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August 3-8, 2024
Mandalay Bay / Las Vegas

Innovators & Investors Summit at Black Hat USA

Tuesday, August 6, 2024

Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, NW

Oceanside BC, Level 2

Overview

You're invited to apply to attend the Innovators & Investors Summit at Black Hat USA 2024.

The Black Hat Innovators & Investors Summit brings together leading entrepreneurs, investors, CISOs, and forward-thinking industry front-liners to focus on the latest market trends including M&A, startup valuations, and technology innovation designed to address the cyber startups' most important challenges. Innovation, and accelerating trailblazing startups through investment, is the best way to outpace cyber-criminals and counteract today's ever evolving threat landscape. This full-day summit offers attendees the opportunity to gain market insights, exchange ideas, and develop new relationships for scaling businesses and creating deal flow.

Offered the day before the main Black Hat USA Briefings sessions, the Innovators & Investors Summit is the place to be for those in the cyber community who are looking for innovative approaches and groundbreaking ideas to startup investment. The summit will conclude with the Startup Spotlight Competition, where four startup finalists will pitch their product/service to win it all - live before summit attendees. Register today to have an opportunity to secure your seat. Note, attendance for this summit is based on a pre-approval process to help foster the most dynamic and engaging interactions possible.

Price
$1,199 Registration
Apply to attend

Agenda

9:00 - 9:10 AM Opening Remarks
9:10 - 9:50 AM Fireside Chat with Asheem Chandna

Moderator

  • Caleb Sima - Chair, CSA AI Security Initiative

    Chair

    CSA AI Security Initiative

    Caleb Sima serves as the Chair of CSA AI Security Initiative. Prior Caleb served as Chief Security Officer at Robinhood where he focused on keeping customers safe. Prior to Robinhood he was Security CTO at Databricks, a leading data analytics and machine learning company where he built the security team from the ground up. Previously, he was a Managing VP at CapitalOne, where he spearheaded many of their security initiatives. Prior to CapitalOne, Caleb was CEO of Armorize which was acquired by Proofpoint. He also founded SPI Dynamics and BlueBox security, which were acquired by HP and Lookout. He is attributed as one of the pioneers of application security and holds multiple patents in the space and is also the author of Web Hacking Exposed. He serves as an advisor, investor, and board member for security companies.

Panelist

  • Asheem Chandna - Partner, Greylock Partner

    Partner

    Greylock Partner

    Asheem Chandna is a Partner at Greylock, where he is focused on helping entrepreneurs initiate and build enterprise companies from zero to beyond IPO. He has an extensive track record in cybersecurity, including four cyber IPOs. Palo Alto Networks (the largest independent cybersecurity company) started in Greylock offices in 2005. Asheem served on the Palo Alto board from initiation till the end of 2022. Current cyber investments include Abnormal Security, Axiamatic, Bedrock Security, Censys, Dazz, Kodem, Obsidian, Rubrik (RBRK), Seven AI and Wiz. Past cyber investments include Awake (ANET), CipherTrust (INTC), Imperva (IMPV), PortAuthority (WBSN), Securent (CSCO), Skyhigh (McAfee), Sourcefire (CSCO), Sumo Logic (SUMO), and Zenprise (CTXS). Asheem joined Greylock in 2003 from Check Point Software (CHKP), where he was vice-president of business development and product management. He has been included in the Forbes Midas List multiple times. Follow on Twitter @chandna or at https:/linkedin.com/in/chandna.
9:50 - 10:30 AM Endgame Strategies: How to Get Your Startup Acquired or Go Public

