Fireside Chat w/Kendrick Trotter, Founder @ Us in Technology

[00:00:00] Hello, hello. [00:00:10] We will get started in a few minutes. [00:00:16] Let's get this room set up real quick. [00:00:26] Sounds like somebody's on who's on. [00:00:34] I can't tell because I'm not looking at the app. [00:00:44] Trying to look at something else right now. [00:00:50] So Jeff, what's up Dave? [00:00:58] Hey, Bob. [00:01:00] Just trying to get this room set up real quick. [00:01:06] We will make a start. [00:01:16] I'm going to show you. [00:01:26] I'm going to show you. [00:01:30] I'm going to show you. [00:01:50] Kendrick. [00:01:52] Hello. [00:01:53] How's it going Kendrick? [00:01:57] I can hear you loud and clear. [00:01:58] Can you hear me? [00:01:59] Okay. [00:02:00] Okay. [00:02:01] Perfect. [00:02:02] Perfect. [00:02:03] My phone's dying. [00:02:04] So I'm trying to get my headphones locked in and I just jumped off of another Zoom call. [00:02:07] So I'm happy. [00:02:08] Sounds good. [00:02:09] Sounds good. [00:02:10] We'll get started in a few minutes so you could get yourself settled in. [00:02:15] We'll get some time for folks in the room to join us and some of the moderators to join us. [00:02:22] I do know it is July. [00:02:25] It is July. [00:02:26] It's a lot of people traveling. [00:02:29] So we'll see how it goes. [00:02:32] How's your day been so far, Tom? [00:02:34] It's been all right. [00:02:37] It's been okay. [00:02:39] Can't complain. [00:02:40] I actually got a, actually I did something interesting today. [00:02:43] I think Bob might appreciate this. [00:02:45] I took a red cross training today. [00:02:50] I don't know if I want to say this because then people might have expectations. [00:02:54] Yeah. [00:02:55] But, but I did get certified on adult and pediatrics first age, CPR and AED with life, bleeding and tourniquet application. [00:03:10] So I think I might know how to save a potentially save a life if I have to. [00:03:15] Okay. [00:03:16] Okay. [00:03:17] Just hope I don't ever have to use those skills. [00:03:20] But. [00:03:21] Yes, sir. [00:03:22] Yes, sir. [00:03:23] And then I know that just like most of us, you probably had a lot of meetings this week. [00:03:28] What was your, I guess your most exciting conversation from this week? [00:03:33] From this week. [00:03:35] Wow. [00:03:36] That is a good question. [00:03:40] I've had a few exciting conversations this week. [00:03:44] I guess I'll say one of the ones, maybe not so much, I guess it is sort of work related. [00:03:50] One of the interesting conversations I had this week, I was actually interviewing somebody from, for an open role on my team. [00:03:57] Um, they did really, really well. [00:04:00] Uh, but they decided not to continue their application. [00:04:04] Uh, due to, I guess, certain, uh, requirements of having a, you know, the hybrid wasn't, wasn't hybrid enough, I guess. [00:04:13] I'll just put it that way. [00:04:14] Which is unfortunate, because they did really well. [00:04:16] And I thought they were, I thought they were going to be a good superstar on our, on our team. [00:04:20] So, role is still open if anybody's interested in, uh, applying for my security architecture and engineering role. [00:04:28] And, uh, in California, feel free to ping me on LinkedIn and, uh, we'll get you into the process. [00:04:36] But yeah, so that, that's probably, uh, one of the things that I would say, Kendrick. [00:04:41] Okay. [00:04:42] Um, let me, uh, let me do a few things while we wait for folks to join us and then we'll sort of get started. [00:04:49] Um, I do know there are certain moderators that are out. [00:04:54] Um, thank you, Jeff. [00:04:58] I just saw the chat. [00:04:59] Thanks. [00:05:00] Uh, yeah. [00:05:01] Thanks for the compliment. [00:05:02] Um, yeah. [00:05:03] So I do know there are certain moderators that are traveling. [00:05:06] Uh, we've got some folks traveling. [00:05:08] We've got some folks, uh, doing other commitments. [00:05:11] Um, but we will, we will keep this show on the road. [00:05:15] And if it's just you and me, Kendrick, it's just you and me. [00:05:18] We'll open up a little sooner for folks to come up on the audience and, and, and, uh, and join us. [00:05:23] But I do know some folks will be joining, uh, slightly later than usual. [00:05:27] Cause they have some conflicts. [00:05:28] So, um, why don't, why don't I'm just gonna, uh, I'm just gonna mute you real quick. [00:05:34] Kendrick, I'll just do some, okay. [00:05:35] Just six and then we're gonna start. [00:05:36] Okay. [00:05:37] So if it's the first time you joined us, this is our weekly fireside chat. [00:05:42] Uh, I do see a lot of familiar faces in the audience. [00:05:44] So I will save you from all of those, uh, uh, repetitive statements, but I will say it actually for the folks that are, that will be done. [00:05:52] That will be dialing in or tuning in later. [00:05:55] Uh, this is our weekly fireside chat. [00:05:57] There's a little greenhouse on the top left of your screen, right next to where it says fireside chat. [00:06:00] Click that little greenhouse and join our fireside chat club. [00:06:03] We do this every single Wednesday and we've done it just about, we almost had a whole year going. [00:06:09] Uh, but we had to cancel unfortunately one week and it was actually Bob. [00:06:14] It was actually Bob. [00:06:15] We had to reschedule Bob cause we were all at RSA. [00:06:17] So, uh, unfortunately for us, we, we had to cancel one week and we broke the streak, but we are back and we have been back trying to start a new street. [00:06:27] Uh, so this is our weekly fireside chat. [00:06:29] We do this every Wednesday for about an hour and a half or so. [00:06:32] So 8 PM Eastern time to about 9 30 or so PM Eastern time. [00:06:35] We usually ask our guests in this case, Kendrick Trotter. [00:06:38] Uh, we asked our guests questions for about 30 to 40 minutes or so. [00:06:41] So depending upon how many moderators, uh, join us this evening, uh, we may or may not open it up for questions. [00:06:48] So possibly a little bit sooner, depending upon how the conversation is going. [00:06:51] Uh, just very quick guardrails, uh, for those, uh, for those who don't know, um, you know, if you do jump up on stage and you do want to ask a question, the one, the one ask that we, that we usually ask is that you don't try to solicit us on any of your latest and greatest products or solutions. [00:07:11] Uh, save that for another time, another place, another date. [00:07:14] Uh, this is really a conversation to get to know our guests, uh, to get to know them a little bit more, uh, to get to know them on a different level, I'll say. [00:07:23] A more personal level, really focus on, on their journey and their, their, you know, how did they get to where they are so that we can learn from them, right? [00:07:32] If there are, if things resonate with you, you might learn a few things. [00:07:35] Uh, our comments and opinions for the most part are, are our own and do not represent our current or prior employer. [00:07:41] So just please keep that in mind. [00:07:43] Uh, we're not here on a working capacity. [00:07:45] We're here really on a giving back to the community capacity. [00:07:48] And, uh, last but not least, let's have a good time. [00:07:52] It is the middle of the week. [00:07:53] Um, it is still summertime and depending upon where you're listening from, it might be summertime for you. [00:07:59] It might be winter time. [00:08:00] I have no idea, but, um, it is still summertime on the East coast, uh, where, where I'm based and I know Vijay's based. [00:08:07] Uh, and it is hot today. [00:08:09] It was a hot day. [00:08:10] So hopefully Vijay, just a quick microphone check for you. [00:08:13] Hopefully you stayed hydrated today. [00:08:16] Hey, Thomas, how's it going? [00:08:18] Kendrick, welcome. [00:08:19] It's going all right. [00:08:20] It's going all right. [00:08:21] It's going all right. [00:08:22] So, look, I'm just going to go around the room. [00:08:24] Uh, it's not that many people around the room today, but they will be, uh, they will be coming in soon. [00:08:30] I'm sure. [00:08:31] Uh, so, uh, Kendrick, we'll leave you for last. [00:08:33] Uh, I'm Tomas Maldonado. [00:08:34] I'm Tomas Maldonado. [00:08:35] I'm the CISO at the NFL. [00:08:37] Vijay, over to you, my friend. [00:08:39] Thank you, Tomas. [00:08:40] Hey, uh, good morning. [00:08:41] Good afternoon. [00:08:42] Good evening, everybody. [00:08:43] My name is Vijay Bala. [00:08:44] I'm the CISO of, uh, Asset Management at Goldman Sachs. [00:08:47] Vijay, thanks for joining us. [00:08:50] And, uh, Kendrick, you know, why don't you take some time and, and you can take as long as you want to introduce yourself. [00:08:57] And while you're going through that introduction, you know, I'll ask you my, the typical first question I usually ask our guests here to set the stage for the evening is why don't you tell us a little bit about you and your origin story? [00:09:10] Yeah, I would love to. [00:09:14] So first and foremost, Vijay and Tomas, um, thanks a lot for having me. [00:09:19] Thanks a lot for, um, even putting this together. [00:09:21] I think that, um, for me, I come from the DEI space, the diversity, equity, inclusion space. [00:09:27] And the biggest thing that I try to promote to our community is that each of us need all of us. [00:09:32] And, um, we need to see more people who resemble us in positions that we aspire to be in. [00:09:37] So, um, with that being said, my name is Kendrick Trotter, the very, very proud, uh, CEO and founder of a company called Us and Technology. [00:09:46] Us and Technology is a hiring platform and a virtual community focused on bridging the gap between hiring, uh, companies and underrepresented people. [00:09:54] At Us and Technology, what we define as underrepresented people are people of underrepresented ethnicities, women, first generation college graduates, uh, QA community, and of course, uh, veterans. [00:10:07] Um, you know, the reality is, is that the tech industry is, you know, top five highest paid industries in the world. [00:10:14] Only 1.3% African American, 3.3% Latinx and 24% women. [00:10:20] And so my personal goal, and I think this will tie back into my origin story is that my personal goal is that I want to create more equity in the world for underrepresented people. [00:10:28] Uh, equity is ownership. Ownership is power. [00:10:31] If you don't have equity, if you don't have ownership, you don't have anything in this world. [00:10:35] And in order to have, uh, access to equity or access in order to get equity or ownership, you have to have access to education and employment. [00:10:43] Uh, so a little bit about myself, I'm actually from the Bay area. [00:10:47] And although I grew up just 10 or 15 minutes away from the Silicon Valley, uh, like most of the people I grew up around, they had no idea about the opportunities and tech. [00:10:56] And so for me, I always had aspirations of, you know, wanting a better lifestyle and having different experiences. [00:11:03] But I associated that with the three different paths that I seen in my neighborhood specifically, which was either playing sports, um, being in entertainment or unfortunately being in the streets. [00:11:15] So my mom was extremely strict. My brother was even stricter. So the streets weren't necessarily an option for me. Um, thank God. [00:11:23] Thank God. And I think that I'm a phenomenal singer, especially if it comes to karaoke, but the rest of the world doesn't recognize great talent. [00:11:32] And, um, I was fortunate enough to, you know, prioritize playing football and play college football at the university of Idaho. [00:11:39] And when I got home, I had no idea what it was I wanted to do. And I was right back kind of where I started and I started Ubering. [00:11:46] And while Ubering, um, I met a VP of sales at AWS and he said, Kendrick, you should get into the tech industry. [00:11:53] And I said, well, I don't know anything about tech. And he laughed at me and he said, Kendrick, if you can study a playbook for football that changes every week, you can study a product knowledge. [00:12:01] And so I told him, I got this ambitious goal that I want to make six figures by the time that I'm 25. And he laughed at me and he said, Kendrick, you don't understand kids make this an entry level positions. [00:12:13] So, um, he actually helped me get my first sales job and my first sales job. I worked at an email security company called Agari, um, as a sales development rep, I quickly moved up to ranks. [00:12:25] I then went to a public cybersecurity company called Radware, where, um, we've focused on selling like DDoS and layer seven web application firewalls. [00:12:34] And I became a major account rep of a public cybersecurity company managing accounts