Darren Gallop is a business leader and security professional with over twenty years of experience as a CEO and CISO of companies that handle sensitive data. Having founded a non-profit organization, three service companies, and two tech startups in his career, he understands how to assess and manage risk in alignment with organizational goals. Currently the CEO and co-founder of Securicy, Darren’s unique perspective enables him to lead organizations through the process of baking security into their business practices while improving productivity.
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
none specific
When business started difficulties overcame:
“it was going from being a player in a band to having a business that was going to manage and promote the careers of multiple musical groups. The first real big challenge that took me awhile to get over and I think is really imperative to get over is being able to delegate work to employees and support them. So, finding that balance between micromanaging and actually getting people to be productive and then having the trust and the ability to stand back and let those people do that work. It seems really simple in theory but I think it’s a really complex thing. And I’ve seen a lot of other entrepreneurs that I mentor struggle with that one when they are going out and hiring their first employee”…[Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business book by Patrick M. LencioniFavourite Quote:
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Wayne Gretzky
Recommended Online Resources:
- Google LLC is an American multinational technology company that specializes in Internet-related services and products, which include online advertising technologies, search engine, cloud computing, software, and hardware.
- Communities
- Techstars is the global platform for investment and innovation. They connect entrepreneurs, investors, and corporations
Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“I think that you should spend a lot of time understanding what it is that you want. Why are you being an entrepreneur? Why are you building this thing? Give that a lot of thought… Being the next Amazon is not the only way to build an amazing company, create a great lifestyle and generate yourself a lot of net wealth. So, you really want to understand and be true to yourself because every decision you make as you start building out your team from your cofounders to your investors are going to basically set the stage for the direction but that company has to go. You can’t go and raise 5,000,000 dollars of venture capital money and then decide after-the-fact that you changed your business model…”…[Listen for More]
More About Darren Gallop:
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
“Without hustle, talent will only carry you so far.” Gary Vaynerchuk
Other Quotes From the Chat with Darren Gallop:
- “I am not really the type of person that goes out and picks role models out of almost untouchables like highly successful people like the Elon Musk’s of the world… For me the people that have really been role models to me have been some of the other entrepreneurs that I’ve built relationships with that have become bored members or advisers in my company. And people in my community that I have gotten to know personally and they’ve spent time with me and I’ve heard there stories intimately. So, there’s quite a list of folks but all folks know no one would really know of because they are just smaller successful small entrepreneurs that aren’t high-profile”
- “I think in every business I think you are always having some level of fear around running out of capital. I think in a start-up I think running out of capital before you hit product market fit and get to a point of profitability is generally technically how most start-ups fail. I think there’s been a lot of times where I should have spent a little more and hired people with greater experience versus trying to be more conservative with cash flow. I think if your opportunity is real, I think you can gain a lot of speed by bringing in people that have more experience and therefore are more expensive”
- “you don’t really need to be that smart… It’s not the most intelligent people are going to be the most successful”
- “how much you know yourself and your own ability and comfort and awareness of where you are strong and where you are not”
- “most entrepreneurs that I know with the exception of a few have been through a lot of dark times and a lot of tough times and have failed multiple times. Whether that be in the journey of their own business where they fail and then managing to get through and convincing people that to continue to have faith in them to give them capital to pivot and try again. It’s persistence. Most of the businesses I know where they failed really what they did was they stopped. They got to a point where they either lost interest or lost faith in themselves or just did not believe or came to the realisation of oh wow this is going to be really hard…”
- “If you don’t take a crack at it you won’t know… Don’t be afraid to try something”
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