Moderator

  • Chenxi Wang - Managing General Partner, Rain Capital

    Managing General Partner

    Rain Capital

    Chenxi Wang is an experienced technology executive with deep cybersecurity expertise. Board of Director for MDU Resources, a Fortune 500 company, serving on Audit and ESG Committee. Founder and General Partner of Rain Capital, a Cyber-focused venture fund. Chenxi has held senior tech strategy roles in large companies (Intel Security). She has led Go-to-market operations and product strategy in booming Silicon Valley startups (Twistlock, Ciphercloud). Chenxi is also an advocate for diversity & inclusion, and founder of the Forte Group, a 5013(C) organization to advance women's careers in Cyber. Previously Chenxi was a computer engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University. She holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science.
10:30 - 10:55 AM Networking Session #1
10:55 - 11:15 AM Networking Break
11:15 - 11:55 AM Building Trust with CISOs: Key Insights for Startups

Moderator

  • Christina Cacioppo - CEO, Vanta

    CEO

    Vanta

    Christina Cacioppo is the CEO and co-founder of Vanta, a leading security and compliance Trust Management platform backed by Sequoia Capital, Craft Ventures, Y Combinator and Crowdstrike Ventures. Over 7,000 companies, including Atlassian, Omni Hotels, Quora and ZoomInfo rely on Vanta to build, maintain and demonstrate their trust—all in a way that's real-time and transparent. Prior to founding Vanta, Christina led product management for Dropbox Paper and was a member of the investment team for Union Square Ventures. Christina received her B.A. in Economics and M.S. in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University.
11:55 AM - 1:00 PM Lunch
1:00 - 1:40 PM Finding the Perfect Fit: How to Identify and Attract the Right Investors

Moderator

  • Leigh Honeywell - CEO, Tall Poppy

    CEO

    Tall Poppy

    Leigh Honeywell is the founder and CEO of Tall Poppy, where she helps companies protect their employees from online harassment. She was previously a Technology Fellow at the ACLU and worked at major tech companies including Slack and Microsoft. She's a venture partner with Pioneer Fund, the YC alumni VC fund, and an occasional angel investor. Outside startupland, she is an avid skiier, gardener, and affordable housing activist.
1:40 - 2:20 PM

Growth vs. Scale: The Critical Phase Transition

In this panel moderated session, we will discuss the key differences in sales personas, metrics, structure of a sales team, and interaction with marketing that are required at a company in a growth stage versus scaling. We will also discuss the key signs to look for that indicate growth versus scaling (hint: it's not all about revenue!). Specific topics include CMO versus CRO, early growth stage sales persona, and how do you know when it's time to add in layers of sales roles.

Moderator

  • Brooke Motta - CEO & Co-founder, RAD Security

    CEO & Co-founder

    RAD Security

    Brooke Motta is CEO and co-founder of RAD Security. Brooke is a dynamic leader in the cybersecurity industry who has scaled companies from seed to IPO. Brooke recognized the exponential growth in cloud native adoption as an opportunity to provide real-time security products as enterprise teams look to scale. Her decades of skilled leadership include executive positions at Sonatype, Wallarm, Bugcrowd, and Rapid7.
2:20 - 2:45 PM Networking Session #2
2:45 - 3:05 PM Networking Break
3:05 - 3:45 PM

Smart Investment: How to be the Investor Startups Choose

In the highly competitive cybersecurity startup market, attracting the right investors can be crucial for startups looking to breakout. But it’s just as crucial for investors to stand out and connect with the best founders. This panel delves into strategies that potential investors can employ to become the preferred choice for innovative startups. The discussion will cover the importance of aligning with the startup's vision, running an effective diligence process, offering more than just capital—such as mentorship and industry connections—and understanding the unique needs of different business models. Additionally, the panel will explore the significance of building a reputation for reliability and adding value beyond financial input. Participants will gain insights from seasoned investors and successful entrepreneurs on cultivating a compelling investment persona that resonates with founders, ultimately leading to mutually beneficial partnerships.