like eBay, Salesforce, Workday, Twitter. [00:12:41] Um, and as I was on this journey, I started to realize that there were so many other people just like myself that had no ideas about the opportunities in tech. [00:12:50] And that's what led to me starting my own business and kind of connecting those dots. [00:12:59] Awesome. And, and can you just play back for me again? Where was it that you grew up at? [00:13:05] Yes, of course. So I'm originally from the Bay area. So, um, you know, being raised by a single mom, we moved around a lot. [00:13:12] So we went from Richmond, California to Vallejo, California from Vallejo, California, Oakland, California from Oakland, California to Stockton, California. So, um, all around Northern California. [00:13:23] I see. Interesting story. And it's interesting how, you know, it's interesting how someone saw, or I don't know if they saw in you by probably a conversation you had while you were Ubering or if they, you know, just gave you an off the cuff sort of pieces, a piece of advice around. [00:13:44] Um, if you can, if you can, if you can study playbooks, you can study a product, uh, what do you call it? I don't know if you call it a product manuals or a product, uh, product solutions. [00:13:54] Um, but, you know, I call that transferable skills, right? They were able to see those transferable skills that you had and, and, you know, and you're, and you were able to apply that. [00:14:04] So that, I think that's pretty interesting and pretty, uh, um, you know, not so much fascinating, uh, because I, there's, I'm sure there's other things that are fascinating that you've done, but it's interesting that you saw the, the, and you had the, the capability and the know-how and the desire to, [00:14:23] to do that and go that route. [00:14:26] Yeah, a hundred percent. I think the biggest thing for me was that Uber rider helped me realize some of the abilities that I had naturally, but I didn't realize were transferable, which was, uh, coachability, drive, integrity, and intelligence. [00:14:41] So, um, what I focus on now is finding people exactly like myself who have those characteristics, but just need guidance and, uh, maybe a little bit of support to know that they can too. [00:14:50] Yeah. [00:14:53] Hey, Kendrick, uh, fascinating story and thank you for joining us. [00:14:57] Uh, I got a question that's pretty pertinent. [00:15:01] Maybe you can help me out here. [00:15:04] My neighbor, he's, he's been a math teacher for 20 years and a couple of days back, he reached out to me like, Vijay, can I grab some time with you just to chat about how to get into the tech industry? [00:15:17] I mean, after being 20 years in one field is looking for, for a change that, uh, I think a lot of us do appreciate. [00:15:26] Any tips, if, if you or me and you, you were talking to this individual, how would you go approach it? [00:15:32] Yeah. [00:15:33] So that's a great question. [00:15:35] Um, and to be transparent, you know, our community, us in tech is more than 10,000 people. [00:15:41] And the majority of them are actually career transitioners. [00:15:43] So we attract a lot of teachers, um, a lot of nurses, um, a lot of people who come from maybe like bartending or waitressing jobs as well. [00:15:52] And so I think the first thing is understanding like what his aspirations are. [00:15:57] What does he define as tech? [00:15:59] Because a lot of times when people are in an industry, when they think of tech, they think of engineering or coding. [00:16:05] They might not know about being a developer. [00:16:08] They might not know about being a product manager. [00:16:10] They might not know about customer success and, um, sales. [00:16:14] And so I think the first thing is like hearing from that individual, what they define as, uh, as the tech industry and like where they think they would be aligned. [00:16:25] And then based on the feedback you received there, presenting them with formal positions that could potentially align. [00:16:32] Um, because, you know, if he's a teacher, I would say that it's probably safe to say that he has great, uh, patience. [00:16:39] He has great listening skills. [00:16:41] Um, he's a great, you know, storyteller. [00:16:44] And for me, when I hear those things, those are all things that a great salesperson and a great consultant should be. [00:16:51] So I would say, you know, maybe first off, start by understand, uh, asking him what he thinks, um, or what he's defining as, as tech and what roles he thinks he will be good in. [00:17:02] And then educate him on the broader amount of roles in the industry, technical and non-technical. [00:17:08] And then from there, narrowing down to, uh, what his interests are, you can build a plan with them of what might be the best fit. [00:17:17] Um, so if he was looking for a soft skill position, us in technology would be awesome for that. [00:17:23] Um, if he was looking to get into maybe like an engineering role, their bootcamps offered by like cyber, cybersity. [00:17:30] There's bootcamps offered by a bootcamp called boot up. [00:17:35] There's also a bootcamp also offered by, um, career karma as well that, you know, would help them get into those roles. [00:17:42] Hey, thank you for that. [00:17:44] Very nice prescriptive three-step plan. [00:17:48] Yes, sir. [00:17:49] Just a follow up question for you. [00:17:50] And, you know, we, we come across, you know, colleagues, friends where, you know, they probably worked in 20, 25 years in doing one thing. [00:18:00] And you ask them, what do you want to do next? [00:18:02] Most people don't know. [00:18:04] I mean, that's a fact. [00:18:04] Right. [00:18:05] So how do you generally interface with individuals who may not have that contextual knowledge on what they want? [00:18:15] Yeah, that's a phenomenal question. [00:18:18] Um, especially for the younger generation, um, like millennials and generation X, um, because everyone wants to do what they want to do right away. [00:18:32] And the reality is that sometimes you got to do things you don't like to have the opportunity to do things that you really like. [00:18:38] So I asked the same question to, um, Don Cardinal, who was a former director of information security at Bank of America a few years ago. [00:18:47] And he told me to always find time for the things that I'm passionate about, even if it's volunteering, even if it's free. [00:18:53] And the example he gave me is he said that at his church, he actually volunteers to be a treasurer. [00:18:58] And there were skills that he learned by volunteering to be a treasurer that he actually was able to apply to later roles down the line. [00:19:06] So I think the thing that I, the way I try to phrase it is, you know, Hey, what are some of the things you like to do? [00:19:12] Do you like to talk to people or do you like to be behind the scenes? [00:19:16] And a lot of people like, Oh, I like to talk to people. [00:19:18] Okay. Um, do you prefer to be, um, more focused on like, uh, coachability and drive? [00:19:26] Or are you more someone who would prefer to do like coding and engineering? [00:19:30] And I asked them, you know, simple questions like that, because to your point, they usually don't know the different roles and different responsibilities. [00:19:37] And then based on the things that they think they like to do, I then educate them on some of the roles. [00:19:43] So at us in tech, one of the things we do right away to your point is we try to educate them about all the different pathways of getting into the industry, because most people assume it's only one way. [00:19:56] And that's not the case. [00:19:58] Excellent. Thank you, Kendrick. [00:20:00] Kendrick, I want to, I want to unpack a few things just about your journey and, and, uh, um, maybe help the folks in the audience or even the folks that might be listening at some point in time. [00:20:14] Um, you know, as they start to think through their careers and different transition points and different, um, pivotal points in their career, you know, you, you started us in technology, but when did, when did you actually start us in technology? [00:20:29] And what my, what I mean by that is you had several different opportunities throughout your career, um, professionally after college. [00:20:37] And then I presume before college, at what point did you actually start to think, wow, this is what I want to do ultimately. [00:20:45] But you may have not, you may have not been ready to do it or you, or maybe you were ready to do it and you were just trying to build up to it. [00:20:55] Like how, like, what were those pivotal points in time that made you decide on, all right, I want to get to us in technology, but, you know, just thinking about early on as, as you're building up, like what, what were those key things that you were learning to, to be able to get to that point? [00:21:12] Man, that's a good question. [00:21:16] Um, and that's like one of the areas that I, I really love talking about. [00:21:24] Um, so I'll, I'll kind of like break it down for you a little bit. [00:21:29] Um, so for me, I never planned to be in tech. [00:21:33] Uh, when I got my first job, the guest speaker came in and he said he made six figures. [00:21:44] And I asked him, I said, are you passionate about what you do? [00:21:49] And he said, no, I'm not passionate. [00:21:51] I said, do you have to be passionate about what you do to make a lot of money? [00:21:54] And he said, no. [00:21:55] And I was so excited. [00:21:56] So I was like, I will never be passionate about tech. [00:22:00] And then I told my cousin, who's a role model to me. [00:22:02] And he said, well, the person who told you that, what do they do? [00:22:06] And I said, well, he's the founder of the company. [00:22:08] And he said, it sounds like he's doing something he's passionate about. [00:22:11] So for me, as I was kind of moving up the ranks, um, I had so many people pulling me into conversations. [00:22:17] I had no business being a part of, I had so many people mentoring me, my customers. [00:22:24] Were mentoring me, my prospects. [00:22:26] You know, like I said, Don Cardinal. [00:22:28] He took the time to meet with me when I was like this, you know, just little SDR. [00:22:32] Um, Jimmy Sanders, uh, director of information security of Netflix DVD. [00:22:37] He spent a lot of time with me. [00:22:38] Chris Cochran. [00:22:40] I had all these people who took out time to mentor me because I feel like I had sincere intentions. [00:22:46] And I was just curious to learn more. [00:22:47] Um, now when I started working and I started making money, I had never had money before. [00:22:56] I'd never was really able to get myself nice stuff. [00:22:59] So the first thing that I did when I started making money is I started to spend it. [00:23:03] And I got myself this nice bins and I got myself this nice apartment. [00:23:08] And I was driving around my neighborhood, um, which obviously isn't the best neighborhood [00:23:13] in the area. [00:23:14] And people were asking me like, what do you do? [00:23:17] What do you do? [00:23:18] And all my friends started reaching out to me on social media. [00:23:20] Like, what do you do? [00:23:22] And the very first person that I actually helped get a job is on the call today, which is London [00:23:27] Miller. [00:23:28] And he reached out to me on Instagram. [00:23:29] He's like, Hey man, I don't know what you do, but I see you have a nice car. [00:23:33] Um, you know, what is this tech thing? [00:23:36] And he moved up from Southern California, uh, was sleeping on my couch. [00:23:41] I mentored him, helped him get his first tech job. [00:23:43] Um, again, I, as an entry level sales rep. [00:23:46] And then when he started having success, somebody else reached out to me on Instagram and it [00:23:51] went from like one to five to 10 to 15 people. [00:23:54] And I was literally just volunteering my time to do this. [00:23:57] And then I was introduced to someone on LinkedIn who, when I connected with them, he said, Kendrick, [00:24:02] is this what you love to do? [00:24:04] And I said, yeah, you know, I thought my goal was to make six figures, but I felt way better [00:24:09] when I helped somebody else make six figures. [00:24:11] And he said, well, why don't you do this full time? [00:24:14] I said, I can't do this full time. [00:24:15] He said, why not you? [00:24:17] Why not now? [00:24:18] And there was a huge block of imposter syndrome that I had to overcome because I had never [00:24:22] even thought about that. [00:24:24] So I had my nine to five, which was at my cyber company and I was an account executive [00:24:29] and I was doing really well. [00:24:31] And what happened was my us and technology was just something I was doing on the side [00:24:37] and I started to pick up revenue. [00:24:39] I started to pick up clients and