The situation
CyberShield had built a real product: a proprietary AI engine that detects and blocks web attacks in real time, with 99% detection accuracy, sub-500ms analysis and over 19 million requests processed monthly. Strong technology, part of a larger services group. What it did not have was a functioning outbound motion. Past efforts were scattered, undocumented and had produced very little.
The problem
A technically excellent product with no defined market focus. Which segment needs real-time web application protection badly enough to buy it from an emerging vendor? Nobody had answered that question with data, so every previous campaign had been aimed at everyone, which means aimed at no one.
What was built
- Audit. A full review of past outbound efforts, existing processes, product sheets and the demo environment: what had been tried, what had failed and why.
- Market selection. Research across candidate segments to identify where the pain was sharpest and the buying process shortest.
- ICP and personas. Defined for the chosen market: who feels the pain, who signs, and what each of them cares about.
- Messaging architecture. Built per persona and per segment, aligned to real pain points rather than product features.
- Technical infrastructure. CRM, Apollo, Instantly and the LinkedIn layer configured from scratch, with dedicated sending domains warmed before a single email went out.
- Lists and execution. Account and lead lists built, sequences written, campaigns launched and iterated on reply data.