Runtime Partners is a small advisory practice. I work with two kinds of clients: cyber startups building product and enterprise leaders running security programs, on the decisions that make things actually work.
I'm John Morello. I've spent my career at the intersection of security and product. 14 years at Microsoft consulting for the F100, the DoD and the IC, and the White House and then working on product for Windows and Azure. Then as CISO of an S&P 500 company. Then as co-founder and CTO of Twistlock, where we grew to serve nearly half the Fortune 100 before Palo Alto Networks acquired us in 2019.
I ran product for Prisma Cloud at Palo Alto Networks, an 80 person org across product, security research, and government affairs, and helped grow the business to >$200M ARR. I authored NIST SP 800-190, hold more than 20 patents, and have been at it long enough to know what really makes cyber startups and enterprise security teams successful.
Customers I've directly worked with
Every engagement starts in one of the areas below. Most end up touching two or three of the others. None of them are pre-canned. They're the questions I've spent real time answering myself, across many orgs.
Before anyone writes a line of code, I help founders check their ideas against how cyber buyers actually make decisions. Sometimes the idea is right and the timing is wrong. Sometimes it's the other way around. Either way, the idea itself is essential.
I help founders design the right first 20 customers program: who to talk to, what to build, what to instrument, and what to prioritize. At Twistlock, the first 20 customers taught us more than anything else and set the direction for succeeding with the next 400.
The hard part is defending your choices against a well-funded incumbent that's announcing your features at their next conference. I've been on both sides of that conversation: building the challenger at Twistlock, shipping the first release of Azure, as well as running the incumbent's product for Prisma Cloud and working on Windows.
I help founders write the way their buyers actually talk, position honestly against the alternatives (including doing nothing), and build the core set of assets that moves a first sales cycle. The point is to sound like you, communicate concisely and clearly to buyers why you're different, and do that consistently.
I help you build on this by leveraging AI with a product marketing 'harness' of thoughtful prompts, a clear and current knowledge base, and consistent voice to efficiently scale high quality content production.
I help founders build the sales engineering teams that let their product win in a hostile POC: the hiring bar, the comp model, the demo, and the escalation path. I've done enough of those POCs myself to know what makes a good one and what makes a great one.
I've built customer engineering functions from ground zero to supporting hundreds of customers with a few globally dispersed engineers. I help you create the right processes for managing escalations and feature requests, and choose the right systems and tools to make it all work efficiently.
For CISOs and leaders who inherited a program that needs work, or who are building one from the ground up. What to prioritize in the first year, what to insource versus buy, and how to frame risk decisions so the board can actually follow along. I've done this from both sides, as an S&P 500 CISO and as the strategic vendor selling in.
The gap between "AI powered" marketing and actual product capabilities is enormous. I help teams cut through the noise, pick the AI investments that pay off, and drive actual adoption. Grounded in over 25 years of watching security vendors overpromise.
The strategy your CEO signs off on, your operators can execute, and that survives (or at least adapts to) first contact with the enemy. Planning that's thoughtful and comprehensive but doesn't take man-months of meetings.
Cyber has more vendors than any market this size. Many customers' portfolios have four tools where one would do the job. I help enterprises run evaluations and POCs that stress products, negotiate from a position of understanding, and consolidate without losing capabilities they need.
Choosing the right technology is only the start. I help customers design how it integrates with the rest of their systems, think through how to deploy it successfully, utilize the intel it emits, and identify quantifiable measurements of results.
The engagement shapes are the same for both audiences. I keep the roster small on purpose. Most work is a monthly retainer; some is a short, focused dive. What you get in either case is my direct time and expertise. Not a deck someone else built nor an AI proxy.
Monthly cadence, one or two topics at a time, typically for a few quarters. Ongoing meetings, async review, and direct access between sessions. Work products that directly support your mission.
Two to four weeks, one specific decision or product launch. Ends with clear guidance and the artifacts to act on it.
For startups, low-level help from ideation to launching the MVP to getting the first customers and everything in between. For enterprises, designing the strategy, program, or key technology deployment and seeing it through to reality. One of these at a time for 1-3 months.
I don't take equity-only engagements and I don't ghostwrite content. If we're not a fit for what you need, I'll say so on the first meeting and point you to someone who is.
Send an email about where you are and what you're stuck on. If it's a fit, we'll set up a call.