my company wanted to hire someone from us in tech. [00:24:45] They're like, hey, I see you posting about this thing on LinkedIn. [00:24:49] How about we hire someone from your team? [00:24:51] And so they went to hire someone and they said, well, Kendrick, you know, we'll give you [00:24:55] a thousand dollar referral bonus. [00:24:57] And I said, well, that's actually $10,000. [00:25:00] And they said, wait, what? [00:25:01] You're an employee here. [00:25:03] And I said, yeah, but, you know, that's someone who went through the program, the trainings. [00:25:06] That's $10,000. [00:25:08] And the HR team immediately was like, well, like that's a potential conflict of interest [00:25:12] because it was a conflict of interest because if, you know, anyone had ever had a bad experience [00:25:18] with me at us in tech, they can associate that with my employment at Radware. [00:25:23] And so my leadership team was actually really, really, really cool about it. [00:25:29] And they were trying to figure out ways to, you know, keep me as a contractor. [00:25:33] And one of my mentors told me, you know, Kendrick, you have the opportunity to make a lot of money this year. [00:25:38] Are you sure that this is what you want to do? [00:25:40] And so ultimately, like why I made the decision and why I make the decision every day is because my goal is I want to make the biggest impact on this world possible. [00:25:52] And, you know, I feel like being an individual contributor, it's a good feeling, but it doesn't compare to the feeling of helping others. [00:26:01] So I jumped off the bridge and went full time into entrepreneurship. [00:26:07] I was fortunate that my business had kind of started building up that when that situation came, I was able to do it full time. [00:26:16] But it's definitely something I'm still learning to become more comfortable with. [00:26:22] Hey, great story, Kendrick. [00:26:24] Can you share with the audience a couple of tricks or tips that's worked for you related to your comment on imposter syndrome? [00:26:34] Wow. [00:26:35] Wow. [00:26:36] So I'm still battling imposter syndrome. [00:26:39] So my first three months in a role, I should have been fired. [00:26:44] And I emphasize three months because to be really bad at something for 90 days is rare and very uncomfortable. [00:26:53] And so for me, when I first had my first sales job, I was asking my manager for help who was a white woman. [00:26:59] And I said, you know, how do I talk to these people on the phone? [00:27:03] Because I'm like, hey, this is Kendrick with the Gari email security. [00:27:07] And, you know, what are you using to protect yourself? [00:27:10] And they'd be like, you sound like you're trying to hack me. [00:27:11] And they would hang up on me. [00:27:13] And she said, Kendrick, you have to talk like you're talking to your friends. [00:27:16] And I said, but you don't know my friends, right? [00:27:19] Like I came from a football locker room. [00:27:22] You know, none of my most of my friends are in the tech industry. [00:27:25] So I don't think that's a good idea. [00:27:26] He said, Kendrick, you got to talk like you're talking to your dad at the dinner table. [00:27:29] I was like, well, I didn't grow up with my biological father at the dinner table. [00:27:33] So what I tried to do is I tried to mimic those who were around me that didn't necessarily, [00:27:40] they were very different from me. [00:27:42] And it wasn't natural. [00:27:44] So I didn't really get the positive results that I wanted. [00:27:47] And so I learned to embrace in who I was. [00:27:50] And what I learned was actually from Jimmy Sanders at Netflix. [00:27:55] He said, Kendrick, you know why I've talked to you? [00:27:57] He said, it's because you're not trying to trick me. [00:28:00] Where other people, they're constantly trying to trick you. [00:28:03] So you should lean into that, that people, you know, naturally trust you. [00:28:08] And the best way to understand someone's problems is by building trust and having an honest conversation. [00:28:13] Today, now as a founder that has been raising capital, what I've found is, you know, [00:28:21] I have to show a lot more than most people in my position. [00:28:26] And it's very, very lonely because it's not very many other founders that are under the age of 30 years old that have ever successfully raised capital. [00:28:38] It's a very, very lonely journey because it's not very many people who can relate to the situation that I'm in. [00:28:45] And the way that I'm overcoming that is I'm finding creative and unique relationships and friendships with people who are a little more senior to me. [00:28:56] And they're actually helping me with the imposter syndrome, please. [00:29:00] And then always understanding the impact that I'm making in the world and the people who are supporting me. [00:29:06] You know, I feel like for me, it's not necessarily about what I feel. [00:29:10] It's about my purpose. [00:29:11] And too many people are depending on me for me to give up. [00:29:14] So I think it's surrounding myself with friends who are similar to me and some similar situations. [00:29:24] Love it. [00:29:25] Love it. [00:29:26] So, hey, you seem to be in this exclusive group of entrepreneurs under 30, right? [00:29:34] So, how do you network? [00:29:39] These are phenomenal questions. [00:29:42] We don't call it the hot seat floor. [00:29:46] Yeah, these are great. [00:29:48] This is great. [00:29:49] So, I'm learning how to network. [00:29:54] And I say I'm learning how to network because these people that I'm referring to, they're not necessarily the easiest to find. [00:30:00] So, in the last year, I've actually been living in Miami. [00:30:04] And I've found that in Miami, it's easier to connect with more underrepresented founders because I feel like the surrounding area is a little bit more supportive of younger underrepresented founders. [00:30:20] Miami has also done a really good job with, like, networking events, with building events for younger professionals. [00:30:26] But the biggest thing has probably been referrals from other mentors to me. [00:30:33] It's probably the main way that I've been able to build some of these relationships. [00:30:37] And then just reaching out to people on Twitter and on LinkedIn and introducing myself. [00:30:42] Most successful people are generally willing to help others. [00:30:49] Very cool. [00:30:50] What questions do you have for Thomas and I, Kendrick? [00:30:56] You know, the questions that I have. [00:30:59] So, I think it's really interesting the dynamic of this call today. [00:31:06] The reason being is, you know, there's, like, this vendetta or this beef between, like, salespeople and, obviously, like, sales prospects. [00:31:18] And what I found is my former prospects have become my biggest champions in the world. [00:31:28] My question to both of you is, what are some of the things that have led to you creating or feeling comfortable enough to create a personal relationship with someone on the other side of the business? [00:31:44] Someone who's actually a, quote, unquote, salesperson. [00:31:48] All right. [00:31:48] All right. [00:31:49] I guess you may have picked up a little bit of this beef on Thomas's intro, right? [00:31:56] But we, you know, and honestly, we sort of jest on that topic. [00:32:01] A lot of our close partners, friends, trustees, all are from the sales background, right? [00:32:08] I'm probably not as popular as Thomas over here, so I don't get exponentially much more calls. [00:32:17] But on an average, I get, like, roughly around 40 to 80 emails and at least two dozen calls daily asking to try, pilot, or speak somewhere. [00:32:29] Right? [00:32:29] So that's just giving an indicator of the volume. [00:32:32] And usually how I go about with building this long-term relationship is, like, three types, right? [00:32:44] One, mostly my fellow sees, so circle will be like, yo, like, we tried out this really cool product process partner. [00:32:52] It might help you check it out, right? [00:32:53] So it's a referral based. [00:32:55] Two, sometimes we truly get some very good partnership options. [00:33:03] I mean, being in Goldman Sachs, we invest in a lot of cybersecurity companies. [00:33:06] So we have a very large research team that sort of asked my team to pilot up-and-coming firms. [00:33:14] So that's another avenue. [00:33:15] The third avenue is when you're in larger firm, we usually have trusted sort of, like, third-party firms that have already done the pilot use case and betting of many vendors. [00:33:32] And they say, hey, like, folks, this might be a good option for you to try out, right? [00:33:36] So it's, like, it's already sort of vetted. [00:33:38] There's already been fellow peer firms that have tried out this solution. [00:33:43] And more importantly, it seems like it addresses a problem that we have, right? [00:33:50] Most times, at least in my experience, I try not to rip and replace just for it because a cool new toy came. [00:34:00] But mostly because, all right, there's a problem. [00:34:02] What can this new solution help me from that problem standpoint? [00:34:07] Whether it's efficiency, whether it's cost savings, whether it's better threat intel, it could be any. [00:34:13] But, hey, Tomas, over to you. [00:34:15] What are your thoughts on this? [00:34:17] I'm sure you're more passionate than I am on this. [00:34:19] So, all right, I will answer that question in a few ways. [00:34:29] One, I'll say the reason why I give the disclaimer in the opening is not so much because there's any sort of underlying beef with salespeople. [00:34:38] It's really just because this forum that we've built here, right, this community that we've built here on these fireside chests is really focused on a person's journey and how they get to where they are, right? [00:34:49] I think that's more important in, you know, to something that you said earlier, right, leaving your mark on the world. [00:34:55] I think it's more important to understand how somebody got arrived versus what product or service they're selling at this point in time in their life, right? [00:35:03] I don't think you're, you know, I would venture to say that you working at Agari or you working at Radware, that didn't define you as a person, right? [00:35:13] Those would just happen to be stops in your journey to get to where you are today, which is us technology. [00:35:18] And who knows, you might be focused on growing into something else, right? [00:35:22] But if I were to just say, hey, Radware guy, you know, tell me what Radware is about, you're going to be like, well, you don't know me, right? [00:35:31] And so why is it important to know the person? [00:35:34] Well, I think about what I think certain salespeople and, you know, I have really good relationships with a lot of sales folks. [00:35:43] And I think certain salespeople forget the human side of what you're trying to do. [00:35:50] You're trying to build a connection with another individual. [00:35:52] You're trying to help them be better at something, right? [00:35:55] And usually it's probably their job or with a product or service offering that you might have to offer. [00:36:02] So I don't usually like to have salespeople. [00:36:05] I usually like to have sales partners, right? [00:36:07] So people that are going to have a conversation with you, understand what it is that you're driving after, right? [00:36:13] What's your agenda, understand your business, and then try to work with you on identifying the right solution. [00:36:19] And that solution might not be the solution that they're selling. [00:36:22] If they're genuine about being a partner and really wanting to build a relationship, it's not always going to be the solution that they're selling. [00:36:28] It might be a connection that they can make with you and another colleague of theirs that might have a better service offering in a different company, if you will. [00:36:39] Or they might be able to help you network in a different capacity, right? [00:36:43] Or they might actually have the solution that fits your needs. [00:36:46] So, you know, when I think about people trying to sell to me, and I'm very hesitant if you haven't noticed, because I already know what's going to happen tomorrow. [00:36:59] I'm going to get a lot of calls based on what I said tonight. [00:37:03] But, you know, when I think about people trying to sell to me, they shouldn't try to sell me on their latest and greatest shiny object, because I'm not the CISO that's going to turn my head for the latest shiny object. [00:37:15] That's not the way it works, right? [00:37:17] I've been in this game for too long to start to jump at every latest and greatest shiny object. [00:37:24] But if you do approach me with the perspective of having an understanding about me and