How Zenity Built Enterprise Trust Through Knowledge-First GTM

A cybersecurity startup's first Fortune 100 customer usually comes after years of building credibility. But what if you could accelerate that timeline by fundamentally rethinking how you build trust with enterprise buyers?

In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Ben Kliger shared how Zenity took an unconventional approach to winning enterprise trust – one that rejected the traditional FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) playbook of cybersecurity sales in favor of something more powerful: knowledge sharing.

The Counterintuitive Path to Enterprise Trust

Most cybersecurity startups face a familiar challenge: enterprises want proven solutions, but you need enterprise customers to prove your solution works. Ben's approach to breaking this cycle focused on repositioning security from a blocker to an enabler.

"What's very unique about our story is that it's a story of enablement," Ben explains. "Organizations need Zenity for a win situation in order for them to feel comfortable to make sure that they empower their end users with low code, no code and AI development capabilities."

This positioning wasn't just marketing – it was grounded in a deep understanding of where enterprise development was heading. As Ben notes, "Gartner estimated that by 2025, 75% of development in enterprises will be carried by citizen developers, not by professional developers."

Knowledge Sharing as a GTM Strategy

Rather than relying solely on traditional enterprise sales tactics, Zenity built credibility through deep knowledge sharing with the security community. "We believe that we need to show value to our prospects clients, whether it's with their thought leadership activities, content, publications that we're doing participation in respectful security organizations, top leadership organizations such as OWA, such as Mitre," Ben explains.

This approach serves multiple purposes. First, it generates quality inbound leads from organizations already grappling with citizen development security challenges. Second, it positions Zenity as a thought leader in an emerging space. But perhaps most importantly, it creates a foundation of trust before the sales conversation even begins.

The Enterprise Feedback Loop

Many startups treat enterprise feedback as a checkbox exercise. Zenity turned it into a core part of their GTM strategy. "When you talk to these leaders and it's not like just, 'hey, I want to sell you this and that,' when you actually listen to what they have to say, to their feedback, especially when you're early in your journey, that helps you get better," Ben shares.

This iterative approach to product development, guided by enterprise feedback, creates a virtuous cycle: better product-market fit leads to stronger customer relationships, which in turn leads to more valuable feedback.

Creating Categories Through Forward Thinking

In cybersecurity, where new vendors emerge daily claiming to solve the same problems, category creation requires more than just innovative technology. Ben emphasizes the importance of solving tomorrow's problems rather than today's: "I think it's important in the cybersecurity industry to also think about what's coming next... actually seeing where your potential clients are going to be in a year time from now, in two years, trying to find something really interesting to solve instead of going after similar problems that were already addressed in the past."

This forward-looking approach helped Zenity establish their category. "We started as the first company to target this world of cities and development. Then it was with local. Today it's also with generative AI," Ben notes.

The Role of Analysts in Category Creation

For enterprise-focused startups, analyst relations often feel like a necessary evil. But Zenity approached analyst relationships as an extension of their knowledge-sharing strategy. "Analysts are of course, very meaningful... It's important to work closely with those respectful organizations such as Gartner and Forrester and IDC. They have such an amazing perspective on the industry. They get to talk to so many different types of organization, buyers, leaders."

Building for Long-Term Impact

While many cybersecurity startups focus on quick wins and rapid scaling, Zenity's approach reflects a longer-term vision. Ben frames it simply: "We believe in making sure that we deliver value, and again, being customer obsessed, that helps a lot."

For founders building enterprise security companies, the key insight is clear: in a market saturated with vendors competing on features and fear, the path to enterprise trust might just lie in becoming the most knowledgeable, helpful voice in the room. As Ben's experience shows, when you consistently deliver value before asking for the sale, enterprises are more likely to give you that crucial first shot at their business.