Striking the Right Coordinates w/ Emma Przybyslawski | Ep. 110

In this episode David and Gary get the best insight on covert operations, having fun in business and surrounding yourself with the best people from the CEO and Co Founder of Strike Solutions, Emma Przybyslawski.

Links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmaprz/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/strikesolutions/

https://strikesolutionsgroup.com/

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David Baxter - CEO of Big Pixel

Gary Voigt - Creative Director at Big Pixel

The Podcast

David Baxter has been designing, building, and advising startups and businesses for over ten years. His passion, knowledge, and brutal honesty have helped dozens of companies get their start.

In Biz/Dev, David and award-winning Creative Director Gary Voigt talk about current events and how they affect the world of startups, entrepreneurship, software development, and culture.

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Transcript

David: 0:05

Hi, everyone, welcome to the biz dev Podcast, the podcast about developing your business. I'm David Baxter, and I'm joined per usual by Gary Voight. You know, Gary, I've given him grief the last several weeks about being a Swifty. And I have now I've made fun of it. And it will I was going to tell you that my daughter has officially crossed the line, like, bad. She was all excited about the whole thing. We're gonna date this podcast right here, but she changed the lyrics for Travis Kelce is as you can tell how big of a sports fan I am. She changed the name of the lyrics it during the song and there was a million videos of it. And she was just like giddy clapping. It's we saw the movie. I think I mentioned that before we saw the movie of her door, because we can't afford to go into her tour. And ever since my daughter's just, that's all we listen to now in the car, which is great. I've heard Cruel Summer like 3 billion times. But

Gary: 1:04

yeah, my daughter is a huge fan, but I won't allow her to listen to it on my Spotify account, because it's not grungy enough for you know, I just don't want to go into Spotify. And then it's recommended 9000 Taylor Swift songs. That's where

David: 1:19

you give her her own profile man family.

Gary: 1:20

She has her own. Oh, all right. She just likes to infect mine.

David: 1:28

Yeah, that's my Netflix thing. And Netflix is just a bunch of teenybopper movies. More importantly, we are joined by Emma Christmas Loski. How do I do now that I'm gonna take it. She is the CEO and founder of strike solutions, which is a military thing about Barbara that I know nothing else about that sounds right. Did I nail that to do so perfect? Yes. Millet is that should be on your LinkedIn, I run a military thing about Barber. I think that would go well. How are you today?

Emma: 2:01

I'm great. Thank you. Thanks for having me.

David: 2:04

So since I completely butchered what you actually do, why don't you tell everybody? What it is that strike solution does,

Emma: 2:11

I would be honored. So we are a sensor platform company. So we produce sensors that are hardware and software based to help with Edge operations. So a lot of our customers are in the operations and intelligence spaces. And the best way that I like to describe it is we put sensors out into the world to give you a better understanding of the digital footprint around you.

David: 2:36

But this is all towards military applications.

Emma: 2:39

The DoD Department of Defense is a is a major customer of ours, but also branching out into some commercial applications as well. So kind of a dual use tech situation for us.

David: 2:52

So what is it that you guys do? Do you build the sensors? Do you build the software? Do you do both? Both?

Emma: 2:59

Yeah, so we build the sensors in their hardware form factor, which can vary depending on the use case for the deployment. And then we also build the software that helps you make sense of everything going on within the hardware container, as well. So we do both.

Gary: 3:18

I'm almost afraid to ask questions about it. It seems, seems very painful spy tech stuff.

Emma: 3:24

All commercial. It's a commercial collusion. So I won't tell you anything I can tell you.

David: 3:31

Here we were joking. Before we started about the black suits coming in, get her

Emma: 3:36

fight get yanked off stage left pretty hard, then it's

David: 3:39

gonna be the shortest podcast ever. Yeah,

Emma: 3:42

exactly.

