ShellCon

What ShellCon does

ShellCon is a community-organized annual information security conference based in the Los Angeles beach cities area, with its inaugural event held in 2018. The organization runs an annual two-day conference on October 8-9 that features dual talk tracks, hands-on workshops, Hacker Villages (CTF, Lockpicking), and ShellCon After Dark evening entertainment. Anchored to the conference are four supporting programs: RaiseMe provides year-round volunteer-driven career development (resume review, mock interviews, job hunting assistance, career check-ups) through the RaiseMe Career Hall; Salute! supports veteran and active-military transitions to civilian InfoSec careers via scholarships and dedicated consulting; ShellCon U delivers free technical training, transitioned during COVID-19 to independent quarterly talks; and the RaiseMe Job Board provides two-sided hiring marketplace functionality for sponsors and job seekers.

The technology stack is built entirely on consumer-grade third-party platforms rather than proprietary infrastructure: Discord powers year-round community engagement and village activities, YouTube streams and archives main talks, Twitch hosts ShellCon After Dark entertainment, Zoom delivers limited-capacity workshops, Universe handles ticketing, Google Forms processes RaiseMe enrollment and appointment scheduling, Airtable powers the RaiseMe Job Board, and CustomInk manages merchandise fulfillment. No proprietary technology components, APIs, SDKs, or patents are disclosed. The organization operates as a small core team of approximately 5 staff members supported by volunteers, with no venture capital or institutional ownership indicated.

Revenue is generated through four streams: Pay-What-You-Want conference registration, $20 limited-capacity workshop fees, tiered corporate sponsorships (Gold, Pearl, Supporting), and merchandise sales via CustomInk. All financial processing flows through LinuxFests, a California-based 501c(3) educational non-profit serving as fiscal sponsor. The primary customer segments are information security professionals and hackers (primary), career changers and newcomers to InfoSec, veterans and active military, and employers and hiring managers. No financial disclosures exist; the organization is privately held and operates as a non-profit event entity.

Name

ShellCon

Legal name

ShellCon

Website

https://shellcon.io

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

ShellCon is a community-organized annual information security conference based in Los Angeles. It runs complementary year-round programs including RaiseMe career development, Salute! veteran transition support, and ShellCon U training, serving InfoSec professionals, newcomers, and career changers globally via Discord, YouTube, and Twitch.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Information Security Conference

NAICS

Convention and Trade Show Organizers (561920), Convention and Trade Show Organizers (56192), Business Associations (813910)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Meeting & Conference Planning & Coordination (HSACADAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Virtual/Hybrid Conference Production & Platform Management (THAHACAM)

Keywords

• Information security conference
• Cybersecurity training events
• Infosec career services
• Capture the flag competitions
• Security skills workshops

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Conference Registration: Pay What You Want model for general conference attendance providing access to talk tracks, villages, and RaiseMe Career Hall
2. Workshop Fees: $20 registration fee for limited-capacity hands-on workshops with materials shared by instructors
3. Sponsorships: Gold, Pearl, and Supporting sponsorship tiers; fiscal sponsorship through LinuxFests 501c(3) non-profit

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

ShellCon organizes an annual information security conference held in the Los Angeles beach cities area, featuring dual talk tracks, hands-on workshops, and Hacker Villages (Capture The Flag and Lockpicking). The organization also operates RaiseMe, a year-round volunteer-driven career consulting program offering resume reviews, mock interviews, job hunting assistance, and career check-ups, alongside specialized programs such as Salute! for veteran transitions and ShellCon U for technical training.

