The Gartner debate keeps resurfacing on LinkedIn.
Skeptics vs. pragmatists vs. the "it depends" crowd.
Same arguments. Same camps. Same circular conversation.
After having hundreds of direct conversations between vendors and CISOs, I've come to a controversial conclusion:
The analyst relations industry exists because marketers don't want to do the hard work of actually understanding their buyers.
In this episode, I'm going deep on what no one's willing to say:
How buyer insight gets distorted through seven (at least) layers of interpretation before it reaches your strategy. By the time Gartner's "insight" hits your roadmap, it's a game of telephone.
Vendors expect Gartner to generate pipeline. It generates awareness. That awareness doesn't convert. And the "justification" use case? I don't buy it anymore. I'll tell you what CISOs actually say.
Gartner has become a shortcut to avoid the uncomfortable work of direct buyer relationships. More surprisingly, the analysts aren't doing the deep work either. You are the product, not the customer.
AI is commoditizing surface-level insight. But the deep nuance, the psychology, the politics, the unspoken objections, that still requires human connection. The differentiator is becoming more human, not less.
What to do instead. How to build buyer intimacy as a core competency. Why the vendors who win will be the ones who stop outsourcing the most important work in marketing.
This episode isn't about whether Gartner is good or bad.
It's about a harder question:
How well do you actually know your buyer?
If the honest answer is "not deeply enough", Gartner isn't your problem.
If you're a cybersecurity founder, marketer, or GTM leader wondering who has even the smallest inkling or intuitive feeling deep down inside that your Gartner investment isn’t worthwhile, this one's for you.
