You spend years trying to make something resonate - shaping ideas, refining the story, aligning teams, adjusting the product as you go.
And then one day, it does.
At Infosec 2025, I spent three full days on the Risk Ledger booth. Talking to CISOs, Heads of IT, software engineers, product managers, and the occasional very tired security analyst. And something clicked.
They asked sharper questions. They connected the dots. They got it.
The idea we've been pushing for years - that TPRM can be networked, collaborative, and dynamic - wasn't just received. It was recognised. Like they'd already felt the pain of the old model, and were waiting for someone to say it out loud.
It was energising.
Not just because of the validation (though, sure, that felt great), but because of the team.
We don't often get full days together like this - no Slack, no back-to-back calls - just side-by-side, talking to people, solving problems, swapping notes between conversations. Engineers, designers, customer teams, marketers, product folks. Everyone pulling in the same direction, no silos, no egos.
It reminded me that product isn't just about what you build. It's about who you build it with - and how much stronger it feels when you're in it together.
I shared some of this in a LinkedIn post after the event - but honestly, words don't quite capture the feeling of being there, seeing it click, and realising: oh, we're not just building a product anymore. We're building belief.
I've been at Risk Ledger for six years now. Seven, really, if you count the time before I officially joined - when I knew Dan and Haydn, and was helping out at our very first Cylon demo day, working the stand. I've been at every event since. Now we're a 65+ person scale-up, post-Series A. And this one? It felt different.
And this one? It felt different.
In my talk - From Broken to Connected - I shared how we're thinking differently:
- Building a living, growing network of security connections (170% YoY growth)
- Helping clients uncover real dependencies and concentration risks
- Treating collaboration as the foundation, not an afterthought
Over those three days, I kept hearing the same thing:
Too much noise. Not enough real insight.
And the conclusion was clear - solving that isn't just about better tooling. It's about better systems. Systems that connect people - clients and suppliers, security teams and communities - and use tech to amplify human judgment, not replace it.
I left the event feeling clearer than I have in months. Not just about the product. About the why behind it.
When you've spent years in early-stage fog - testing, pivoting, second-guessing - these moments matter. They remind you that clarity isn't a lightning bolt. It's slow-built. Earned. And when the message finally lands, it's not because of a killer one-liner - it's because you did the work.
And because you never stopped showing up.
The people you're building for are already out there.
You just need to meet them where they are.
People didn't just listen - they leaned in.