The Epidemic of Sameness Is Killing Your Brand with Don Jeter

In 2025, Torq brought a monster truck to RSAC. And Don Jeter, Torq's CMO, will be the first to tell you: nobody's buying an AI SOC platform because of a grave digger in the booth.

In this episode, Ron sits down with Don to discuss what Torq is actually doing in a category packed with 60 near-identical vendors, and why "the epidemic of sameness" is the real threat to every cybersecurity brand right now. Don explains why Torq builds everything in-house, why he starts every strategy by listening instead of pitching the product, and why the only differentiator left in cyber marketing is how much you genuinely care. It's a conversation about brand, but it's really a conversation about trust, community, and what it takes to make a CISO text you back.

 

Impactful Moments
00:00 - Introduction
03:50 - How Don landed at Torq
06:09 - What the Torq brand stands for
07:41 - Giving cybersecurity pros their flowers
09:09 - Cookie-cutter booths, cookie-cutter brands
12:00 - Why Torq built everything in-house
15:34 - Start with listening, not the product
18:13 - "We have to out-care the other teams"
21:45 - Nobody buys because of a monster truck
24:06 - Welcome to the experience age
28:30 - Entertain them or lose them

Links
Connect with our guest, Don Jeter, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donjeter/ 

Check out our upcoming events: https://www.hackervalley.com/livestreams

Love Hacker Valley Studio? Pick up some swag: https://store.hackervalley.com

Become a sponsor of the show to amplify your brand: https://hackervalley.com/work-with-us/