my business and what might be motivating me or driving me towards a specific direction, and you take the time to learn a little bit more about, you know, where I am and what company I work for and what are the necessities that we might have. [00:37:52] You know, that's a different conversation versus a cold call to asking me for five or 10 minutes of my time for a coffee, you know, to show me a demo of your product or your service offering. [00:38:06] First of all, I don't drink coffee. [00:38:08] Second of all, if I had 15 minutes to spare with every salesperson that calls me asking me for 15 minutes, I would never get my job done. [00:38:19] And if I don't get my job done, there's no point in talking to me because I wouldn't be able to buy your product because I don't have a team or budget or anything after that. [00:38:27] So I don't know if that's the right answer or the answer you were looking for. [00:38:33] But that's my most candid answer to your question. [00:38:37] No, that is actually both of those responses are spot on. [00:38:42] And I appreciate that. [00:38:43] It's funny because, you know, once I learned that because it didn't happen right away. [00:38:49] But once someone pulled me to the side and gave me that same feedback, it was amazing how much of a better together approach I was able to create with the people that I was either prospecting to or had already sold to. [00:39:02] And some of the people that I prospected to, they actually helped me create prospecting campaigns based on, like, some of the things that they already knew or some of the problems they had. [00:39:15] And then vice versa, to your point, I think the easiest way to build trust as a salesperson is actually to acknowledge the things you can't do. [00:39:22] What another CISO told me was that there's no product in the world that can do everything. [00:39:28] So the easiest way to lose trust with the CISO is or with anyone is making the acclimation that you can do everything versus acknowledging, you know, what your strengths and what your weaknesses are. [00:39:41] I guess my second question and my final question to you both is, you know, when did you start thinking about the tech industry as a career option? [00:39:52] Did you grow up in middle school like, oh, I can't wait to be a CISO. [00:39:57] I can't wait to be in cybersecurity. [00:39:58] Did this happen when you were in high school and college? [00:40:01] Like, how did you both get into this industry? [00:40:07] I had a CISO pacifier when I was a little baby, Kendrick. [00:40:12] I said, Tomas, you're destined to be a CISO. [00:40:15] So I'll take the first part. [00:40:17] I'll take a stab at the question and I'll pass it over to Vijay. [00:40:21] And then I also I would really like to turn the tables back on you because, again, the focus is really you, not me. [00:40:28] I get enough attention. [00:40:30] Trust me, I get enough attention. [00:40:31] I don't need any more. [00:40:33] But look, I think for me, I've always had an interest in technology. [00:40:38] I can remember, I want to say, being in either third grade or fourth grade with an Apple computer. [00:40:48] I think they were actually called Apple computers at that time. [00:40:51] And I remember doing some graphics, you know, on the Apple computer, making a, I'll call it the cursor move in certain directions, kind of like an Etch-A-Sketch. [00:41:02] If you ever heard or seen an Etch-A-Sketch, you know, think of that on a computer. [00:41:08] And I remember giving it, writing commands like RT, you know, 10, LT, 50, and having that thing just move around and creating a, you know, a picture, if you will. [00:41:20] And, you know, I remember fast forward from there when I get to high school. [00:41:26] I went to a high school that was focused on, it was called, I was in a program called ALPS, A-L-P-S, Aspiring Legal and Psychological Scholars. [00:41:36] And so I had no desire in high school to do computers because it was still very early on. [00:41:43] I'm a little older than you. [00:41:44] So it was still very early on. [00:41:45] It wasn't so readily available in the schools, even though in fourth grade I did have an Apple computer. [00:41:51] But in my high school, we didn't have a lot of computers per se like that. [00:41:56] So I was, I took a different path. [00:41:58] I was really trying to focus in on, Vijay, I'm just going to mute you because I've got some feedback from you. [00:42:03] So I was, I took a different path and I was, you know, took the path around law and psychology because I actually wanted to be a lawyer. [00:42:14] And I think somebody in the audience might find that pretty funny. [00:42:17] And when I got, you know, my desire to do technology, and I'll try to be more concise here, was really started when I got into college. [00:42:28] So I didn't grow up with a lot of money. [00:42:31] I had to, my funding for college was through financial aid. [00:42:35] I was in a program called HEOP, Higher Education Opportunity Program, you know, for any folks that have ever heard of that. [00:42:42] And I was able to go to a really good school in New York. [00:42:46] I went to Fordham University, graduated from Fordham University through the HEOP program with all the financial aid that was afforded to me. [00:42:53] Because, again, my family was not, well, you know, didn't have the funds, if you will. [00:42:58] I remember working four jobs while I was in college. [00:43:00] My last two years in college just to be able to pay for school and, you know, my car and other sort of quote-unquote luxuries that I may have had. [00:43:10] But while I was in school, the reason why I decided to do computers or computer science as my education was primarily because I actually wanted to be a lawyer. [00:43:20] My plan was always to go back to law school. [00:43:22] But I said, I said, self, you have no money. [00:43:27] You're broke. [00:43:28] You can try to study for law school, but you need to be able to get a job to be able to fund your desire to go to law school. [00:43:37] So I said, I have an interest in computers. [00:43:40] I think I'm pretty good at it. [00:43:42] I started studying computer science. [00:43:43] I figured my plan was I'll graduate with my four-year computer science degree, get a job, save up some money, and go back to law school and do my desire to be a lawyer. [00:43:55] And, you know, some folks might remember this show, Perry Mason. [00:43:59] So I used to watch Perry Mason with my dad. [00:44:02] Perry Mason was a trial lawyer, if I'm not mistaken, criminal trial lawyer. [00:44:06] So my dad was a federal police officer. [00:44:11] And so, you know, police and law enforcement runs in my family. [00:44:16] So that was what I grew up watching. [00:44:18] So my plan was, all right, I will finish college, go to work, save up some money, go back to law, go back to school and get a law degree and eventually become a lawyer. [00:44:28] Well, it's been 20-something years that I've been doing technology. [00:44:32] And in this case, I do cybersecurity. [00:44:34] I'm not going to get into how I kind of got into cybersecurity. [00:44:37] I kind of stumbled my way there, but I started with technology. [00:44:40] But that was my journey and how I sort of came about being. [00:44:45] So I think I answered your question there, Kendrick. [00:44:52] Yes, sir. [00:44:55] Hey, Tomas, you know, you are right. [00:44:59] It's Kendrick's night. [00:45:00] You know, maybe we do a quick room reset. [00:45:05] We got a few members from the stage raising hands. [00:45:09] Yep. [00:45:09] So let's do that. [00:45:11] I agree. [00:45:12] Let's do that. [00:45:13] Because we've gotten into us burning time. [00:45:17] And I really want Kendrick to burn. [00:45:20] Not burn, but I really want him to share about his journey. [00:45:22] Because it is a fascinating story. [00:45:24] And there are some other things that I do want to ask you about your chain, your, those pivotal points in time in your life. [00:45:33] But if you just joined us as our fireside chat, we do this every Wednesday. [00:45:41] We're going to, we open it up for questions. [00:45:43] So if you do have a question, feel free to jump up on stage. [00:45:45] Raise your hand. [00:45:45] We'll bring you up on stage. [00:45:47] And you can ask Kendrick. [00:45:48] So we've been honored to be able to speak to Kendrick Trotta, who's the founder at US in Technology. [00:45:55] Oh, sorry, not US. [00:45:55] Us in Technology. [00:45:58] You know, if you've just joined us, you missed a good 30 minutes or so. [00:46:02] I'll say a good 25 minutes. [00:46:03] Because we, Vijay and I spent a lot, a little bit of time sort of taking Kendrick's time. [00:46:08] Because Kendrick did ask us some interesting questions. [00:46:10] But we spent about 25 or 30 minutes or so hearing the Kendrick story. [00:46:14] And I want to get back to that. [00:46:15] But I do recognize that we do have some folks on the stage. [00:46:19] So I'm going to pass it over to George to ask a question. [00:46:23] And then we'll keep going from there. [00:46:26] Hey, team. [00:46:27] Yo, Kendrick, you're like expert salesmen. [00:46:29] So you got those two CISOs talking about this. [00:46:34] Well, I'm a fellow resident in startup land. [00:46:38] And I really appreciate what us in technology is doing. [00:46:42] I actually recognize some of the tools we use look like they're partners. [00:46:45] But I dig the mission. [00:46:50] And it's really important. [00:46:51] But I was wondering, I was curious about, as a founder, and you mentioned raising money, [00:46:56] if you've ever had to come to that crossroads of reconciling that you, as a Black co-founder, [00:47:06] you're just maybe going up against having to constantly pitch what is essentially white VC capital. [00:47:14] I've seen this a couple of times where you have these very worthy missions. [00:47:20] But there's just like, it's a really uncomfortable power dynamic, because you're succeeding in something. [00:47:27] But you sort of have to maybe, I don't know. [00:47:31] I guess the question is, if you felt like you've had to, you know, present in different ways when you're raising capital, [00:47:39] given that the vast majority of liquid VC capital is largely held by majority white firms. [00:47:45] Yeah, definitely. [00:47:50] So I'll kind of talk a little bit about my journey. [00:47:52] So my whole life, I've dealt with racism and discrimination in a lot of different ways. [00:48:01] I've always kind of had a little bit of a chip on my shoulder. [00:48:03] When I was a little kid playing Little League Baseball, I played with North Valeo Little League. [00:48:08] We're an all-Black team. [00:48:10] And when we went to All-Stars, they literally would like try to cheat us out of games. [00:48:15] And our coach taught us very young, like, don't let it be close. [00:48:19] Don't let it be to where they have an option. [00:48:22] And so we ended up winning like the Little League World Series for Northern California. [00:48:26] And we're beating teams by like 10 and 15 points, because that just was our mentality. [00:48:30] So for me in my first year of being a business, we brought in a little less than a million dollars in total revenue. [00:48:39] So what I thought was that I was going to go to VCs and I was going to say, [00:48:44] hey, I got 42 customers and nearly a million dollars in revenue. [00:48:50] Why would you not invest in me? [00:48:52] And to your point, when a lot of people heard my story, [00:48:58] they associated it more so with a donation versus an investment opportunity. [00:49:05] Everyone told me, they kind of slapped me on the butt and they said, [00:49:09] good job, Kendrick, like keep it up. [00:49:11] But, you know, not really a VC business. [00:49:13] Even though there's several other businesses that are already in this space, [00:49:18] not founded by underrepresented founders. [00:49:21] And most people at this stage, they get funding based on an idea on a napkin. [00:49:27] So I was a little discouraged. [00:49:29] But I just kept getting connected with really good people. [00:49:33] Like one of my best friends now is a guy, Savio Tahil, who is the CIO of Capital One. [00:49:40] And he gave me a lot of mentorship and advice. [00:49:42] And then I got connected to a woman named Kishaw Rogers, who works at a VC, Hearst Ventures. [00:49:48] And she's also a founder herself. [00:49:52] And she said, Kendrick, you know what you have to stop doing? [00:49:55] You have to stop raising money from people who don't look like you. [00:49:59] And I said, what do you mean? [00:50:00] And she said, well, at this round of fundraising, people invest in the founder. [00:50:05] And, you know, the reality is we all feel more comfortable with people who look similar to us. [00:50:10] So I needed funding to create product in order