Product Management Consulting
Accelerate Delivery | Optimize Growth and Profitability | Build Successful Teams
Product Management and CPO Consulting Services
Chief Product Officer (CPO), VP Product Management, and hands-on Consulting.
Cybersecurity, Enterprise & B2B SaaS, AI/ML based products
Strategic Product Management Consulting and Fractional Chief Product Officer Services
Accelerate delivery | Optimize Growth & profit | build successful teams
Accomplish business objectives faster with a Product Management Consultant.
Avoid the time, expense, and complexity of hiring a full-time CPO or product management executive to not lose critical time in your business growth. A product management consultant provides an organization the ability to benefit from a senior executive’s experience and expertise from strategy to hands-on execution, while augmenting, and supporting existing leadership and staff. From Chief Product Officer responsibilities to tactical product management, roadmapping, and product delivery / execution, a Product consultant can be your fastest and best route to addressing key organizational needs.
Key Use Cases Include:
- Early-Stage / Startups
- Translate founder’s strategy into executable roadmap and product management plan
- Deliver zero-to-one product launch and commercialization to reduce time-to-market
- Establish best-in-class product and engineering processes to accelerate delivery
- Growth Stage / Transformations
- Facilitate innovation, and assess / improve Corporate, Product Management, and Go-to-Market / Competitive Strategies
- Evaluate existing talent, train/mentor, recruit and build high-performing teams
- Align and streamline organization to maximize output
- Late-Stage / Preparing for Exit
- Optimize Product delivery, gross-margin, and other key-metrics for business valuation
- Provide leadership and execution of management presentations and M&A diligence
- Deliver post-transaction product management leadership
Services
Full-Time | fractional | Advisory
Strategy
Planning
Management / Execution
About Me
Rusty Carter
Product Management Leader and Chief Product Officer with over 24 years of experience leading product management, engineering / development, marketing, and strategy. With a track record of product success, I have led an early-stage SaaS startup from concept to $20MM+ ARR, delivered a nine-figure successful exit, and delivered profitable growth exceeding the rule of 40.
Why organizations choose me:
🚀 PRODUCT VISION: I successfully translate concepts into thriving products. I have taken two businesses from zero-to-one, and introduced more than 10 new products to market through Entrepreneurship, and leading product management, product development, and go-to-market strategy.
💰 PROFIT DRIVEN: I optimize capital allocation, resource utilization, and gross margin to achieve profitable growth. I have spearheaded profitable growth and objectives attainment at 5 companies, enabling strategic business outcomes and exits.
🤝 M&A STRATEGY: I identify opportunities for inorganic growth, execute successful M&A activities (buy/sell-side), and ensure seamless post-transaction integration and alignment. I have led buy and sell side M&A activities five times, all with successful outcomes.
🏆 OPERATIONAL AGILITY: I champion efficiency and alignment through agile methodologies and process enhancements across the organization and drive cross-functional collaboration, communication, and execution. I have implemented and improved agile methodologies for product and engineering development teams 7 times across teams ranging from 5 to over 200 people. I have also spearheaded implementation of process improvements at 3 companies at the executive leadership team level, and 5 times with sales, channel, marketing, product, and engineering to implement cross-functional processes that improved communication, customer alignment, and execution.
💡 DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION: I foster and can create a culture of disruptive thinking. I have led the identification and process that delivered 9 patents in cybersecurity, ML, wireless communications, network control, and user experience. I have led innovation in 5 companies leading to billions of dollars of newly addressable market, market leadership recognized by Gartner and Forrester, and revenues exceeding expectations.
🤝 INSPIRING LEADERSHIP: I build, empower, and align high-performing teams across product, engineering, marketing, and sales. I have a proven track record in developing exceptional teams, recruiting top talent, and creating enduring teams. I have recruited, developed, and managed teams from 1 to over 100 people across product management, marketing, design, engineering, and strategy.
