Founder narrative locked T-30 to T-7.
Deliverables (3)
- ▸T-30 to T-7
- ▸30-account cluster
- ▸Village intro engineering


FORKOFF DEF CON activation is a 14-day operating cycle for AI security researchers, infrastructure pentesting tooling founders, and dev-tools teams shipping security primitives into the offensive-security and AI red-team cluster in Las Vegas. Pre-event narrative, on-site cadence at LVCC and the named Villages, post-event compounding, audit-tracked outcomes.
Most teams pay by application for an LVCC vendor table and hope. Some run a Strip-side dinner and bounce. FORKOFF runs the DEF CON week as a 14-day operating cycle.
Anonymized post-engagement. Names surfaced are DEF CON 2025 ecosystem operators FORKOFF either ran intros into or co-attended Village sessions with.
The hacker ecosystem compounds in ways no other security-conference week does. 30k attendees plus AI Village density plus offensive-security researcher concentration inside one 4-day Vegas window.
AI security researchers + offensive-security operators concentrated across LVCC plus the named Villages plus the Caesars Forum side-event web.
Bug bounty operators, dev-tools founders, and AI red-team researchers all in-market across the same 96-hour window.
Named Villages make AI security researchers and offensive operators reachable in topic-specific rooms.
InfoSec Twitter and AI red-team research cluster compound on residual.
The week breaks into an LVCC main-floor cluster, the named Villages circuit (AI Village + ICS + Hardware Hacking + Recon + Bug Bounty), and the Caesars Forum side-event web running parallel. Activating well means picking the right Village.
Aug 6-9, 2026
Main hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC). Co-located Caesars Forum carries side-event programming. The 30+ named Villages anchor topic-specific gatherings. Tour de DEF CON dinners across The Strip.
30,000+ in 2025: 32% AI security researchers + offensive-security operators, 26% dev-tools founders + product leaders shipping security primitives, 24% bug bounty + threat-intel + OSINT operators, 18% press + KOLs + sponsors.
Where the buyer-relevant rooms live. Pick 2 max for any single activation week.
Two prior cycles run on the FORKOFF audit ledger. AI red-team tooling pre-launch, infrastructure pentesting platform narrative. Both ledger entries delivered within T+30 of close.
Four days across the LVCC main floor, the named Villages circuit (AI Village, ICS Village, Hardware Hacking, Recon, Bug Bounty), and the Caesars Forum side-event web. Pre-event narrative, daily on-site cadence, post-event clip cascade. One operator carries every phase. Every phase closes with a ledger entry.
Founder narrative locked T-30 to T-7.
Daily founder posts from LVCC and the named Villages, Thu-Sun of DEF CON week.
On-site InfoSec Twitter operators, AI red-team voices, and bug bounty operators activated through bot-screened placements.
Clip cadence compounds T+1 to T+30.
Strategy 12 weeks out. Production 4 weeks out. Execution event week. Compounding 30 days post. Each phase closes with a ledger entry.
Sample schedule for a Standard-tier engagement. Tier-specific deliverables shown in the next section.
| Day | Date | Motion | FORKOFF owns |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wed (D-1) | Aug 5, 2026 | Land in Vegas · pre-event Tour de DEF CON Strip-side dinner setup | Venue + invite list + intro choreography |
| Thu | Aug 6 | Opening day attendance · founder posts from LVCC main floor | Daily post + on-site clip cadence |
| Fri | Aug 7 | ICP-account 1:1 meetings · AI Village session attendance | Meeting calendar + Village intro routing |
| Sat | Aug 8 | FORKOFF side event (researcher roundtable / panel / dinner) | Production + KOL invites + recording |
| Sun | Aug 9 | On-site podcast recording day · 3-4 founder + researcher interviews · DEF CON closing | Studio + production + same-week clip pipeline |
| Mon | Aug 10 | KOL placements live · partnership-conversation closes | KOL ledger + per-post tracking |
| Tue | Aug 11 | Founder thread recap of week · InfoSec Twitter cluster reciprocation | Thread craft + cluster activation |
| Wed (D+7) | Aug 12 | Departure · post-event clip cascade live | Distribution sequencing + audit ledger weekly |
Three DEF CON-circuit campaigns, three lanes: AI red-team tooling pre-launch, infrastructure pentesting platform narrative, post-event researcher compounding.
Pre-event narrative across 14 days locked the founder's positioning across the AI security research cluster before they landed in Vegas. Side-event roundtable + AI Village podcast recording fed a 14-clip post-event cadence. Audit ledger closed T+30 with qualified-pipeline math skewed AI red-team buyers.


