EPISODE · Apr 22, 2026 · 42 MIN
Stop hiring more salespeople, fix this instead | Hear from a woman navigating a male-dominated field
from Mala's Podcast · host Mala Ramakrishnan
Tammy Schuring is a fourth-generation Bay Area native whose great-grandfather pushed a wheelbarrow from South Dakota to help build the Golden Gate Bridge. She was the first in her family to go to college, and went on to become a math major and a CRO who's generated hundreds of millions in revenue for cybersecurity and enterprise companies.In this fireside chat, Tammy sits down with Mala Ramakrishnan to talk about the moments that shaped her — the professor who assumed she was lost in her own advanced math class, the temp job at a two-guys-and-a-dog startup that turned into a 32-year career, and the research-backed sales philosophy that actually works (hint: it's not what your slick sales training taught you).She also breaks down what founders get wrong about selling, why vulnerability is the only real source of connection, and how she jumped into cybersecurity in 2003 when nobody thought it mattered. Plus her pivot into Polymatic and why she's still chasing disruptive early-stage problems after three decades.If you're a founder trying to figure out how to sell, a woman navigating a male-dominated field, or anyone who loves a good origin story, this one delivers.____________________________________________________Timestamps00:00 Meet Tammy — four generations Bay Area, math major, CRO00:36 The wheelbarrow story — how her family got to San Francisco03:53 Rethinking privilege and what "underrepresented" really means05:00 Being a blonde math major in the 80s and the bias that came with it08:10 From math doctorate plans to a temp job at a startup09:05 Two guys and a dog in the NeXT ecosystem10:59 Why curiosity turned her into a sales person13:09 Leaving a PhD at Berkeley for a career that actually fit16:34 The three things top sales people actually do18:00 Why story beats pitch every time20:42 Advice for founders on the first enterprise sale22:00 Why struggle sells better than shine24:16 Brené Brown, vulnerability, and the source of real connection25:42 Jumping into cybersecurity in 2003 before anyone cared28:00 Pioneering data-centric encryption and format preserving encryption29:01 The Heartland breach and why data protection became her obsession____________________________________________________🔗 Connect with Tammy Schuring → https://www.linkedin.com/in/tammyschuring/🔗 Connect with Mala Ramakrishnan → https://www.linkedin.com/in/malaramakrishnan🎧 Subscribe to the podcastYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnL3D6aI60R-cCvypFIkh4ASpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1NIDE4cT5fuVjC3HaGbCDK?si=eoSTNmhqQNKHQl9d1Jx0UQApple Podcast: https://podcastsconnect.apple.com/my-podcasts/show/talking-to-the-leaders-of-ai-the-ceo-series-with-mala/22ad2bae-502b-4eb1-aa74-53bc79754db7Visit our Website: https://malaramakrishnan.com | https://founderscreative.org
What this episode covers
Tammy Schuring is a fourth-generation Bay Area native whose great-grandfather pushed a wheelbarrow from South Dakota to help build the Golden Gate Bridge. She was the first in her family to go to college, and went on to become a math major and a CRO who's generated hundreds of millions in revenue for cybersecurity and enterprise companies.In this fireside chat, Tammy sits down with Mala Ramakrishnan to talk about the moments that shaped her — the professor who assumed she was lost in her own advanced math class, the temp job at a two-guys-and-a-dog startup that turned into a 32-year career, and the research-backed sales philosophy that actually works (hint: it's not what your slick sales training taught you).She also breaks down what founders get wrong about selling, why vulnerability is the only real source of connection, and how she jumped into cybersecurity in 2003 when nobody thought it mattered. Plus her pivot into Polymatic and why she's still chasing disruptive early-stage problems after three decades.If you're a founder trying to figure out how to sell, a woman navigating a male-dominated field, or anyone who loves a good origin story, this one delivers.____________________________________________________Timestamps00:00 Meet Tammy — four generations Bay Area, math major, CRO00:36 The wheelbarrow story — how her family got to San Francisco03:53 Rethinking privilege and what "underrepresented" really means05:00 Being a blonde math major in the 80s and the bias that came with it08:10 From math doctorate plans to a temp job at a startup09:05 Two guys and a dog in the NeXT ecosystem10:59 Why curiosity turned her into a sales person13:09 Leaving a PhD at Berkeley for a career that actually fit16:34 The three things top sales people actually do18:00 Why story beats pitch every time20:42 Advice for founders on the first enterprise sale22:00 Why struggle sells better than shine24:16 Brené Brown, vulnerability, and the source of real connection25:42 Jumping into cybersecurity in 2003 before anyone cared28:00 Pioneering data-centric encryption and format preserving encryption29:01 The Heartland breach and why data protection became her obsession____________________________________________________🔗 Connect with Tammy Schuring → https://www.linkedin.com/in/tammyschuring/🔗 Connect with Mala Ramakrishnan → https://www.linkedin.com/in/malaramakrishnan🎧 Subscribe to the podcastYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnL3D6aI60R-cCvypFIkh4ASpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1NIDE4cT5fuVjC3HaGbCDK?si=eoSTNmhqQNKHQl9d1Jx0UQApple Podcast: https://podcastsconnect.apple.com/my-podcasts/show/talking-to-the-leaders-of-ai-the-ceo-series-with-mala/22ad2bae-502b-4eb1-aa74-53bc79754db7Visit our Website: https://malaramakrishnan.com | https://founderscreative.org
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Stop hiring more salespeople, fix this instead | Hear from a woman navigating a male-dominated field
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