Who P1 Works With

You Will Know Which One Is You

P1 is not built for every company at every stage. It is built for specific moments that most cybersecurity founders hit at some point on the path from Seed to Series B.

Four situations come up again and again. They look different on the surface, but underneath they share a common thread: the company has real momentum, a real product, and real pressure to get marketing right. The standard options (hire fast, bring in an agency, figure it out later) have either already failed or feel too risky to try.

Read through the four. One of them will probably sound familiar.

01 Pre-Fundraise

The raise is 90 days out and the marketing story is not where it needs to be

The product is real. You have customers. You know what you do and why it matters. But when you try to explain it to someone outside the building, something gets lost. The category framing feels fuzzy. The differentiation is buried. The narrative that works in a customer sales call does not land with the same clarity in an investor conversation, and you know it.

What is underneath this
  • Positioning built for sales, not for investors or category leadership
  • Market narrative that lacks the clarity and confidence the round requires
  • Website and materials that trail the story you are trying to tell
  • No board-ready GTM plan to anchor the raise
What P1 brings to this moment
  • Positioning sharpening grounded in how investors and analysts read the market
  • Investor-grade narrative and category framing
  • Website and materials updated to match the story
  • GTM plan that is credible in a partner meeting
Typically fits: Focused Project or Retainer
02 Post-Raise, Pre-Hire

You just closed the round and the board is already asking about marketing

The congratulations emails have barely stopped coming and the conversation has already shifted. The board wants a marketing plan, a pipeline number, and a hire. You are not sure what role to hire first. You are not sure what to do before you hire. And you are very sure you do not want to spend the next six months with the wrong person in the seat.

What is underneath this
  • Board pressure to show marketing progress before the foundation is ready
  • Uncertainty about the right first marketing hire and what they need to succeed
  • Risk of over-hiring too fast into ambiguity and setting a good person up to fail
  • No interim leadership to keep momentum while the search runs
What P1 brings to this moment
  • Acts as interim CMO while you search for the right permanent hire
  • Builds the positioning, messaging, and GTM foundation before anyone inherits it
  • Defines the right first marketing role and what success looks like for them
  • Sets the eventual hire up to succeed instead of starting from scratch
Typically fits: Retainer
03 Reset

You tried the agency or made the early hire and it did not work

You gave it a real shot. The agency was professional. The early hire worked hard. And 12 to 18 months later you have activity, deliverables, and spend on the books, but not traction. The board is asking harder questions. You have a theory about what went wrong but you are not entirely sure. And you need to course-correct without making the same mistake twice.

What is underneath this
  • Tactical execution layered on top of a positioning problem that was never solved
  • Activity and deliverables that felt productive but did not move the needle
  • A foundation that needs to be rebuilt before more investment makes sense
  • Internal credibility that needs to be restored alongside the marketing itself
What P1 brings to this moment
  • Honest diagnosis of what failed and the specific root cause
  • Positioning and messaging reset built on what is actually true about the company
  • GTM course correction with a clear, sequenced plan
  • A senior operator who has seen this pattern before and knows how to exit it
Typically fits: Retainer or Focused Project
04 Advisory

You have a marketing person but no senior judgment in the room

Your marketer is capable and genuinely working hard. But when you need someone to pressure-test a campaign strategy, challenge a positioning decision, or think through the GTM implications of a new product, there is nobody at the right level to do that. The founder is still the de facto CMO. That worked fine at Seed. At Series A and beyond, it is a drag on everything else.

What is underneath this
  • Marketing decisions made on instinct or consensus rather than senior experience
  • Execution capacity without the strategic layer that makes it land
  • A team that needs a senior voice, not another operator at the same level
  • A founder spending bandwidth on marketing strategy they should not own anymore
What P1 brings to this moment
  • Ongoing senior judgment without the cost of a full-time leadership hire
  • Regular review of plans, positioning, and GTM decisions before they ship
  • A strategic pressure-test that your internal team cannot give itself
  • Development of your existing marketer through real engagement, not just feedback
Typically fits: Advisory
Next Steps

If one of those sounded like you, the next move is simple

A 30-minute call is all it takes to find out whether there is a fit and what shape it would take. No prep required. No pitch on either end. Just an honest conversation about your situation.

Or if you want to understand the engagement options first, the Engagement Models page lays out exactly how P1 structures its work.

Your situation is the starting point. Not a service menu.

Every P1 engagement is scoped from scratch around what you actually need. The first call is about understanding where you are, not selling you something.

Book a Call 30 minutes. No commitment.