The Tech Trailblazers Startup Podcast

Hannes and Richard join Chief Trailblazer Rose Ross to discuss RtBrick's journey, from the inspiration to shake up the world of telco networking, to landing such a large client as Deutsche Telekom and going on to win the 2023 Networking Trailblazers Award. They also explain what disaggregated networking has to offer and how their approach can be likened to Telsa taking on the electric car market.

In this Judges On Fire episode, Rose Ross talks with Chris Holscher, a new judge for the TechTrailblazers Awards and an expert in analyst relations. Chris shares insights into how startups can leverage analyst briefings to boost their growth and visibility. Learn how the TechTrailblazers Awards provide "qualified visibility" and why analyst relations are crucial for startup success.

In this episode of Judges On Fire, Rose Ross sits down with Ian Ellis, a new judge for the TechTrailblazers Awards and a key figure in enterprise tech. Ian shares insights from his journey from Ireland to Morgan Stanley, and his work bridging startups with corporate giants. Discover how startups can navigate corporate complexities and leverage the TechTrailblazers Awards for visibility and growth.

Andy Gomarsall MBE might be better known as a rugby player, but as Executive Chairman of N2S he is very knowledgeable about reusing and recycling hardware, making him the ideal addition to the Tech Trailblazers judging panel for the Sustainable Tech category. Learn more about his rugby career, N2S's goal to help organisations decarbonize, and how that, after joining the board of a startup firm, he learnt valuable lessons from experienced businessmen and entrepreneurs.

Arti joins Chief Trailblazer Rose Ross to discuss her win as the Female CxO Trailblazer of 2022, her journey into the world of security, and becoming an entrepreneur. She also explains all about her company, Titaniam, and the importance of the protection that their solutions bring to data, even when firms get breached thanks to stolen or lost identities

Nick joins Chief Trailblazer Rose Ross to discuss Deeplite's journey so far and their fascinating work on reducing the computational load of AI, so that it can be used in more scenarios and run on lower-powered hardware. He also talks about the importance of working with BlackBerry and their IVY connected vehicle platform, and how you should not lose sight of the human element of running a startup.

William joins Chief Trailblazer Rose Ross to discuss Buoyant's journey so far and their pioneering work on adding visibility, security, and reliability to Kubernetes with their innovative service mesh, Linkerd. He also talks about how Open Source has changed over the years and how Linkerd has found usage in verticals that were never imagined at its inception.

Ramesh joins Chief Trailblazer Rose Ross to discuss Prosimo's journey so far and their work on empowering cloud applications which won them the Networking Trailblazers Award. He also shares his experiences and tips about fund raising, hiring the right people, and how to build up credibility for your startup. He also reveals one of his sources for inspiration for running his startup.

Brad joins Chief Trailblazer Rose Ross to discuss how EQIFI aims to change banking and finance forever with their bank-grade DeFi (decentralised finance) platform. He recounts the inspiration for their product, as well as giving advice on choosing the right partner for your startup, when to resist an exciting idea, and what to do with your crypto-currency.

Ben Kepes, Principal at Diversity Limited, is one of the judges who has been with the Tech Trailblazers Awards since the beginning and who's looking forward to the seeing this year's entries in the Cloud category. He also shares his views on how Cloud has developed over the last 10 years, his experiences as an angel investor, the effect which easy access to funding has had on startups, and the joys of going for a run to help with problem solving.

Join us for our fourth #TechonFire podcast where we catch up with Michael Azoff, AI specialist at GigaOm. Chief Trailblazer Rose Ross asks him all about the last 10 years of AI including the difference between artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). She also explores where the future will take us, including quantum computers, computing with secure data via fully homomorphic encryption, and how many remote controls are necessary in the modern home.

Sam Johnston, CEO of Acumino, is back for his 10th season as a judge for the Tech Trailblazers Awards and is looking forward to seeing what exciting developments that the new normal has driven in the past year. He shares the innovative tech he's seeing at Acumino, such as life-like virtual avatars and how venture studios are coming into their own. He also shares advice on how startups should stay hyper-focussed and that removing the 'venture' from capital is opening up new opportunities for finance.

