LaunchPoint Collective and CYBR.SEC.Community bring 20+ startups to CYBR.SEC.CON., connecting emerging technology with CISOs, practitioners and early adopters.
CYBR.SEC.Community and LaunchPoint Collective have formed a new partnership designed to connect emerging cybersecurity startups with the security leaders and practitioners most likely to put their technology to work.
The partnership will take center stage at CYBR.SEC.CON. 2026, Sept. 15–16 in Houston, where LaunchPoint Collective is bringing more than 20 cybersecurity startups into the conference ecosystem. Companies will participate through booths, presentations, events and the LaunchPad startup competition.
LaunchPoint Collective co-founder and managing partner John Barrow, who also serves as CISO at JB Poindexter & Co., said the partnership addresses a persistent problem in cybersecurity: Innovative startups struggle to cut through an increasingly crowded market, while CISOs and practitioners struggle to identify emerging technologies that actually address their needs.
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“There’s a lot of amazing technology coming out that people need to be aware of. But there’s so much noise,” Barrow said. “How do you cut through that noise? How do you get the right leaders, the right decision makers in the same room as those brilliant technologies, the right startups?”
LaunchPoint evaluates startups based on their technology, founding teams and potential impact, then works to connect them with early adopters whose organizations and security challenges align with what those companies are building. CYBR.SEC.CON. provides a venue for those relationships to develop through direct interaction among founders, CISOs and practitioners.
The Houston focus is deliberate. Barrow said emerging security companies and investors often gravitate toward established technology centers while overlooking Houston and its community of security leaders and early adopters. The partnership is intended to help change that perception while making startup discovery a more meaningful part of the CYBR.SEC.CON. experience.
CYBR.SEC.Community CEO Michael Farnum said the collaboration fits the organization’s broader effort to build CYBR.SEC.CON. around community, practitioner interaction and substantive conversations rather than simply creating another cybersecurity trade show.
“I’m super excited about what we’re doing together and looking forward to it for years,” Farnum said. “The partnership is going to be great going on for a long time.”
The partnership will extend beyond the conference floor. LaunchPoint is also planning surrounding gatherings designed to give founders and security leaders more opportunities to build relationships and explore emerging technologies without the traditional rapid-fire sales pitch.
“Our big thing is we just want to introduce people,” Barrow said. “We want them to build a relationship. We want them to get to know these people.”
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