David: 3:43

So if you haven't taken a moment, it's just fun for just, I enjoyed the 10 minutes, this company called humane has made a little brooch for lack of a better term that does AI stuff. Don't don't have dive into it, but their video of it, where they introduce it to the world. They are so serious about it like this is the most life changing piece of hardware you've ever seen in your life. And it's almost hard to not giggle through the whole thing. So if you haven't seen that, it's really but it is an it's one of the new generation and there's several of them glasses, the pen, there's going to be more that is all about what can we do that's not a phone that is AI driven. So you have a chat GPT stuck somewhere. Yeah. So what what are you guys measuring in your world? Like what is a sensor that you care about in? I mean, there's a million sensors, but what do you guys do specifically?

Emma: 4:39

So what we care about the most is what we call signals of interest or SLI is, you know, the DoD Department of Defense can't do anything without turning it into an acronym. So I'll do my best to not speak in alphabet soup on this, but we care about signals of interest. So really where our past started was we Within the radio frequency spectrum, so what signals within the radio frequency spectrum would we care about? And that the answer to that changes depending on whether you're looking at a particular environment in the United States, or perhaps an overseas environment, those signals of interest vary, depending on the use case that you're looking at. And then where we've really branched out from there, and this is super exciting, is being able to not only catalog or create really robust data libraries around signals of interest that other people have not done yet. So thinking of like some bespoke signals that exist out in the world, that people haven't taken a close look at, we've gone after those, those particular signals in terms of making sense of them and turning them into those robust data libraries. But then where it gets really cool is when you start pairing some of the signals of interests we're collecting with image recognition, or computer vision as applied to video, as you collect video out in a certain area. So our whole name of the game is how do we create inexpensive, commercially driven sensor platforms that are able to bring together multiple different sensing technologies to create a better picture so that you have better situational awareness? And why this is becoming important is threat landscapes for the department of defense and intelligence community, as well as just the commercial world around us is evolving so rapidly with Internet of Things. And all of the devices we have around us, or that are associated with us as people is increasing. It's so dynamic, right? And it's increasing like crazy. Everything from smartwatches, to cell phones, cars to everything is electronic driven. And so being able to really discern and understand what that landscape looks like around you is really important to our customers.

David: 7:08

What is a commercial application that you guys have done? Obviously, military stuff gets sensitive, but give me a commercial version of what of, of a client? What are they doing? Sure.

Emma: 7:20

So one of the things that we're currently working on is security operations. So think about a warehouse that is used for an Amazon is not our customer, but it's a great example. So an Amazon warehouse that doesn't necessarily have human beings staffing it and securing it all the time. How can you employ technology to better understand maybe some people that continue to walk by your particular location, and then all of a sudden you have loss prevention issues on your hands? Was it associated with people that have continued to case your joint if you will, or not so stationary, like security operations, and what's really actually what's really interesting about that particular commercial use case, is what we're seeing in that market for security operations personnel in general. So think about like a, like a Mall Cop, like a gun for hire, or a security professional, that is hired commercially, to protect a certain area. That supply of human being filling that role is dwindling, so rapidly, because the pay scale is being matched and caught up with by other industries. And so people are naturally gravitating away from being security professionals. So there's not enough people. And there's an increased demand for places that need to be protected. And so you're meeting this supply and demand issue where the only logical way and cost efficient way to secure some of these assets or facilities is to augment technology with that. And so being able to have a robust sensing capability on site helps you do that. And at the very least, it helps you cut down on the number of bodies that you need to be having there on site to actually conduct security operations. But hopefully, eventually, we'll get to the point where they wouldn't be required at all. And so that's a commercial application that we are specifically looking at right now. But there's other really cool things that we've looked into in the past driving customer experiences a potential area. So if you know what human traffic looks like, and where people are moving and maybe why they're moving a certain direction, can you influence that? And that's a whole separate market that can be a can of worms, but we see ourselves as being a step in the right direction for those types of companies to understand like the baseline of of where people are moving and why.

David: 9:57

You're I'm afraid that we've done it again, we have brought Got someone on the podcast? Who is way more intelligent than we are? No, no.

Gary: 10:04

We were just gonna question it's gonna sound dumb when I have like five. Just

David: 10:08

prepared. No, my first question is Is your shirt sweater? Is that puff paint on your? No.

Emma: 10:16

And you know, I have to give a shout out for this my dear friend English Saul, who you have also had Yes. On this show.