Single-track Lite tier: 14-day pre-event narrative + 1 on-site podcast recording timed to the founder's AI Village slot. Audit-ledger entry shipped T+14 with qualified-intro list surfaced before the founder landed in Vegas.

Sponsor-grade activation across the parallel RSA Conference week for a security tooling vendor. Side-event tour (3 venues), 5 podcast recordings on-site, English-language clip cycle that rode the residual attention curve for 45 days. Same playbook ports to DEF CON.
14-day pre-event narrative + 30-account AI security research ICP map + qualified-intro list shipped before you land in Vegas. If we do not deliver the intro list inside 14 days, the by application comes back.
FORKOFF runs the only DEF CON activation we have seen built around a 14-day operating cycle, not an LVCC vendor table fee. The audit ledger told us exactly which AI Village intros compounded into researcher partnership pipeline.
Founder · AI red-team tooling SaaS
DEF CON 2025 standard tier · researcher roundtable layer
Two weeks of pre-event narrative + 30-account AI security research cluster activation + DEF CON-specific intro engineering. You leave with the audit ledger of qualified intros surfaced before you land in Vegas. Lite tier scopes a single track. Selective on ICP, capped per quarter.
Receipt-by-receipt, on the same five dimensions every buyer asks about. No tier shell games, no asterisks.
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| Feature | FORKOFF activationOutcome-priced | DIY booth + sponsorLogo on banner | Traditional PR firmPress retainer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Outcome-priced. Per-event commit. by application to by application tier band. | Vendor table fee plus AV plus founder hours. Often by application plus before any sourced researcher lead. | Monthly retainer regardless of event outcome. by application to by application per month. |
| Pre-event narrative | 30-day AI security research cluster activation plus 30-account dev-tools intro engineering | Tweet announcing booth number a week before | Press release embargoed until DEF CON opening day |
| On-site cadence | Daily founder posts, Tour de DEF CON dinner, AI Village panel, KOL placements, podcast recordings | Founder behind a vendor table, hopes the right researcher walks past | Press wrangling around the talks track, no operating cadence on-site |
| Post-event compounding | 30-day clip cascade plus qualified-pipeline ledger sourced from InfoSec Twitter cluster | Folder of phone photos and a vague Slack debrief from the LAS flight home | Coverage clipping report, often disconnected from researcher pipeline |
| Audit ledger receipt | Signed by operator, qualified-pipeline math, T+30 close | Whatever the founder remembers from the LVCC main hall | Vanity coverage report, no pipeline math |
All tiers carry the audit ledger + qualified-pipeline reporting. Tier scales scope, not philosophy.
by application
By application
By application
Apr 2026 · San Francisco · Standard tier by application
Apr 2026 · Las Vegas · Standard tier by application
Nov 2026 · San Francisco · Standard tier by application
Dec 2026 · Las Vegas · Standard tier by application to by application
May 2026 · San Mateo · Standard tier by application
DEF CON is the world's pre-eminent hacker conference, anchored at the Las Vegas Convention Center each August. The 2025 edition drew 30,000+ attendees across LVCC main hall plus 30+ named Villages (AI Village, ICS Village, IoT Village, Hardware Hacking, Recon, Bug Bounty) plus the Caesars Forum side-event web. DEF CON 2026 is DEF CON 34, running August 6 to 9 in Las Vegas. The room is the highest-density gathering of AI security researchers, offensive-security operators, infrastructure pentesting tooling founders, and dev-tools teams shipping security primitives in the world.
Beyond DEF CON week. AI-side ICP playbook for AI security researchers and AI red-team tooling founders.
Beyond DEF CON week. Dev-tools ICP playbook for security primitive shippers.
Pre-event narrative + intro engineering across 30 ICP accounts attending DEF CON.
On-site podcast recording day during DEF CON week. Studio + crew booked at Vegas partner venue.
Bot-screened InfoSec Twitter + AI red-team + bug bounty KOL placements during DEF CON week.
Browse the full 2026 events roster across Web3, AI/ML, and B2B SaaS.
Lite activation by application single-track. Standard tier by application end-to-end. Full tier by application sponsor-grade with researcher roundtable production. Audit ledger on qualified pipeline across every tier.

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