Industry and Market Expertise
product Management | Marketing | strategy | operations
Enterprise
18 yearsEnterprise Software
- One product with over 5BB deployed instances (B2B2C)
- ASPs up to $23MM
- Portfolio Revenues >$250MM
Cyber Security
15 yearsCyber Security
- Application Security
- Network Security
- Endpoint / Device Security
- Cryptography
- Threat Detection
- Identity & Contextual Analysis
- Language & Behavioral Analysis
SaaS
13 yearsCloud
- 5 New Product Introductions
- 3 Technology Transformations
- Over 85% gross-margins
Press & News Highlights
Business Results & Proof-Points
The culmination of three and a half years of product leadership and delivering strong business results, was the exit of Arxan Technologies and the acquisition by TPG Capital to merge with Digital.ai.
In my role, I led management presentations throughout the process, product diligence pre-transaction, and led products and Product Management for the combined portfolio of Digital.ai post-transaction.
Read more from TA Associates’ transaction announcement: https://www.ta.com/news/arxan-technologies-becomes-part-of-digitalai/
Led Corporate Strategy, M&A Diligence, and post-transaction integration
Rusty led strategy and acquisition activities to purchase Mistnet to extend LogRhythm into XDR (including NDR), improve x-sell and up-sell opportunities, and provide better end-to-end value to customers.
From the acquisition, the company saw an increase in TAM, analyst and market awareness resulting from truly entering the XDR space, and strengthened leadership in Gartner Magic Quadrant. The company also saw strong financial performance and strong ROI for the acquisition within the first year.
For more details, read the Momentum Cyber anouncement:
SafeGuard Cyber Awards:
2023 Cybersecurity Excellence Awards
Winner – Messaging Security, Winner – Communication Risks
https://cybersecurity-excellence-awards.com/2023-cybersecurity-product-service-awards-winners/
SafeGuard Cyber Recognized Among Notable Enterprise Email Security Vendors by Independent Research Firm:
SafeGuard Cyber Wins “Secure Communications Solution of the Year”: https://www.prweb.com/releases/safeguard_cyber_wins_secure_communications_solution_of_the_year_award_in_2020_cybersecurity_breakthrough_award_program/prweb17465842.htm
Led buy-side M&A product diligence, post-acquisition product management and design, and product integration.
Arxan acquired Apperian to accelerate development of easy-to-use developer and DevOps deployment tools, while also creating cross and up sell opportunities to increase ASP and customer LTV.
In my role, I led all product side activities which delivered on objectives and increased ARR, accelerated product development, and improved customer and user experience across the customer base.
Read more on the acquisition here: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/arxan-technologies-acquires-apperian-superior-110000755.html
CYBERSECURITY STRATEGIST OF THE YEAR:
Cybersecurity Excellence Awards 2022 – Rusty Carter named winner.
Read more, here:
https://cybersecurity-excellence-awards.com/candidates/rusty-carter-cpo-strategist/
Service plan design, user interfaces, application programming interfaces, and device management
Mobile Device and Service Management
Service plan design, user interfaces, application programming interfaces, and device management
Enhanced Curfew and Protection Associated with a Device Group
Arxan announced the launch of “Arxan for Web,” an enhanced protection solution for client-side web apps. The product aimed to enable organizations to defend against server-side (API) attacks and credential theft through a multi-layered defensive approach.
The key features of Arxan for Web included passive protection, which obfuscated code to make it harder for attackers to understand and analyze for reverse engineering. It also offered active protection, allowing the browser to be shut down or attacked code to be repaired in the event of code analysis, tampering, or malware attacks. Additionally, the product provided real-time alerting, notifying organizations of attempted code tampering or analysis through Arxan Threat Analytics, enabling them to quarantine suspicious accounts and update code protections proactively.
The launch came at a time when the continued increase in global data breaches was affecting business performance, costing an average of $3.86 million in a single breach. There was also a sharp increase in API-based attacks anticipated.
Gartner’s predictions stated that by 2022, API abuses would become the most frequent attack vector, leading to data breaches in enterprise web applications. In response to the rise in client-side threats, timely and proactive threat response became even more critical.
Rusty Carter, VP of Product Management at Arxan, pointed out the defining flaw in JavaScript regarding security: JavaScript code was interpreted at runtime, giving anyone who downloaded JavaScript-based software full access to the code, which posed a security risk.