to get more funding. [00:50:17] And so I needed to raise a family and friends around. [00:50:20] So most people who are startup founders, they go raise up a startup family and friends around [00:50:25] anywhere from like $1 to $3 million. [00:50:27] And they're able to close that within three weeks. [00:50:29] I don't have any family and friends that have access to capital. [00:50:33] Not a minimum check size of $25K. [00:50:35] So I found one person who invested pretty aggressively, Corinne Drummond. [00:50:42] And then I went to the few people in my circle that I thought could have capital or could at [00:50:49] least introduce me to someone else. [00:50:51] My second investor was my first founder ever, which was Pat Peterson of Agari. [00:50:57] And at Agari, he and I didn't talk very much. [00:50:59] But when I pitched him, he came in pretty aggressively. [00:51:03] And I asked him, I said, hey, why did you invest in me? [00:51:06] And he said, Kendrick, let's not get it mistaken. [00:51:08] He said, you know how to sell deals, right? [00:51:12] Like you have logos where I worked with a ton of other companies that have a lot of products. [00:51:17] And it's amazing, but they never get logos. [00:51:19] They never get customers. [00:51:20] And you have, you know, almost 50 customers in your first year and a half. [00:51:23] So what I had to do strategically is I was climbing from check to check to check. [00:51:31] And my checks were mostly dependent on my introductions based on referrals. [00:51:36] Because what one of my mentors told me, who is a white founder, he said the golden rule in BC [00:51:42] is that you never introduce yourself to a potential investor code. [00:51:47] You have to be introduced to a warm introduction. [00:51:49] And for me, I'm looking at my inbox. [00:51:52] I'm looking at my contacts. [00:51:54] I'm like, how the hell am I going to get contacted to people if I don't know these individuals? [00:51:59] So what I was able to do is like leverage some of my mentors who introduced me to other investors. [00:52:06] And most of my investors actually came from the cybersecurity space. [00:52:11] And they're actually women in the cybersecurity space. [00:52:14] So like Vanessa Piguero, who is the former CISO of DocuSign, she invested pretty aggressively and introduced me to other investors. [00:52:24] Claudette McGowan, who's a global executive officer of TD Bank, invested pretty aggressively. [00:52:31] And then I had at least three of my first clients actually turned into investors in us and tech as well. [00:52:37] So for me, what I found in this round is not to put the pressure on myself of like setting a date and expecting it to be closed. [00:52:47] Because, you know, the time that it takes me to be introduced to people who could potentially invest is far and few. [00:52:53] So when I do have those opportunities, I have to convert and I have to ask them to introduce me to others, which is very different than just, you know, being able to knock on a few doors and ask a few family and friends for that. [00:53:05] What I recognize is, is that because I'm competing with trust, when I go and I raise my seed around, I don't want to have any excuses. [00:53:14] I want to have all the logos. [00:53:16] I want to have all the testimonials. [00:53:18] I want to have the product is very, very important to me that everything we do in between now and then, it puts us as a 1% investment opportunity and an investment opportunity that people can't deny or walk away from. [00:53:34] So I would definitely say to your point, it's very difficult. [00:53:38] It's very challenging because, again, naturally, we all feel more comfortable with people who resemble us. [00:53:44] But it's more so about finding the right investors who can understand the characteristics of you as an individual leader and that can connect and support that. [00:53:55] That's awesome. [00:53:56] Thanks for sharing that. [00:53:58] Thanks. [00:54:00] Thanks, George. [00:54:01] Thanks for asking that question. [00:54:03] That was actually a really insightful question and really insightful answer, Kendrick. [00:54:08] Thanks for sharing some of that perspective. [00:54:11] Jennifer, over to you. [00:54:12] Thanks, Tomas. [00:54:14] Can you guys hear me? [00:54:16] Yes. [00:54:17] Okay, I'm in the middle of nowhere. [00:54:18] Thanks. [00:54:19] Kendrick, great, great discussion. [00:54:20] And in addition to all your expertise, it's amazing that you're doing all this at such a young age. [00:54:24] I hate to say it. [00:54:25] And as someone from Berkeley with my parents in Oakland and Vallejo, I spit my drink when you said you bought a Bentley. [00:54:33] No, no, Ben's. [00:54:34] Ben's. [00:54:35] Ben's. [00:54:35] Ben's. [00:54:35] Ben's. [00:54:35] Ben's. [00:54:35] Ben's. [00:54:36] i was like what the hell yeah yeah yeah really quick and then tomas in addition to explaining [00:54:42] what perry mason is i think you're gonna tell him what linear tv is to put this all into uh [00:54:47] since he's uh you know grew up on uber but um that all said with all these things that you are doing [00:54:52] and building this company and all of the areas that you are uh you know all these challenges and [00:54:57] areas for growth that you're describing the fundraising the mentoring the building the [00:55:00] company to gain the logos what do you find the most challenging in there um like and what are [00:55:07] your like immediate next like in your six month horizon and then lastly if you ever need any help [00:55:12] from an um tech attorney just let me know i'll reach out to you on linkedin but uh what do you see as [00:55:16] your biggest challenges okay thank you um i will start with uh my biggest strength um i think my [00:55:26] biggest strength is that my whole life has been very difficult so although this is the first time [00:55:32] for me doing these things it's not my first time feeling a lot of pressure a lot of stress [00:55:37] um and a lot of responsibility so uh that has helped me and then also just being extremely coachable [00:55:45] i found that i've attracted myself to a lot of mentors who kind of go out of their ways to help me [00:55:52] and when i think about the success of my business when i think about the partnerships we created [00:55:58] when i think about the team that i have that is super awesome um and all way smarter than me i think [00:56:05] it's really that they've invested in the person and in me as an individual so that's something that i [00:56:10] have to continue to be conscious of i think the biggest challenge for me today is um i'm looking [00:56:17] forward to this rematch with the vcs um and when i say rematch is you know in that first round when i [00:56:24] went out there i wasn't who i am today i'm not who i was yesterday i've matured i've become a lot more [00:56:32] intelligent and in raising capital it's uh with vc specifically it's very strategic and it's very unique [00:56:40] um it's very unique because the languages is different um you know for me where i'm from there's [00:56:47] consequences to not being honest or over exaggerating the truth and in conversations with vcs it's kind [00:56:56] of quite the opposite god 100 100 yeah so and i wanted to i'd say that too because you know one of [00:57:06] the questions they ask a lot of times in sales interviews is um you know would you rather be the [00:57:12] best person on your team and hate it by everybody are the worst person on your team and like by [00:57:17] everybody and when people ask this question to my community in interviews it's like 70 30 i'd rather [00:57:24] be the worst person on my team and liked by everybody not because they care about being liked but because [00:57:30] where we're from there's consequences to being hated by everyone but the interpretation of that is [00:57:35] that we're less competitive than obviously someone who feels more secure to say i'll win by any means [00:57:40] so i think that from and uh transitioning from this angel round where i've started to build some [00:57:47] momentum and started to find myself and preparing myself for that seed round where i and just where [00:57:55] i plan to raise from some mission driven vcs it's not losing myself in the storytelling of my business and being [00:58:03] able to still attract those people and investing in me but understanding the value of investing [00:58:10] in somebody who's more transparent versus less transparent so um this month on the 27th we [00:58:17] actually launched our mvp um in the as a on an apple store both for ios android and web platform again [00:58:27] very rare that for an mvp you know you're able to have those those different launches and so i'm really [00:58:34] excited about that um my co-founder is a director of customer success so we we have processes and phases [00:58:41] of how we plan to migrate users to that platform you know not expecting everything to happen at one time [00:58:48] and so i'm really excited and it's going to be challenging to assure that we have a good experience [00:58:54] of transitioning our current customers to that experience as well as our current community [00:58:58] and then the second half is um after we get about 90 days of data on that platform i want to go raise [00:59:07] a really strong um seed round and i think that in next 90 days um that's my two challenges are the [00:59:15] two opportunities and i think the third thing that i really want to do is a lot of people correlate [00:59:21] fundraising with success but success is being cash flow positive and having strong revenue and so [00:59:28] in that next round i want us to be able to scale and multiply our revenue um you know so that we can [00:59:35] show the world the value and the desire of of the solution that we're bringing [00:59:39] thanks for that kendrick i think we lost jennifer she i don't know if she moved herself back down or [00:59:53] what but uh we lost you jennifer but thanks thanks thanks for that response uh nate over to you [01:00:02] yeah thanks and uh good evening everyone kendrick i think it's absolutely admirable what you've uh [01:00:07] what you put together and what you're setting out to accomplish here. It seems that this day [01:00:12] and age we're obviously talking a lot more about DEI opportunities and I love the momentum and [01:00:18] the fact that it's on the tip of people's tongues a lot but I'm a little more interested in action [01:00:23] as well. So as an industry, what do you think we need to be doing to continue to break down barriers [01:00:28] and level the opportunity playing field? Yeah, I think that's great. So, you know, [01:00:39] the statistics are what they are, right? Like 1.3% African-American, 3.3% Latinx, 24% women. [01:00:46] The trick question that I asked Tomas earlier was like, hey, when did you start thinking you could [01:00:50] be a CISO? And the problem was it probably wasn't until he was older. Whereas like with LeBron James, [01:00:57] I'm sure no one told him he can be an NBA athlete at 18 years old. It probably happened when he was [01:01:02] 18 months old. So I think if you really want to resolve the problem, you have to start early [01:01:07] with education. And I think we're starting to see that more with like STEM programs and getting STEM [01:01:14] programs into these communities where the underrepresented populations are. So people [01:01:18] realize at a much earlier level that this is a potential opportunity or career path. And then for [01:01:26] that, the second step is like, what can we do now is, you know, one of my advisors is Corinne Drummond, [01:01:34] and she helped with the Black Googlers Network, and she helped at Pinterest and helping with their DEI [01:01:38] strategy. And one of her pet peeves is she says that she hates when DEI is something that becomes [01:01:45] optional or diversity, diverse hiring becomes optional because until it becomes a requirement, [01:01:51] change won't actually happen. And so a lot of people right now are looking for diverse leaders, [01:01:57] and they have incentives to hire diverse leaders. But there aren't enough entry level people coming [01:02:03] into the funnel. So for the people that are in senior level positions, they're constantly getting poached, [01:02:08] but it's not actually increasing the DEI statistics in the industry. [01:02:13] So what I would recommend is, you know, encouraging companies to have a bigger impact in like communities [01:02:20] and working with STEM programs or, you know, donation, donating to some of those nonprofits and, [01:02:26] you know, educational opportunities. So we're literally breeding the future of tomorrow. [01:02:31] And then for those of you who are in hiring positions, don't try to resolve this problem by yourself. [01:02:38] There are a lot of resources aside from us and technology that