ABCD – Advisor, Board Member, CMO and a Dad

As a seasoned Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Varun Kohli brings a wealth of expertise to the table, driving success through strategic marketing initiatives and a deep understanding of changing consumer behavior. Kohli’s motif, which summarizes his life and career in short, is ‘ABCD’ which stands for ‘Advisor, Board Member, CMO, and a Dad’.

In his professional life, Kohli serves as CMO for Cequence, an API security leader. Kohli excels at developing and executing comprehensive marketing strategies that align with the company’s goals and vision, driving growth and market share expansion. With a keen eye for brand management, as well as the ability to take technical information and make it applicable to the layperson, Kohli has successfully built and maintained strong brand identities, enhancing reputation and ensuring brand consistency across all touchpoints.

According to Kohli, data is key to the success of modern businesses and telling stories about this data is what ultimately allows companies to connect with the average consumer. This is something that Kohli emphasizes about the work he’s doing. “How do you take technology that is super geeky and make it relevant to 8 billion people? This is what I enjoy doing on a daily basis,” Kohli says. This passion of Kohli was really put into motion when he became the CMO of Skycure, an enterprise mobile security leader. In this role, Kohli spearheaded a comprehensive portfolio spanning marketing, operations, and account development. His impactful leadership extended to high-profile live television appearances, including prominent channels such as Fox News and ABC. During these interviews, Kohli not only discussed cutting-edge security trends but also expertly applied Skycure’s principles and groundbreaking insights, making complex security topics accessible and relevant to a broader audience. As Kohli aptly puts it, “The key to unlocking exponential marketing growth lies in educating not only your buyers, but also your partners, competitors, and existing customers through dynamic and engaging methods. By translating data into actionable insights that align with a company’s core initiatives, the pinnacle of customer interaction is achieved”. When Kohli and his proficient team effectively convey the intricacies of technology, it becomes the catalyst for crafting marketing strategies that directly resonate with and engage customers.

From the very inception of his career, Kohli has worked at more than 10 companies, an impressive 8 of which have either undergone successful acquisitions or achieved IPOs, with valuations ranging from $200 million to a staggering $14 billion. Furthermore, the remaining 2 companies in his portfolio are both thriving pre-IPO ventures, boasting a remarkable revenue exceeding $100 million each in today’s landscape. As Kohli points, “I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have been a part of these acquisitions. In the realm of acquisitions, inevitable gaps and voids arise. My role has been to diligently bridge those gaps and continually shoulder increasing responsibilities. In fact, when I see a fire, I don’t run away from it, I run towards it,” says Kohli. This has helped Kohli move from company to company while providing huge growth to them in the process. For instance, when Kohli was a product manager for HP, he started out with around $20 million within his product domain. He quickly increased that responsibility to $60 million, then to $200 million, eventually to $1 billion where he headed the marketing division in its entirety. When the Skycure-Symantec acquisition took place, Kohli faced an uphill task with no team members by his side. His mission: to foster the growth of the marketing division within this new acquisition, effectively communicating the value propositions of both Skycure and Symantec to address customer pain points. Initially, the journey began without direct reports, yet the need for strategic marketing was immense. Kohli assumed leadership of the Program Management Office (PMO), steering initiatives such as introducing new products to existing markets and expanding existing products into new markets. He then took on additional responsibility to oversee demand generation spanning a vast $2.5 billion product suite. Subsequently, the division flourished under his guidance, and he eventually oversaw a team of 58 individuals.

Kohli is also an advocate for what he refers to as ‘category creation.’ He asserts its necessity in two specific scenarios. First, when a company finds itself at the dawn of a market, pioneering a space where the concept is unfamiliar to the world. In this circumstance, not only must you introduce your company and its products, but you must also define the pain points you address. It’s about conveying the value you offer and, most importantly, addressing the ‘why.’ Why does the world need this product? Why is your company more than just a point product? These questions lay the foundation. The second scenario arises when a market already exists, yet it’s saturated with numerous players—30, 80, or even 130—all vying for attention while offering similar solutions. Here, the challenge is to differentiate yourself. For example, at Skycure, Kohli helped to create and define a brand-new market with the category of ‘Mobile Threat Defense’, and later, at Cequence, he defined what ‘Unified API Protection’ is and why it should matter to customers trying to choose from 150+ point API Security and bot management solutions.  Earlier in his career, as the Global CMO of Feedzai, the lone unicorn to emerge from Portugal, he achieved a similar feat. During his tenure, he not only defined a novel category but also earned the moniker ‘Father of RiskOps.

Kohli’s extensive experience began when he was a student at the Indian Institute for Technology (IIT) where he specialized in computer science. This gave him the foundation to be able to take key technical concepts and translate them into marketable information. From a lower-middle class family, Kohli immigrated to the United States in 2003, with his two bags and a bank loan in the amount of $2000, thinking it would open up the world of higher education to him, thus meaning more opportunities. All of this did not come without its challenges though. “Adversity defines who you really are and teaches you the importance of resources,” Kohli says, and the experience fueled his ability to diversely work in many different areas, including product development and management, and then later with go-to-market strategies and more broader marketing operations. “With my team, my approach is to allocate 80% of our efforts to maintaining stability, sticking to the proven methods. Then, we reserve the remaining 20% for continuous experimentation and innovation.” Kohli says. In addition to that, Kohli likes to lead with what he calls ‘MAP’. The ‘M’ stands for mastery – trying to get his team to be the best at what they do. ‘A’ stands for autonomy – giving space for others to solve issues on their own, while providing the resources they need so they can go out and do that. Finally, ‘P’ stands for people – people are the key aspect of any company, and Kohli always thinks about these impacts when making decisions. “People are not just the heart of an organization; they are its pulse, its soul, and the driving force behind its success. When they thrive and feel valued, their loyalty and willingness to go the extra mile become the catalyst for creating companies that leave an indelible mark on the world.” Kohli says.