Why Security Is a Trust Sale, Not a Product Sale

In this episode of The Marketing Front Lines, we speak with Mahesh Babu, CMO of Kodem. Kodem was founded by former members of the NSO Group, the team behind Pegasus, the first exploit ever used to hack the iPhone, and the company has built its entire go-to-market motion around that origin story without ever being able to say so publicly. In a security market crowded with venture-backed startups all fighting for the same ASPM budget, Mahesh built a three-pillar marketing framework, engineered a "backroom briefing" model to control exactly where and how the founder story gets told, and made a deliberate call to anchor the company to an incumbent category instead of trying to create a new one. This conversation is a masterclass in founder-led marketing under real constraints: how to sell trust instead of product, how to turn a story you can't publish into your best top-of-funnel asset, and how to hire for domain expertise over functional pedigree when the old marketing and sales playbooks stop working.Topics Discussed:Why security is a trust sale, not a product sale, and what that means for positioningBuilding a founder story around Kodem's Pegasus/NSO Group origins that can't be told on the websiteUsing invite-only "backroom briefings" to control where a polarizing story gets sharedThe three-pillar marketing framework: known team, trusted intelligence, educated prospectsWhy Kodem refused to brand itself ASPM despite 18 competitors racing into the categoryAnchoring to an incumbent category (code scanners) instead of paying to create a new oneThe "attack chaining" insight from Pegasus that became Kodem's core product narrativeHiring SDRs and product marketers with domain expertise instead of traditional marketing backgroundsLessons For Security Marketers:Treat a Polarizing Story as a Controlled Asset, Not a Liability. Kodem's founders built Pegasus, the exploit behind the first iPhone hack, a story with real reputational risk. Rather than avoid it or overexpose it, Mahesh drew a hard line between what appears publicly (nothing) and what gets shared once a prospect is in the room. That constraint became a feature: the mystery pulls people into events, and the story only fully lands face to face, which drives Kodem's entire events and outbound strategy.Build a Three-Pillar Framework Instead of Chasing Tactics. Kodem's marketing runs on three pillars: known team and trusted intelligence for top-of-funnel credibility, educated prospects and evangelist customers to shorten sales conversations, and repeat sales by non-experts as the ultimate test of product-market fit. Mahesh uses that last pillar as a literal metric, when the sales team closes deals without him or the founders on the call, that is proof the market message is fully baked.Anchor to an Incumbent Category Instead of Paying to Create One. With roughly 18 competitors all raising capital and calling themselves ASPM at the same time, Mahesh made the call to reject the buzzword entirely. Kodem anchors its pitch to code scanners and SCA/SAST, the tools prospects already own and understand, then uses the demo to show what those incumbent tools miss. Category creation was a deliberate line item Mahesh chose not to fund, treating a defined market as a distribution shortcut rather than a compromise.// Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. www.GlobalTalent.co // Don't Miss: New Podcast Series — How I Hire Senior GTM leaders share the tactical hiring frameworks they use to build winning revenue teams. Hosted by Andy Mowat, who scaled 4 unicorns from $10M to $100M+ ARR and launched Whispered to help executives find their next role. Subscribe here: https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPfLSMFimtv0riPyM