Reflections From TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 As A Security Professional

This week I had the opportunity to attend TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. I think it was the first time I have ever attended a non-security conference.

I didn’t know what to expect. Everything I knew about Disrupt was from the show Silicon Valley.

Different From RSA

It was held at Moscone center, so my reference was RSA. Mind you RSA takes up ALL of Moscone, including North, South, and West. So I was surprised to drive up to Moscone as see it quite empty!

Thinking for a fraction of a second I may have shown up at the wrong place, I double checked my ticket. It said Moscone, so that left only Moscone West as the alternative.

So right off the bat I knew this was going to be a much SMALLER conferecne.

Silicon Valley For Sure

I walk into the conference exploring the different floors and I see this when I walk in

Yes, that’s someone watching something on his hologram tablet. Fascinating!

There were bean bag chairs everyone, games around, and plenty of swag.

Multiple stages going on concurrently with founders showing their competing for prizes and attention. I even had someone come up to be an pitch their startup!

AI, Of Course

AI was a theme everywhere of course. It was fascinating to see the sign below for example.

There was even a panel on the discussion of AI safety and regulation with a representatives from the state and federal government there. (

Diversity Everywhere

What was really impressive to see was the amount of diversity at the conference. Not only was there a healthy ratio of gender diversity observed, but also global diversity. There was a Silk Road section that promoted people from Central Eurasia. Many of these countries we may have never heard of, but here they are! They’re all part of the Silk Road Innovation Hub.

Countries like:

• Azerbaijan

• Kazakhstan

• Kyrgyzstan

• Mongolia

• Tajikistan

• Turkey

• Turkmenistan

• Uzbekistan

Cybersecurity Presence

Of course, I’m looking at everything from a cybersecurity lens. Just walking in, I saw a car advertising a security company (which I didn’t hear of).

The conference did have a whole section dedicated to Cybersecurity and Privacy, so it was nice to see some startups there showing their innovations. One company was taking a different approach to software security.