can help you in bridging the gap [01:02:44] between connecting to more like a diverse candidate pool. But the reality is, is that now there's a ton [01:02:52] of research that proves and validates that teams that are more diverse produce 30% more than teams that [01:02:58] lack diversity. So it's much more than a social problem. So for me, when I'm selling, you know, [01:03:04] there's certain people that care about certain things. But the one thing we all got to agree on is [01:03:09] when we're doing a business is for two reasons to make more money and to save ourselves time. [01:03:14] And businesses that aren't prioritizing diversity, equity, inclusion are actually running the risk [01:03:19] of producing 30% less. So what I try to do when I, when I talk to people is I try to educate them that [01:03:25] diversity is defined as variety. It's not limited to just black and brown. So my two select suggestions [01:03:33] would be one, if there's a way to partake in assisting with some of the STEM programs at a lower level, [01:03:39] level, and two, you know, encouraging and somewhat requiring your organization to make more DEI hires, [01:03:46] even if it's at an entry level position. [01:03:49] Yeah, that's great. Really appreciate it. [01:03:53] Thanks, Nate. Thanks for jumping up on stage and asking a question. And Kendrick, you're right. I [01:03:59] realized I did not answer your question around when did I think I wanted to be a CISO. And, you know, [01:04:08] the interesting part to that and just a dovetail on what you were saying around STEM, you know, [01:04:13] if you think about the CISO career and the CISO function, it's, it's a relatively new function, right? [01:04:18] So it, it wasn't a, for me, you know, unlike LeBron where basketball has been around for a long period of [01:04:24] time before he was, he was a sort of born, he was able to see, you know, people were doing what he, [01:04:31] that people that potentially looked like him and doing what he potentially wanted to do and career [01:04:37] wise. And I'm not equating myself to LeBron by any means, not at all, not even a long shot. But my [01:04:45] point is there weren't people doing what I, what I, what CISOs do today, right? So the profession as a [01:04:50] whole is what, 30 years, maybe if that, you know, so it hasn't been around that long. So it's hard to [01:04:58] have those role models that say, Oh, I want to be a CISO. My role model was my dad, which is why I, [01:05:04] you know, well, actually, let me not get into that topic, but there was a short period of time where, [01:05:10] you know, I wanted to be a police officer, because that was my role model, right? Those are people that I [01:05:15] saw close to me. So now the CISOs and, and we have a responsibility, not only with DEI, you know, but just in [01:05:25] general to build that pipeline of talent, right? If you think about successful businesses that have [01:05:30] been able to build pipelines of talent, not so much, sorry, pipe, not pipelines, pipeline of customers, [01:05:37] you know, I can point to the one that used to give you a presence in your little happy meal when you [01:05:44] were a little kid, right? Everybody knows about the golden arches and you probably grew up with that [01:05:48] because you wanted a toy. And so what did they do? Well, they built a whole pipe, they built a pipeline [01:05:55] of potential, of potential customers and returning customers, because you probably still have that [01:06:00] experience. And we need to do the same equivalent of that in the cybersecurity space. So I agree with you [01:06:06] that that pipeline is, is, is, is lacking. I agree with you as well with the STEM education starting [01:06:15] earlier and introducing, uh, not only introducing STEM, but introducing cybersecurity, if that's the, [01:06:21] the path that people want to go on, introducing that early on in that pipeline of education. [01:06:27] So you can get more people wanting to do this profession, uh, and ultimately creating future [01:06:33] leaders, right? Which if we don't do it, then you're absolutely right. We're just going to continue to [01:06:39] poach people at other companies, uh, because there's that talent shortage. It's not so much [01:06:44] that it's a shortage. Well, it is, it is a shortage, but it's, it's not getting improved because we're [01:06:50] not taking, making the efforts to improve upon it. And I know there was something that in the U S [01:06:54] government, uh, I think it was yesterday or sometime this week where they were talking about that. [01:06:58] Uh, so I know there are a lot more other people thinking about the topic around the pipeline and trying [01:07:04] to solve that, that problem. Um, but anyways, that's just my two cents on that topic. Hey, Thomas, I was [01:07:11] just going to say, you know, uh, you, you mentioned, um, introductions and leaders, and then I noticed, [01:07:22] Hey, our fellow moderator, David just joined on the stage. So maybe I take this quick opportunity. [01:07:26] David, you want to do a quick intro and then hand it back to Thomas. [01:07:29] David Kass. Well, sure. And happy to, to, to be joining you guys tonight. Summer school is done. So I [01:07:36] have some free time. Uh, David Kass. I'm the, uh, global CISO and U S CTO for GSR, uh, crypto market [01:07:44] making company. So long time financial services CISO happy to be joining you today. And Kendrick, [01:07:49] thank you so much for sharing your insight. You've accomplished quite a lot. [01:07:53] Thank you. Thank you for, for creating a space and allowing me that that's really been the secret [01:07:59] to where I am today. I have so many people helping me because I feel like they, uh, um, [01:08:05] they understand my intentions are sincere and it literally has just been a rippling effect. [01:08:10] Yeah. And I think you had a great point when you're talking about coachable moments. I think, [01:08:15] you know, how did you, or like, when did you first kind of recognize those kind of coachable [01:08:20] moments in yourselves and how do you recognize them in others? And you know, how do you kind of [01:08:24] deliver that in a constructive manner? Sorry for that. No, no. For me, I think it was like my whole [01:08:31] life of seeing a series of really bad events and my brother taking the time to pull me to the side [01:08:41] and tell me what I did and did not want to do. Because in some situations, again, it could be a [01:08:47] difference between life and death. So for me growing up, the margin of being stubborn versus not being [01:08:52] stubborn, it was very, very thin. And the repercussions of that were very severe. So I think that for me, [01:09:01] I've always found like listening as a method of survival, um, before I realized it being like a, a, [01:09:09] a asset. Oh, I would say that, um, you know, as an athlete, I went to [01:09:18] And so for me, um, I found that the more I would be coachable, the more I would lean into things, [01:09:29] regardless if I agree or I didn't agree, I would attract more champions. So that's, that's just been, [01:09:36] you know, my secret thing is I've, I've lived in really, really rich white areas, and I've lived in [01:09:43] really bad black areas and brown areas. And it just taught me that you can learn so much from [01:09:48] everybody. You can learn from the richest person on the hill, and you can also learn from the person [01:09:52] at the bottom of the street, because both people have stories and scenarios. So my experience and [01:09:59] growing up is what contributed to me being so open to coaching. And then, um, I think as a leader, [01:10:06] uh, that's what I really try to push down to my community. It's just not [01:10:09] about knowing it all. It's about, you know, being willing to learn a little bit more. [01:10:18] Now, there's some great insights, and I would say you are definitely wise beyond your years. So, [01:10:23] you know, thank you again for all that you're doing. Tomas, back over to you. [01:10:27] Thanks, David. And thanks for joining us this evening. Always good to hear from you, my friend. [01:10:32] Uh, London, over to you. Hey, um, first and foremost, I just want to thank [01:10:39] you guys. This has been a great call so far. Uh, me and my, my wife, my pregnant wife have been sitting [01:10:44] here enjoying the conversation. Um, but I'm the first mentee of us and technology. Uh, so, you know, [01:10:51] one of the ways that we're looking to change the industry is, um, you know, starting from the bottom, [01:10:56] right, you know, starting at the entry level roles and working our way up to C level, uh, like you, [01:11:02] Tomas and BJ. And one of the questions I have for you guys is, you know, did you deal with, [01:11:07] um, imposter syndrome in your career and, you know, what kind of sets you apart from your peers to get [01:11:13] to the point where you're at right now? [01:11:14] I guess, uh, I guess, uh, region, you want to start or, uh, start? [01:11:27] No, no, go ahead. Go ahead. Um, you know, I was thinking, I was thinking about the question and, and [01:11:32] I don't, I don't know if I, if I had imposter syndrome, I, I, for long periods of time, I'll say, [01:11:40] right. I'll, I'll, I'll, what I will say is I'm sure I, I had doubts around what I was doing. Um, [01:11:49] but I don't recall it being long period, long stretches of time where it impacted the outcome [01:11:56] of what I was doing. Uh, and when I think about imposter syndrome, my, I, I can't say that I had [01:12:03] it for, if I, if I did have it, I can't say that I have had it for too long, which, which I think is [01:12:08] probably great for me. And, and usually when I equate imposter syndrome is like, let's say you're [01:12:12] in a room and you're like, wow, do they, do they really mean to invite me into this room? I shouldn't [01:12:18] be here. I don't think I've had that scenario. And, and, you know, I, I do know there's been people that [01:12:23] have, you know, they've come on here and they've, we've talked about it and it is a very real thing. [01:12:28] Uh, I've been somewhat fortunate to be able to get past that, those types of doubts and, [01:12:34] you know, uh, and have a little bit more confidence in myself and in my ability. Um, [01:12:40] so I can't really, I can't really say that I've, I've dealt with that to, to, uh, to a great degree, [01:12:45] London, uh, to be very honest and transparent with you. [01:12:47] London, firstly, congratulations to you and your wife. [01:12:53] I'm glad, uh, we are able to entertain you, uh, tonight. Uh, my take on the imposter syndrome is, [01:13:02] uh, you know, to echo Tomas, I, I mean, there are obviously some challenges and doubts that [01:13:08] everyone goes through when you take on a new opportunity, but I think I've had strong conviction [01:13:17] from a young age that I, I, I'm as good as the other guy or girl out there. Right. So if he or she can do [01:13:23] it, why not? I, uh, that coupled with the fact that again, grow from very humble beginnings. So [01:13:30] what's the worst that could happen? David, one of the things that I, sorry, one of the, one of the [01:13:37] things that I, that I'll say is, you know, one of the things that I learned, uh, while I worked at [01:13:43] Goldman London, um, oh man, I guess I didn't learn much because I forgot, I forgot what I was going to say. [01:13:54] Hey, you, you, you, you miss go Goldman like your first love. You always come back to it. So, [01:14:02] Hey David, why don't we give Tomas a few minutes to reminisce? You want to answer about the [01:14:10] insider syndrome question? [01:14:11] Sure. I mean, I think to some extent, you know, I've been fortunate from that aspect of that. I guess [01:14:18] I've never really, you know, felt like it that way. I've felt times where, you know, that it's a [01:14:24] stretch. We're going to be a reach, you know, from that point of view. And I, and I think that, [01:14:28] you know, for better or worse, when we start talking about, you know, just like, you know, [01:14:32] in some cases, women really like analyze the job descriptions and really look at it to make sure [01:14:36] that they check all the boxes. I think, you know, for better or worse in a lot of cases, uh, you know, [01:14:43] guys will look at some of the descriptions and be like, okay, I have 50% of it. I'm still going for it. [01:14:48] Uh, so I think, you know, uh, it's a very real thing for some people and I've, you know, always [01:14:54] kind of looked at the next opportunity is my stretch opportunity and not, not quite to fake it till you [01:14:59] make it kind of thing, but always, you know, knew I was going to get into something over my head and [01:15:04] figure, right, let me kind of go with the sink or swim and figure this stuff out. [01:15:08] Yeah. I remember