Unlocking Success in Entrepreneurship with Jake Halusic

[00:00:02] So what is the difference between a good and a great culture? Yeah, absolutely. So I'll tell you from my opinion and work experience, and I've seen a couple of different ones, I really think it's about having an entrepreneurial culture.

[00:00:16] I think that's a big difference makers allowing employees to make decision, not a top-down organization where there's an ego at the top, you know, telling everybody what to do and how to do it.

[00:00:27] I really think it's about having more of a flat organization and listening to your employees. They're the ones out there in front of your customers, you know, they're the ones collecting your AR. So they're seeing it firsthand, right? And so I want to learn from them.

[00:00:41] I want them to bring ideas. And I think when you instill that in the company, it just empowers everybody to be a part of it. They feel like they're a part of it. They're interested in the growth of the company. And it's just a totally different mindset.

[00:01:00] Welcome to The InFactor, conversations with entrepreneurs who started, stumbled and succeeded. I'm Rebecca White, and I'm very excited to welcome Jake Halusik to the show today. Jake is actually a former student of mine at the University of Tampa, and he's just started a brand new company, Trofeo,

[00:01:20] and he is a serial entrepreneur because I know this isn't his first business, going all the way back to college, but he's done some interesting things in between. So excited to have you on the show. Yeah, thanks for having me, Rebecca. I'm looking forward to it.

[00:01:35] Yeah, well, this is really fun because I've sort of watched you grow as an entrepreneur for a number of years, I guess probably 14 or 14 or I don't know. How many years ago did you graduate?

[00:01:48] I graduated in 2011 and wrote my first set of business plans there while I was at UT. So yeah, it's been almost 13 or 14 years now. Yeah, yeah, it goes by really fast. So let's start by just a little bit of an overview of Trofeo,

[00:02:07] what it is and what you do for your customers. Yeah, absolutely. Yes. So we launched Trofeo really with a focus on helping companies really map the footprint between technology and business outcome goals and objectives. So if you look at Trofeo, we're very focused on Microsoft Azure.

[00:02:30] We're experts in Microsoft Azure migrating companies to the cloud, supporting them long term with that cloud strategy. And then what kind of encompasses that is all the Microsoft M365 email licensing that everybody's probably very familiar with when it comes to the business licensing.

[00:02:48] It can be a little challenging with all the tools that are included. So we do the migrations to the email platform and then wrap all the security tools around it to make sure their data is secure from phishing attacks and all the cyber threats that are coming downstream.

[00:03:03] And then we implement all the Microsoft security tools as well around both the cloud and M365 stack. Wow, well, that sounds like a very timely business. Lots going on right now in that space. So and knowing a little bit about your background,

[00:03:23] I think it makes a lot of sense to me how you got there. But let's back up a little bit before we talk even more about the space and sort of go over your entrepreneurial journey. In 2011, I think you mentioned, you graduated from the University of Tampa.

[00:03:43] You wrote your first business plan, I think in my class. And if I remember correctly, you were going to open a Sheets convenience store in the Tampa Bay area. That's correct. We're going to do a concept very similar to Sheets,

[00:03:59] which if you're from the Northeast, you'll know the concept well. And so we wrote the whole business plan, actually talked to some of the executives over at Sheets and they were nice enough to give us information on that plan.

[00:04:11] And it's funny because John West was my mentor on that plan in the class. And I think about six months later, Wawa announced they're opening their first 12 stores in Florida. He called me and he was like, son of a gun, we should have done that business plan.

[00:04:28] Yeah, you were ahead of your time. And I remember you connected with John West, who at the time was on the Board of Trustees at the university. And part of the process of that class was to have mentors. And so you started early.

[00:04:43] You're from the Pittsburgh area, but came here to Tampa and you decided to stay in Tampa. So what happened after graduation? You didn't pursue your concept right away, I think. Yeah, absolutely. So I graduated.

[00:04:59] I took a job with PNC Bank just to get some experience, got an offer right out of college. And so I took the job and I was there for about 12 months. And I realized pretty quickly banking was not for me, not what I wanted to do.

[00:05:15] And so actually I came back to UT. I was still with PNC, but came back for a business symposium that they were hosting on campus there. And I heard Tony DiVedadetto talk about TriBridge. And more importantly, he was talking about how he initially raised money for the concept,

[00:05:35] how he grew the company. And it just really hit home with what I wanted to do. So I approached him after and said, hey, can we meet for a cup of coffee? I'd love to talk to you about how you got started and some business plans I wrote.

[00:05:47] And so after multiple emails to him after that, I finally got his attention and he said, yeah, come in to the office. And so I did. And I actually took the, it was called One Stop, was the convenience store that I was going to put down here.

[00:06:01] I took the One Stop business plan, which I still have sitting on my desk. And I took it to him. I don't even think we got the business plan open, but he offered me a sales job at TriBridge.

[00:06:13] And I knew I wanted to own my own business one day. I knew sales was a very important skill set to learn and master if you're going to be running your own company.

[00:06:24] And I knew there was just something special about the company the way Tony was when I talked to him. It just felt like the right fit. So I joined TriBridge. I was there for seven years. I actually came on, I never thought I'd be in technology sales.

[00:06:40] I mean, if the internet goes out here, my wife fixes it. So I always joke, I sell technology. I don't use it, right? But it was great. You know, it took me a couple of years to really gain my stride there. And it was my second year.