Product overview

ShellCon is an annual information security conference organizer that operates a platform-plus-programs model. The core offering is the ShellCon Annual Conference (in-person in Los Angeles or virtual), featuring dual talk tracks, hands-on workshops, and Hacker Villages. Supporting the conference are specialized programs: RaiseMe provides year-round career development services (Resume Review, Mock Interviews, Job Hunting Assistance, Career Check-ups) through the RaiseMe Career Hall; Salute! supports veteran transitions to InfoSec careers; and ShellCon U delivers technical training. Additional programming includes ShellCon After Dark entertainment and a merchandise store via CustomInk.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• RaiseMe: A volunteer-driven career consulting program supporting the infosec community with resume reviews, mock interviews, job hunting assistance, and career development services.
• Salute!
• ShellCon U

Products and services

• ShellCon Annual Conference Annual two-day information security conference held in Los Angeles (in-person) or virtually, featuring dual talk tracks, hands-on workshops, Hacker Villages (CTF, Lockpicking), and the RaiseMe career development track. Targeted at security professionals, hackers, and technical practitioners.
• ShellCon Workshops

Quantifiable outcome

• Career placements facilitated through RaiseMe program
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration7 records

AI capability3 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• TeleportcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerGold Sponsor of ShellCon. Teleport provides infrastructure access solutions and sponsored at the Gold level for ShellCon 2020/2021.
• SkySafecoreGTM or Marketing PartnerPearl Sponsor of ShellCon. SkySafe sponsored at the Pearl level.
• BAD2BEEFcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerPearl Sponsor of ShellCon. BAD2BEEF (StudlyBeefyMcBeefyStudly) also serves as Speaker Track Music sponsor and contributed workshop content.
• Icetre NormalminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSupporting Sponsor providing Speaker Track Music for ShellCon 2020.
• No Starch PressminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSupporting Sponsor providing Swag prizes for conference attendees.
• PentesterLabminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSupporting Sponsor providing CTF Prizes for the Capture The Flag competition.
• Linux Expo of Southern California (LinuxFests)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFiscal Sponsor - California-based educational 501c(3) non-profit organization. Provides fiscal sponsorship enabling ShellCon to operate as a non-profit conference. Registration payments processed through their platform at register.linuxfests.org.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• BSides: BSides is a global network of community-driven, volunteer-organized information security conferences — directly comparable to ShellCon in mission, format, and target audience of infosec practitioners seeking accessible, community-led events.
• GrrCON: GrrCON is a Midwest hacker conference with strong community focus and practical security content. Comparable size and community-driven model to ShellCon, serving as a template for regional infosec community events.
• CircleCityCon: CircleCityCon is a Midwest community-driven infosec conference of comparable scale to ShellCon. Both serve as regional community gatherings with hands-on villages and career development programming.
• LayerOne: LayerOne is another Southern California-based information security conference with a similar community/hacker focus. Geographic and thematic overlap makes it ShellCon's most direct regional competitor for LA-based attendees and sponsors.
• ShmooCon: ShmooCon is an annual East Coast hacker convention known for its intimate community atmosphere and emphasis on quality technical content — closely aligned with ShellCon's positioning as a community-focused, content-driven event.

Broad incumbents

• DEF CON: DEF CON is the largest and most established hacker conference, operating annually in Las Vegas. While vastly larger in scale, it shares ShellCon's hacker-community focus and provides the aspirational benchmark for community-driven infosec conferences.
• Black Hat: Black Hat is a major enterprise-facing information security event series. While commercially operated and much larger, it competes for the same infosec practitioner and security vendor sponsor dollars that ShellCon targets.
• RSA Conference: RSA Conference is the largest enterprise cybersecurity event globally. Represents the upper bound of competition for enterprise infosec sponsorships and sets the annual calendar cadence that smaller conferences like ShellCon must work around.

Emerging players

• Blue Team Con: Blue Team Con is a community-driven conference focused on defensive security. Comparable in scale and community ethos to ShellCon, with a narrower defensive-only focus that overlaps with ShellCon's practitioner audience.
• Wild West Hackin' Fest: Wild West Hackin' Fest is a community-focused infosec conference with strong emphasis on defensive security and training. Comparable in spirit to ShellCon's practical learning focus but with a more defensive/blue-team orientation.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ShellConLa
• YouTubeyoutube.com/c/ShellCon
• Facebookfacebook.com/ShellConLA
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/shellcon
• Instagraminstagram.com/shellconla

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about ShellCon