what I was going to say. And so, so two things, one, when I was in high school, [01:15:20] I had a, my high school principal, and I may have said this on a different form, but my high school [01:15:24] principal, his name was, you know, God rest his soul. His name was Mr. Leader, Mr. Leader. And what he would [01:15:31] always go around the hallways in the high school, he knew everybody's name and this man was, I don't [01:15:37] know how he, how he did this, but he knew everybody's name, knew everybody's first name. And he would always [01:15:41] tell me, he would always tell me, be like Tomas, you know, be a leader, not a follower. I've always, [01:15:47] I've been a leader all my life, you know, a play on his sort of last name, but that sort of stuck with [01:15:53] me throughout my life, right? Be a leader, not a follower. And, you know, I fast forward to my, my time [01:16:00] at Goldman. I remember at Goldman when, when, and it's probably actually not, not only Goldman, other [01:16:07] places as well, it's true to this day. But I remember at Goldman, I learned very early on that you never [01:16:12] got promoted into the, into the job, unless into the new role, let's say you were up for VP or whatever [01:16:19] analyst or whatever associate, whatever that next level promotion is, you would never promote it into [01:16:25] that role and then started doing that role. You always promoted into that role, into that next title [01:16:32] after you've been doing the job for probably a year already. And so that helped me have some level of [01:16:40] comfort, if you will, to say, you know, I've been promoted and it's not because they're promoting me to, [01:16:47] to take a chance on me. They're promoting me because I've already been doing the job for a long period [01:16:52] of time. They just caught up to it with the promotion and the title. And that's, you know, like it or not, [01:16:59] that's been something that's been able to, that I've been able to use and to help and shape how I sort of [01:17:05] approach new scenarios and new situations. And then the last thing I'll say is when I was coming out of [01:17:12] college, I had a shoe box because this is before they would send you emails saying you were, you [01:17:17] were not getting the job. They would send you paper letters in the mail. I remember getting a phone call [01:17:23] one time while I was in Mexico. I almost broke my hand because I was so upset. I punched the phone. [01:17:26] I mean, I punched the wall because I didn't get the job and they decided to call me on my cell phone. [01:17:31] Don't they know how much minutes cost back then while I was international in Mexico? Anyways, point is, [01:17:36] I had so many rejection letters on the, in the shoe box and I used to keep it. I used to keep [01:17:42] those rejection letters for two reasons. One, and I, you know, my mom, I think she told me a few years [01:17:48] ago, or, Hey, I'm throwing all this, I'm throwing a shoe box out, but I kept it for two reasons. One, [01:17:53] I wanted to prove to myself that I have perseverance to continue to try to find a job and to keep striving [01:18:01] towards finding my passion. Right. And so I had the shoe box with a whole bunch of rejection letters. [01:18:07] I want to say maybe like 50 to 75 rejection letters. The other reason was so that I can go back and look [01:18:14] at it and say, you know, you missed out on a great opportunity, that opportunity being me. [01:18:21] And so I finally got rid of the shoe box because I finally felt comfortable enough to get rid of it. [01:18:26] Um, but it was a constant reminder for me that struggle has never been something that has come [01:18:33] easy for me. Sorry. Uh, um, struggle has been something that I've had to deal with throughout [01:18:37] my, my entire life. Uh, and trying to get to that next level, it's never been something that's, [01:18:44] that's come super easy or been given to me. And that's just the way it is. Right. And, and, and it [01:18:50] helped me build the character that I, that I have, um, in myself and, and the confidence that I have [01:18:56] in myself to continue to, to do what I do. So that's, uh, that's my answer. [01:19:02] Hey, love that story. I love, we learned something new from me every week, Tomas. Love it. [01:19:08] Go ahead, London. Oh, I was just saying that was great advice. [01:19:15] Cool, man. Uh, George, go ahead, George. [01:19:19] Hey, yeah. Um, Kendrick, I was sort of thinking about your origin story and, you know, the question [01:19:28] about, you know, six figure income before a certain age. And I guess I'm trying to come around to [01:19:35] at this stage, um, you know, what you're doing can really impact the, the wealth gap in this country. [01:19:44] You know, I mean, it's like, I spoke to Larry Whiteside junior, uh, last year and he was like, [01:19:49] you know, cybersecurity changed the entire trajectory of possibility for my family. So I was, [01:19:56] I was wondering if you could share any stories or experiences you have outside of your own [01:20:01] from the successes of us in technology in doing that for, for your mentees. [01:20:07] Yeah. Um, you're, you're, you're spot on. So I think London is, um, a great story. Um, before London [01:20:17] had actually joined, um, us in technology, he, he was a division one college football player at the [01:20:22] university of Ohio. Um, can't believe he chose that school, but that's a different conversation. [01:20:27] Um, and he was a chip runner. He was a chip runner at a casino and he worked at five guys. [01:20:33] And then, um, I think his, in his first full year, uh, as a, it being in the space, the cyberspace, [01:20:41] he made six figures. And then now I believe he's in his third year and he has the opportunity to make, [01:20:46] um, 200 K and it's the same with, uh, Willow side who's actually on this call as well. Um, Willow side [01:20:53] was a standout football player at San Jose state. And, um, he actually went to the NFL. He was playing [01:21:01] with the Colts and, um, unfortunately, unfortunately had an injury that kept him away from the game. [01:21:07] And, you know, he's in the same position now too, where he's been in the space just about three years [01:21:12] and we'll have the opportunity to exceed, um, you know, 200 K. So most of our testimonials are [01:21:18] actually, um, on our Instagram page. If anyone follows us on Instagram, it's just at us in tech. [01:21:24] Um, and you'll see a lot of the stories, um, and testimonials and videos of the people who have gone [01:21:31] through the program. And truthfully, that's my reason why I can't give up. So in our first year, [01:21:36] we placed a little over 115 people. And in those positions, um, the average salary was, [01:21:44] I believe $70,000 in year one, which means we contributed to, um, seven, I think it's $7.4 [01:21:54] million to the economy for underrepresented people. And so those are the numbers that would definitely [01:22:01] help us when speaking to an investor, probably similar to yourselves that understand the [01:22:06] social impact as well. And the, um, I guess, potential return of investment away from just [01:22:12] what comes with it from a business opportunity. So we have a ton of testimonials and we share them [01:22:17] on LinkedIn. I think it's, um, every Tuesday as well. Like we usually share testimonials on LinkedIn [01:22:23] again at us in tech and our Instagram page, which is at us in tech as well. Um, you can see all of [01:22:29] our testimonials. Thank you. Yeah. I think it's great at the beginning where you were [01:22:36] when you told me, do is asking the question about tech, but you're helping like really demystify [01:22:42] tech. Like, yeah, you don't have to be a coder or you don't have to, you know, wired routers. [01:22:48] Like there are sales and product management. I think it's really, I didn't think about that [01:22:51] before, but I think it's really vital to, to just demystify the industry that there's, [01:22:56] there's like all sorts of paths inside it. [01:22:58] Yeah, I know. Definitely can learn a few things. Uh, Hey Tom, uh, welcome on stage. Uh, do you have a question for Kendrick? [01:23:20] Sure. Two things. So what, what got you to the point of building out your MVP? Number one, and then number two, [01:23:32] if you ever need any help, you know, with your program and to building like AppSec training classes, [01:23:38] let me know. I can always get you software and course material to, you know, kind of help out with that. [01:23:43] So definitely interested in learning more about the second half, uh, because for us, [01:23:51] all that we placed over 115 people in that first year, um, we educated through our free courses, [01:23:59] more than 900 people. Um, and the education piece is really important because typically bootcamps require [01:24:06] a upfront cost, um, in order to have access to that bootcamp. And I think it's a little bit [01:24:12] contradicting for those who are targeting the underrepresented population that generally has [01:24:17] access to less capital saying that you're required to pay, you know, 15 to $20,000 upfront in order to [01:24:24] have access to these learning modules. I understand it. Um, but it's, it's definitely contradicting. [01:24:29] So our plan is to actually partner with educators, like it sounds in programs, like what you're speaking [01:24:36] to Tom, to help not just employ people, but educate as many people as possible. Um, and then your other [01:24:43] question was, um, how did I come about in creating the MVP? Is that your question? [01:24:51] Yeah, because I'm kind of like in the same boat planning that stuff out. [01:24:56] Yeah. At what point did you say, okay, I built this piece out. When do I have to build out a MVP for [01:25:03] investment? Oh yeah, of course. So, um, for me, it was more about, uh, being obsessed with customer [01:25:13] feedback. And in my first year, we were able to close like 25 clients right now. We're at about 45 [01:25:21] and we got some strong revenue, but I realized it's like revenue at this stage of a business, [01:25:27] um, is somewhat irrelevant. Like it's a good sign, but more companies are not actually have no revenue [01:25:32] when they're at this stage. But what investors really care about is the feedback and the data [01:25:38] that you're able to collect from those paying customers, if they're paying our free customers. [01:25:45] So for me, um, I knew it was the appropriate time to start building my product or my MVP. [01:25:51] Once I was able to aggregate a strong amount of data and feedback, both from my clients and from the [01:25:57] people that are in us and technology and asking them like, Hey, what are the three problems you [01:26:03] all have in common from our largest partner to our, to our biggest partner and let's build around that. [01:26:10] So now like, I'm not just moving with speed. I'm moving with velocity, speed in a given direction, [01:26:15] uh, which is obviously much more valuable than most traditional people, uh, where they create a product [01:26:21] and then they try to go get validation of the product. So what I learned is all those investors [01:26:26] that kind of slapped me on the butt and told me, good job, Kendrick, you know, maybe next year, [01:26:30] they were slapping me on the butt because they said, you know, you're just a services business. [01:26:35] But what I realized is when people see SAS, they forget that the last letter in SAS is actually [01:26:44] software. And then they go back and they try to deliver the service. [01:26:48] So, um, for us, it was most important that we first were able to collect that data from our clients. [01:27:15] Um, so then we can be intentional about what we built and because we don't really have, [01:27:20] we don't have money to waste. So we can't just be building things and throwing it away. [01:27:24] Um, and so I started building our MVP probably about seven months ago. Um, so a little more than a, [01:27:33] probably at a year mark of having a services business, I started building the software. [01:27:39] Excellent. Thank you very much. [01:27:41] And I, I sent you a connection on LinkedIn so we could talk more about the others. [01:27:46] Appreciate that Tom. [01:27:50] Thanks Tom. Thanks for jumping to my stage and asking you a question. [01:27:54] Okay. If there's a, if there's anybody else in the audience that has a question for, uh, Kendrick, [01:27:59] feel free to raise your hand and we'll bring you up on stage. Kendrick, what are you, [01:28:03] uh, I'm going to take it off Tomas? Okay. Go ahead. Uh, Kendrick, you, you had a goal, right? Hey, [01:28:11] I want to do this before 30. What, what's your goal for 40? [01:28:17] Ooh, you said, what's my goal for 40? Yep. [01:28:20] Hmm. You know, that's something