Writing for People with a Remote in Their Hand, with Jake Milstein of Contrast Security

**SPEAKER_1** (0:02)
You're listening to the CyberWire Network, powered by N2K.

**Charles Gold** (0:09)
All right, have you explained pineapple to him?

**Gianna Whitver** (0:11)
Do you know pineapple, Jake?

**Jake Milstein** (0:12)
Do I know pineapple? Like the upside down pineapple on a-

**Charles Gold** (0:16)
Not that. No.

**Gianna Whitver** (0:19)
Here's a quick, fun fact. So we didn't know about that when we decided to use our phrase du jour for editor to be like pineapple.
So we were schooled and we learned about it live on a podcast with Pam Cobb.

**Jake Milstein** (0:34)
You didn't know about that?

**Gianna Whitver** (0:35)
No. Why would we say pineapple then?

**Jake Milstein** (0:37)
So pineapple is what you probably say when you said something wrong and you want to re-say it.

**Gianna Whitver** (0:43)
Yes, that is correct.

**Charles Gold** (0:44)
I do swear a lot too and they bleep that.

**Gianna Whitver** (0:47)
We have to bleep it.

**Jake Milstein** (0:48)
There are definitely worse things. Comedians have made entire careers out of that. So Gallagher made his out of watermelon.

**Charles Gold** (0:55)
Yeah. I once saw Gallagher at the Kennedy Center before, like it was closed by.

**Gianna Whitver** (0:59)
We're believing that. Pineapple.

**Jake Milstein** (1:02)
Watermelon.

**Charles Gold** (1:03)
Watermelon.

**Gianna Whitver** (1:05)
Welcome to the Breaking Through in Cybersecurity Marketing podcast.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:09)
Where we explore the hottest topics in cyber marketing, interview experts and help you become a better cybersecurity marketer.

**Charles Gold** (1:26)
Welcome to CMO Confidential, the only podcast that gets to the bottom of the burning question, what the f*** are CMOs actually thinking?

**Gianna Whitver** (1:35)
In each unfiltered episode, we interview a top cybersecurity marketing leader to drill into the issues that drive budgets, priorities, projects, and occasionally the desire to quit.

**Charles Gold** (1:46)
Listen to laugh, learn from the top, and commiserate. This is CMO Confidential.

**Gianna Whitver** (1:54)
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Breaking Through in Cybersecurity Marketing. I'm one of your hosts, Gianna Whitver, here with my amazing co-host.

**Charles Gold** (2:04)
Charles Gold.

**Gianna Whitver** (2:05)
Today, we have an equally amazing guest.
We have an incredibly more amazing guest. We have Jake Milstein. He is VP of Growth and Corporate Marketing at Contrast Security. Jake, thanks so much for being on.

**Jake Milstein** (2:22)
That sounds so official.

**Gianna Whitver** (2:24)
It was a lot of syllables.

**Jake Milstein** (2:26)
It's a lot of words. I should shorten that.

**Gianna Whitver** (2:28)
What would that be? VPG?

**Charles Gold** (2:30)
VPGNC.

**Jake Milstein** (2:33)
VP of GNC. I love it. Nobody will think that I'm selling vitamins or anything.

**Charles Gold** (2:41)
Yeah. It's not the ampersand. It's a small n.

**Jake Milstein** (2:44)
A little n.

**Charles Gold** (2:45)
Right.

**Jake Milstein** (2:45)
I'm VP of little vitamins enabled by AI. That is what I do.

**Charles Gold** (2:49)
I love it. I say this and I'm not joking, even though it sounds like I might be joking. I've been looking forward to doing this recording with Jake for months.

**Jake Milstein** (2:56)
Well, I mean, everybody looks forward to seeing me. It's really the highlight of one's year.

**Charles Gold** (3:02)
You know what it is? It's his mild manner and his lack of ego. It is.

**Jake Milstein** (3:07)
I really very small ego, very mild manner, don't have much to say, never curse, nothing interesting.

**Charles Gold** (3:14)
Sweet. Well, this is going to be a lot of fun. What are we talking about today, Gianna?
I know we'd love to shoot this stuff with Jake. I know.

**Gianna Whitver** (3:22)
We were desperately trying to fit together a pre-call on our last call. I think we talked for like an hour.
It could have been an episode itself, but we just had such a great time. Jake, I think we're going to talk about communications and the role of comms in growing cybersecurity companies. You have a very interesting background. You've also been a journalist. You want to hear about that. I think we're going to have a meandering conversation around these topics. But let's start first with the Jake Milstein story.

**Jake Milstein** (3:50)
Yeah, I mean, everybody loves to come to a podcast and have the host say, we're here for a meandering conversation.

**Charles Gold** (3:57)
I know.

**Gianna Whitver** (3:58)
We run a great show here.

**Charles Gold** (4:01)
It'll be laced with anecdotes and funny moments. You'll love it, audience.

**Jake Milstein** (4:05)
So the way that this came about was that I was talking to y'all and you said, hey, what's that thing behind you on the wall?
You can't see behind the wall because the two of you are too big in the boxes. So it's the little Emmy thing that Charles wants me to pet while I-