The $50 Billion Launchpad: Inside the RSAC Innovation Sandbox Legacy

Hey everyone, welcome back here to Techstrong TV. You know, I'm literally packing to head to San Francisco for, to RSA in a few days, and news broke that is, pretty exciting. And I, so I, I apologize, I'm not in our Techstrong TV studio today.

I'm doing this one from home, but it couldn't wait, couldn't hold. Let me introduce you to Cecilia Maringer, who of course runs the innovation, it's innovation and another part of the- Innovations and Scholars ... Scholars Program For the RSAC, Alan RSAC I'm gonna get you on it.

Oh no, I'm glad you caught me early, 'cause I'm a little discombobulated today. Uh- No worries. Yep.

Uh, Cecilia, it's great to see you, and I want to introduce you all to Laura Koetzle. Laura, thank you for coming here on Techstrong TV. Introduce yourself to the audience if you don't want.

Well, th- thanks for having me, first of all. And I'm Laura Koetzle. I'm the head of community research for RSAC, so I produce a lot of the research about the cybersecurity community that's based on all the data that we collect as part of running all of the RSAC programs.

Fantastic. And, and look, let's cut right to it, right? Uh, the reason we, we kind of stopped the presses here is you guys recently came out with, a new rep- not recently, just came out with a new report of, that I think is gonna be of interest to our audience.

Cecilia, if it's okay with you, I'm gonna have Laura kind of l- Stage ... tell us about it. Yeah, go ahead.

Well, before I have Laura set the stage, I have to say this, one small piece, which is everything is changing in cybersecurity. It's so exciting. And the reason that we talked about stopping the press, the report is super interesting, but we also had a really big event happen, which was the Wiz acquisition.

And it sets the stage for what Laura's gonna talk about, because the Innovation Sandbox contest has consistently identified companies that have very, very strong trajectories after they've been on the stage. And we're part of their story, we're not the only part of their story, but we wanted to make sure that we've got this whole thing set up for people to understand just how powerful the Innovation Sandbox is. And we hire, we have Laura here, who is the most awesome Laura, who actually is gonna share a little bit more about like why we came up with this idea, and then maybe set a little bit more of the stage of what to expect in the report.

Sure. Well, and the other thing we should say is that that acquisition closing was actually the least convenient possible time ever. Because we had finished this report and published it, and then about an hour later, the news that the Wiz acquisition had closed, came across the wires, which meant we had to scramble to update the report to contain the extra acquisition and the extra small amount of $32 billion in the amount of financing received, a- financing and investment received by the companies that have come out of Innovation Sandbox over the many years.

So- And you don't think- The reason- ... they did that just to make your life difficult, do you? I'm certain I was the only thing on their minds- ...

when they got approval to close their merger. They're like, "Should we wait till next week? No, let's get it.

" But- Yes. Great. L- as Cecilia said, the ink was, the metaphorical ink was not even dry on this thing when we had to update it, but we were happy to do it, because what better kind of proof could you see of the impact of Innovation Sandbox than we can't even put out a report before things change and more investment happens.

So on the one hand it's slightly irritating, on the other hand, it's a great example of what we're trying to showcase. Fantastic. So let, let's give people, you know, we ju- I feel like I jumped into the middle of the movie.

It's, apropos Oscars were last night. Um, we could talk Oscars later, but- ... the beginning of the movie, the report really highlights the tremendous success that these companies who have been involved in the Innovation Sandbox program over, what is it, 21 years, Cecilia, right?

Yep. Exactly. Uh, over the 21 years.

Laura, is, is that fair to say, or is there That's- Go ahead ... that's right. So what we tried to do was show kind of the overall trajectory of all of the top 10 finalists and winners from Innovation Sandbox.

And I should say that one of the really interesting things you notice, in the presentation of like 11 years of Innovation Sandbox history, is the degree to which kind of upticks in categories of startups in Innovation Sandbox actually correlate with whatever major kind of trend there is in the cybersecurity industry the year after. So there's a graph in the first bit of the report that shows this. Now, that's correlation, not cause, right?

