Brains Byte Back

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One week before the pandemic hit, unaware of what was about to take place worldwide, Taylor Hersom quit his job as a Chief Information Security Officer for a local firm in Austin, Texas in the hopes of finding a similar position elsewhere.

Between working at Deloitte where he advised Fortune 500 companies on compliance and security tactics, and his more recent position at the local firm, Hersom didn’t anticipate finding a new job to be a difficult feat.

However, as the pandemic set in, his interview offers dried up, and he turned to UpWork in pursuit of a job. In the beginning, he applied for as many posts as he could find in order to build up his review score.

He began taking on clients and quickly realized that startups needed a lot of help with security and compliance, and he knew this could become a genuine business for him. But what he didn’t realize was just how in demand his services would be.

As time went on, Hersom moved away from UpWork and took on staff to build a team in order to meet demand. Shortly after this, on January 1, 2021, his new company Eden Data was born.

In today’s episode of the Brains Byte Back podcast, Hersom, CEO and Founder of Eden Data, shares how the team has grown in such a short period of time by taking a positive approach to security instead of the traditional fear-based approach.

In other words, instead of securing customers using fears tactics such as telling prospects if they get hacked they will be fined, receive bad PR, or be hated, Hersom advocates that strong security can show prospects that you care about them and their data, which can successfully close more deals.

Hersom also shares how their subscription approach to security and compliance has helped them stand out in this market, allowing them to scale alongside the startups they work with.

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If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to build a world-class software engineering team, then this is the episode for you.

In today’s episode of the Brains Byte Back podcast, we speak with Sashank Purighalla, Founder and CEO of BOS Framework, a complete solution to build, migrate, and manage cloud applications and environments.

Purighalla talks about his backstory, explaining how he came to the US in 1999 to study for a masters in robotics, but ended up staying, and has since lived in Alabama, Philadelphia, and now resides in Nashville.

He also opens up about why he decided to pick Nashville as a base to launch BOS Framework over other cities he considered, such as Denver, Raleigh, and Austin.

Additionally, Purighalla shares how BOS Framework was able to reduce one client's spending from over $1 million to $200K, thanks to the cloud solutions company powering its infrastructure.

Moreover, Purighalla breaks down his perspective on the psychology that motivates engineers, and shares examples of how to motivate them to be as happy and productive as possible in their work and output.

One example of this is the idea that they need to work on something they feel is larger than themselves.

Purighalla likens a team of engineers, when united by an overarching goal, to that of an army battalion with a strong sense of camaraderie and drive to achieve something bigger. He argues this is a vital factor in order to build a strong engineering team.

And finally, Purighalla shares why engineers love problem-solving and how encouraging this is important in order to motivate and develop a strong team of engineers.

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According to The NewYorker, ketamine therapy is going mainstream, as the drug has been shown to help people suffering from anxiety and depression.

Moreover, evidence that this drug can help those suffering from mental health issues has been very promising, as stated in the National Library of Medicine, with results showing a significant improvement in depression, anxiety, and the severity of illness after ketamine treatment.

But here at Brains Byte Back we want to understand how this drug is being used and how it stands so to impact the future of treating mental illnesses, so we spoke with Dr. Tiago Marques, CEO at Pasithea Therapeutics, a biotech company at the forefront of research solutions to the world’s mental health problems.

In today’s episode, Marques tell us how Pasithea first started, and shares some insights into day-to-day research at the company.

He also explains how mobile clinics and controlled ketamine infusion work. Alongside, how effective is ketamine for treating PTSD, depression, and other similar issues.

And finally Marques shares some interesting trends in the medical space using psychedelics, and explains what are the legal implications of working in the psychedelic space in the US right now.

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In 2014, Jose M. Azares established a boutique burger shop brand that would later expand to three locations across Alberta, Canada. Due to the high turnover rate in the hospitality industry, Azares was constantly taking on new hires.

When taking on new starts, they would take part in shadow training from day one to day seven, when they would be considered self-sufficient and no longer needed guidance.

However, Azares saw this conventional method of training as ineffective and recognized that many new starts were unhappy with it, but did it anyway because they wanted the job.

After leaving this venture behind, Azares set out to create a new business to change the way companies carry out training.

Inspired by the immersive training that pilots go through, Azares decided to create NIDUM, a company that produces immersive training programs for businesses across all industries.