[00:07:01] I actually got put on a performance incentive plan because I wasn't quite grasping sales and how to do it. I was actually taking advice from some of the other reps that were really just waiting on marketing leads and getting them in the door.

[00:07:15] And I noticed they'd have a good year, they'd have a bad year. It just depended on the leads they got. And I was like, there's got to be a better way to do this. And it took me back to UT. I remember my junior year.

[00:07:26] I can't remember which entrepreneurship class it was, but Jowes was giving us extra credit just to wake up early or stay late and go to a lot of these networking events. And he kept saying how important the impact of the network was.

[00:07:40] And I don't know what it was, but I finally bought into it and I went to these events and I started meeting people and actually made a business card with my graduation date and major. I would pass out these cards at the event.

[00:07:50] I would set coffee and lunch meetings with all these business people in town. And so flash forward to being in sales and getting put on this plan. It's like, man, there's got to be more to it.

[00:08:01] And at the same time, I was reading a book called The Go Giver, which is a phenomenal read for those of you who haven't read it.

[00:08:08] But it really talks about being a servant leader and really being the connector, just introducing people for the right reasons, even if it has nothing to do with you directly. And so I took what I learned at UT from a network perspective and what that book taught me.

[00:08:22] And I started to build out an ecosystem of partners just referring deals back and forth, helping their kids get internships, whatever it was, I would do it in a king full circle where they just started referring me business.

[00:08:36] And so flash forward, I went on to be one of the top reps there for five or six years in a row using that model.

[00:08:44] But what I had done, and I didn't even realize it was really built out kind of a recurring revenue model where these partners, you know, now 13 years later still refer to me that I built out that initial year. So that's really how I got my start there.

[00:08:58] And then was with TriBridge until 2017. We had a successful exit. DXC technology acquired us. And when I went there, there was another firm up in Virginia, a private equity firm, Heron Equity.

[00:09:15] They were merging two Microsoft partners together to make about a $50 million company and recruited some of the ex-TriBridge folks over there to come help grow it. And so I did about a five year stint there alongside the private equity firm.

[00:09:31] We just exited that business in February of this year and then watched her fail. Yeah. And in between there, I think you did some other, you had a few other efforts, right? Did you have you along the way?

[00:09:46] Because I think it's really helpful for people to hear success stories sometimes have challenges along the way too. In fact, I would say I learned more from my failures than I think I have my successes.

[00:09:57] You know, you kind of in all of these companies, you take things that you learn that you say, I'll 100% do those when I have a company and you see things you wouldn't do and you say, I won't do those.

[00:10:07] But yeah, in between, I actually started an outdoor furniture company and we were using a local manufacturer down towards Sarasota. It was custom made to order and we would ship it out. We actually, University of Tampa was a customer. We actually did some of their outdoor furniture.

[00:10:28] We did a few others. We broke even on that business and what I'll tell you, I learned there is it's really hard to ship heavy furniture, bulky furniture.

[00:10:36] You have the last mail delivery they call it to actually get it to the customer's home and unpack and set up the way they want it was just really hard to come by. And then, you know, anytime someone wanted to return something, it was a challenge.

[00:10:49] And so, you know, I think that business can be done, but it certainly was not for me. So learn that and I did go to one smaller organization in between there and was there VPSL for two years.

[00:11:02] And it was a really good experience, you know, being in more of a leadership and management role for those two years that set me up for good success at the La Silla that we just exited from. That's great. Well, there's several things I'd love to dig into there.

[00:11:20] You talked about sales and I can't tell you how many people that I have on this show that have started their entrepreneurial journey in sales. And they talk about it as a lifetime skill that serves them well as an entrepreneur. So you're always selling, right?

[00:11:41] Even if you're raising money, selling your product, selling the best employees come and work for you. It's always about selling. And then then you brought up the importance of relationship building and in that process, in that context, but also the importance of your network.

[00:12:00] And I know that's something I'm thrilled to hear that that's something you took also from the University of Tampa. So talk to us a little bit about how you think about networking. You've talked about it a little bit already about the relationship building.

[00:12:18] But when you're out there trying to start a business, it can be hard to find the time to do that kind of relationship. Yeah, great question.

[00:12:27] So I'll say this has been kind of my secret sauce over the years to have really high sales numbers and being really valuable to these companies that I go into because I bring the network with me.

[00:12:39] And so it's an asset that you really can't pass up because once you have the network, it's worth a lot. And those companies realize what you're bringing to the table from that network.

[00:12:52] And when you leave that that networks no longer going to be there because they're loyal to you. So I said this inside every company. They're really doing business with Jake Inc or Rebecca Inc. Right? They follow you.

[00:13:05] Not so much the company you're with because they have trust in you. So I would tell you the way I think about networking, I think you have to make time for it.

[00:13:12] Like you said, lunch in a new company or no matter where you're at in your career that you always make time for networking. You never know where the conversations are going to lead.

[00:13:21] But the way I look at it really is it's an extra set of eyes and ears out there in the field for you or for your business. And so you don't really need to hire salespeople because if you educate your partners,

[00:13:34] just give them enough information to kind of team up or if they hear something, you know, for instance, for us that a company is, you know, having infrastructure security issues or has critical applications that are maybe still hosted on premise.

