What's Hot from This Kitchen?

Episode Summary

Susanne Senoff got into security by accident. She was laid off during the financial crisis, read The Four Hour Workweek on a mountain in Brazil, and realized she wanted two bedrooms and a reasonable commute, anywhere but New York. That path eventually led her to Microsoft, then to the CISO chair at PROS, an AI-driven revenue management SaaS company.

She stayed in security because it's fascinating, the people are smart, and nobody (not buyers, not vendors, not CISOs) has it fully figured out. That last part is what drives this episode.

Susanne has a clear philosophy on vendor relationships: she's the hot girl on internet dating, and most vendors are noise. The ones who get through are the ones who actually read the room, who know what she needs, understand her company's goals, and show up as partners rather than quota-chasers. Erik Montcalm, SVP of Cybersecurity Services at SecureOps, is in the kitchen to offer the other side of that equation: what it looks like to build the kind of partnership where a customer stays for 25 years, and the phrase they use to describe it is "you share the pain."

Sweet and sour brisket is a dish you choose on purpose. It takes five hours, it requires patience, and when it's done right, there's nothing to change. Susanne approaches vendor relationships the same way: slow, deliberate, and not interested in anything that isn't built to last.

What You’ll Learn

• Being a buyer is like being the hot girl on internet dating: Susanne’s framework for how CISOs experience vendor outreach.
• Share the pain: what SecureOps customers who’ve been around for 25 years say when asked why they stay.
• I can almost guess which vendor got to them first: Erik’s read on RFPs that are written like a feature checklist.
• Tell me a problem I can actually solve for you: Erik’s alternative to the technology-focused POC.‍
• Never screw up in the same way twice: Erik’s internal procedure for mistakes; how the best security partnerships evolve after every failure instead of repeating it.

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