Hello.
My name is Mark Wojtasiak. My friends call me Woj. Thanks for taking the time to learn more about me and my story.
Making sense of markets is what fuels me.
I am one of those marketing leaders that is not afraid of change. Most of the time the change is quick, tactical – a tweak here or there. Then there are those times when change is transformational – disruptive. We think of them as market waves. If you don’t catch them at the right time, you’re out. That’s what I love about leading Portfolio Strategy and Product Marketing. When your team is driven to know the market, segments, buyers and customers more than anyone else – you see the market waves coming and know exactly which ones to ride and when to disrupt. I love security technology marketing leadership and this is my story.
My Story
I am the Vice President, Portfolio Strategy & Product Marketing at Code42. I joined Code42 in March 2016 as Director, Product Marketing. I joined Code42 not only because of the leadership and culture, but because of the market wave I could see forming and Code42’s opportunity for meteoric growth. I had to jump in and ride it, and so far, it’s been an amazing ride.
- 2016 was all about creating the foundation to disrupt. When I joined Code42, we were a team of two. I quickly doubled the size of my team to four adding industry and buyer research to our realm of responsibility. As a result, we delivered the company’s first-ever product marketing playbook complete with in-depth personas and a buyers’ journey map that armed marketing with how to deliver the right message for the right buyer at the right stage of their journey leveraging the right content. The outcome: take product marketing from service bureau to strategic arm of marketing.
- 2017 centered on market definition and development. My team further expanded and became portfolio strategy & product marketing. We elevated our sphere of expertise to include market and buyer research, voice of customer, competitive intelligence, analyst relations, product, partner and content marketing. We became the voice of the market for the company. The outcome: we uncovered a $5B market wave forming that was ripe for disruption.
- 2018 was the year to focus, live and learn. I was promoted to Vice President, Portfolio Strategy & Product Marketing and it was time to hone in on our target market and buyers. We started by defining our ideal customer profile (ICP) and kicked off a massive sales and marketing enablement program to shift the thinking from lead quantity to lead quality by taking a much more targeted approach. With focus on our ICP, we were in a better position to test our message and hear first hand our ICP’s challenges and dig deeper into buyer pains. The outcome: we validated our assumptions and fortified our market positioning and messaging. We were ready to unleash our disruption.
Amidst all of the excitement, I was fortunate to be trusted with the reigns of marketing as interim-Chief Marketing Officer while our then CMO was on maternity leave. To this day, I look back on that experience as critical to my growth and development as a leader. It gave me the clarity, conviction and confidence that I am a market maven and being a Chief Market Officer is my one true path. - 2019 was the year to rally and realize the fruits of disruption. We were ready to rally the troops and implement a company-wide strategy to disrupt the data security market. It started with an executive workshop to fortify our company’s true vision and mission and “secure the collaboration culture” became our rally cry. From there, everything fell into place – from the product story to the employee and customer experience to our technology and product roadmap. The outcome: we broke down silos and rallied the organization around being a disruptive brand.
- 2020 has been our breakout year. Amidst a global pandemic, we quickly responded. The market needed help managing the new risks that come with an entirely remote workforce. In 60 days, my team researched, developed, tested, validated and launched an entirely new product brand to the market – Incydr – while embarking on an all out blitz to create a new category around Insider Risk Management. We shifted the organization from having a single product mindset to having a portfolio mindset rooted in technology platform and ecosystem heroism. We reimagined our mid-market and enterprise go-to-market strategy based on needs-based segmentation, win loss analysis and buyer research. The outcome: Our disruption was taking hold and materializing in triple digit growth year over year.
My Voice
Book: Inside Jobs, Co-author / www.code42.com/inside-jobs
Inside Jobs: Why Insider Risk Is the Biggest Cyber Threat You Can’t Ignore — co-authored by Joe Payne, Jadee Hanson and Mark Wojtasiak, the book shines a light on Insider Risk — what’s driving it and what you can do to secure your collaboration culture.
Blog: Code42, Author / www.code42.com/blog
Where I riff and rant on our research, insider risk problem, our approach to addressing it and of course, our product.
Blog: Mark Wojtasiak, Author / www.markwojtasiak.com
My free-for-all mind dump on security technology marketing leadership that I find, use, experience, or learn everyday.
My Roots
Seagate Technology / Sr. Manager Product Marketing & Strategy – March 20016 to March 2016
Where I found my passion for research, strategy and product marketing. Over a ten year span, I explored everything from global channel marketing and development to segment and product marketing to product management and strategy. Thank you Seagate.
Now Micro / Director of Marketing – May 2001 to March 2006
Where I expanded my knowledge and understanding of channel marketing and cut my teeth in web and digital marketing. I even did a bit of procurement and sales.
ProDirect / Marketing Manager – January 1994 to March 2006
My first job out of college. I was employee number four at this fast growth tech company. In the end, we had 20+ employees, $10M+ in revenue and got acquired by Now Micro.
mark wojtasiak 