So it's not, oh, there are more Innovation Sandbox in this category, and that causes the next year application security or whatever it is to be the most important thing in cybersecurity. But correlation's still pretty useful if you're trying to figure out where to place your bets and where to spend your money, whether you're a CISO or an investor, or a member of the community. So that was really noteworthy.

" No, 'cause Wizen isn't even in here, and that, they just got acquired for $32 billion. So the companies that are in... What we tried to do, Cecilia and I, with the companies that are in this, is to show kind of all the variety of successful outcomes that the companies in Innovation Sandbox exhibit.

So there's three companies that were acquired by ... And, and there's one entrepreneur who's had two acq- companies in Innovation Sandbox that have both been acquired, which, and there are a bunch of cases like that. In fact, one of my favorite bits of the report is that one of the companies that was acquired from Innovation Sandbox in 2025 was acquired by a company whose CEO had been CEO of another Innovation Sandbox winner before, whose origin- original, shall we say, in quotes, Innovation Sandbox startup was itself acquired by an Innovation Sandbox winner from even further back.

So you can really see how much the Innovation Sandbox has influenced the industry over the years just by looking at these things. And so in the report, in addition to the companies that have been acquired, you've got a company that has raised a whole bunch of different rounds of investment and is kind of aiming to become an independent software company by itself. And then you've got another one that's sort of much earlier in its journey, but where the entrepreneur's got a great story of how an investor called him the night before he was supposed to go on stage at Innovation Sandbox and said, "Okay, we wanna fund your company, but this offer is only good if you do not go on stage at Innovation Sandbox.

" He refused the deal. They went on stage. Mm.

They won, and then they got a way better deal from sort of a much bigger group of investors later on. " And the entrepreneur said, "No, thanks. " So there, there are r- there, and there are a ton of great stories like that from all of these entrepreneurs and from Innovation Sandbox throughout the years.

So what the report tries to do is kind of bring that to life. Yeah, through anecdotes. You know, the thing, Alan, that, like, I always give you the big numbers, like 18 point...

1 billion, but guess what? 1. It's now 50 billion.

It's 50 billion in investment you have, or, or an acquisition, and then on the other side you have over 100 of the 200 companies. So over 50% of them have been acquired. So I'm always leading with that, Alan, because those numbers stick to people.

But actually, if you go down and you dive into the stories of who these people are and w- how it, how it actually impacted them, that's what we wanted to get out of this report, is just to give people a glimpse of, hey, this c- this is exciting. You should be in the room to see what the next top 10 are doing. And then also, if you're an entrepreneur, why, my goodness, like, why not apply next year?

Because it could be you next. So I kind of feel like, we wanted to be able to give people some kind of, just a hook to, to learn and l- and be more excited about what we're doing at Innova- at, RSAC, and to let them know, like, just how much we feel that we like to support innovation, but we also have the anecdotal stories that tell you. You know, those guys actually say it.

7 billion, was based on the fact that he got on that stage. He got the legitimacy of the, of the community behind him by having these judges select his company, and he feels like that really changed the way his company's trajectory landed. And we wanted to make sure that got into the report.

So Laura did a very nice job making it really easy to, to... It's very accessible, very simple. Like, let's go.

Just read the story. Know what, what we're trying to get across, and then also we have the stats behind us. We're not just talking, and giving you just fluff, marketing fluff.

This is actually data, which is why we love Laura, because she's making it real. Yeah. I've, we've snuck enough numbers in there that I think, I think people, people will be a- the more data-oriented among you will be able to have a good time with the report as well.

But the, the stories are, the, I- in my opinion, the stories are what sort of make it memorable, and so that's what we're, that's what we were attempting, that's what we were attempting to get at. And you can also, so you don't think that Cecilia and I made this stuff up- ... listen to the entrepreneurs on video themselves telling some of their story, some of their stories.

So there are links in the report to some of the entrepreneurs in their own words. And so the reports are really, are distillations of all the facts and figures about their companies, what they have said in those interviews, and some other interviews that we've done with them th- over the years. So we really encourage you to check it out, and Innovation Sandbox is next week.