In today’s episode of Brain Byte Back, we are joined by Azares to discuss why he believes immersive training is a vital next step for businesses everywhere when taking on new hires, alongside what industries he sees benefiting the most from this new type of training.

Additionally, Azares walks us through, step by step, how a user would use NIDUM’s training program and what the process looks like.

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Less than 9% of the 300 million tonnes of plastic produced every year is actually recycled. In order to change this, we must first see a change in consumer behavior.

In today’s episode of the Brains Byte Back podcast, we explore how the Everything as a Service (XaaS) economy stands to be a vital tool to create a more sustainable society, alongside how this economy is impacting consumer culture on a wider level.

To do this we are joined by Lincoln Lincoln, Head of Global Sales & Customer Success at CloudBlue.

We kick off the show by discussing the rise of subscription services, and Lincoln shares the example of Stellantis, a global automaker that he claims generates 20% of its revenue from subscription services for its cars.

With this new approach to a subscription-based model, Lincoln argues that the days of buying a car with a one-time purchase and watch it depreciate as you drive it out of the forecourt are over.

He also shares how features in cars are now sold as subscriptions, such as BMW announcing that heated seats can now be used as a pay-as-you-go service, so you can turn it on during winter, and off during the summer. Meaning you only pay for what you want, when you want it.

Additionally Lincoln highlights how the XaaS economy is raising our expectations and demands as consumers.

He draws on the example of the exercise bike company Peloton, and advocates that no longer do we buy a simple exercise bike, but we now expect this bike to challenge our fitness goals and produce content that motivates us.

And finally, we discuss how subscription services stand to increase sustainability by encouraging the production of products that stand the test of time, and discourage models such as planned obsolescence.

Lincoln advocates that this is because in this modern economy, rather than selling a product as a one-time purchase, when it is sold as a subscription, the consumer benefits because they pay as they go, and the manufacturer is encouraged to create an asset or product that works for as long as possible.

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If you’re on TikTok, there is a chance you may be familiar with a trend known as "product overload." According to Insider, it is a trend that involves mixing cleaning chemicals in sinks and toilets to create "mesmerizing" visual results, but experts say it could be damaging to the environment.

Well, according to Dan Lawson, Co-Founder & President Of Business Affairs at Viking Pure Solution, a company that produces patented e-water, nontoxic solutions and cleaning products, you don’t need a “product overload” to harm the environment when using cleaning products.

To better understand how our everyday cleaning products are impacting the environment, our health, and how Viking Pure’s cleaning products stand to make a difference, we sat down with Lawson to discuss this in today’s Brains Byte Back episode.

In the episode, Lawson shares that normal chemical products have a multitude of ingredients with colors, fragrances and soaps that are added, which can damage surfaces over time.

However, Lawson argues that Viking Pure’s products are far more minimalist and walks us through how its machines are capable of taking salt (sodium chloride), mixing it with water, and combining it with electricity in a very specific way to create the company’s cleaning solutions.

We also discuss how Viking Pure’s solutions can help the environment not only by stopping harmful chemicals from being released into it, but also by reducing packaging, and carbon footprint.

And finally Lawson shares some case studies of how their products have helped clients and customers so far, alongside the story behind the name Viking Pure.

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In 2011, Aaron Labbé was diagnosed with Bi-polar 1 Disorder, after over a year of un-diagnosed mania and psychosis that caused a number of lasting scars in his life.

In February 2012, he was forcibly hospitalized for the first time and kicked out of the music conservatory he was studying at. His life has never been the same since.

That hospital experience itself was traumatizing, as he had a doctor tell him to cope with the fact that he couldn't finish school, wouldn't be able to keep a professional job, and should ultimately settle into a more passive lifestyle.

Before this experience, his dream was to be a professional musician - but at that point, he decided to dedicate his life to creating a more empathetic mental health system. As a result, Labbé co-founded LUCID, a startup with a mission to turn music into medicine.

He now works as the team’s CTO and has spent the last 4 years working tirelessly to turn music into a validated medicine for mental health.

In today’s episode, we sit down with Labbé to discuss some of the research they are working on, what it entails and what it has demonstrated so far.

We also explore how psychedelics play a role in the work LUCID does. Alongside, the legal implications of working in the psychedelic space as a startup in Canada. And finally, Labbé shares what is next for the therapeutic music startup.