[00:13:49] You know, all I just need to educate them enough to listen for a couple things that they can say, hey, you should talk to Jake over at Trofeo. And so the way I think about it is really you put the decision makers in the middle,

[00:14:01] which for us is all the C levels and you know, who is surrounding those C level executives? If you put them in the middle and draw a circle around them, you have your banks, your CPA firms, your lawyers, your payroll companies, your insurance brokers.

[00:14:18] And so what we've done is built a trusted network of these partners that really when they're out there talking to their clients, they're listening for, you know, things that would be a good fit for us and vice versa.

[00:14:30] So we're doing the same thing. We're listening for issues the clients have or we can introduce one of our good partners. But it works multiple ways because now you become more of a value add for the customer

[00:14:42] because you're referring to good partners to solve a problem that's outside of, you know, my wheelhouse, but they're still getting help and too we're helping the partner get introduced to. So it's a win-win all around. And that's really the ecosystem I've built out.

[00:14:58] When I was back in Tridridge, we had 16 of these ecosystems across the country in major cities and we would map out who the right partners were in each city, you know, to be trusted and do business with. So is that a model you initiated there?

[00:15:15] So it's a model we initiated and a model I've continued with. So it's funny when I, you know, this model has been with me for 13 years now and I've used it at every single place I've gone to and it's been a pathway to success.

[00:15:29] Even when the company is having a downtime and marketing leads are slow, this model and this way of networking continues to produce. And so you have reps that are maybe doing 10 million one year and, you know, 2 million the next.

[00:15:45] With this model, you're consistent because you can rely on the partners. Yeah, that's really cool. You know, one of the things that I keep hearing through this whole conversation is persistence.

[00:16:00] I think there's a quote in, well, I know there's a quote in our entrepreneurship center at the university by Steve Jobs. It says, this difference between successful and unsuccessful entrepreneurs is persistence.

[00:16:12] So, you know, you talked about how the model that you saw from some of the more senior or other sales personnel there at TriBridge was more about waiting on the customer, whereas you knew there was a better way going out and building something.

[00:16:36] So, and I sort of hear that with everything you're talking about. It's relationship building and not sitting back and waiting, but going out and making things happen. Would you say that's been a big part of what's helped you with the successes you've had?

[00:16:52] Yeah, I think like two big things. Persistence for sure. I always say, you know, the worst someone can say is no, right? And if they say no, they probably didn't want your help anyway. So, you know, I continue to go after them and be persistent.

[00:17:07] That's how I ended up, you know, getting the meeting with Tony back in the day. It was just persistence kept falling up, kept falling up after that business symposium at UT and finally got a meeting. And so I think persistence is big done the right way, right?

[00:17:20] You don't want to overdo it, but follow-up is extremely important. And I think that's something especially for our younger generation, you know, follow-up is critical. I'm old fashioned, like I'll even do handwritten thank you notes after I meet with someone. I just think that's invaluable.

[00:17:39] I think the other thing is just being entrepreneurial and this is no matter what role you're in. I don't care if you're starting a company, if you're working in accounting, if you're working in sales,

[00:17:48] you know, being entrepreneurial and running your own little division inside the company is really, I think, a good way to look at things. I hire that way. Like that's actually one of our values that we have in the company is entrepreneurial spirit. And that's what we entail.

[00:18:05] You know, I actually prefer employees that don't want structure. Hey, I'm going to do A, B, C and D today. I want employees that are going to challenge themselves to find a better way to get the job done and bring ideas to the table. Right.

[00:18:20] And that's made a big difference. Even getting started here back at Tribridge, we had that culture and it's amazing. And see when you get people that freedom to make them decisions and empower them, just the culture that comes out of it's really something else.

[00:18:36] They feel like they're a part of something. They feel like they're making a change and they are making a change. So I think, you know, no matter what position you're in, be entrepreneurial and think about it that way because you'll find, you know, better ways to do things.

[00:18:50] You'll be solving problems and you'll be helping, you know, your company grow, whether it's yours personally or you're working inside a company. Yeah, that's great advice. So let's talk about Trofeo. First of all, the name picking a name can be hard.

[00:19:07] We were talking about that, I think before the show. So tell the audience a little bit about that name. I think you mentioned it's Italian and so why that why? It is Italian. So we landed on the name. It's funny. It's very hard to name a company.

[00:19:22] I went through so many names. I was making up words and would type them in domain search and they were taking and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is unbelievable. But we stumbled across the word Trofeo. It's Italian word for word. It means trophy.

[00:19:38] But when you look at what it stands for, it stands for winning high performance victory. And so when we saw that it really resonated with the company because we have high performing consultants that are building winning solutions for our client.

[00:19:53] It allows them to go to market and be victorious in competitive situations. And so when we really put that all together, you know, we were like this really embodies what Trofeo is all about, you know, internally and externally and it just it fits so well. Yeah.

[00:20:12] So I'm guessing your experience at TriBridge in particular has been very helpful and some of your mentors like Tony DiBetta Detto and others have been very helpful in helping you as a young entrepreneur starting a tech based company.

[00:20:28] So what does somebody need to be thinking about that who might be listening? They've got it, you know, a technology solution that they'd like to bring to market. How did you get started and how did you find this this niche that you're focused on? Yeah, absolutely.

