What BSidesSF does

BSidesSF (legally Security B-Sides) is a federally recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 2010 that operates an annual two-day information security conference in San Francisco. The conference is 100% volunteer-run, drawing approximately 200 volunteers per year across roles including Attendee Facing, Safety Operations, CTF Operations, and Program Operations, and is governed by a volunteer leadership team including Reed Loden (President and Lead Organizer). The event is held at City View at Metreon in downtown San Francisco and is historically scheduled to bookend RSA Conference, capturing overlapping attendees from the global security community. The participant base is approximately 60% local Bay Area and 40% traveling.

BSidesSF's core product is the annual conference, which features multiple talk tracks, hands-on workshops, themed "villages" (e.g., Lockpicking, Career, IoT), a Capture The Flag (CTF) hacking competition, and networking events. The CTF is a substantive sub-product — historically 41+ challenges running on Google Cloud Platform using Kubernetes and Docker, drawing over 1,100 active players across 676 teams in 2019. Operational technology is assembled from third-party platforms: Sched for scheduling, Slido for audience Q&A, CTFscoreboard for CTF operations, Sessionize for CFP submissions, VolunteerLocal for volunteer management, RegFox for ticketing, Mailchimp for email, Shopify for merchandise, and YouTube for live streaming and archival recordings. The content library of talks and graphic recordings extends back to 2010.

Revenue is generated through four streams: tiered ticket sales (early bird $100, standard $110, on-site $120, plus student/hardship tiers); corporate sponsorships (Gold, Silver, Bronze plus specialty tiers such as CTF, Lanyard, Scholarship, Wi-Fi — sold out for 2026 with named sponsors including Datadog, Wiz, Google, Tailscale, and Semgrep); individual donations and "Friend of BSidesSF" supporter tiers (Ruby $400, Emerald $800, Sapphire $1,200, partially tax-deductible); and merchandise sold through Shopify, with historical proceeds benefiting charities including EFF, Hackers for Charity, and Malala Fund. Donations are accepted via PayPal, Coinbase Commerce, Donorbox, Square, and Stripe. BSidesSF is part of the global Security BSides movement (parent framework at bsides.org) and holds a mutual partnership with RSA Conference.

Name

BSidesSF

Legal name

Security B-Sides

Website

https://bsidessf.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

BSidesSF is a 501(c)(3) volunteer-run non-profit that operates an annual two-day information security conference in San Francisco, featuring talks, workshops, villages, and a Capture The Flag competition for security practitioners. Revenue is generated via tickets, corporate sponsorships, donations, and merchandise.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Ticket Sales: Tiered ticket pricing with early bird ($100), standard ($110), and on-site ($120) pricing. Additional revenue from Friends of BSidesSF tiers (Ruby $400, Emerald $800, Sapphire $1200) which include special badges and event t-shirts.
2. Corporate Sponsorships: Corporate sponsors at various tiers (Gold, Silver, Bronze, plus specialty sponsorships like Daytime Social, Evening Social, CTF, Lanyard, Espresso/Coffee, Headshots, Scholarship, Wi-Fi Hardware, Calming Kit, Special Thanks). Sponsorships sold out for 2026.
3. Donations: Tax-deductible donations via PayPal, Coinbase (crypto), Donorbox, Square, and Stripe. Registered 501(c)(3) non-profit with EIN 27-1830464.
4. Merchandise Store: Event merchandise including t-shirts, masks, socks, and swag boxes sold through Shopify. Proceeds have historically benefited charities like EFF, Hackers for Charity, and Malala Fund.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

BSidesSF operates an annual two-day information security conference in San Francisco offering multiple tracks of talks, hands-on workshops, themed villages, and a Capture The Flag (CTF) hacking competition. The event is targeted at security engineers, practitioners, researchers, and community members seeking peer-driven education and collaboration, with paid tiered tickets, corporate sponsorship packages, and free YouTube streaming for remote viewers. Supporting offerings include graphic recordings of talks, student/academic discounts, and a Friends of BSidesSF individual supporter program.

