I’ve been staying in the province the past couple weeks.

We ran a food support drive, bags of rice, sardines, a packet of Swiss Miss. It wasn’t some flashy thing. Just a quiet act of care for people who’ve lived through too many storms.

They don’t write GTM playbooks out here.
They show up differently, waking before sunrise, enduring brownouts, building lives on systems that break every week.

Where I’m staying, the water cut out once. The internet goes down sometimes, and I’ll end up working in the hotel cafe at 4:30AM because I’m still on US hours. My friend is working with me though so at least I’m not alone. I try not to take the elevator as much anymore because I’m scared I’ll be in it when a brownout happens and I’ll get stuck in there. This is kind of my second home though, so I’m used to it.

But I don’t complain. The contrast is too sharp.

I handed food to people who aren’t dreaming of Series A.
They just want dinner on the table and light in the evening.

And it’s made me think about all the ways we perform stability.
How we smile, strategize, and “circle back,” even while the world is falling apart.

Because even CISOs don’t get to fall apart.

They’re carrying threats, budgets, layoffs, investor pressure, and then on top of it, the grief of the world.

A war. A flood. A breach. A breached dam. A breached boundary. A breached sense of safety.

And still: quarterly board reports, team morale, uptime SLAs.

GTM breaks down in a lot of verticals.
But inside cybersecurity, the contrast is sharpest.

There’s a massive gap in GTM for cyber. That’s why I work in it, because I love hard problems.

But the people holding this space? They’re already carrying a monster of stress.
And now they’re carrying even more.

In today’s world, we have to recognize that business-as-usual doesn’t mean stop.
But maybe it means: “I see what you’re carrying. Let me help you hold it for a while.”

Maybe that’s a bag of food.
Or maybe it’s just a message that says: Hey, I get your problem.

Even something that simple would help.
Not just in cybersecurity,
Everywhere could use a little more of that now.

I’ve been on a mission to bring more humanity to GTM.
That’s the entire reason QuietConversion exists.

But for me, it’s not a numbers game, it’s a resonance belief.
And that’s what I think the best founders do:
They believe in their thesis so much,
they can’t not share it.

The world will keep turning.
People will still need to build.

But let’s remember the human part of this:
Your customer isn’t an acronym or a number.
They’re a person, carrying problems you’re here to help solve.

In the meantime, take care of yourself.
And remember,
Someone is carrying everything you’re seeing…
and everything you aren’t.

Strategy matters.
But trust moves markets.

— Rhea Lynn Mascarinas
GTM Strategist | QuietConversion
© 2025 QuietConversion. All Rights Reserved.