Brian Honan, CEO & Principal Consultant at BH Consulting, is one of the judges who has been with the Tech Trailblazers Awards since the beginning, but he's just as excited to see what the latest innovations in cybersecurity are. He shares his experiences including, how the pandemic has brought certain exploits to the fore, what the main challenge in providing security is, and why cybersecurity advancements are like how the car has evolved over the years.

Join us for our third #TechonFire podcast where we catch up with Chris Grundemann, networking specialist at GigaOm. Chief Trailblazer Rose Ross asks him all about the last 10 years of networking and how things have changed over that time. She also delves into what trends we'll see in networking in the next 10 years and how startups have their role to play in providing solutions for the future. Chris also talks about what startups need to offer to be successful.

Eleanor Dallaway, Editorial Director at Infosecurity Magazine, is joining the Tech Trailblazers judging team for this, our tenth, edition. Chief Trailblazer Rose Ross talks to her about her rise up the ranks of Infosecurity Magazine, what it is that will impress her as an entry to the Awards, and how diversity and inclusion are a focus for her in the cybersecurity industry. Eleanor also shares how important the personal connection and face-to-face meetings are important for telling the stories she writes.

Join us for our second #TechonFire podcast where we catch up with Jon Collins, DevOps specialist at GigaOm. Chief Trailblazer Rose Ross asks him all about the last 10 years of DevOps and how things have changed over that time. She also delves into what trends we'll see in DevOps in the next 10 years and how startups have their role to play in providing solutions for the future. Jon also talks about mental health in IT and how firms often only pay lip service to new development paradigms like Agile.

Join us for the first #TechonFire podcast where we catch up with Logan Andrew Green, IoT specialist at GigaOm. Chief Trailblazer Rose Ross asks him all about the next 10 years of IoT and what it will take for startups to be successful in this area that's just getting going. Other topics include: how will 5G fair in the future, the importance of security, and which are the countries where IoT startups are most prevalent?

Gerald Brady, Managing Director at Silicon Valley Bank, talks to Chief Trailblazer Rose Ross about the variety of roles he's held over the years and how he's now in a position to have a finger on the pulse of the innovation economy. He also shares his views about how COVID has changed working and startups themselves, and what will be coming in the next 10 years. Plus, there is exciting, exclusive news about the Tech Trailblazers Awards.

Tony joins Chief Trailblazer Rose Ross to discuss how Bamboo Systems is going to revolutionize data centres with its ARM servers, promising reduced costs, power consumption, and space requirements. He also talks about how the company had to change their name, his career, and how COVID has changed things for startups. We will need to get this out of the door this week, amongst the TechBritannia ones we're doing.

Richard joins Chief Trailblazer Rose Ross to discuss how Ambassador Labs obtained their Series B funding virtually and how the firm aims to reduce distractions for developers, thereby increasing focus and productivity. Plus hear his predictions for the future of developing.

Enrico, one of judges who's been with Tech Trailblazers since the beginning, catches up with Chief Trailblazer Rose Ross to share his life story including how his career path changed after starting a blog. He also talks about how storage has changed in the last decade, to move beyond primary/secondary storage. Listen to discover his predictions for the next 10 years, including quantum computing, how the chip shortage could be an opportunity, and how startups will change.

Joe, one of judges who's been with Tech Trailblazers since the beginning, catches up with Chief Trailblazer Rose Ross to share his life story including his wide-reaching role at VMware. He elucidates what cloud will really be like and the opportunities it could bring for startups. He also describes the difference between invention and innovation, how he sees plenty enough 'frying pans', and how that's key for entrants and successful startups. There's also a cautionary tale of how diversity, equity, and inclusion are very different things, and that they need to be dealt with differently.

Adi joins Chief Trailblazer Rose Ross to discuss how Ananda Networks comes to have a Chief Joy Officer, how the firm is reinventing networking from basic principles, and lets us in on how the firm is participating in the Telecom Infrastructure Project where they will get to mix with the likes of Google and Facebook.