[00:20:43] You know, it's a great question. I would say one is it doesn't matter if it's a tech company or another company, you know, absolutely find mentors that can help you get there.

[00:20:54] You know, with Tony and Scott and some of the guys we have on the board, you know, they've been invaluable from a mentor perspective. And, you know, what started as a mentorship and an employee boss relationship has turned into an awesome friendship for the past 13 years.

[00:21:11] And so it's really cool. But I think no matter what business you're starting, get a mentor that's been there, done that, that can coach you, guide you along the way because that's going to make a world of difference.

[00:21:22] You know, it's funny when I first graduated, I was under the mindset, oh, you got to own 100% or something or majority of something to really, you know, have control and at the end of the day, you know, cash out and, you know, make money. And that's wrong.

[00:21:38] Like it's the wrong way of thinking of it. If you own a little piece of something with the right mentors and the right other employees, you will make way more at the end of the day and grow a way better company

[00:21:51] than trying to do it on your own. So that would be my first bit of advice is don't be afraid to give up equity to the right people that can make a big difference. In fact, for employees coming on board, I highly recommend it.

[00:22:04] If you have key employees, let them put skin in the game with you because they're going to be battling just as hard that persistence we talked about earlier. They're going to have it just as much.

[00:22:13] So I think that's number one is get a good mentor, get a good plan in place. You don't have to overdo the business plan, but definitely get a plan in place that you're committed to even early on here. Start now.

[00:22:26] It has been sticking to the plan and I can tell you having that plan in place has been crucial because when we think about taking on business that's outside our swim lanes, we're quick to turn back and say let's stick to the

[00:22:37] plan. You can always adjust your plan, you know, six, eight, ten months down the road if market feedback is telling you something different, but I would put the plan in place and try and stick to it as much as possible, especially in your in your early days.

[00:22:53] And you know, I think as you're out there trying to start something if you can do it where you can raise some capital to get started even better, you know, it'll it'll allow you to make decisions.

[00:23:08] Not like a startup and grow a little faster, but I know that's not the case for everyone. So I think either way you're starting with with cash or without just have a growth plan in place that it matches that you're able to execute

[00:23:22] on. And I think the other thing Rebecca this is in some of the companies I've worked at I've seen both sides of it. I think people need to be honest with themselves early on whether they want to create a growth oriented company where they're reinvesting in

[00:23:36] the business and they're going to grow it fast and realize they aren't going to make as much on the way up. They are going to, you know, put their cars through the through the company and all that stuff, right?

[00:23:46] That is more of a lifestyle business and there's nothing wrong with that. But it's hard to say you're going to be a growth company and treat it like a lifestyle business. So I've seen that conflict in my career and I would say, you

[00:24:02] know, you really got to pick one or the other and I don't think there's a wrong or right answer. It's just how big do you want to grow the company? How fast you want to grow the company? And then you can make you can make that decision.

[00:24:15] Oh, I think that's that's excellent advice because it really dictates everything you do, right? It you know, it dictates how much money you take out of the business for yourself versus leaving in the business to grow it.

[00:24:28] It dictates your, you know, your growth rate and your goals and it dictates, you know who you're going to hire and how many people you're going to hire. So do you think a lot of people find it scary to you know,

[00:24:44] they that on the one hand I want to build a growth business on the other. I'm a little bit afraid to go all in. I think so. I think it comes down to that plan right in the beginning like

[00:24:55] know what you're going in for and then you'll know what kind of business you want to build. Like I can tell you we went into this business knowing we wanted to build something special both from the way we deliver solutions our clients, but also from an internal

[00:25:10] culture perspective and growing it pretty fast, right? So we went in knowing that treating it like a growth oriented business. And I think I think some people get conflicted because they don't know what they want to do going into it.

[00:25:25] And they go in and they get so comfortable living that lifestyle business and you know, they're closing big deals, but they're kind of taking all the money out and it's hard to grow the business when you're when you're doing it that way.

[00:25:38] Not that you can't have a great business. You certainly can. It's just hard to do it with with that mindset. So I think it's based on the plan going in and really what you want to build the business into.

[00:25:50] Yeah, that I think that's really great advice getting getting clear in your mind about what your goals are for the business and I'm sure when you have a partner that's even more complex because you may have that's a conversation

[00:26:03] you got to have with your partner and I've seen a lot of partnerships fall apart because they have different perspectives. Yeah, you hit it right on the head. I've seen several fall apart for that same reason again. I think it's picking the right partners, you know that

[00:26:17] align with with what you want to do. If you do that early on it, I think you'll be okay. But again, it's it comes down to that plan. You know, if you have partners put the plan in front of

[00:26:27] them and get them to agree to it and you know, if you have a partner that signed an agreement I would get out of that partnership before you even begin it because it's it's it's hard to change your mindset on that particular topic. I will say that.

[00:26:42] Yeah, yeah, that's exactly right the deeper you get so as I'm listening to you talk you mentioned board and you mentioned partners and it sounds like to me Jake that you've used that same methodology of going to your trusted advisors and network to build this company

[00:27:01] as well as the things you've done in the past. So is this you know, have you raised money for the for the company and if so could you talk a little bit about your strategy? Yeah, absolutely. So we did raise money and I would say we raised

[00:27:16] enough so we don't have to act like a startup and it gives us a couple years a runway to make key hiring decisions, you know, particularly in this space. We're hiring pretty high powered consultants. So they're more expensive roles.