I actually struggle with, um, is setting long-term goals. [01:28:28] And I think a lot of it has to do with like how I was raised and a mindset being like, [01:28:32] you're always just kind of in survival mode. Um, for me, I think when people talk about the term [01:28:38] success, they associate it a little too much with like what you do from a revenue standpoint or what, [01:28:44] how much money you make. Um, for me, like my aspirations of success is like, [01:28:49] I want to be the best uncle possible. I want to be the best father possible. When that time comes, [01:28:54] I want to be the best friend, the best brother. Um, and I want to have a really good experiences. [01:29:00] So when I look back at my life, I want to say like, Hey, um, you know, family's one of the few [01:29:05] things that last forever and experiences are one of the few things last forever. Those are two things [01:29:09] I really enjoy. Um, so in between now and the age of 40, uh, my goal is I want every one of color, [01:29:18] um, or everyone from underrepresented background. When they think about tech, [01:29:22] I want them to think about us in tech. Um, when we have this same exact call, 20 years from now, [01:29:28] I want the people leading those calls to be the London's the wheels, the Niles, [01:29:33] and all the other people that we placed in positions today. And I want us in technology to [01:29:38] be in a position where we're not seen as just the staffing company. We're respected for our in-person [01:29:44] events. Um, we have galas. We, um, eventually have the opportunity to become the number one [01:29:50] social network for underrepresented professionals in the world. And I don't usually say that to [01:29:55] investors because if you talk too big, you can distract them. But the reality is of the 10,000 [01:30:01] people that are in our community today, what we learned is 86% of them didn't actually interact [01:30:06] or create a LinkedIn profile until after they created until after they interact with us in technology. [01:30:12] So the majority of those conversations that are having happening with that target audience and [01:30:17] those people are actually being held in our Slack community today, which eventually will be held on [01:30:23] our platform, um, starting next month. So, uh, 40 years from now, I want us to have a big impact in [01:30:30] the world. I want a lot of the leaders and cyber and fintech and martech and HR and sales. Um, I want them to [01:30:38] have some type of association with us in technology and I want us in technology to be the number one [01:30:44] social platform for, uh, all underrepresented professionals. Thank you. I, I echo David's [01:30:52] observation. Definitely very, very wise for your age. It's been a pleasure hearing from you. Tomas, over to you. [01:30:59] Thanks for, Jay. Uh, David, David Elcock, anything you want to ask Kendrick? [01:31:09] Yeah, more, more less a question and more just accolades, um, and a request to connect with you [01:31:17] offline. We're doing somewhat the same work, but I'm just a year in or a year and a half in. And, um, [01:31:23] um, I'm, I'm focusing all of my efforts on communities like the one I grew up in, in Brownsville, [01:31:31] Brooklyn. So finding those communities where the access is so limited, it's, uh, it's tragic to [01:31:39] some degree, but, um, but I, you know, I'm just listening to you and I just wanted to, to say this, [01:31:45] this MVP product that you put together and you waited, it sounds like you waited a while before [01:31:52] you put your product together. Was that because you were waiting for the customer to actually tell [01:31:58] you or inform you what's the best product to put together that they can utilize as part of their, [01:32:04] as part of their, as part of their needs basis? I mean, what was the reason? And I got here late, [01:32:11] Kendrick, so please. No, no, no. You're, you're good. Um, yes, correct. That, that was why we, [01:32:17] um, took so long to start the creation of our MVP is like one. We wanted to affirm the problem, [01:32:24] um, specifically being that for us, uh, we know we have to show twice as much to get, um, what we want, [01:32:33] um, from like potential investors. We want to make sure that we are building intentionally. [01:32:38] And then our MVP has taken, um, so long to be created because it's a very, very mature, [01:32:44] minimal viable product. Um, again, with the goal of like, when I go in and I step in that room [01:32:51] for that seed round, I don't want people to slap me on the butt and say, oh, like, Hey, [01:32:54] this is cool for someone to your age. I want them to respect us from the product that we're able to [01:32:59] put together, the clients that we're able to accumulate the revenue that we've been able to [01:33:04] close and the team that I've been able to create. And I want it to be understood, not just the [01:33:09] social impact that we have, but also the financial opportunity, um, that's in front of us. So the [01:33:15] reasoning behind why I created the product versus just keeping this as a personal business is I made [01:33:22] the, I had to make the decision. Do I want to make 115 people? Do I want to help 115 people in a day? [01:33:28] Or do I want to help in a year? Or do I want to help 115 people in a day? And ultimately the reason [01:33:34] why I started thinking about software is because I recognize there's way more than a hundred [01:33:40] underrepresented people that need help in a day. Um, and so I started to chase impact, which for me [01:33:46] has been a pretty good decision so far. Um, you know, whereas others are just thinking software right [01:33:51] away because they're only chasing a dollar. But for me, I'm chasing impact, right? How do I get [01:33:56] to those kids in Brooklyn? How do I get to kids in those areas where they might not have laptops, [01:34:01] but they all have access to cell phones and wifi? Um, how do I position myself to help others in like [01:34:07] the Caribbean, it's like the Dominican Republic or, you know, Puerto Rico or Jamaica. Um, because [01:34:12] the reality is, is that there's 85 million open jobs that are going to occur, um, in between now and [01:34:18] the year 2030, and there aren't enough Americans to fill those positions. So one of our investors, [01:34:24] our newest investors is actually Sonia Richard Ross and Lauren Williams, both Olympic gold medalists, [01:34:32] um, former Olympic gold medalists. And that was a big reason why they invested in us is because the [01:34:38] product will eventually give us the opportunity to expand into the markets, um, outside of the U.S. as [01:34:44] world. Great, great, great, great. Again, just, just applauding you for your work, your MV, your, your MVP [01:34:56] product, or your decision to do the MVP, did you, you, did you, did you also wait until you had built [01:35:05] enough revenue so that you can even run the company without investment. But hey, now that [01:35:13] they see the revenue value and potential of us in tech, then they're going to come begging or [01:35:24] requesting or asking anyway. Did you want to make revenue first or did you want to get investment [01:35:29] first and then you just decided, hey, revenue first? Yeah. So for me, recognizing who I am, [01:35:37] not making any excuses, but just recognizing who I am, I thought it was important for us to have to [01:35:45] show both. I realized really quickly, for me to get investment, to be respected in those rooms, [01:35:54] I would have to show both. Traditionally, what happens is, and this is what's a challenge for us, [01:35:59] is traditionally what happens is people have an idea and maybe they have this idea based on their [01:36:05] experience of being in the space. So I'll use Tomas, for example. If he has an idea of a product [01:36:14] that is for cybersecurity engineers, he wouldn't need nothing but a room of people to listen to him [01:36:20] and his idea because of his experience and his credibility with dealing with those problems in [01:36:25] the space. So most people, they go and get funding based off an idea. And when they get that funding, [01:36:32] they then go and create a product and they're able to take their time in creating that product. [01:36:38] And then when they create that product based on that funding that they received, [01:36:41] they then go and try to get affirmation from the clients. And they may get like one or two clients. [01:36:47] And those clients might not even pay revenue to be transparent. And then what they do is they have [01:36:52] this product that's fully built. They have one or two people who says that they think this is [01:36:56] interesting. And then they go and raise a seed round, a strong seed round and say, hey, if you were [01:37:03] to invest in this company, I'm confident that I'd be able to scale this to a position to get at least, [01:37:08] you know, 2 million in ARR, which will prepare us for an A round. What's difficult for us is like, [01:37:15] I am creating product while I'm also operating my services business. And the reason why that's [01:37:26] important is because if I have product and no revenue, everyone's going to look at me and say, [01:37:31] hey, you still don't have revenue. And in the beginning, when I had all this revenue and all [01:37:37] these customers and no product, everybody said, hey, you got great services, but you don't have [01:37:42] product. So what I recognize is like, okay, like I'm going to have to juggle the two as long as I can, [01:37:48] because if I can get product and I can get affirmation, you know, through proof of concept [01:37:54] through my customers. Now, when I step in for that seed round, I can call their bullshit and I can say, [01:38:00] hey, we have 45 customers. We have 30 testimonials. We have over 115 minty testimonials. We have these data [01:38:07] points. And this is why we know we need funding. It gives me a lot more control of the situation. [01:38:14] So typically you would be able to focus on building product and then go get customers. [01:38:19] But for us, we had to get customers and to your point, get cashflow to be able to pay for our overhead [01:38:27] today, our product, and then putting ourselves in a position to potentially scale. [01:38:32] Yeah. I love it. I love it, Kendrick. You got a good name too, man. So thanks very much for [01:38:41] answering my questions. I'm going to touch you on LinkedIn and hopefully we can talk more about [01:38:45] what we do in parallel. Yes, sir. Let's do it. [01:38:50] Thanks, David. Thanks for jumping up on stage and asking your question or prompting that discussion. [01:38:56] So look, it is about 9.35 p.m. Eastern time. I want to be respectful of everybody's time. [01:39:03] Just want to make a very, very quick announcement. As I mentioned, we do this every single Wednesday. [01:39:08] So we'll be back here next Wednesday with Tajar Arora Martinez, who's the founder and CEO of Cyber... [01:39:16] Let me get this right. Sorry. Cyber Warfighters Group. So come back next week, [01:39:21] Wednesday, 8 p.m. Eastern time for that great conversation. Kendrick, it's been a pleasure, [01:39:27] my friend. It's been a really good conversation. Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule [01:39:32] to attend this and entertain the questions from the folks in the audience, as well as the folks on the [01:39:38] stage. So moderators, any final thoughts before we kind of conclude? [01:39:44] Now, I'm just going to say it's been a delight and I see great success in your future, Kendrick. [01:39:52] Wish you all the best. I appreciate you all for having me. Thanks so much, team. [01:39:58] Yep. Thanks for sharing your insights. It was great. [01:40:01] Kendrick, I'll leave the final words for you, man. [01:40:05] Oh, man. I just say thank you. And I think that this session today is another example of why each of us [01:40:10] need all of us, each of us coming from, you know, different backgrounds, different ethnicities, [01:40:16] different neighborhoods, as well as different roles and responsibilities in the tech industry. [01:40:20] This is an example of, you know, what we can do when we work together. So beyond grateful, [01:40:26] I'm super excited and I can't wait to stay in touch with everyone. [01:40:32] And that's a great place to leave this, Kendrick. So nice meeting you. Nice meeting you virtually. [01:40:37] I'm sure we'll cross paths eventually in person. Everybody have a great, safe rest of your week. [01:40:43] And we'll be back here next week. If you want to listen to the playback, Kendrick or anyone else [01:40:47] who joined in late, it should probably be available the minute I close this room with maybe less than [01:40:52] five minutes. So I will see you all next week. Cheers. Bye, everybody. Later, team.