Arxan for Web addressed this concern and aimed to combat Cross Site Scripting (XSS) attacks, a significant client-side attack that hijacked browser sessions to steal credentials, redirect traffic to malicious sites, or deface websites. The product was designed to defend against XSS attacks and report them back to risk management systems.
The importance of focusing on client-side security, especially for web apps in sectors like financial services, e-commerce, gaming, or digital media, was highlighted by Rusty Carter.
The article emphasized that insufficient logging and monitoring were security concerns, with most organizations taking over 200 days to detect a breach, typically identified by external parties rather than internal processes or monitoring. Arxan Threat Analytics provided visibility into the security posture of applications, giving organizations timely data and intelligence to stay ahead of threats to any web app deployed in the wild.
The launch of “Arxan for Web” marked a significant step in forward-thinking innovation, aimed at making a real impact on global businesses. Krish (Krishnakumar) Kalkiraj, Arxan’s SVP of Engineering, joined the team to lead the continued development of Arxan for Web and Threat Analytics, along with Arxan’s portfolio of application, code, and key protection technologies.
Read more: https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2018/09/14/arxan-for-web/
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 3, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Arxan Technologies, the trusted provider of application protection solutions, today announced a month-long initiative to raise awareness for improved application security and threat intelligence. Coinciding with Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Arxan will host a series of online workshops and introduce a limited-time trial of its new Threat Analytics offering to help organizations strengthen application protection.
In the wake of a number of recent high-profile data breaches, dedicated application protection is more important than ever before. Global research shows that attackers are more frequently targeting applications to gain access to networks and expose sensitive data. Without application-specific security or visibility into pending threats, enterprise web and mobile apps are subject to reverse engineering attacks and code tampering — leaving back-end infrastructure vulnerable to attack.
“As we have seen with recent high-profile app breaches, traditional security measures are insufficient to fully protect an organization, especially when API endpoint references, payload formats, and cryptographic keys can easily be found inside an app’s code and data,” said Aaron Lint, Arxan Chief Scientist and Vice President of Research. “Information implicitly contained within an app’s code gives an attacker the signposts necessary to enumerate the systems inside the perimeter of trust unless properly enabled with front-end protection technology.”
The online workshop series begins October 9th, with each installment addressing application protection for different industries, including: financial services, connected vehicles, connected healthcare and gaming. To register, visit https://bit.ly/ArxanSecurityWorkshops.
During the online workshops, Arxan security engineers will explore the components that make up a multi-layered application security strategy and offer practical advice for implementation. One of the most critical pieces of that strategy is threat intelligence data.
“The problem organizations face today is lack of visibility into app-level threats — threats that emerge before hitting an organization’s firewall or network,” said Rusty Carter, Arxan Vice President of Product Management. “You can’t effectively defend against attacks you don’t see, and you can’t adapt your app protection to prevent a breach if you can’t track and analyze what is happening after your app is released into the wild.”
Arxan’s Threat Analytics service provides such visibility, enabling organizations to spot attacks as they are happening and optimize defensive strategies. Arxan is kicking off a free 30-day trial of Threat Analytics during Cybersecurity Awareness Month in an effort to improve global application protection methods. To take advantage of the free trial, contact us https://bit.ly/ThreatAnalyticsTrial.
About Arxan Technologies
Arxan, a global trusted leader providing the industry’s most comprehensive application protection solutions, works with organizations looking to protect applications and to securely deploy and manage business-critical apps to the extended enterprise. Arxan currently protects more than one billion application instances across many industries including financial services, mobile payments, healthcare, automotive, gaming, and entertainment. Unlike legacy security providers that rely on perimeter-based barriers to keep bad actors out or that require device management controls, Arxan products protect at the application-level from the inside out. This approach protects the source and binary code to expand the corporate perimeter of trust. Arxan provides a broad range of patented security capabilities such as a dynamic app policy engine, code hardening, obfuscation, white-box cryptography and encryption, and threat analytics. Founded in 2001, Arxan is headquartered in North America with global offices in EMEA and APAC. For more information, please visit www.arxan.com or follow @Arxan on Twitter.