[00:27:28] We have to attract talent from some of the bigger companies out there that are doing this and so in order to do that you have to offer, you know all the benefits 401k and you know full benefits across the

[00:27:39] board for health and it's got to be able to compete with those big guys and so we knew we were going to need to do that going in. We knew we had to have you know enough cash to be able to do it.

[00:27:50] You know, I think the process for that is really again comes down to building a good network along the way. And then when you are ready to do something, you know, you have that that network to reach out to and you've been a proven factor along the way,

[00:28:05] you know, you produce big numbers. You run good teams, you know, and they just they see your persistence. They see your work ethic. So I think you know if it's something you're doing and you can prove, you know your skill sets and your value to people.

[00:28:21] I think raising money becomes less of an issue. I can tell you here was it was actually less of an issue. It was like let's come up with a good idea. We know we want to do something together. We have the money but let's come up with the

[00:28:34] idea in the right space. And so it's kind of backwards from probably what a lot of people do is come up with the idea and then go seek money. I think either way is totally fine. It just depends on when you do it in life.

[00:28:49] If it's later and you built that trust in that network, then I think you can rely on the network for investment. If you're earlier on in your career like I was at a college and you're going to pitch these ideas, it's a little harder because you haven't

[00:29:03] you know, you haven't built any reputation yet. But I think which they are the idea really matters and the way you present it matters and has to be really crisp and clear. You need a much clearer business plan, you know with full financials and everything back in it.

[00:29:19] I think to get someone to invest, you know earlier on and people ask me all the time. Do you wish you started something sooner? And I don't think there's any right or wrong answer there. I I prefer the way I did it because I gained

[00:29:31] so much experience over the years. I took things out of companies I would do and not do watching this and it gave me a really good platform, you know to launch a company for growth. So I like the way I went about it.

[00:29:45] Having said that, I think I also could have launched something early and probably learn those you know skill sets along the way. It probably just would have been a little more painful. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, we learned from every step

[00:29:59] we take what works and what doesn't work. You know one of the best quotes I've ever heard about raising money is if you want advice ask for money. If you want money ask for advice and I'm guessing that along the way that's kind of

[00:30:13] what you're talking about you. You you talk to potential partners about opportunities and gaps in the market and they kind of came along with you on the journey. It sounds like to to Trofeo and and what what what it is today.

[00:30:32] And so let's talk a little bit about competition because you always have to understand your space in the market. So what what is the gap out there and and that you're feeling that's different and how can you as a startup compete out

[00:30:50] there with some of the big questions? I'll tell you how we came up with the idea or how I came up with the idea and then pitched it to them in the gap I saw in the market. So like I said, we're focused on cloud

[00:31:03] strategy and design and migrations to the cloud and what we noticed is one Microsoft Azure we're focused strictly on Microsoft. Microsoft is investing so much in this space from a cloud infrastructure perspective all the way through AI and we also noticed that there was a big gap for

[00:31:23] me in the mid market and that a lot of the partners out there that are doing this are you know, they were leaving the mid-market in the dust and going to chase the Fortune 500 companies and big enterprise companies. And so there was really a gap opening

[00:31:39] up and I'll call it, you know, our stretch market is 20 million up to 2 billion. I realized that's a big gap, but that is small to you know, enterprise mid-market space. I would say our average customer Trofeo will be 50 million to 500 million is the space we're playing

[00:31:56] and so you have a couple things happen in the market. You have companies that say they want to go out and use AI and you know, I'm not talking about chat GPT or and things like that. I'm talking about true iterative AI where they're using the company

[00:32:11] data in AI on the front end to actually be able to make decisions and future predictions for the company which is absolutely, you know, where kind of predictive analytics is heading. There's no doubt about it. But what companies don't realize is an evil to use that AI technology.

[00:32:29] You have to have the right cloud computing power, the right infrastructure and your data structure has to be clean and ready for the AI tools to use. So we're educating companies in that mid-market on having the right infrastructure in place so they can eventually leverage those tools.

[00:32:47] The other thing you're seeing in the mid-market is the cyber threats and the hackers are coming downstream and they're targeting these SMB in middle-market companies and that is not going away. I mean it's sad to say, but it's really a matter of when it

[00:33:01] happens not if it happens. And so having the right infrastructure in place is critical. You know, having the right backups in place is critical. What we want to do for our customers is have their systems secured and ready to go. If there was ever an incident

[00:33:18] that happened, you know, they could turn it up over here on one of their backups and shut it down over here and not have to worry about paying the ransom out. And you know, realistically if you're a hundred, two hundred million dollar company and you

[00:33:32] get a ransom attack and you're taken down for three to four days. I mean it could cripple you if not put you out of business. And so having the right, you know, moderate cloud infrastructure, right security, right backups is just crucial for this mid-market space and

[00:33:47] that's a huge gap we saw. And if you'd like I can talk a little bit about how Microsoft works because some people not might not be familiar with the model and how they leverage partners out there if that would make sense. Sure, sure. Yeah, I mean it's it's

[00:34:04] changing every day. So I think it's really tough and especially for these small to medium sized companies who may not have the deep slack resources to commit to this to really stay up with it. So yeah, please do. I think you know, but let

