The Roadshow Was a Crazy Idea. Turns Out, Crazy Was the Point.

I'll be honest about something: when I first brought up the idea of an LSN Roadshow, I got a lot of polite nodding in the room and at least one "...are you sure?" from someone on my own team.

The pitch was simple and, admittedly, a little unhinged: instead of renting a booth at one big conference and hoping the right people wandered by, we'd go to them. Multiple stops. Our own events. Our own turf, our own terms. No badge scanners, no 10-minute pitch sandwiched between two competitors, no hoping someone remembers us by the time they're back at their desk Monday.

My team thought it was a bit crazy. They weren't wrong to think that. It was a bigger lift than a normal event calendar, it asked a lot of people who already had full plates, and there was no guarantee it would work better than just doing what everyone else in this industry does.

We did it anyway.

2025: Where it actually started

Looking back at 2025, what strikes me isn't just that the Roadshow happened — it's what it turned into. What started as a handful of stops turned into some of the best, most genuine conversations we've had with partners, customers, and people who just wanted to talk shop about infrastructure. Not pitch meetings. Conversations.

That's the thing nobody tells you about doing something different: it's slower to build trust for, and faster to build real relationships once it lands. By the end of 2025, the Roadshow wasn't a "should we do this again" conversation internally. It was a "how much bigger can we make this" conversation.

2026: The proof

This year turned that proof into something undeniable. Our California stops — Campbell and Newport Beach — weren't just well-attended, they were the kind of rooms where the right people were actually in them. We walked away with real connections specifically around AI infrastructure and bare metal — the two things that matter most to where LSN is headed right now. Not vague interest. Actual conversations with people evaluating GPU-dense infrastructure and dedicated hardware for what they're building next.

And yeah, we gave away some genuinely great prizes along the way, because if you're going to ask people to spend an evening with you, the least you can do is make it worth their time in more ways than one.

Somewhere along the way, the Roadshow became something I didn't fully expect: the event people in this space actually talk about. Not the one they attend because it's on the circuit. The one people ask us about before we've even announced the next stop.

My team was right that it was crazy. They just underestimated how much crazy was exactly what this industry needed.

The finale: Cloudfest America 2026

So here's where we're taking it: our biggest stop yet, as the finale for this year's Roadshow, at Cloudfest America.

If the California stops were proof of concept, this is the version where we stop being subtle about it. Same philosophy — real conversations over rented booth space — at the scale the year's momentum has earned. We're bringing everything we've learned about what makes these stops actually work, and pointing it at the room where a huge chunk of this industry will already be standing.

If you've been to a Roadshow stop this year, you know what to expect. If you haven't yet, Cloudfest America is the one to make it to.

We'll have more details soon. For now: mark it down, and get ready.

— Preston