Rusty on CNBC Nightly Business Report, discussing WPA2 security vulnerability. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYdMjK1TDr0&t=1187s
“Rusty is one of the best product leaders I have worked with or for. Prior to him joining the organization, there was chaos and a disjointed product vision with the product team having little to no voice. However after he joined the organization, he rallied the company under a unified vision, brought order and gave product a seat at the table. Beyond of all this he is an amazing individual to work with and brings out the best in everyone who works with him. Any organization would be extremely lucky to have him! ”
“I had the privilege of working with Rusty Carter during a two year period at SafeGuard Cyber, where he crystallized and executed the Company’s vision as a leading cloud communications detection and response cybersecurity company. In addition to being a security expert, Rusty is a natural and proven leader, attracting, leading, inspiring, and empowering a world class product management team. During my time working with Rusty, he immediately became a fantastic business partner, trusted advisor, and friend. Any high growth cyber security organization would be lucky to have Rusty lead their product strategy and execution. ”
“Within 6 months, he turned Chaos into Order.Rusty’s demonstrated his amazing ability to come into the organization and provide clarity on how we were going to drive Product Direction, who was going to be Responsible and Accountable, along with a clear Operating Mechanism to collect input and and execute on the Roadmap. And he did all this with a grace and demeanor which was compelling and built Teamwork and Collaboration.”
Truly a wonderful colleague and leader.
“Rusty is an innovative leader of product and technology teams that inspires greatness and executes to successful outcomes. He is a strong communicator that builds effective and impactful personal and business relationships and collaborates with passion and purpose with a mission in mind. Rusty has made a lasting difference in the culture and people and processes of our product and engineering and technology teams with strong focus on business outcomes and customer success while focused on growth and results. He is a strong leader with inspiring moral and professional character and values. Any organization and team is better with Rusty part of that team.”
“I had the pleasure of reporting directly to Rusty after acquisition by Arxan Technologies. As a leader he is unique in the way he focuses on your growth, both personally and professionally. He enables you to develop and succeed within your area of focus, as well as with the broader organization and as a domain expert in the market. There are several of the tools in my skillset that I attribute directly to Rusty and his leadership and guidance. Professionally Rusty is able to go high and low within the complex world of security. His understanding of the broader security market, his ability to understand the need of complex organizations and market trends – gives him an edge in setting product direction and strategy. His technical expertise and ability to dive into the smallest of details – allows him to drive prioritizations and rapidly deliver value to the customer. I would love to work with Rusty in the future.”
“Rusty serves as VP of product management for Arxan. He works closely with our team, delivering on both latent and known opportunity areas to expand our portfolio and increase market share. Rusty is a great partner, and we’ve been able to quintuple our Annual recurring revenue because of his contribution. Rusty also helps leads from the field, which differentiates himself, and anecdotal understands industry and client needs. He has been a real asset for Arxan.”
“I had the pleasure of working with Rusty Carter as part of the Executive team at Arxan Technologies, prior to our acquisition by TPG Capital. Rusty’s in-depth knowledge around product strategy, used in the context for extending adoption by existing and potential future customers, has proven him indispensable to the team. He researched, recommended and drove the decision to pursue an adjacent technology that will continue to drive future growth of the company. Rusty managed the overall current and future product strategy with decorum under pressure. In this role his ability to manage complex business and customer relationships proved invaluable. It would be an honor to work with Rusty again in the future. He is an asset to a team fortunate to have him on their side. ”
“Rusty is a leader who immediately raises the bar for all around him. After joining Arxan, Rusty transformed the way Product was done and helped us achieve far superior results than we had up to that point. His direct, yet compassionate style creates a safe environment with accountability that helps everyone achieve their potential. While reporting to Rusty, he helped me grow my Product Management skills, while leaning on his own extensive PM experience. I credit his direct and fair coaching to improving my leadership and communication skills. I’d enthusiastically work with Rusty again given the chance.”
Market Leading Companies I’ve worked for:
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