[00:34:22] me ask you a question before you move on. So what you're talking about is providing these mid to small companies with a system as well as the training for their employees to understand how to use iterative AI and how to protect themselves and and the ability to transfer

[00:34:42] their data quickly if they have and be back up and running if they have a security. Yeah, exactly right. So think about a critical application for our company. It may be a custom solution that they wrote that really operates the whole system or

[00:34:58] it may be a system that they went out and bought and they may have it hosted on-premise at their facility or they may have moved it into a private data center years ago and kind of stood in there and forgot about it. What we're doing is moving

[00:35:13] that critical application up into Microsoft Azure putting all the right security around it, all the right backups around it so that it is hosted properly. Employees can access it from anywhere and if something did happen to your point, yes, absolutely they can turn it up on their backups

[00:35:33] and be up and running quickly without having to worry about the ransom attack and being held hostage. So that's exactly what we're doing for companies. And so Microsoft Azure talk to us a little bit about that. So the reason we chose Microsoft is they are very partner-friendly.

[00:35:53] So how Microsoft works is they actually don't do a lot of their own services. They barely do any services and they have a network of partners that specialize in kind of each area in each category. Now the last two partners I was at, you know, did a broad

[00:36:11] stack of Microsoft solutions pretty much all their business applications more so focused on enterprise resource planning solutions and customer relationship management solutions, which were full-blown implementations of the Microsoft software system. We're focused on being a master of the trade in Microsoft Azure and the M365 licensing.

[00:36:33] But what I can tell you is, you know, from a Microsoft perspective, they'll go out and find partners like us to actually come in and be the consulting experts to do these migrations. They invest heavily in the cloud software, the data centers, the AI capability,

[00:36:49] and I mean they are investing, you know, billions and billions of dollars into that space and are going to be way ahead of the game just based on their investments and they're so business-friendly with the ecosystem that we really felt like they were the right partner

[00:37:04] you know, to go all in on and move our clients to. Yeah, yeah. And some of that understanding of Microsoft and Microsoft as a partner came from the work that you did at Traveler. That's correct. Right? Yeah, yeah. So, you know, a lot of students

[00:37:24] talk to me about, you know, should I start my company right away or should I work for somebody else? And I think both can work, but in your case, I think you got a lot of training along the way and in a lot of different ways

[00:37:37] that really helped you find this particular opportunity. So as you're building out your tech company, are you, you know, there's a lot, there's a strategy around make or buy. And when it comes to human capital in particular, how are you building out your Salesforce and your team?

[00:37:58] Yeah, that's a great question and we're right in the middle of it. So it's timely. You know, I would tell you really when you look at our business there's two sides to it that, you know, will hire and delivery is the most important. We have to deliver quality.

[00:38:12] We want happy customers. You know, another reason we like them in market is it's long-term partnerships, right? You get in, you do an initial project for the customer and really you're supporting them long-term and that in the mid-market they're going to hire some staff

[00:38:27] and to your point earlier, it's really, you know, a lot of time training that staff they do hire on these modern technologies so that they can be in there and support it. But they are going to have a full staff so we'll support them long-term.

[00:38:41] So we're building out our delivery bench right now, which really consists of project managers, cloud architects, and engineers. Those are really the three positions we're filling as we speak. On the sales side, we'll wait to build that out a little bit. We'll probably wait 12 months

[00:38:59] to really start making investments in that area. Because of that networking model I built that we talked about earlier with the C levels in the middle, you know, we've been able to drive so much business just from the network and I've been able to handle

[00:39:14] a lot of that. The sales from that. So we're going to stick with that model, you know, at least for the first 12 months and we'll really focus on building out delivery and quality so we can deliver for our clients. Are you a fully remote business? We are not.

[00:39:33] Super interesting. So we have space in, I like to call it the Beer Can building across from University of Tampa. Former science building and you know, when we were interviewing our initial hires, actually the number one question we were getting is will there be an office

[00:39:51] to go into? And so a couple things on that. We will hire across the country so we will absolutely have remote employees. We don't have any kind of structure, you know, where you have to be in the office. But I think a couple things

[00:40:06] are culture is very important to me. I think it's what, you know, is the difference between a good and a great company is having a good culture. I do think it's very challenging to build a culture remote, especially as a startup. So I think having the office

[00:40:21] really allows us to hone in and build the culture. For our remote employees, we will focus on getting the team together on a regular basis and making sure, you know, we're doing different strategy sessions, just getting them together for, you know, holiday parties or whatever it is.

[00:40:41] I'm just, I'm a big fan of getting people together as much as you can. I think there's something special in that that really builds a lasting culture. So we'll be remote and in office to answer your question, but make sure we're getting people together on a regular basis.

[00:40:57] So two questions along that line. The first one is, are you hiring any international employees? I had a really interesting young man on the podcast who helps American businesses hire Ukrainian workers so that they can have meaningful work. Do you have international

[00:41:16] workers or are you all US based? Great question. We have both. So I would tell you, we signed a partnership that allows us to have very good subcontractors actually in Eastern Europe. So Poland, Ukraine, a couple of different areas over there and we've been, you know,

[00:41:36] just super thrilled with their work ethic. In the way they work. It's really been something else to see. So we're very happy with that. We are researching actually building out some of our own teams. We've come across Brazil and Panama's potential options for some near short capability

[00:41:54] where we would actually W2 employees over there and have them. But we're still building out exactly what that strategy is. It's quite an investment to do that and actually put an office over there and make them true W2s. So it's a strategy we will absolutely have.