Jim joins Chief Trailblazer Rose Ross to discuss the success of SafeGuard Cyber, which not only won the Mobile Trailblazers Award recently but since then has secured $45m of investment. He also eloquently explains the firm's goal to control the threats brought about by mobile devices and the ever-increasing number of communications channels they offer. He reassures that it's not about invading the privacy of employees, just managing the risks.

Grace joins Chief Trailblazer Rose Ross to discuss the rapid evolution of Codastra and what role she plays as co-founder of the firm. She lets us in on the upcoming path for the company and in particular how their microservices migration tool is likely to be one of a suite of available tools. She also shares the valuable, positive experiences that Codastra gained from the pre-accelerator FastForward.

Tim joins Chief Trailblazer Rose Ross to discuss his experiences as CTO and co-founder of Styra. He shares his path from academia into the business world, including how Styra's open source authorisation solution led to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation and great growth. Plus Tim shares his two top tips for success.

Chief Trailblazer, Rose Ross speaks with Jeff Denworth, Chief Marketing Officer and co-founder of VAST Data, winner of the 2020 Storage Trailblazers Award. Jeff shares his secret to the impressive success of the firm, including being able to raise a round of funding that didn't need to be dipped into, despite COVID. He also describes the fundamentals that all startups should follow. More about VAST Data at www.vastdata.com

As part of the Tech Trailblazers Showcase at the London Enterprise Tech Meetup in January, Tony Craythorne, the CEO of Bamboo Systems, gives an introduction to the firm which won the Cloud category in the 2020 Awards. He gives a quick explanation of how Bamboo Systems are bringing Arm servers into an x86-dominated market, offering a 50% reduction in acquisition cost and a 75% energy saving.

As part of the Tech Trailblazers Showcase at the London Enterprise Tech Meetup in January, Charles Fan, the CEO and co-founder of MemVerge, gives an introduction to the firm which won the AI and Big Data categories in the 2020 Awards. He gives a quick explanation of how MemVerge is aiming to revolutionize persistent memory by putting a virtualisation layer on top of Intel's Optane products, providing cheaper, bigger, and almost-as-fast memory as DRAM.

As part of the Tech Trailblazers Showcase at the London Enterprise Tech Meetup in January, Bill Mann, CEO of Styra, gives an introduction to the firm which won the Containers category in the 2020 Awards. He gives a quick explanation of how Styra is aiming to revolutionize authorization, making it code instead of being defined in PDFs, fast making it the defacto standard for authorization in cloud native environments.

Steve chats with Chief Trailblazer Rose Ross and shares his wide-ranging experience. He explains the value of winning awards for startups, in particular how the Tech Trailblazers Awards are designed to help new firms to prepare themselves for investors and how it's the most cost-effective way to stand out from the crowd. He also gives his thoughts on upcoming trends plus the need for diversity and inclusion.

Catch our fireside chat with three judges of the Tech Trailblazers Awards: Dave Cartwright, Jacqui Taylor, and Jennifer Steffens as we partner with the London Enterprise Tech Meetup who kindly hosted the first Winners Showcase for us. The topics covered include: inclusion, diversity, bootstrapping startups, AI, machine learning, security, green tech, and how COVID-19 is driving women from the industry. The host was Ian Ellis and the discussion was moderated by our very own Chief Trailblazer, Rose Ross.

Jessica catches up with Chief Trailblazer Rose Ross to share her experiences, both working with startups and as an Angel investor. Discover the importance of founders and that you can't get everything you need to judge a potentially worthy investment with a quick internet search. Listen to discover what key piece of advice that can set you free that Jessica would give to her younger self.

Niraj joins Chief Trailblazer Rose Ross to discuss his experiences as CEO and co-founder of Kasten, but also now as president and GM of the firm since its acquisition by Veeam. He also talks about the importance of company culture, even sharing the company's culture decks, and how he'd be first in line to enter the Tech Trailblazers Awards if he ever launched another startup.

Teresa catches up with Chief Trailblazer Rose Ross to share her enthusiastic passion for the technology industry, particularly the mobile space which she focuses on. Discover her top tips for entering the Tech Trailblazers Award, the startup potential in the “new normal”, how mobile is inherently diverse - except for women, and the commercial infeasibility of the internet-connected bra.

