Sramana Mitra: You retired from the Air Force and decided to do your own company. John Benkert: Yes. Sramana Mitra: What were you going to offer and to whom?
Ransomware is a key Cyber Security challenge that drives enterprises and governments crazy. John has built a very interesting company to address this problem with a unique approach and lots of patented Intellectual Property. In this case study, you will also learn a lot about Go To Market Strategy through Firmware. Sramana Mitra: Let's go to the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised? What kind of background? John Benkert: I was born in Ohio in a really small town. My father worked for a manufacturing plant. My mother was a telephone operator. It's just a small town. At that time, probably 15,000 people. We lived out in the country. Most of my work experience was built around that. I saw how hard they worked to give us what we had. Sramana Mitra: What did you do for education? John Benkert: After high school, I went to college for a year. I got a small grant for a year and my parents couldn't afford college for me. It was early 80
Sramana Mitra: Interesting. You're doing almost like an AI fintech incubator where you're doing services projects for large companies. Those are exclusive. The
Sramana Mitra: Now we're in 2017? Vahe Andonians: 2018. Sramana Mitra: What problem were you going to solve next? Vahe Andonians: It all started with Moody's.
Sramana Mitra: What revenue level did you reach with this? Vahe Andonians: About $8 million. It was difficult. The 2009 to 2012 period was a difficult time for