The Founder Formula

You need these two things to start a company: a really big idea and a plan for how to get there. Our guest today has an absolutely mammoth idea… Passwordless authentication. In this episode, we interview Rakesh Loonkar [https://www.linkedin.com/in/rloonkar/], President & Co-Founder at Transmit Security [https://www.transmitsecurity.com/] and four-time founder, about how his latest company achieved the largest series A in the history of cybersecurity with a big idea and a plan. Join us as we discuss: * Why we should do away with passwords forever * How to pitch to a VC and what VCs want to know * Why Rakesh was drawn to entrepreneurship * Focusing on competition versus focusing on solutions Listen to this and all of The Founder Formula episodes at Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-founder-formula/id1476557955], Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/2geGZXYP4i4chOLR2ZPUWo], or our website [https://www.trace3.com/resources/podcast/the-founder-formula]. Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for The Founder Formula in your favorite podcast player.

Big tech companies have their pros and cons; but compared to the freedom found in startups, the choice was a no-brainer for Armon. In this episode, we interview Armon Dadgar [https://www.linkedin.com/in/armon-dadgar/], Co-founder and CTO at HashiCorp [https://www.linkedin.com/company/hashicorp/], about how his company gained success through a balanced relationship with the co-founder, seed money from trusted investors, and changing hats as the CTO to best fit the specific concerns of the quarter. In this episode, we discuss: * Armon’s journey to startups & HashiCorp’s origin * Startup success & funding through friendship * Changing hats as a founder * The HashiCorp Employee Exchange and COVID-19 epiphanies * Building an open source business vs. open source project Check out the resources below: * Shout out to HashiCorp Co-founder and best friend to Armon, Mitchell Hashimoto [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchellh/] Listen to this and all of The Founder Formula episodes at Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-founder-formula/id1476557955] , Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/2geGZXYP4i4chOLR2ZPUWo], or our website [https://www.trace3.com/resources/podcast/the-founder-formula] . Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for The Founder Formula in your favorite podcast player.

Menlo was founded, in part, because five cybersecurity experts were fed up. Security products should stop bad things from happening — but they didn’t. Founding his second company on the premise of “Hey, we can do better” has taken this entrepreneur all the way to validation in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant within a decade. In this episode, we interview Amir Ben-Efraim [https://www.linkedin.com/in/amir-ben-efraim-8801451/], CEO at Menlo Security [https://www.menlosecurity.com/], about lessons learned from the acquisition of his first company and the wild success of his second one. In this episode, we also discuss: * Menlo Security’s origin story * The balance of business and technology in entrepreneurship * What Amir learned from founding Altor * Validation from Gartner and tracking the competition Check out these resources we mentioned during the podcast: * Shout out to Menlo Co-founder and Chief Product Officer Poornima DeBolle [https://www.linkedin.com/in/poornima-debolle-b0428/] * Menlo named a Visionary [https://www.menlosecurity.com/blog/menlo-security-named-a-visionary-in-gartners-2020-magic-quadrant-for-secure-web-gateways/] by Gartner for third year Listen to this and all of The Founder Formula episodes at Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-founder-formula/id1476557955], Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/2geGZXYP4i4chOLR2ZPUWo], or our website [https://www.trace3.com/resources/podcast/the-founder-formula]. Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for The Founder Formula in your favorite podcast player.

Celebrating a massive milestone - $225 million in Series F funding for Illumio [https://www.illumio.com/] - our guest today is startup guru and network security expert, Andrew Rubin [https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewsrubin/#]. Illumio is at the bleeding edge of the cybersecurity maelstrom with their groundbreaking work in Zero Trust Segmentation. Andrew offers up his entertaining insights on cyber security, his history as a successful entrepreneur and fashion investor, and paying it forward by mentoring up-and-coming founders. Here's a sneak peek: * Leveraging the “zero trust” strategy. * The importance of segmentation to prevent catastrophes. * Founders need a balance between being passionate and being data-driven. * CEOs and entrepreneurs are constantly trading notes, and constantly asking each other for advice. * The exciting world of investing in high fashion & being part of the Tory Burch phenom. Check out these resources we mentioned during the podcast: * Andrew Rubin [https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewsrubin/#], CEO and Founder of Illumio [https://www.illumio.com/] * Trace3 [https://trace3.com/], the premiere provider of cutting edge business tech * Your hosts, Todd Gallina [https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddgallina], VP of Marketing, and Tony Bushnell [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tbushell/], Chief Transformation & Strategy Officer You can find this interview, and many more, by subscribing to the The Founder Formula [https://trace3.com/resources/podcast/the-founder-formula#:~:text=of%20the%20future.-,The%20Founder%20Formula%20brings%20you%20in%E2%80%94behind%20the%20curtains%20and,%2Dpaced%20%26%20innovative%20tech%20firm.] podcast on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-founder-formula/id1476557955], on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/70UGO17AymTqYi3AYPYiSB], or your preferred podcast app.

For this Founder, getting out of the cubicle and teaching completely changed his life and his career. We’re talking to Mike Pfeiffer [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mpfeiffer/] this week on The Founder Formula. He’s the CEO and Founder of CloudSkills.io [https://cloudskills.io/], the most immersive cloud and devops learning community in the world. Mike realized as he was working in tech support and cloud architecture that his true calling is to teach, but on his own terms. Our conversation on this episode covers: - The importance of training and evolvement for businesses and individuals in technology - The learning experiences that ultimately lead to entrepreneurship - How to build an audience and continue impacting that audience - The real scoop on authoring a book - And, the rules of the dog park, as told by Todd Gallina and Sandy Salty Listen to this and all of The Founder Formula episodes at Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-founder-formula/id1476557955], Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/2geGZXYP4i4chOLR2ZPUWo], or our website [https://www.trace3.com/resources/podcast/the-founder-formula].