David: 10:28

Yeah, you're not helping the argument about people, but

Emma: 10:31

Well, I make her be friends with me so that she will teach me things because she is brilliant. She got me this shirt. And it is it is actually stitched. So it is not puff paint. Although I'm a fan. I

David: 10:44

was just the, my wife's gonna appreciate this, the juxtaposition. There's my big word for the day of you talking about all the sensors and military stuff. And you have a stitched shirt. I just love that, that that is so

Gary: 10:59

high fidelity. And

David: 11:02

it's just great. So hats off to English for getting that shirt. Okay, so question,

Gary: 11:10

fine, whatever, not to derail David's, you know, obviously, way more intelligent question. But I'm really the data and stuff that you guys record, I guess the centers that you use for the security purposes, does that also involve like facial recognition? Or is it just pattern observation? Is it camera as well as I guess you could say, like LIDAR detection and stuff. Okay. Yep.

Emma: 11:36

So we can include, we can include video or imagery imagery or video footage. And we do that pretty regularly.

Gary: 11:44

Yeah, I know, the facial recognition thing is still a very sticky topic. And I didn't know if the application in security purposes like if that's even allowed yet, or in what use case is it allowed?

Emma: 11:59

Yeah, and that that gets in that's a little bit, it gets into a little bit more sensitive waters, in my opinion, just because facial recognition is not like a nail in the coffin by any stretch of the imagination. It's another data point that can be used and is used and is something that we we have some really, really exciting work around. But it is never like the silver bullet problem solved aspect to anything that we do. But it's it's cool. And it's a really cool technology domain to explore in and at least know the limitations of it. So that's we certainly do that. How

David: 12:44

I know that you have a military background, but aside from that, how did you get into this like this is you were in the Air Force. I don't know if that means you flew planes, but that's what I think everyone in the airports in my mind flies jets. That's how it works in my worry ones. So I'm going to assume, yeah, I'm going to assume that you're in Top Gun and move on from there even though that was perfect. Yeah. That's, that tells you once again, how good I am. This is why I'm a podcast as everyone. So you went from there to sensor goodies that you're doing it? Well give me that path. Paint me that path?

Emma: 13:25

Yeah. So to do that, let me take just one quick step back and I'm going to dash your hopes and dreams and probably my own as well a little bit when I was a younger child. I did not fly. And I had the less exciting job within the Air Force domain of being an intelligence officer. Now where I lucked out super boring. Honestly, I mean, when you get it you're like, Oh, really? Okay. Well, let's see what this is all about. And sounds like a spy.

Gary: 13:57

What do you mean boring?

David: 13:58

Yeah, no, I was joking. I was being super sarcastic to me is like intelligence you're James Bond now you're not flying planes. Now you're James Bond and you're over there in your shot Osama that's now that's

Emma: 14:09

what you've done. I would love for you to keep that visual. I really once again

David: 14:13

that was that was also Navy, I believe. Yeah, that was that was also navy. So

Emma: 14:19

good. Marketing, the Navy is so

David: 14:23

and they do you notice that none of their things that I'm mentioning actually say the word Navy in them is just SEAL Team Six or Top Gun. It's like there's no navy and anyway,

