussing the ship's exercise objectives
• ensuring teams are up to date on Red Team tactics

Now you can understand the transferable skills in Cybersecurity exercises.

The best way to avoid mistakes is to learn from others who have trodden a similar path. 

I interviewed Eldon Sprickerhoff to get his insights for the next generation of founders. He is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence and a mentor at Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, Toronto Metropolitan University. 

He is best known for founding eSentire, a leading global cybersecurity Managed Detection and Response company.

𝗘𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝗦𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲

𝘘: 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮?

Three lessons stand out:

First, product-market fit isn't a one-time achievement - it's continuous. What worked for early customers often needed to evolve as we scaled. This came from painful experience watching our initial approach struggle as we tried to expand.

Second, in security, trust is everything but takes years to build. This lesson came from losing deals early on simply because we were unknown, regardless of our technical capabilities. We had to earn credibility one customer at a time.

Third, technical founders need to learn business fundamentals or find partners who have them. We learned this through trial and error - understanding unit economics, founder-led sales processes, and operational scaling didn't come naturally but became critical to our survival.


𝘘: 𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘱𝘪𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺’𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴?

A few moments were definitive:

The decision to focus on MDR as its own category rather than trying to be a general security consultancy. This came from recognizing we needed to own a specific problem rather than compete in a commoditized services market.

Choosing to build certain technology components rather than resell others' tools - and this changed throughout the life of the company. This was risky and capital-intensive, but it became our moat. We decided based on the belief that you can't deliver differentiated outcomes with commoditized tools; we made the choice to build on well-established frameworks (enterprise-level plumbing) and then build our own solutions on top.


The choice to pursue enterprise clients over SMB at a certain stage. This shift required completely rethinking our go-to-market, but the economics and retention made it necessary. We made this call when customer acquisition costs versus lifetime value forced us to evolve.


P.S. Are you capturing these moments in your journey?

LinkedIn  isn’t rocket science. 
10 things you can do today that will take less than 1 min. 

Forget the polished profile. 
Funnel content tactics. 
Funky AI graphics. 

Keep it simple. 

Do one of these (or all) and make LinkedIn work for you. 

1. Send a DM to refer someone
2. Send a DM to encourage someone
3. Comment on a stranger’s post
4. Reconnect w an ex colleague
5. Congratulate an achievement
6. Say hi to a stranger in your field
7. Say hi to a stranger not in your field
8. Ask for insights from an expert
9. Ask someone for that referral
10. Ask someone if they need help

Try it out. 
Let me know how many you hit today.

P.S when was the last time you did any of the above?

Sick of tabletop exercises?

Here are other training tools to use. 

Picture this. 
You designed and planned for your tabletop exercise for months. 

The date is decided and you sent out the calendar hold. 

“Urghh”. The synchronized groans echo across the office space. 


Johnny Smarty Pants: “I bet it’s an AI or ransomware scenario again”. 

Jimmy Old Timer: “Time to dust off the old playbook”. 


How do you think the exercise will go?
Probably the same as the last 5..

Even MSPs know that this is a problem. 
“Our clients are bored of TTXs”.


Here’s how to shake things up. 

1. Use short drills instead
2. Execute unalerted exercises
3. Ask delegates to be the primary 
4. Allocate budget for a simulation ex

You can and should incorporate some variety and creativity in your training. 

Otherwise it’s a bloody snooze fest. 

Everyone know it and just goes through the motion at your tabletop. 

Depressing stuff. 

P.S any other bright training ideas?

It’s 2026 and it’s still a VUCA world. 

Volatilite
Uncertain
Complex
Ambiguous 

No wonder there is a continued demand for crisis mgmt professionals. 

VUCA was introduced in 90s to describe the post Cold War period. 
Still as relevant today. 


In fact, things may escalate. 

BANI is added to the frame with pandemics, AI, and whatever’s next. 

Brittle
Anxious
Nonlinear 
Incomprehensible


Stay safe out there. 

