sales, marketing and growth · cybersecurity
building pipeline for cybersecurity vendors.
Direct deals, POCs, partners and the funnels that feed them. I run this work in sales, marketing and growth, then share what held up and what didn't.
four parts of one pipeline.
Each part feeds the next. Most teams fix one and wonder why the number doesn't move.
- 01direct dealsQualifying hard, multithreading early, and killing "no decision" before it kills the quarter.
- 02POCs that end in a decisionSuccess criteria signed before the install, a date for the verdict, and an exit if it slips.
- 03partners who sellRecruiting and activating are separate jobs. The second one ends when a partner brings you a deal.
- 04funnels and demandContent and campaigns that produce meetings for you and for your channel, measured in pipeline.
a signed partner is a logo, not pipeline.
Recruiting a partner ends with a signature. Activating one ends when their seller brings you a deal. I write about the second job.
read the guide →start where it hurts.
Pick the situation you recognise. Each one opens the guide that deals with it.
- Deals stall after a good demo and quietly close as lost.your biggest competitor in security deals is "no decision"
- Your champion says yes and nothing moves.map the buying committee before the demo
- POCs run past their end date and nobody decides.how to run a security POC that ends in a decision
- The security review starts after everyone else has said yes.the security review is a second evaluation. start it with the POC
- Partners signed months ago and none of them has brought a deal.a signed partner is a logo, not pipeline: the first 90 days after signature
- Partners ask for more discount and your direct price undercuts them.the channel price waterfall: from list price to the CISO
- You are choosing a distributor for a new country.one distributor per country or two: the arithmetic for a mid-sized European market
- Buyers arrive with a shortlist you weren't on.the day-one shortlist: most security demand is decided before the first form
- Every customer asks about NIS2 and your deck says "compliant".NIS2 in a sales conversation: what the law asks of suppliers, and what it doesn't
guides.
- 001your biggest competitor in security deals is "no decision"
- 002how to run a security POC that ends in a decision
- 003one distributor per country or two: the arithmetic for a mid-sized European market
- 004the channel price waterfall: from list price to the CISO
- 005deal registration is a promise. here is where it breaks
no guides match that search.
how ready is your pipeline?
A short set of questions across direct deals, POCs, partners and funnels. You get a score per area and the one fix to start with.
see what it covers →..or open the channel price waterfall calculator, no email needed.
who's writing.
I'm Dawid Winiarski. I run sales, marketing and growth at a cybersecurity company in Poland and work with vendors, distributors and integrators across Europe. Before security I spent close to ten years in B2B sales, marketing and startups, two of them as CEO.
Everything here comes from that work. One problem per piece, every number with its source, and the things I'm still testing marked as such. AI helps with research and drafts; I check the claims and decide what gets published.
more about me and how I work →work with me.
The Pipeline Diagnostic: two weeks, a written report with ten recommendations in order and one next step. A fixed price, three a quarter. Every engagement starts there.
Security Revenue · weekly
one issue a week from the work.
How security vendors build pipeline. Each week: one thing I tried in deals, POCs or partner work, what it changed, and what you can do about it on Monday. About 700 words. What's in an issue →