Moderator

  • Sid Trivedi - Partner, Foundation Capital

    Partner

    Foundation Capital

    Growing up across Asia, Sid Trivedi enjoyed a front row seat as the mobile phone transformed the entire planet. His dad worked for Nokia during the early 2000’s when it was one of the most valuable brands in the world, and was able to bring home a new phone for Sid to test each week. The increasing speed and impact of each innovation was enough to get him hooked, and naturally Sid pursued a career in the tech sector.

    Sid’s experience has run the gamut from public to growth to early-stage, affording him a unique perspective on how brand leaders are built and sustained. He started on Wall Street at Barclays Capital, advising on tech, media and telecom companies, spending time on both the buy-side and sell-side of major deals, from mergers and takeovers to corporate debt and equity financings. He then worked as an investment professional at Symphony Technology Group, a Palo Alto-based private equity firm investing in software, technology-enabled and data analytics companies. Before arriving at Foundation Capital, Sid was an investor at Omidyar Technology Ventures where he invested in and counseled early-stage enterprise software companies including Attivo Networks (acquired by SentinelOne) and Phenom.

    At Foundation, Sid invests across the enterprise stack, from applications to infrastructure, but also helps to lead the firm’s focus on cybersecurity. He draws on his extensive network across senior customers, partners, operators and investors to help entrepreneurs build the next generation of leading enterprise software companies. Sid works closely with Foundation Capital portfolio companies DevZero, Stacklet, Neurelo, AirMDR, PrimeSec, Levo, Permiso, Anvilogic, and Fortanix.

    Past investments he has worked with include CloudKnox (acquired by Microsoft), Respond Software (acquired by FireEye), and MistNet (acquired by LogRhythm). Sid curates Foundation Capital’s IT + Security Dinner Series, a bimonthly gathering that brings together his network of over 200 Fortune 2,000 CTOs, CIOs and CISOs to meet with early-stage startups and share ideas on the evolving infrastructure landscape and opportunities for innovation.

    Outside of work, Sid serves on the advisory board for Entrepreneurship at Cornell and the California Israel Chamber of Commerce, and serves as a board member of the Cornell Venture Capital Club, which he co-founded during college. Sid is also a co-founder and co-manager of CyberSeed, a forum where early-stage and aspiring founders can share the highs and lows of building cybersecurity startups.

    Sid has a Bachelor’s (Honors) in Economics and Biological Sciences from Cornell University, where he graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.

    Sid has lived and worked on both the East coast and the West coast of the United States, as well as India, Singapore and Indonesia. He loves traveling to new countries, enjoys good podcasts and is always open to recommendations for both.

Panelists

  • Kumar Saurabh - CEO & Founder, AirMDR
  • Oliver Friedrichs - CEO & Co-founder, Pangea

    CEO & Co-founder

    Pangea

     

  • Snehal Antani - CEO & Co-founder, Horizon3 AI
3:45 - 4:25 PM

Innovations Driving the Security Market: Trends to Track

In this panel moderated session, we will explore the current and future landscape of cybersecurity innovations and their impact on startups and venture capital. This panel of both investors and analysts will cover the hottest markets for investment, the role of major players like Microsoft and Google, industry consolidation, and more. This discussion aims to provide key insights into market trends and strategic considerations in the dynamic cybersecurity landscape.

Moderator

  • Mike Privette - Return on Security

    Return on Security

    Mike Privette brings nearly two decades of cybersecurity experience, having held various roles across the financial services, insurance, and GovTech sectors, including multiple stints as a CISO. His entrepreneurial journey includes founding and selling a vCISO consulting business, earning him recognition as a trusted industry advisor.

