Building a Cybersecurity GTM Team from Seed to Series B
Building a cybersecurity GTM team isn't about adding more people as funding grows. Every funding stage brings a different challenge, and the hires that help a company succeed at seed won't necessarily be the ones it needs at Series A or beyond.
Recent conversations with the founders of Clearly AI and Escape show how cybersecurity startups should think about GTM hiring as they scale. At seed, the priority is building credibility. By Series A, it's proving the business can deliver for enterprise customers.
At Seed: Build Credibility Before You Build Scale
The first GTM hires aren't there to maximise pipeline. They're there to make customers, investors and future employees believe in the company.
Clearly AI founder Emily Choi-Greene described fundraising as "a very kind of tight, focused experience", explaining that after meeting around 140 investors in just two weeks to close the company's $8.4 million seed round, all she wanted was "to go back to the building". That next phase starts with hiring people who strengthen the company's credibility.
Clearly AI's 11-person team includes leaders from organisations such as Amazon, Apple and Nuance, alongside a VP of Marketing who previously led marketing at SGNL through its acquisition by CrowdStrike. These hires don't just add capability; they immediately strengthen confidence in the business.
Emily believes the company's hiring proposition is just as important as its product. Clearly AI is "built by security engineers for security engineers", is "very transparent and open", and offers "way above market equity" so employees genuinely feel like owners.
The takeaway is simple: at seed stage, every GTM hire should make the business more believable.
At Series A: Prove You Can Deliver
By Series A, credibility alone isn't enough.
Customers already believe in the product. Now they need confidence that the business can support larger deployments and enterprise buying cycles.
That's exactly where Escape is investing following its recent Series A funding. CEO Tristan Kalos explains that the company has been "adding logos at an increased pace", and is now "expanding our capabilities in order to support even more teams, even larger companies."
That requires a different type of GTM hire, one that can navigate enterprise procurement, manage multiple stakeholders and build long-term customer relationships.
As Tristan puts it, "engineers work on trust", and because "you cannot afford to produce false positives", maintaining customer confidence is just as important as winning the initial sale.
How GTM Hiring Evolves
The role of GTM hiring changes as the commercial risk changes.
At seed, founders need people who build credibility through experience, reputation and domain expertise.
At Series A, they need people who can execute, supporting enterprise customers with confidence and consistency.
By Series B, success can no longer rely on founders or a handful of exceptional hires. Companies need repeatable processes, scalable leadership and predictable commercial execution.
The Biggest Hiring Mistake
Many founders hire for titles instead of outcomes.
Instead of asking whether they need a VP of Sales or a Head of Marketing, founders should hire for the challenge they need to solve.
- Seed: Build credibility and earn trust.
- Series A: Prove you can execute and support enterprise customers.
- Series B: Create repeatable systems that drive predictable growth.
The strongest GTM teams solve today's challenge rather than hiring for tomorrow's organisational chart.
Bottom Line
Clearly AI and Escape illustrate the same principle: successful GTM hiring evolves alongside the business.
- Seed-stage companies: Hire to build credibility.
- Series A companies: Hire to prove they can support enterprise customers.
- Series B companies: Hire to build a repeatable growth engine.
Founders who recognise these shifts build stronger teams, avoid costly hiring mistakes and put themselves in the best position to scale.
Looking to build your cybersecurity GTM team?
Building your GTM team for your next funding stage? Talk to Aspiron Search about finding cybersecurity talent that matches the risk you actually need to reduce.