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You may have seen the banners popping up on LinkedIn over the last few weeks – CISOs and startup founders posting banners with their picture in the mouth of a crocodile, sharing that they’d be attending Merlin Safari this year. Fear not – we didn’t feed any security leaders to crocodiles, and no one was chased by stampeding rhinoceroses. Instead, we once again brought folks out to beautiful Bailey, CO, where they had the opportunity to hike and fly fish along one of the most beautiful stretches of the South Platt River.
For those who read our write-up last year, you know why we call it Safari. So what changed from last year? Content, speakers and some amazing new attendees, but not the focus. Once again, Merlin Safari was all about building long-lasting relationships and making sure there are open lines of communication between CISOs and startups.
We had a lot of amazing conversations last year, but our team managed to outdo themselves with this year’s speakers. We kicked off Sunday night (after some networking activities to get everyone talking) with a conversation with Ofer Ben-Noon, CTO for SASE at Palo Alto Networks (and CEO of former Merlin portfolio company Talon). He spoke with us about his journey founding both Talon and Argus, two of Israel’s largest cybersecurity acquisitions. Perhaps Ofer’s best advice to founders on how to achieve a great acquisition: don’t try to do it. Acquisitions will come, but if that’s your primary motivation, you are going to struggle. Instead, build a company for the right reasons, that can last and solve a real problem.
The next day we woke up early to hop on the bus and head over to Rawhide Ranch, an amazing stretch of river that is one of the top fishing destinations in Colorado. It is hard to describe the feeling of Zen one gets standing in a rushing river, casting a line and just shutting out the world. For security executives with some of the most stressful jobs in IT, it was a great way to disconnect and have some time with nature.
But fear not, we didn’t let them forget too much about cybersecurity. That night, Alan Denenberg, from our partner Davis Polk, hosted an amazing fireside chat with Michael Sentonas, President of Crowdstrike. Alan and Michael shared their insights on working together to take Crowdstrike public in 2019. Such a small, intimate gathering provided a great opportunity for our attendees to build a relationship with one of the world’s leading cybersecurity providers.
Tuesday morning was our final day together, and while it was content focused, we made sure that content involved a lot of small group conversations. I would like to thank our attendees for the candor and openness they brought to the conversations.
As we wrapped up, we heard over and over from attendees how meaningful the three days together had been to them. And while we very much appreciate that feedback, our hope is that they also understand just how meaningful their participation was to us. Merlin Ventures has built its success on our community. We couldn’t do this without all of you.
A special thanks to all who attended!
We look forward to seeing you at the next event and many more to come.