Emma: 14:33

subliminal, it's subliminal. So I was Intel and fortunately stumbled into an incredible career with special operations. So which is non traditional for Air Force Intelligence in general? So I like snuck under the radar and totally operated in a different domain than most Air Force Intel officers get exposed to. And it's important to mention Not because the people and teams that I got to work with on the Army and Navy side really exposed me to, I mean, just a completely different environment than I ever would have had the opportunity to work within if I had just gone like the traditional Air Force path. And what's really cool was kind of like, towards the end of my time, I fell into a job where I was evaluating technology. And this is like back in 20 2014 2015, where we were able to employ new technologies to our operations a lot a lot easier, because we were special operations, and they're kind of leading at the forefront, they have a different funding mechanism. And they can move a lot faster, smaller team dynamics, so you get to kind of push on the gas. And that exposed me to a world where I was like, Huh, wait a second, technology is actually kind of cool. Everyone keeps saying this word innovation, it sounds important. I want to go focus on that. And so when I got out of the Air Force, I went into the tech industry, and admittedly was like, oh, anything to do with the government anymore, I'm gonna go commercial only. And I did that for gosh, for a few years, three or four years, focusing just on the commercial market, and trying to learn everything I could about the tech industry in a short run, because admittedly, that's a very short run. I got called back by a company that does tech consulting, Gartner was where I worked, a friend called and was like, Hey, you should come back and serve, you know, the government again, which was not appealing at all, and help us grow this tech consulting business with the Air Force in the Space Force. And he was like, he made a great argument. And honestly, like, I'm so glad I did it. But God did come back and like serve in a completely different capacity, helping the Air Force and Space Force figure out technology strategies. And it dawned on me while I was there, that there is this dearth of talent, talented people that come from the Mission Space, who have been on small teams who build small businesses around bringing better tech back to the warfighter. And my initial thesis was like, I'm just going to do that I'm going to bring better tech back to the warfighter. That's too broad. And, frankly, like, you need a product, I wanted to be a product company and not just a consulting company. So we started strike. And we acquired some amazing technologies, from friends that are at a tangential company that had done some great work, but wanting to get out of the game. And, and the rest is history, we've taken that and just really run with it. And been laser focused on our customers. So if our customers are happy, we're nailing it. The day we screw that up is kind of our philosophy at least is the day we screw that up is the day that we're not doing what we should be doing. So that's how I got into what we're doing now. And why we went down the sensor technology path. And, you know, specifically why that technology is because our global dynamics are changing so much. So me being in Iraq and deployed to Iraq, doing the job I was doing looks completely different today than it did when I was there. And a lot of it has to do with that, that increasing digital footprint that exists all over the world. And how do you make like better sense of that, so that you can be safer operating in places that you are, or be able to, like go after new emerging threats that you may not know about or be able to detect normally. So that's, that's the why of where we wound up where we are. Sorry, long story,

David: 18:58

but love it. So where are you as a company? Are you on a runway? Are you self sufficient mix of both.

Emma: 19:08

I am so proud to say that we are self sufficient. So we have not taken a single dollar. And we'd like to take that back. We took a very minimal amount of private investment from friends. And we have been bootstrapping the entire thing since then. So we do not have a relationship with any venture capital or private equity firms. And we we eat what we kill, which is the most stressful but also we wouldn't have it any other way right now. I can't say that lasts forever, because who knows? And we've got really big plans and what it will take to achieve those big plans might evolve over time. But that's that's where we're at today. And I'll tell you we are closing out our first year of business in the black which is probably our greatest accomplishment this year. It's just a being still in business after the first year, and then be also being profitable. It's very, very exciting.

David: 20:07

So there's a lot to unpack right there. Because one of the things that we often talk about on this podcast is the first year, and how much it sucks. And because I think a lot of people, and I say this a lot, but a lot of people think that starting a business is, you know, it's their superheroes who go out and do it. And it's all rainbows and sunshine, or, which, of course, it's not true. But even more important, I did go out and start my own business. And that first year was miserable, and I hated it. And I must be doing something wrong. And so I like to talk about that first year, because it's so wrong most of the time. But you mentioned a couple of things. One, you are a product company, you're building gizmos and doodads and software but but the gizmos and doodads is what's interesting to me, because I don't think I've ever heard of a product company of any sort. Because that's expensive and hard to do. That didn't take money, how were you able to build gizmos and doodads without not consulting firms like myself or whatever, agencies, you know, you can go grab a client and start making money immediately. Because I don't have to build a who's right, I can just go and offer my services for an hourly rate or something like that, when you're selling the doodad, you got to make the doodad, which means money has to go in, how did that occur.

