Last week was my first time at Blackhat (Don't tell anyone 😀) and despite my general disdain for…

Last week was my first time at Blackhat (Don't tell anyone 😀) and despite my general disdain for the permanent twilight and the signature mix of casino scent with a touch of toasted Marlboro, I talked to so many great people either in planned or spontaneous chats that I absolutely loved my time there.

Having such a critical mass of people so excited to build all in such a small area makes for a density of energy that you could feel everywhere.

Some highlights were a fabulous dinner at the Four Seasons organized by Maggie, Sabina and Scale Venture Partners - no agenda but with so many smart people in a room, you don't need one. Interesting conversations were spontaneous and continuous throughout the evening

Michael Coates' had been putting together small gatherings and I spent an hour with him, Subbu, Guillaume and Terry. The dynamic of getting smaller groups together to talk was a really nice break from the larger mixers that dominated the week.

Big thanks to Andrew Becherer who took it upon his kind self to coordinate a great lunch with so many wonderful people I hadn't seen in a long time. What could beat CISO taquitos?

Jadee Hanson and the team at Vanta put together several great events and as an added bonus, I now own purple llama socks.

Thanks also to Gadi and the Knostic team for graciously allowing Daed to bring me over to their awesome C-Sides event despite me failing to hit the submit button on the registration page.

I can only say that I'll definitely be there next year!