So if you are coming to RSAC conference, and if you are not, why aren't you? Uh, please come to Innovation Sandbox on Monday. It's super fun, and if you can't make it, physically there, for whatever reason, we do actually put those pitches up online afterwards.

But this year we're doing some, really fun things that you have to be in the room for. So definitely come and, and make the time. This is definitely worth putting on your agenda if you're at RSAC.

Absolutely. You know, so guys, look, I've been in security 30-plus years, not, not always in media. I've, I've done several venture-backed startups.

What you're describing, Laura, is the six degrees of separation in ... Right? Who, who's the, who, Kevin Bacon, right?

Right. The Kevin Bacon of, of how security works. This is how security works.

You could trace-And there's been studies that, there's like IS- before your time, ISS was bought by IBM for, at the time, I think 60 billion, or maybe it was 200... Not billion, million. They, they weren't doing billion dollar deals.

But as- It was a different era- Well- ... when money was- Yeah ... a lot harder to get by But as, but as a result of that, but as a result of that deal, the entire Atlanta cybersecurity community almost came out of, out of that ISS-IBM acquisition.

Um, thi- this is, this is why it, it's, you know, it is, it's very, very, I don't wanna use the word incestuous, but it's very connected. Very connected. And- I'm glad you didn't use that word.

No. And don't even mention it because Oh, It's like a tough word, man. That's a- No, no, no ...

but I hear, you know, the thing is, I like to think of it more like it's a community. Yeah, it is. And the community identifies and connects with one another, and they support one another.

It is very unusual where you have the competitors actually, you know, supporting one another. At the end of the day, it's, that's part of it because th- everybody knows we gotta work together in order to really fight the good fight. So- It, it is a g- ...

maybe that would be framing it a little bit more gently. How's that? No, we're, we're all, you know, we're all on this side of, of the, of the mission, right?

Which is... 'Cause no one, I don't care, even Wiz or any company you wanna mention, they can't do it by themselves either. Right.

We all, we all need to pull together, and that goes for both public and private. Yep. Not just public companies, I mean government, private industry, and everything else.

That's the enormity of the task in front of us, especially in, you know, with what's going on in the world today with wars and cyber attacks and, and, you know, nation state involvement. We can't afford to build walls or r- you know, or silos. Right?

We all need to be together, and I, and I think that's one of the nice things about, innovation, is it, it fosters that kind of sense of community. Now, real important, people watching this, they're gonna see this before next week 'cause I'm, we're gonna, we recorded this on a Monday, in case you're listening, and we'll have it up h*- well, by Wednesday, we'll certainly have it up, if not tomorrow. Where can we get the report?

We can give you, we can give you the link to put alongside the, a- alongside the podcast- We will put a link ... is probably the easiest, right? How about, well, if go to the RSA site, can we look for it there?

RSAC. Yeah. RSAC site.

Yeah, if you go to... If you go to r- Yeah ... com, you, and go to the library, you can, you can find it there.

So, and we'll also give you an easy link, so you just to click, so you just have to click. All right. We'll try to get that link into the notes then too as well.

Laura, Cecilia, thanks for coming on today. Appreciate it. This is a great thing, actually.

You know what? So many reports today are just facts and figures, and you've got your facts and figures, and 50 billion's a big number. But getting real people, in this case, real entrepreneurs, cyber entrepreneurs, talking about this and how important it was, and showing the connections and how the web of community kinda engulfs us is, is really, really important.

So thank you for doing that. Thank you for doing what you do all y- you know, all year round, 'cause, you know, Monday's show day, but it's an all year round thing, th- th- running Innovation Scholarship. So, I will see you guys out in San Francisco.

We look forward to seeing you there. Yeah. All righty.

Laura, good, great work, Laura Ket- Ketzel, and of course, Cecilia Marongie, thank you so much, ladies. We'll see you next week at RSAC. We'll go check out the report now to see, give you an idea of really what Innovation Sandbox has been doing for 21 years, and why you wanna be part of it.

We're gonna take a break here on Techstrong Gang. We'll be back in a minute.