Emma: 21:25

So we did take private investment in the smallest amount that we possibly could, in order to have some lead time on our product delivery. So like I had mentioned, we acquired a portion of the technology that we have today from a spinoff from another company. And with that came an incredible reputation, as well as some customers that were just getting ready to transact their next big thing. And so we needed to build in some cushion for lead time so that we could buy all the materials that are required for us to put the gizmo together and make sure all the screws were tight, and then ship it out the door. And then it just kind of grew from there to be honest with you, and I wish I had a better answer or there was some like magical potion that you can put together. But we have always led with the approach of being so customer focused, that we said, look, this is what's possible, but you have to kind of meet us halfway Mr. Customer, and like, put the order in. And if you put the order in, we'll deliver the stuff. Right. And you know, we're good for it. Because we've been performing for a little while. And it it worked. And honestly, I think it's a star alignment. I mean, there's no, there's nothing insanely crazy that we've done other than show up and do our jobs. But that doesn't work for everybody. To your point, and I'll be honest with you, there have been really terrifying days where it's like, oh my gosh, we are like, we are running on fumes here like this has to come in. Otherwise, we're I don't know what we're gonna do. We're gonna have to go get money. And we've been fortunate enough to to avoid that for now. Well, that lasts forever. I don't know, like I said, we've, we've got these big plans that I don't know if that math equation will work forever.

David: 23:26

But it should not be undersold, is that the right word? What you've done to be in the black year, year one, as a gizmo do dead company is rare. If if not unheard of, I don't think we've interviewed a lot of people. And then most people, I've found start companies and a few ways. They borrow money, which is common. They're bootstrapping it themselves from a spouse of some sort. Or they're independently wealthy. We've seen it all. I don't think I've ever seen anybody who wasn't one of those. Now it does sound like you're extremely well connected. You were able to buy a technology somehow that you had a connection with outside of this business, because clearly the business couldn't connect before it existed. And so you have a lot of a lot of dominoes lined up very nicely, which is lovely. But it's amazing. And hats off, because that's hard to do. You

Emma: 24:22

do. I feel like most days, we're just like a glutton for punishment, because I have so many friends that have gone and raised. And like they're just, I mean, they're still stressed out, but it's just different. And all the time I'm like, I wish I was you guys.

David: 24:39

But you know, here's the thing. I've I say this a lot to founders because I'm a big fan of bootstrapping. I think a lot of people and the sexy part of entrepreneurship isn't the raising the money and the unicorns and all of that. But there's there's a downside of that, that I don't think it's talked about enough. If you raise if you have a let's say a million dollars in revenue Just that's a successful company but not blowing the roof off, right? And you raised money, you, as the founder of that company, are still living on ramen. And, and you know, and enough of the box, because you have no money and your investors probably still mad at you because you have a million revenue. If you bootstrap that sucker, you're probably making a quarter million dollars a year, living a very nice life, no more ramen for you. Right. And that's a very different world. And I think that there's something to be said about that. That's very nice. And you can have a wonderful life and raise a family and send your kids to college and retire beautifully. And you did it yourself. Right. I think that's, that doesn't get enough accolades. So the fact that you're doing that is very, very cool. Thank and, sure. Well, and to add to that the fact that you are a woman in a to say the boys club is an understatement. It's the military. And Department of Defense is even more kudos. I would like to know without I mean, clearly, I am not the best person to be asking about women's issues. I'm so I'm not diving deep into this. But I'm curious what your experience in that world has been? Who?

Emma: 26:16

That's a it's, it's a loaded question. black

David: 26:18

suits come in. Yeah,

Emma: 26:21

we choose my words carefully. Now, I'm, to be honest with you, I mean, just I went to the Air Force Academy, when it was 10 to 15%. Women, I, you know, went into the Special Operations world where my last deployment, I was the only US female on the ground, at one point. And so I feel like, my journey has kind of made me numb, like, I don't notice it as much as I'd like. But look, now being in business is a different deal. And I would say that, my experience is, it is critical for me to show up and know my stuff. And it is critical for me to surround myself with people who are the same way, especially at strike. And at our company, we have the best team on the market, and I stand behind that forever. If you the day, you show up and you have a bad day, and you say something in the wrong way, or you don't know what you're talking about. You just lose that little inch of credibility and overtime that really like chips away. And that's true for anyone. But I feel like in this space, there's a lot of there's a lot of dudes that get away with things that I wouldn't get away with. And so I have just chosen to show up and be the best I can be every single day. And like literally, that's all I can do. And if people like that, then they work with us. And if people don't like that, then they don't work with us. And guess what, we probably don't want to work with them. So to me, it's been about just equaling the playing field and showing up and being competent, and the rest will come. And frankly, like, that's been my experience so far. And it's it's worked so far. There are days when I'm just like what it's like seriously, he just said the same thing that I said, but in a different way. But it's the same thing. And like what is happening? And that's probably true for anyone though that in any case,