[00:42:11] It's just a matter of when we decide to invest in it. Yeah, yeah. So what is the difference between a good and a great culture? Absolutely. So I'll tell you from my opinion and work experience, and I've seen a couple different ones, I really think it's about

[00:42:30] having an entrepreneurial culture. I think that's a big difference maker is allowing employees to make decision, not a top-down organization where there's an ego at the top, you know, telling everybody what to do and how to do it. I really think it's about having

[00:42:44] more of a flat organization and listening to your employees. They're the ones out there in front of your customers. You know, they're the ones collecting your AR. So they're seeing it firsthand, right? And so I want to learn from them. I want them to bring ideas.

[00:42:58] And I think when you instill that in the company, it just empowers everybody to be a part of it. They feel like they're a part of it. They're interested in the growth of the company. And it's just a totally different mindset.

[00:43:09] So I'd say, I think that's one of the biggest traits that we're going to do different. In along those lines too, I mean, we have unlimited PTO that we offer for employees. And I think that comes down to trust. Yes, it's a great benefit.

[00:43:23] And I tell everyone we hire, look, I want you to get your work done that you're supposed to. I don't care when you do it. I don't care how you do it as long as the end product is good and finished on time. That's really what we're looking

[00:43:35] for, right? And so I when you hire from that perspective with that in mind, you just tend to attract the right talent. And you can tell during the interviews of people are okay with it. I'm very upfront about that. I said we're going to have

[00:43:48] a lot of structure. We have the right structure in place, but we're going to have a ton of structure, you know, so if you're entrepreneurial, you can operate, you know, in that mindset, then this is a great place for you. And if you can't then, you know, honestly,

[00:44:00] it's probably not. And so we tend to attract the right talent that way. And then I think really just having, you know, we always put the customer first. We focus on the outcome for them. So we always focus on business outcomes. I think that's super important here.

[00:44:15] You know, there's always a gap in technology where it's oh, that's an IT thing, but everybody forgets to ask, well, what's the business goals that you have in mind? And you know, where's the business heading three, five, seven years down the road? And what we do really

[00:44:27] well is connect that gap. We'll implement the right technology solutions, but we want them to align to the business goals, whether it's, you know, putting an extra warehouse on the West Coast or moving international. We're going to implement the right technology so they can measure

[00:44:41] that ROI by business outcome. And that's embedded in our culture and the way we go about our discovery meetings and strategy sessions with our customers. So I think those are a couple of things that make that watcher's better. Yeah. Yeah. That makes a lot of sense.

[00:44:56] That makes a lot of sense. So let's talk about you as the leader of this organization. You've been in sales and you've you've worked for other people. You've had, you know, a few of your other companies, but this is a big endeavor that you're taking on and

[00:45:14] I'm sure you're growing as a leader. What are some of the challenges that you're feeling right now and and how do you you know, how do you think about that and how do you keep yourself strong and and actually, I guess, you know, well, healthy because

[00:45:36] because there's a lot to do and a lot to learn. You know, it's a great question. I'm learning a lot every day and you never stop learning, right? I think the minute you think you know it all and you're the smartest person in the room, that's just,

[00:45:49] you know, it's not a good good way to look at it. Every day I'm learning something new, right? And I want to. So I think that's the biggest aspect of it. Definitely drinking from a fire hose because I have everything on my plate from sales to delivery.

[00:46:05] I think the biggest thing I learned though early on Rebecca was hire people you can trust to do their jobs and put them in positions to do that. And so, you know, one of my first hires was a strategic COO that's been there done that to manage operations

[00:46:21] to manage delivery and I can trust him, you know, fully passing stuff off same with one of our other key hires from an architect perspective, you know, can fully trust him and pass stuff off. And I think if you can learn to delegate and trust the employees

[00:46:37] you hired, you'll be in a way better position. I've seen people at the top that try and do everything in the minute. They start to lose control of something they have to like go grab and bring it back in and it's impossible to grow a business that

[00:46:52] way and it's impossible to be an effective leader that way because you're constantly micromanaging people that you hired and what ends up happening is you lose those good people because they feel the mistrust and they kind of feel like they're, you know, bumping their head against the wall

[00:47:06] trying to make changes for their own department. So I think that's the number one thing I've learned is hire people you can trust and let them do their job and then that way it will take a lot, you know, off of your day-to-day plate and you can really

[00:47:19] focus on the areas you're good at which for me is sales and strategy and growth of the company which is where I want to be focused. Yeah, yeah and getting clear on what you want to focus on, right? And then filling in the gaps for other

[00:47:35] people with other people that you can trust. I think that's that's excellent advice. So let's talk a little bit about about failure because we can't talk about success without failure and you know, it's part of it's inevitably part of the process but it's really challenging I think

[00:47:55] to get our minds around that when we're going through something like this. Do you have any failure stories that you'd be willing to share or any lessons learned from failure that you might be willing to share? Yeah, absolutely. So I mean I've had a few failures

[00:48:13] you know throughout my career that I've absolutely learned from. I think you know the biggest one was definitely my initial couple years at at Tribridge getting started there, right? I thought I was going to go in and just you know absolutely crush it. My my problem there