    Now, Mike leads a dual-focused venture: a vCISO consulting service and a newsletter media business, Return on Security. His main newsletter, Security, Funded, offers a comprehensive analysis of cybersecurity market trends, funding, M&A activities, and buyer sentiment. Mike plays a key role in influencing cybersecurity's evolving landscape at the intersection of cyber practitioners, startup founders, and VCs.
4:25 - 4:30 PM Closing Remarks
4:30 - 5:30 PM Cocktail Reception
5:00 - 6:00 PM Startup Spotlight Competition

Advisory Board

Coleen Coolidge

Coleen Coolidge

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CISO Advisor

SF Info Security

Coleen Coolidge is a recovering CISO who is currently helping small startups ~her favorite~ go from 0→1. This includes but is not limited to: helping with a security-product roadmap that CISOs want; helping founders through the pitfalls of also being executives, helping founders establish themselves in the Security Community, and sometimes pulling from her 19 years in the industry to help small Security teams get traction in an adversarial work environment.

Previously, Coleen was the CISO at Twilio, but was also the CISO at Segment in San Francisco. She built the org and practice from the ground up, and from Segment Security emerged an entire class of sought-after leaders, security engineers, GRC practitioners, and IT professionals.

Jeremiah Grossman

Jeremiah Grossman

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Founder

Grossman Ventures

Jeremiah Grossman brings 20+ years of experience in Computer Security and has become one of the most recognizable and world-renowned cybersecurity experts in the industry, coining several of the original hacking terms commonly used around the world today. Early in his career, Jeremiah was known as “The Hacker Yahoo” which led to his role as the company’s Information Security Officer. Jeremiah founded WhiteHat Security (now Synopsis) and served as Chief of Security Strategy for SentinelOne which was the highest-valued cybersecurity IPO in history. Most recently, Jeremiah was the founder & CEO of Bit Discovery, which was acquired by Tenable in 2022. He also serves as a company advisor and board member to several tech startups. In his spare time, Jeremiah does Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and is passionate about classic cars. He recently opened Toybox, a luxury car club in Boise, Idaho.

Robert Hansen

Robert Hansen

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Managing Director

Grossman Ventures

Robert "RSnake" Hansen was the co-founder and CTO of Bit Discovery which was acquired by Tenable. Previously he was the Vice President of Labs at WhiteHat Security. As founder and CEO of SecTheory, his security research and penetration testing work led him to finding numerous exploits and new exploit classes and lead him to explore web application security for many of the world’s largest organizations, including over 2,100 banks, credit card processors, flight control systems and supervisory control and data acquisitions (SCADA) systems. Robert started his career at eBay, Cable & Wireless Plc America/Exodus/Digital Island, ValueClick, and Silicon Alchemy. Robert is a frequent keynote speaker, a Managing Director of Grossman Ventures, host of the podcast “The RSnake Show" and the author of "AI's Best Friend."

Zane Lackey

Zane Lackey

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General Partner

Andreessen Horowitz

Zane Lackey is a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz where he invests in modern Platform Engineering, DevTools, and cybersecurity companies. Previously he co-founded Signal Sciences (acquired for $825M in 2020) and authored Building a Modern Security Program (O’Reilly Media). Prior to co-founding Signal Sciences, Zane led a security team at the forefront of the DevOps/Cloud shift as CISO of Etsy.

Fernando Montenegro

Fernando Montenegro

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Senior Principal Analyst

Omdia

Fernando Montenegro is a Senior Principal Analyst on Omdia’s cybersecurity research team, based in Toronto, Canada. He focuses on the Infrastructure Security Intelligence Service, which provides vendors, service providers, and enterprise clients with insights and data on network security, content security, and more.

Fernando’s experience in enterprise security environments includes network security, security architecture, cloud security, endpoint security, content security, and antifraud. He has a deep interest in the economic aspects of cybersecurity and is a regular speaker at industry events.

Before joining Omdia in 2021, Fernando was an industry analyst with 451 Research. He previously held a variety of operations, consulting, and sales engineering roles over his 25+ years in cybersecurity, always focusing on enterprise security at organizations including vArmour, RSA, Crossbeam, Hewlett Packard, and Nutec/Terra. Fernando holds a Bachelor of Science in computer science and different industry certifications.