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When the pandemic hit, Jerry Kolber, co-creator of National Geographic's Brain Games and Netflix’s Brainchild, alongside his producing partners discovered they had two things at hand, a lot of time and a lot of ideas.

As a result, they used the ideas they had for their future TV projects and created “Who Smarted?”, a podcast for curious 6 to 10-year-old kids, using narrative, humor, and fun to teach science and history.

The podcast became a huge success a later went on to receive 4 million organic downloads in a year.

In today’s episode, we sit down with Kolber and discuss how his work in theater doing off-broadway theater started his career in content creation, which later moved into the space of television.

Kolber shares how, when they started the podcast, it took a while before they built up a listenership. So much so that initially they feel like they were creating a podcast for nobody.

We also explore why Kolber advocates that the show has been a success because it is mission driven, passion drive and quality driven. Alongside why you need to offer a unique point of view, something useful for your audience, and a high level of quality in order to create a hit show.

Kolber also explains why finding your niche is so important for podcast success and why niche media mentions create a larger bump in listenership than mentions in broader, more well-known publications or outlets.

And finally, Kolber shares his experience on the Palmetto Debate Squad with US Supreme Court member Ketanji Brown Jackson, when the two were in high school together.

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In a number of past episodes on Brain Byte Back, we have focused on what it is like to live as a digital nomad, and solutions to tackle the challenges of the new decentralized workforce, but in today’s episode we will be tackling a novel topic related to this new, online, borderless world of work and business.

Because in today’s episode we will be speaking with Abhinov Balagoni, Founder & CEO of Pax Credit, a startup that provides financial services for international students such as cross-border payments and access to affordable credit.

In this episode, we walk listeners through how they can incorporate and operate a US-based company remotely as an international founder.

Balagoni also explains the two types of companies one can build - C Corp, and the other - LLC companies, and why this is important for anyone looking to start a US-based company.

Alongside, why Delaware and Wyoming are the two most popular states to establish businesses.

We also get into the nitty-gritty of how listeners can start a company incorporation packet, create a business bank account, and get a credit card as a startup.

Additionally, we discuss what technology and tools Balagoni has found to be vital for building a startup that operates in different countries remotely. And finally, what is next on the horizon for Pax Credit.

Disclosure: This episode includes a client of an Espacio portfolio company

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In 2016, Adam David Jones woke up from a coma in a trauma center with no memory of how he got there. They told him someone had smashed the back of his skull in with a cinderblock and that half his skull was gone from emergency surgery.

A month early, the day after Good Friday, Adam was busy working at a political rally he had organized in Harrisburg, PA. Later that evening, after it was over and he was getting ready to leave, a friend asked if he would accompany her to an afterparty she was invited to. He agreed to go because she didn't know the man who asked her, and he wanted her to feel safe.

When they were close to the party, the man suddenly said they might not all be welcomed and wanted one of them to leave. Adam volunteered to leave and that was the last thing he remembered.

Fast forward a year later, and the trial takes place to seek justice for the attack. After Adam’s friend testified, he was called to the stand, but Adam was unable to identify the attacker due to his lack of memory of the event.

Despite the fact that police found the accused attacker at the scene of the crime covered in Adam’s blood, and with Adam’s money in his pocket, it was considered a “He said, she said” case and he was found not guilty.

This was the moment Adam was inspired to create Zeer, a next-generation personal and public safety tech that creates a frictionless response for when you are in danger, to allow you to get help, and record evidence to prosecute the person who attacked you.

In this episode, Adam shares why prosecuting will attackers will become easier with Zeer, but why provension will remain a harder challenge. He also shares how Zeer will be able to alert users to danger through the use of data that factors in time of day, area, and temperature, to name a few.

Adam also explains that we know that crime rises along with the temperature and how this can help better predict crime and danger.

Sam, the host, also chips in, drawing on a point made by his previous psychology professor, that highlights why a direct link can not always be drawn between correlations, with the example that when more ice cream is consumed by the population, robbery rises, and shares the missing piece of information that explains why this is the case.

Additionally, Adam shares how Zeer can specifically help victims of domestic violence by initiating a recording using a safeword that begins recording without the attacker knowing, and either stores it in the cloud, contacts an emergency contact, contacts the police, or all of the above. We also discuess the legal and ethical issues around recording people without them knowing.

And finally, Adams talks about how Zeer is currently raising its first round of funding, where they look to raise $1.8 million, alongside how listeners can get involved to try out their beta program for Zeer.