P.S Just saw the missile attack on the base in Bahrain where I was stationed back in the day.

One simple reason to keep showing up on LinkedIn that we always forget. 

It takes repetition. Alot of it. 

It is simply not good enough to just post once every 2 months and expecting people to notice you, much less remember your name. 

To make matters worst, you write about random topics. 

One day it’s National Cyber Strategy. 
The next is how Moltbook is the next catalyst for the end of the world as we know it. 

But yr company’s solution is AI SOC. 

How do you expect to form an impression, an association, and god forbid ….. get inbound leads?

People have short term memory. 
People are extremely busy. 
People are distracted. 

Stick to 1-2 topics. 
Post 1-2 per week. 
Keep at it.


P.S have you given it a good go before concluding this channel doesn’t work?

A Mag 7 acquires your Cyber company for Billions.

No wonder everyone is now a cyber founder... BUT

I interviewed Eldon Sprickerhoff to get his insights for the next generation of founders. He is best known for founding eSentire, a leading global cybersecurity Managed Detection and Response company.

𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆’𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀

𝘘: 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘤𝘺𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘴?


The biggest difference is that the market now better understands the category. When we started, we had to explain why continuous monitoring mattered, let alone explaining what we meant by “Embedded Incident Response” or “Collaborative Threat Management” (two early terms we used to describe what benefit we were bringing to the market).

Today, MDR is established - founders don't need to educate the market on the concept, but they face different challenges.

The bar for differentiation is much higher. Buyers are more sophisticated and have many options. You can't win just by being "better" - you need to solve a problem fundamentally differently or serve an underserved segment.

Capital availability has changed dramatically. In the early 2000s, cybersecurity funding was extremely scarce. Today, capital is somewhat more abundant (especially when addressing the market from the perspective of AI), which means you can scale faster but also face better-funded competition earlier. The pressure to grow quickly can actually hurt companies that haven't found true product-market fit.


𝘘: 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘺𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘦-𝘶𝘱𝘴, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩?

I look for a few signals:

Do they have deep conviction about a specific problem, or are they chasing a market opportunity? The best founders I meet can articulate exactly why their solution needs to exist based on real experience, not market sizing slides.

Are their customers renewing and expanding? Revenue growth matters, but retention and expansion tell you if you're actually solving the problem. Churn hides in early-stage metrics.

Can the founder articulate their unit economics clearly? If they can't explain their CAC, LTV, and path to profitability, they're likely building on quicksand regardless of how impressive the top-line growth looks.

Finally, are they learning and adapting? The founders who succeed aren't the ones who execute their original plan perfectly - they're the ones who recognize when something isn't working and adjust intelligently. This has been coined as a new flavour of MVP: Minimally eVolveable Product.



If you enjoyed this interview series, please follow Eldon and get his book at https://lnkd.in/gS2HNAnY

Imagine exercising the exact scenario a couple of weeks before an incident. 

This is how some teams would have managed the lead up to this weekend. 

The sharpest teams would have tracked the escalation and highlighted the threat scenarios weeks ago. This can only happen if your threat intel teams covers beyond just cyber. 

The risk teams would be pulled in and have a quick reassessment. This can only happen if your intel and risk teams know how to work together. 

The exercise and security teams collaborate to rapidly design and develop exercise scenarios. This can only happen if leaders carve out time. 

The leadership team prepare briefs to the executive leadership and board. This can only happen if there is trust. 

Can you predict when something kicks off? Nope but you can certainly prep for it in advance. 

And when you run the exact scenario weeks before it actually happens. 

Imagine the credibility your team gains. This doesn’t happen by chance but by an intricate and established machinery. 

P.S 
how are you actively managing risks?

If the message is still unclear, do this. 
- review last few major incidents 
- identify the most relevant scenarios
- refresh or recirculate response plans
- stand up a quick incident drill 
- plan for a near term exercise 
- run the exercise and note lessons
- update leadership on readiness


Write a quick doc on this process. 
That is your response playbook. 
Don’t fumble the next crisis.

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