From their first ever Forrester Wave to the second-highest position in the Leaders quadrant — in two evaluation cycles.
Hack The Box had never been through a Forrester Wave process before. They had a strong product and a passionate community — but no experience navigating the mechanics of a major analyst evaluation. No established analyst relationships. No track record of telling their story in the language that Forrester uses to judge the market.
First-time participants face a steep disadvantage. The evaluation process has its own logic, its own expectations, and its own unwritten rules. Companies that don't understand this typically land in the middle of the pack — or worse. The product might be excellent, but if the story isn't told in the right way to the right people, the evaluation won't reflect it.
Amy was brought in specifically to help Hack The Box navigate their first Forrester Wave. The work started well before the evaluation itself — and continued long after.
The first priority was making sure Hack The Box understood how the Wave process actually works — not the theory, but the reality. What the analyst is really looking for. How to structure the written submission. How to prepare for the demo and the follow-up conversations. Amy brought the pattern recognition that only comes from having done this before.
The company had a compelling narrative, but it needed translating into the framework Forrester uses to evaluate the market. Amy worked with the team to align Hack The Box's genuine strengths with the criteria the analyst cared about most — without forcing a fit or making claims the product couldn't support.
Getting the right spokespeople in front of the analyst, saying the right things, at the right time. Amy coached senior leaders on how to present credibly and substantively — turning internal subject matter experts into effective analyst-facing communicators.
The first Wave was just the starting point. After achieving a Leaders position, Amy shifted focus to deepening the analyst relationship through consistent, substantive engagement — not just check-in calls, but genuine conversations about where the market was heading and how Hack The Box was shaping it.
In their very first Forrester Wave, Hack The Box achieved a Leaders position — third place. For a first-time participant, that's an exceptional outcome. It took smart navigation of the process, the right messages in front of the right people, and meticulous preparation across every touchpoint.
But the real story is what happened next. Over two years of consistent relationship building, Amy worked to deepen the analyst's understanding of the company and its trajectory. The engagement wasn't reactive — it was sustained, strategic and always substantive.
The 2026 Forrester Wave moved Hack The Box to second place. The write-up improved hugely — enormously positive, with a platform to keep climbing. That's not the result of a single good briefing. It's the result of two years of earning trust, demonstrating thought leadership and making the analyst's job easier by being a genuinely valuable source of insight.
Most companies treat analyst evaluations as a one-off event. They scramble when the Wave is announced, throw together their submission, and hope for the best. Then they go quiet until the next evaluation cycle. That approach gets you a middle-of-the-pack result at best — and it certainly doesn't move you up over time.
What worked here was treating the analyst relationship as exactly that — a relationship. Not a transaction. Amy's ability to have real, substantive conversations about the technology and the market meant the analyst saw Hack The Box not just as a vendor being evaluated, but as a trusted voice helping to shape the category.
When an analyst trusts you enough to call you for your perspective on where the market is heading, the evaluation takes care of itself. That's the kind of relationship Amy builds — and it's why the results are consistent, repeatable and sustainable.
Whether you're preparing for your first evaluation or trying to move up, let's talk about what strategic AR actually looks like.
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