Build. Back. Bring to market.
Cybersecurity works better when product, market and trust are built together.
We work with the people who build, back and use cybersecurity: vendors who want to win their market, investors who want to back the right companies, and security teams who want solutions they can trust.
The relationship between vendors and practitioners is broken. We are changing that.
Security leaders get dozens of vendor pitches every week, most of them for products that do not fit their architecture, their compliance requirements or their real problem. At the same time, strong products struggle to get heard, because trust has become so hard to earn. We sit between both sides, and we know both: from product leadership, from sales leadership, and from a community of security practitioners.
People
Relationships, not transactions. We know the security leaders, the vendors and the channel personally, and we look after those relationships long-term.
Technical substance
We look at the solution, not just the slide: architecture, integration, operations and compliance.
Network
A security community built on conversations, not pitches, more than 1,000 channel partners in Germany, and many contacts in the USA.
Real value
We only bring together what fits. And we say so when something does not.
Vendors, investors and security teams want the same thing: cybersecurity that works.
We help all three get there. One network, three sides of the same market, and each side benefits because we know the other two.
For security teams
Handpicked solutions instead of another pitch. We look at them technically and check compliance and data residency upfront, so you can tell quickly whether something fits. And events without fluff, where peers talk openly.
For cybersecurity vendors
We know how to build the strategy, the positioning and the message that wins deals. And we have the network and the community to push strong solutions into the German-speaking market, with contacts in the USA as well.
For investors
We know the market, the products, the customers, the vendors and the startups. We support you across the whole lifecycle: finding targets, due diligence, performance and exit.
Case study · Market entry
From multiple opportunities to product-market fit
OpenDrives, a US data infrastructure vendor, asked us to help bring a new platform to market. We took the leadership team from six different product visions to one, chose the first market, defined the ideal customer profile and tested it in around thirty customer conversations, all the way to a launch on stage in Los Angeles.
Not a deck-and-run consultancy. They were still with us on stage at the launch in Los Angeles.
Trevor J. Morgan, CEO, OpenDrives
Who is behind Crossing Waters
Product leadership and sales leadership in one team, with real access to security leaders and to the channel in the German-speaking market.
Felix Rosbach
Managing Director | Co-Founder
More than 15 years in cybersecurity, across product marketing, product management and product leadership, most recently as VP Product responsible for more than 50 international products. Co-founder of the event series Please Don’t Hack Me.
Christian Milde
Go-To-Market Advisor | Co-Founder
Former Worldwide VP Sales and Managing Director Central Europe for international cybersecurity brands. Grew Kaspersky’s Central Europe region into its best-performing international market and brings a network of more than 1,000 channel partners in Germany.
Frequently asked questions
What does Crossing Waters do?
Crossing Waters brings cybersecurity vendors, security leaders and investors together on the basis of real substance. We help CISOs and security architects find solutions that fit, checked for compliance upfront. We help cybersecurity vendors with strategy, positioning and messaging, and push their solutions into the German-speaking market through our network. And we help investors across the whole lifecycle, from finding targets to due diligence, performance and exit.
Who do you work with?
Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and security architects, cybersecurity vendors from software manufacturers to Software as a Service (SaaS) companies, and investors and acquirers such as private equity firms, venture capital funds and corporate development teams.
How do you help CISOs and security architects?
We handpick a small number of solutions, look at them technically and check compliance and data residency before they reach you. That way you can tell quickly whether something fits. We also run events without pitches or slides, where security leaders talk openly with each other.
Where do you work?
We are based in Dresden, Germany. Our network is strongest in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and we have many contacts in the USA. Advisory and due diligence projects run across Europe, the USA and the UK. The DACH Landing Team, where we sell on a vendor’s behalf, is available only for the German-speaking market.
What makes Crossing Waters different?
Product leadership, sales leadership and a security community in one team. We know both sides of the table, we look at the technology and not just the pitch, and we stay until the result is real.
What is outside your scope?
Technical security services such as penetration tests or ISO 27001 and SOC 2 certification, recruiting and pure lead generation.
Cybersecurity that is built right, backed right and bought for the right reasons.
That is what we work for. The first conversation is a short one: tell us where you are, and we will tell you honestly whether and how we can help.