The cybersecurity space has seen a large number of existing industry observers make seemingly unexpected transformations over the last few years to work for suppliers in what is affectionately termed as “vendor land.†Here, Gorka Sadowski, Chief Strategy Officer, Exabeam, explains the recent growing trend of analysts leaving their firms for security vendor roles, who are now increasingly viewed as the missing piece in the management teams.
Let’s address the elephant in the room right now. There is nothing wrong with analyst firms, and I wanted to explain why this is happening.
First, let’s define industry analysts and their craft. Industry analysts have a passion, drive, and dedication to helping the broader industry, end clients, service providers, and vendors alike.
They work from a unique vantage point and have the training, experience, and rigor to observe and analyze the market. As trusted advisors, they exchange daily with their clients, discussing pain points and what approaches work and don’t work — and why. Beyond just gathering and providing pragmatic feedback to real problems, their ability to anticipate trends by observing early signals provides immense value to their clients. In doing so consistently, analysts accumulate a wealth of knowledge, and the leading analysts develop the ability to offer sometimes brutally honest but spot-on feedback. Disengaging from hype and marketing speak, they also allow the conversation to focus on the real forces at play in their industry — even if that reveals uncomfortable truths.
For an analyst, going to vendor land also offers exciting opportunities to sit at the sharp end of vendor strategy, contributing to and shaping a company and market from the inside.
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The Value of Strategic Perspective for Forward-Looking Vendors
Thought-leading and innovative vendors, who need to look at the market from a strategic standpoint, turn to analysts to add a perspective that isn’t always available within their existing team — an analyst’s sometimes different perspective and well-educated opinion that will challenge their thinking in their most important meetings and for ad hoc discussion.Â
Good leaders count on the insight provided by leading analysts because it helps them make better decisions. In essence, they want to raise their game, and anyone who has seen this process work well will recognize the value and energy that new perspectives can deliver. Vendors with this management philosophy increasingly want those qualities at close quarters, not at an arm’s length.
Ideally, vendors want that capability within their senior team, available at all times, and increasingly, more organizations view analysts as the missing piece in their management team.
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Finding the Right Fit
It goes without saying that any analyst taking this step must find the right vendor for them. Leading analysts are coveted by vendors and can decide who they would join. But getting this choice right requires a number of factors to fall into place, ranging from the products and services they offer and how they impact the market to the precise parameters of the role.
Also key is the culture fit and the personalities and management philosophies of the leadership team. Their understanding of the job description and their plan for integrating professional analysis into their processes and how they ‘do business’ makes or breaks considerations, among many others.
In my experience, having co-founders in place that are passionate and want to drive the company from a small emerging player that solves difficult problems to being an industry-disrupting security vendor is imperative. Likewise, my current employers’ co-founders have observed my career path across vendors, providers, and analyst firms and were looking for more than just a propeller head — someone who has been there, done that, and has execution capability.
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