Product overview

BSidesSF is a 100% volunteer-organized 501(c)(3) nonprofit annual information security conference held in San Francisco. The core offering is the two-day BSidesSF Conference featuring multiple tracks of talks, workshops, villages, and a Capture The Flag (CTF) hacking competition. Supporting offerings include Conference Tickets at tiered pricing, Friend of BSidesSF individual supporter donations at Ruby/Emerald/Sapphire levels, and Conference Sponsorship packages at Gold/Silver/Bronze tiers. The conference also produces Graphic Recordings by Silent James documenting each year's talks, and offers Student/Academic Discounts for accessibility. All events center around community participation rather than vendor-led presentations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• BSidesSF Annual Security Conference Annual two-day information security conference held in San Francisco, typically the weekend before RSA Conference. Provides an open forum for education, collaboration, and continued conversation for security engineers and practitioners. Features multiple tracks of talks, workshops, villages, and community activities.
• Capture The Flag (CTF) Competition Annual hacking competition held during the conference with challenges across multiple categories, running Friday afternoon through Sunday with prizes for top teams. Infrastructure hosted on Google Cloud Platform using Kubernetes and Docker.
• Graphic Recordings by Silent James Visual artwork documenting conference talks, created by artist Silent James. Published annually for each BSidesSF event. Available as thumbnails and full-size images on the graphic recordings page.
• Conference Sponsorship Packages Sponsorship packages at multiple levels (Gold, Silver, Bronze) plus specialty sponsorships (Daytime Social, Evening Social, CTF, Lanyard, Espresso and Coffee, Headshots, Scholarship, Internet, Wi-Fi Hardware, Calming Kit). Sold out for 2026.
• Conference Tickets and Friends of BSidesSF Supporter Tiers Paid conference attendance with tiered pricing based on purchase timing (early bird $100, standard $110, on-site $120). Friend of BSidesSF supporter tiers (Ruby $400, Emerald $800, Sapphire $1,200) include special badge and event t-shirt. Early bird pricing, academic/student discounts, and hardship tickets available.

Quantifiable outcome

• 600+ talk submissions reviewed for 2026 conference
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers18 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration15 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• RSA Conference (RSAC)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 21 March 2026BSidesSF historically bookends RSA Conference by holding its event the weekend before RSAC. This strategic positioning attracts overlapping participants from the global security community. BSidesSF received special thanks sponsorship from RSAC 2026 Conference.
• RSAC 2026 ConferencecoreGTM or Marketing PartnerSpecial Thanks sponsor for BSidesSF 2026, with exclusive savings offered to BSidesSF members attending RSAC 2026 in San Francisco from March 23-26, 2026.
• SplunkminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHosted BSidesSF 2019 workshops off-site at Splunk HQ on March 2nd, 2019.
• NeuroLeadership InstituteminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPresented sessions on leadership during the pandemic at BSidesSF 2021 virtual event.
• I Am The CavalryminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with BSidesSF 2019 for special screening of the movie 'Hackers' following closing ceremonies.
• Security BSides (Global)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBSidesSF is part of the global Security BSides movement, a community-driven framework for information security conferences. Parent organization at bsides.org.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• RSA Conference: The flagship enterprise security conference that BSidesSF bookends in San Francisco. Significantly larger and more commercial, but operates in the same InfoSec conference space targeting overlapping attendees.
• SANS Institute: Established cybersecurity training and education organization offering courses, certifications, and events. Overlaps with BSidesSF in security education mission but operates at significantly larger scale with paid training programs.
• Black Hat: Larger, more established information security conference operated by Informa. Overlaps in target audience (security professionals) and content focus but is more vendor-driven and corporate than BSidesSF's community model.

Direct peers

• DEF CON: Annual hacker conference with a similar community-driven ethos, CTF competitions, and volunteer-run operations, though much larger in scale. Operates as a directly comparable InfoSec conference concept.
• The Diana Initiative: Volunteer-run security conference focused on diversity in InfoSec, also held around DEF CON. Shares BSidesSF's non-profit, community-driven approach to security education and events.
• OWASP Foundation: Non-profit foundation focused on information security education and community through open-source projects, similar in non-profit structure, volunteer-driven model, and mission to advance security knowledge sharing.
• Security BSides (Global Movement): The umbrella organization for the global BSides movement of which BSidesSF is a chapter. They share the same community-driven, volunteer-led conference model and brand identity, making them the closest structural peer.
• BSides Las Vegas (BSidesLV): Sister BSides conference held annually in Las Vegas around DEF CON. Same volunteer-run, community-driven model targeting InfoSec practitioners, making it a direct peer event within the BSides movement.

Emerging players

• Nullcon: Hacker's conference with a similar community focus on emerging security topics and CTF-style competitions, operating primarily in India as an emerging player in the global InfoSec conference space.

Regional players

• CircleCityCon: Volunteer-run, community-driven InfoSec conference held annually in Indianapolis. Comparable to BSidesSF in mission and operational model but serves a different geographic community.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@BSidesSF/streams
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/bsidessf

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 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 BSidesSF