Inside RSA's Vendor Mayhem with Kyle Bhiro, Co-Founder @ Pensar

Kyle and I dive into the reality of the RSA Conference experience, exploring how the security industry's biggest event has transformed into a vendor-dominated spectacle with declining CISO attendance.

• The conference atmosphere is overwhelmingly loud with vendors everywhere and marketing materials covering every available surface
• San Francisco completely transforms during RSA, with security company logos plastered on restaurant windows and hotels taken over for exclusive events
• CISOs are increasingly skipping RSA, with many security leaders openly avoiding the conference
• The "sales to sales" dynamic dominates the floor, with vendors primarily connecting with other vendors rather than actual buyers
• Having a presence at RSA remains an unwritten requirement for security companies hoping to work with enterprise clients
• Strategic attendees focus on off-site meetings, invitation-only lunches, and smaller gatherings rather than the main conference floor
• The true value comes from face-to-face connections with people from around the world who have gathered in one location

Kyle's LinkedIn

Pensar's LinkedIn

Josh's LinkedIn

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
How you doing buddy.
Good, If you can't hear, it isloud.
I'm right now on the floor.
I'm actually trying to walkover to a quieter space.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
I think these iPhones are really good.
I don't know.
Do you have an iPhone?

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Yeah, these iPhones are really good at blocking out
sound, because I don't hearanything.
It's like a whisper.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
It is.
I'm telling you'm it's loud,it's really loud.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
The floor is packed right now oh, wow, well, the the
the thing that I have beenthinking about the whole time,
you know, during this rsa season, is just the number of vendors
that are going to be out there,like the sea of the ocean, the
tidal waves of marketing, merchand people trying to get your

(00:51):
attention.
Is it the way I imagine?
Like?
Is it a shit show?

Speaker 1 (00:55):
yeah, you're spot on, and I want to lean into a
little bit of your uh shit showmaybe.
Picture here there's vendorsgalore, lots of cardboard
hanging from the ceiling.
You know, lots of t-shirts andlots of stickers that are out on
tables.
That's the reality for theseconferences it is.

(01:16):
You know, a lot of accountexecutives that are here hoping
to meet with larger enterprises.
Um, the booth culture is infull force.
And then, you know, even in thesurrounding city blocks of the
Moscone Center, it's mayhem.
Every restaurant has theirwindows plastered with logos of

(01:38):
security companies, every hotelis completely taken over.
All the presidential suites arebasically invite only sections.
You know, that's, that's whatit is that's nuts.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
That's crazy, you know.
Okay, it's a lot worse than Ithought.
I didn't know that they tookover the town oh yeah, oh yeah,
the entirety of san francisco.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
Actually, when you fly into sfo.
Uh, I got off my plane at liketwo o'clock in the morning and
they have the RSA conference2025 welcome sign right outside
of my American Airlines flight,so it starts as soon as you get
off your plane.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
Do you feel like everybody's selling to everybody
?
Sometimes when I'm at thoseconferences, that's not how I
feel.
I feel like all the salespeopleand all the marketers are
selling to each other in a way.
I mean, how are companiesgetting into the enterprise?
Do you get the sense thatthey're selling to each other?
Do you think that people aremaking real traction with CISOs,

(02:34):
from top-notch logos?

Speaker 1 (02:37):
Yeah.
So this is probably thecontention I have with these
conferences.
You're spot on right.
It's sales to sales.
It's very difficult to getFaceTime with a CISO, a decision
maker, who's going to bring inyour tool.
The reality is I'm seeing itfirsthand Less CISOs are coming

(03:00):
to RSA.
There's a number of which thatare in my network that are
actually being quite outspokenabout not attending this year.
It's very much for show andalso a big part of the culture
is if you are a major player insecurity, it is almost of
expectation, if you want to workwith enterprise, that you have
to be at RSA.

(03:20):
I don't know if that culture isgoing to change, but the buyers
are maybe not here as much asthey used to be.
Something to think about.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
Yeah, I hear that all the time, and it's another
thing to hear you say it becauseyou're there, you're
experiencing it and you've gotsome skin in the game, right.
So that's, I mean, you're theeyes and ears, right now, of all
of those who have not attendedRSA for good reason and for
everything that you highlighted.

(03:51):
Absolutely right, what's yourpurpose in being at RSA?

Speaker 1 (03:55):
So the goal for RSA, for a company like Pensar, is to
get our name out there.
We have a ton of customers thatare here floating around in San
Francisco.
We're using the opportunity tohighlight the security
conversation and everything thatwe're doing in agent security.
Yesterday we hosted a podcastlaunch.

(04:19):
We actually rolled out our ownpodcast.
It's called Insecure Agents.
We co-hosted it with a majorCISO that's here at RSA and that
, I think, type of event.
It's off the campus, it's inanother beautiful space close to
Moscone Center and it's a goodway to get people separated from
the craziness in a much chillerenvironment where they can have

(04:42):
these conversations or listento leaders talk about the topics
that they want to learn about,and I personally think that that
is the best use of my time.
I spend most of the dayactually off site.
I'm only really going to be atthe Moscow Center for maybe an
hour or two.
I like to go to the meetups, Ilike to go to the invitation
lunches.
I like to go to less of thehappy hours.

(05:06):
It's more of a one-on-oneexperience that I want to have
just while everybody's in town.
You know, I'm all the way herefrom New York.
There are people who are herefrom other parts of the country,
other parts of the world.
It's a great place to becentral and meet everybody
face-to-face.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
Awesome, kyle.
Thanks so much.
Thanks a million.
I'm glad that you took sometime out of your busy afternoon
to even talk to me and I reallyappreciate it.
Great work what you're doing.
I love you guys.
And if you see a guy walkactually no, alan's not going to
be there this year.
I was going to say if you see aguy walking around with a big

(05:41):
cowboy hat, tell him Josh saidhi and give him a bottle of
whiskey.
But he's not there either.
Yeah, you know what?

Speaker 1 (05:47):
It's still exciting.
I'm having a great time.
I'm really grateful to be here.
I'll do all the good wishes foryou out here, Josh, but you
know it's changing.
Still making it happen, though.
Thanks again, Thanks again forthe call.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
All right, thank you.