David: 28:30

I can't say anything, because that's what I do to my entire team. I just take all the credit, and all of the stuff that they do. And I just look at it. I'm amazing. Check me out, especially if it's Gary, because Gary has no talent whatsoever. And so I everyone assumed that so it's just mine. Yeah,

Emma: 28:48

the one thing I would add to David is like there is a coalition of the willing, especially in my space, there's there's a few of us girls that are very tight and help each other. And like I have girlfriends I can call and just scream into the phone, no words just screaming about something. And they're like, yep, gotcha girl, like, totally get it. And so I would say that it's not like I'm on this tree. There's a few of us and we found each other and we're like, oh my god, I can call you and complain. So that's been incredibly helpful as well.

David: 29:24

I'm kind of jealous of that because I don't have anybody to call. Gary hangs up on me every time I call him so you blow up my whining that so Gary's my Wonder wall as it were. Gary, I have spoken too much your turn.

Gary: 29:47

I did have a question. You mentioned earlier that we and then you also started, I guess on a company or a technology that kind of existed that you expanded on You being the CEO? How many other people do you have like on the leadership team? Or how many people did you start the company with?

Emma: 30:08

So we started the company with 1233 people, four people. We are currently sitting at 15, with a hiring roadmap into the new year of a handful, if not quite a bit more, based on some workload that we have ramping up. But we started with a very small, scrappy team that was hungry, and to kind of come full circle with the bootstrapping concept. Like I kind of love the bootstrapping concept, because we are all hungry. And and we stay that way. And it's been really interesting. As we've expanded, our hiring approach revolves around the the leadership team that started and everyone on that leadership team gets a vote. And the first thing we all ask each other about the vibe check. Are they hungry like us? Are they thinking they're going to a start up where the swag is going to be amazing, they're going to like these crazy dinners, and like flying first class everywhere, that not that that's the case for everybody. But it's really important to us that our culture fit is that is the first thing we look for, and the most important foundational piece for as long as we can hang on to that we're going to. And the leadership team is instrumental in that and has different perspectives. It's been fascinating to watch us all grow over the past year and understand like, what's more important to other people than maybe someone else on the leadership team. But yeah, that's we started with the, that same concept of the coalition of the willing, who was crazy enough to come over and start this. And here is

Gary: 31:52

your team. Are you guys all an in person business? Or do you have like remote employees as well?

Emma: 31:58

No, we're scattered to the 17 wins, we're all over the place, we have an office out in the DC area, because you have to Las Vegas, Colorado Springs, but are to working off, a lot of us come from the military, and like the admin side of the Department of Defense is brutally painful. And so we kind of went into this with the concept of like, you can still serve and do really cool things that revolve around the mission. And it doesn't have to be painful. And so we've tried to make a lot of our company decisions on making it not painful to like have to work in the defense space. And that includes like, where do you want to live? Can you do your work from where you want to live? Perfect, will fit the bill for travel when we need to, because it's important that you're happy where you're at. So, again, one of those things that like works for us now. Probably not sustainable forever and ever as we grow and grow and grow to a couple 100 people. I don't people likely gravitate. But that's kind of where we're at today. Yeah.

