In this episode of All Aboard, ConductorOne Co-founder Alex Bovee sits down with AppOmni CTO Brian Soby and investor Pramod Gosavi of Blumberg Capital to unpack a provocative question: is SaaS dead?

The trio dives deep into the rapid rise of agentic AI and its disruptive force on traditional software models. They explore whether agents will replace entire applications, how velocity in AI-driven development is commoditizing SaaS, and why domain expertise and data gravity are the new competitive moat. Brian offers a practitioner’s take from the front lines of SaaS security, while Pramod shares what’s exciting investors—and what’s getting laughed out of the pitch room.

If you’re building, investing in, or just trying to make sense of the AI-native enterprise future, this conversation will challenge your assumptions.

In this episode of All Aboard, ConductorOne Co-founder Alex Bovee talks with Field CISO Kevin Paige about the evolving world of agentic AI. With decades of experience across government and high-growth tech, Kevin shares a practitioner’s take on the new risks—from identity sprawl to deepfakes and data poisoning.

They dig into why speed without control is dangerous, how trust and security must evolve together, and why human oversight is still essential. If you’re exploring the future of AI and identity, this one’s for you.

GYTPOL co-founder, CISO, and CEO Tal Kollender loves a challenge. In this episode of All Aboard, she shares how hearing “no” from established cybersecurity companies spurred her to create an endpoint security tool that takes a fresh approach to reducing device misconfiguration risks.

Tal’s story demonstrates how bringing new perspectives to common security problems can yield powerful results. A professional hacker in her teens, Tal’s ability to see vulnerabilities from an attacker’s point of view allowed her to find a solution others might have overlooked. Listen to the full episode to learn how she’s turned that solution into a thriving, fully bootstrapped business.

What’s inside:

• Tal’s journey from teenage hacker to CISO to co-founder
• How Tal’s background helped her see a problem others weren’t solving
• Why device misconfiguration is a big security risk
• How GYTPOL has grown its business organically
• Why creating value for IT teams is critical to convincing CISOs to invest in security solutions

For this episode—the last in our series of conversations recorded live at this year’s Black Hat conference in Las Vegas—Alex catches up with David Lee, the Identity Jedi. 

David is an identity security veteran and one of the sharpest thinkers in the space, so we couldn't round out the year without sharing his take on Black Hat and how he sees the security industry evolving. This episode gives practitioners and vendors alike plenty to think about as we approach 2025. 

What’s inside:

• Who’s actually buying security products (Hint: It’s not CISOs)
• How Black Hat has changed and how to get the most out of it
• How CISOs and security teams are deciding what to prioritize in 2025
• Why humans are still the biggest security threat for companies
• Where David sees AI making the most impact in security

For this episode we’ve got another great conversation recorded live during the 2024 Black Hat conference in Las Vegas! Alex welcomes Francis Odum, founder of the Software Analyst—a cybersecurity research platform. Francis is a well-regarded analyst with a large audience of investors, builders, and practitioners who look to him for guidance on what security solutions and technologies they should be paying attention to. 

Francis and Alex talk about the state of the industry and dig into two related topics on everyone’s mind at Black Hat: non-human identities and gen AI. Francis shares his views on what’s hype, what isn’t, and how the industry is responding to new threats and new tech. It’s a timely episode that will have you looking ahead to 2025 and beyond!

What’s inside:

• The explosion of service accounts and how the industry is solving for it
• AI’s possibilities—and access issues
• What cybersecurity trends Francis is paying attention to right now 
• Use cases for point solutions vs. platforms
• How the shared responsibility model of security is evolving

In this episode, Alex welcomes Darwin Salazar, author of the popular industry newsletter the Cybersecurity Pulse, co-host of the Enterprise Security Weekly podcast, and Founding Product Manager at Monad. Darwin and Alex got together for a live chat during some downtime at this year’s Black Hat Conference in Las Vegas.