[00:48:28] was I had this you know big ego that I thought I could go sell anything and do anything and that wasn't right and you know when I got put on that performance instead of plan it really changed my mindset or I knew I had to change my mindset

[00:48:42] right or I wasn't going to last and so getting put on that plan you know is certainly a huge failure. It's not something you want to have come your way but at the same time it's how you react and what you do to it that I think

[00:48:56] makes a difference and so for me it was really figuring out all right how do I sell and drive continuous pipeline and like I said building out the network and reading a book to go give her really changed my mindset and so that that turned that failure

[00:49:14] into a huge success that lasted for years so that was certainly one of them. I think the second one was when I had the the furniture business going into it. I thought you know being the middleman and just you know basically redistributing furniture and taking

[00:49:32] a markup was going to be really easy. We spent way a bit of money and time building out kind of a back office and the e-commerce website you know and then you get launched and you realize this is not so easy and we get so many

[00:49:49] challenges on the way from you know just getting a customer base to to the shipping like I talked about and ultimately the end of the day we shut that business down. Like I said we broke even so we didn't take a launch financially. I think what we learned

[00:50:07] there from that failure you know at least I didn't anyway stick to a space I know which was technology and so I ultimately ended up you know coming back into that but that was just a word I didn't know and I didn't have contacts in it

[00:50:24] it was really hard to to navigate an industry like that so I'd say you know that's a couple of failures that have certainly kind of pointed me to where I am today. Yeah, yeah it's always a part of that success journey right to have

[00:50:37] a few things like that along the way. So I always like to end with a couple of questions. I'd like this has been a great conversation by the way but the first question is what is it that you do to sharpen the saw?

[00:50:53] So I don't know if you remember Stephen Covey he said everybody has to you know you have to you have to have some R&R or do something to keep yourself you know on track. He called that sharpening the saw. Yeah, really two things my problem

[00:51:10] is is I just keep going and I I forget to take that time to relax like I you know I think of something that is like I got to go you know get on my laptop and do it right away and that's just how I've always been

[00:51:22] with that persistence we talked about earlier. But what I'm realizing is you have to take time to do it. So I think there's there's two important things one it's spending time with with family like I've really learned to carve out we're expecting our first little girl in July

[00:51:38] and so I'm realizing you know how important it is to have that family time and not work 24-7 and so you know one of the rules I have there is I say I live and die by my calendar if it's not on my calendar it's not real.

[00:51:51] So actually mark a you know family time whether it be in the evening so I don't overbook it with the dinner. Certainly on the weekends committing to that. So that's one big thing. I think the second big thing for me is I love being on the water.

[00:52:05] So if I can get out on the boat or I can just even go sip by the water even if I've had the worst day in the world if I can get you know 10 or 15 minutes out there and just feel completely relaxed. So I know everybody

[00:52:17] has their thing like that for some people it's mountains you know for me it's the water. I just absolutely love it and it relaxes me. Yeah I sort of guess that might be part of it because we live across from each other on the water almost.

[00:52:31] So I see you out there in your boat and I know the feeling so yeah that's I think everybody needs something and congratulations. I think that's very exciting. Your new daughter coming here in a month. So get your sleep in now. I'll give you. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:52:54] So Jake this has been amazing. I've loved the conversation. I'm looking forward to having you back on the show maybe six months from now to kind of see how Trofeo is going but for now what would be your one piece of advice for our listeners something

[00:53:10] maybe you wish you had known you know before you started down this path. I think the one piece of advice is I'd say you know it's never too early to start building your network and even when I meet with you know younger kids out there I tell them

[00:53:27] start now like it's not too young to start make a business card even if you're in college and you know with your graduation date your major go to the extra events and start passing that out people always ask me you know what was one of the biggest

[00:53:41] takeaways from University of Tampa was a great great school and I said yeah the education was fantastic but the networking I got there and being able to go interact with business people was my number one takeaway and so take advantage of that and you know ask people to

[00:53:59] go to coffee ask people to go to lunch the worst they're going to say is no right and if they say no you know you didn't want their help anyway just move on to the next one and so I'd say start building that network young start coming

[00:54:11] up with ideas and just be entrepreneurial and in your own mind think of it is you know Jake Inc. or Rebecca Inc. whatever your name is Inc. And I think it'll go a long way. That's great. That's great advice. That's great advice and and really good advice

[00:54:27] for social media to remembering that you're building your brand out there and people can see it everywhere. So you know one of the things I always say it doesn't matter if you're running a company or you're going to be an accounting or marketing whatever you're always selling

[00:54:43] and you're always building your own brand around your name. So you know just remember that you can always control your actions and what you do and that'll go a lot towards your own brand. Yeah, it's precious. Yeah. Well, Jake, where can our listeners connect with you and find

[00:55:00] out more about TROFEO? Absolutely. I'm on LinkedIn. Just Jake Kalucik on LinkedIn. You can certainly connect with me on there. You can shoot me an email anytime. It's just jake.kalucik H-A-L-U-S-N-I-C at trofeosolutions.com Thank you for joining me. Thank you, Rebecca. I really enjoyed the conversation.

[00:55:21] If you enjoyed this episode and would like to learn more about entrepreneurship, we would love it if you hit that subscribe button. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of InFactor.