David: 33:08

You mentioned culture. And I think that that is something that doesn't get enough love. People want to grow or, like, I'll just speak from my experience. In a developer, you want the best developer? Okay, that's important. But does that guy a jerk? Right? Is that guy? No at all? Is that guy gonna work? Is that you know, is it you can use a sports analogy if you'd like, you know, is he a glory hound? Or is he a team player, and that we have found, like, we'll interview people. And this guy will be technically superior to that guy. And we will choose the second guy because he fits in with our team. And we know we've done it right when our team starts talking about how great it is to work here. And how great everyone is and how much they enjoy working with everybody except Gary. And, of course that. Oh, it's every episode that has made that that makes such a huge difference. I think I've worked in those people when you got the the super ninja nerds who don't want to speak to you who think you're all you're doing is taking away from Yeah, and they're in. They might be I'm not certainly not the best dev in the world. But I bring a certain value in so do you and let's do this together. Emma,

Gary: 34:40

since you are a young company, what you're doing extremely well. Coming from a military perspective is different than some of the starting or some of the founders that we've talked to previously. What would you say your top three pieces of advice for any entrepreneur, new business or startup would be

Emma: 35:01

I love this question. And I'm curious how my answers will stack up compared to people with completely opposite backgrounds, as me here is really

David: 35:12

good at telling you if your boss sucks or not.

Emma: 35:16

Perfect, Gary told me if my advice sucks, please. First and foremost, you have to surround yourself by people that lift you up. And I've been an entrepreneur now for several years and been involved in multiple different entities and projects and still am. And the team that you have matters more than anything, I would almost say more than whatever it is you're offering to the market. And if you are surrounded by great people who, back to the culture piece, have a great calling for why they want to be connected to what you're trying to build, you can't lose. So I think surrounding yourself with the right people is first and foremost, like cannot foot stomp that enough. I've also, I've also been with people who are the last people on earth I should have been connected to and they will, and they will prove to you why that is. And that's incredibly painful, especially as an entrepreneur with limited resources and limited time. So that was really, really important. I am not great at following this next piece of advice, but I'm like very much like working on it. trusting your gut. So your first intuition is usually the right one. And when it's on you to make the decisions, but laboring yourself with the what ifs and the paralysis by analysis, does nobody any good. And so trusting your gut and moving out based on that gut feeling usually wins? Probably not always. But it's a good, it's a good approach to have. And then the last thing is having fun. Like, why do this, if you're not having fun is kind of my philosophy, because I could go make a lot more money working for somebody else and have a completely much chiller lifestyle than I than I do right now. But I'm having so much freaking fun with what we're doing that like why would I want to go work for somebody else. So having fun in what you're doing is it is the only like, first and foremost benefit to being an entrepreneur, in my opinion, that and when you are having fun, it shows and shines in all of your work. And people want to be part of that energy and want to be part of that fun that you're creating around you. And it just it snowballs and builds into bigger and bigger things. So those are my three pieces of advice. Do they suck? Gary?

Gary: 37:53

No, those are actually awesome. They're some of them mirror other people's versions of them. But I think you say it better. Like the passion how much you versus like the having fun, fun sounds way better than passion. Sorry. Surrounding yourself with good people. That's important. Everybody says that.

David: 38:13

I was gonna bring in the word passion as an as a substitute for fun. That's funny that you are poopoo in that.

Gary: 38:20

But no, I'm just saying it sounds better when she says it, that it's fun, because we've heard everybody else already say passion. So it was it was in a nature. That's appreciated

David: 38:30

my word. Yeah, I have enjoyed this way too much. But we are out of time. If anyone wants to reach out to you and learn more about you and strike solutions, what do they do to get in touch?

Emma: 38:44

LinkedIn is a great place strike solutions is all over LinkedIn. And I would say that shoot me a message on there. I'd be happy to connect with anyone interested in what we're doing happy to tell you more about what we're doing. And always looking for great talent as well. So I would say LinkedIn is probably the easiest way, David?

Gary: 39:06

Cool. We will put all the links for LinkedIn and for your solutions group.com in the show notes.

Emma: 39:14

Love it. Thank you so much.

David: 39:17

Absolutely. Well, thank you guys very much, and we will talk to you all next week.

Christie: 39:22

Hi, I'm Christy Bronto, Content Marketing Director here at Big pixel. Thank you for listening to this episode of the biz dev podcast. We'd love to hear from you shoot us an email Hello at Doug big pixel.net the biz dev podcast is produced and presented by big pixel. See you next week. Until then follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook threads, YouTube and LinkedIn