As an engineer turned product builder, Darwin has a multifaceted perspective on the cybersecurity industry. He understands security practitioners’ needs and keeps his ear to the ground to learn how product builders are innovating solutions to serve them. Alex and Darwin cover a range of industry topics including why more product builders should be practitioners, how the role of CISO is changing, and Darwin’s takeaways from the expo hall floor at Black Hat. 

What’s inside:

• Darwin’s background and why he started the Cybersecurity Pulse newsletter
• Why more practitioners should transition to product building
• Trends seen at Black Hat 2024
• Moving to a bottom-up sales motion for security tools
• Industry predictions for 2025 and beyond

In this episode of All Aboard, Alex Bovee is joined by Ross Haleliuk, Head of Product at LimaCharlie and writer of one of the best newsletters covering the cybersecurity space, Venture in Security.

Together, Alex and Ross analyze what success looks like in the security industry, weighing in on the platform vs. point solution debate and discussing the importance of hiring strategically at startups. Finally, Ross shares his predictions for the near future of the security space. This episode has a little something for everyone—don’t miss it!

What’s inside:

• A deep dive into Ross’s creative process behind Venture in Security
• Platforms vs. point solutions 
• What does success mean for security startups?
• Hiring at startups—what’s the best strategy?
• Ross’s cyberindustry predictions for next year

In this episode of All Aboard, Alex Bovee is joined by Nancy Wang and Ashish Popli, security veterans and co-hosts of the De-FUD Podcast. Nancy is a venture partner at Felicis who's built data security products at some of the biggest names in SaaS, and Ashish led information security projects at Microsoft before moving on to create top-notch security teams as CISO at companies like UiPath and Spotnana.

Together, Alex, Nancy, and Ashish tackle one of the industry’s hottest topics right now: AI agents and their impact on the future of security workflows. From analyzing what makes an AI agent to unpacking these agents’ security implications and areas of promise, this episode covers it all. If you’re curious about where the AI revolution is going to take the security space next, this is one episode you don’t want to miss!

What’s inside:

• What are AI agents? And what are the security concerns around them?
• The security implications of leveraging AI agents within your environment
• Opportunities for security practitioners to use AI agents in their workflows
• Where does the most promise lie for using AI and LLM technologies in security?
• Are AI bots going to become domain specific? And how do they fit into the age-old build vs. buy debate?

In this episode of All Aboard, Alex Bovee is joined by CEO and Founder of Weave Identity, Ian Glazer. A true identity veteran, Ian most recently spent nine years heading up identity products and services at Salesforce. He started Weave Identity to offer advisory services to companies looking to create, mature, and scale digital identity products.

Together, Ian and Alex tackle two of the most discussed concepts in identity security: least privilege access (LPA) and zero standing privilege (ZSP). They analyze the pros and cons of each framework and how and where companies can put them into practice. Ian also shares his thoughts on how the identity industry has evolved and his predictions on how it will look in the near future.

What’s inside:

• ZSP vs. LPA: How do they differ? What are the shortcomings of each? Which is more effective?
• How to get started on the journey to implementing ZSP and LPA
• How to successfully control access sprawl
• The evolution of Identity as a shared concern between IT and security
• Ian’s identity security predictions 

In the latest episode of All Aboard, Alex Bovee is joined by Observa CEO, Rob Picard. Rob got his start in security as a pen tester and went on to be an early security hire at both Robinhood and Vanta, where he helped establish security programs designed to scale. He’s now leading Observa, a security consulting firm focused on helping startups develop a strong security structure.

Alex and Rob dive into Rob’s four-pillar framework for securing early-stage companies, which includes GRC, security engineering, enterprise security, and security operations. Rob details challenges and best practices for each pillar, the impact they have across the different stages of a company, and how teams should allocate resources to address each one effectively.

What’s inside:

• When to get a SOC 2 and how to choose compliance frameworks based on your organization’s needs
• The risks every startup should be thinking about and how to address them
• Why adopting the right technology doesn’t require a massive investment
• When to make your first security hire
• How to manage device and contractor security
• Alert fatigue and the steps you can take to combat it
• Why Rob’s optimistic about AI and emerging trends in the security industry