Lucas Nelson

Lucas Nelson

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Founding Partner

Lytical Ventures

Lucas Nelson is a founding Partner at Lytical Ventures focusing on early-stage companies in the corporate intelligence space: cybersecurity, data analytics, and AI. He brings over a decade of investment, operational and entrepreneurial experience to his role.

Lucas co-authored The Art of Software Security Testing and chaired DefCon for 10 years. He has been a member of the NY tech community since 1999. He was an adjunct professor at NYU teaching the class “Entrepreneurship for Hackers” and is a Kauffman Fellow.

Jon Oberheide

Jon Oberheide

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Entrepreneur

Jon Oberheide is a board member, advisor, and investor, focused on working with cybersecurity and enterprise SaaS companies. Previously, Jon was the co-founder and CTO of Duo Security, with a mission to democratize security by making it easy and effective. Over 12 years, Duo scaled from zero to over 30,000 customers, $500M ARR, a 70+ NPS, and 1000 FTEs. Along that journey, Duo was acquired by Cisco for $2.4B. Prior to founding Duo, Jon was a security researcher and completed his BS, MS, and PhD at the University of Michigan in cybersecurity.

Ty Sbano

Ty Sbano

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Chief Information Security Officer

Vercel

Ty Sbano is an Information Security executive with over 18 years of experience heavily focused on empowering end users, securely. Ty currently serves as Vercel’s Chief Information Security Officer (CISO).

Ty’s career was focused on developing application and product security programs for Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, LendingClub, and Target. Key areas of knowledge include developing security champions, threat modeling, secure code training, static code analysis, component analysis, dynamic analysis, penetration testing and red teaming. Outside of being a CISO, Ty is an active angel investor as part of Silicon Valley CISO Investment Groups (SVCI) and actively advises security startups.

Ty’s security mentality has been concentrated on enabling engineering and product teams to securely move at the speed of the business to make it a competitive advantage. Ty graduated from Penn State University with a B.S. in Information Science & Technology and from Norwich University with a M.S. in Information Assurance. He currently holds a CISSP, CEH, CCSK and CPT.

Caleb Sima

Caleb Sima

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Chair

CSA AI Security Initiative

Caleb Sima serves as the Chair of CSA AI Security Initiative. Prior Caleb served as Chief Security Officer at Robinhood where he focused on keeping customers safe. Prior to Robinhood he was Security CTO at Databricks a leading data analytics and machine learning company where he built the security team from the ground up. Previously, he was a Managing VP at CapitalOne, where he spearheaded many of their security initiatives. Prior to CapitalOne, Caleb was CEO of Armorize which was acquired by Proofpoint. He also founded SPI Dynamics and BlueBox security, which were acquired by HP and Lookout. He is attributed as one of the pioneers of application security and holds multiple patents in the space and is also the author of Web Hacking Exposed. He serves as an advisor, investor, and board member for security companies.

Michael Sutton

Michael Sutton

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General Partner & Co-Founder

Runtime

Prior to founding Runtime, Michael Sutton founded StoneMill Ventures, a fund focused on seed stage cybersecurity investing. StoneMill Ventures has backed over 40 early-stage cyber companies. Before his focus on investing, Michael spent 20+ years as an operator in the cybersecurity industry. He served as the CISO at Zscaler, a company that pioneered the Security-as-a-Service space. As a member of the founding team, he spent a decade building Zscaler’s research team, driving the security model and evangelizing the vision. Prior to Zscaler, Michael helped build SPI Dynamics (acquired by HP) and iDEFENSE (acquired by VeriSign). He has been granted numerous cybersecurity patents and co-authored the book “Fuzzing: Brute Force Vulnerability Discovery.”

Outside of work Michael can be found traveling to hockey tournaments with his wife, to cheer on his three sons or relaxing at their farm on the Eastern Shore. He’s also a volunteer firefighter and board member at the Fairfax Volunteer Fire Department where he has served for 20+ years.

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