Raj joins Chief Trailblazer Rose Ross to discuss how he has fun at his job at McAfee, what advice he would give startups to be successful, ways to make your entry to the Tech Trailblazers Awards quicker and more effective, plus he gives us exclusive details about himself that he never shares on LinkedIn.

Bertrand describes his work as Editor of the B2B magazine L'Informaticien. He also shares what he looks for in an entrant to the Tech Trailblazers Awards, the challenges that French startups face, and what his new plans include. Bertrand shares his excitement about the companies he's discovered over the years of judging the Tech Trailblazers Awards, a feeling that keeps him coming back for more.

Jeff talks with Chief Trailblazer Rose Ross about how he's been writing about technology trends for 20 years, including his experience in evaluating startups. He also describes how VC funding has changed during the pandemic, why startups should be focussing on the steak not the sizzle, and even manages to add a little dash of Chinese espionage.

Justin catches up with Chief Trailblazer Rose Ross to talk about his illustrious and wide-ranging career. He also talks about what makes an entry to the Awards stand out for him and what disruptive technology is going to change the world of tomorrow.

Michael Hill – Editor of Infosecurity Magazine speaks to Rose Ross for our second podcast in our Judges on Fire Series.

Stephen joins Chief Trailblazer Rose Ross to discuss why he has joined the esteemed Tech Trailblazers judges. Charting his move from SysAdmin to analyst and now entrepreneur leading the Tech Field Day team who connect tech vendors many are startups with influencers from across the globe.

On today's Tech Trailblazers: Chief Trailblazer, Rose Ross speaks with Gaurav Banga, Founder and CEO of Balbix, winner of this year's AI Trailblazers award. Gaurav explains how recording all relevant cybersecurity data is needed to provide quality threat assessments and how AI, along with automation, is the way to process all this information. He also shares his startup experiences, including the two key challenges he's faced over the three startups he's been involved in. More about Balbix at www.balbix.com Host: Rose Ross Download or subscribe to this show on Spotify You can contribute to Tech Trailblazers by sending an email to innovate@techtrailblazers.com

Chief Trailblazer, Rose Ross speaks with Nathan Burke, CMO of Axonius, a runner-up of the Security Trailblazers Award this year. Nathan talks about the pressure and pleasure of three-minute pitches, how awards can focus your vision, and that experimenting can pay off in ways you'd never expect. Plus he talks about Cybersecurity Cares, a resource site to support cybersecurity professionals in these trying times. More about Axonius at www.axonius.com and more about Cybersecurity Cares at https://www.cybersecuritycares.org/ Host: Rose Ross Download or subscribe to this show on Spotify You can contribute to Tech Trailblazers by sending an email to innovate@techtrailblazers.com

On today's Tech Trailblazers: Chief Trailblazer, Rose Ross speaks with Mansour Karam, Founder and President of Apstra, winner of 2019's Cloud Trailblazers award. Mansour talks about the challenges of bringing a new concept to market, how the right team can perform miracles, and how awards create much-needed awareness for startups. More about Apstra at www.apstra.com Host: Rose Ross Download or subscribe to this show on Spotify You can contribute to Tech Trailblazers by sending an email to innovate@techtrailblazers.com

On today's Tech Trailblazers: Chief Trailblazer, Rose Ross speaks with Justin Day, CEO of Cloud Gateway, winner of 2018's Cloud Trailblazers award. Justin shares more about his journey from networking whizz to startup CEO and the company's impressive trailblazing in the short time since taking the Trailblazers crown. More about Cloud Gateway at www.cloudgateway.co.uk Host: Rose Ross Download or subscribe to this show on Spotify You can contribute to Tech Trailblazers by sending an email to innovate@techtrailblazers.com

On today's Tech Trailblazers #FoundersonFire: Chief Trailblazer, Rose Ross speaks with Neena Dasgupta, CEO of Zirca Digital in Mumbai, winner of this year's Female Trailblazer. Neena shares more about the challenges of balancing career and being a mother as well as what she is doing to open up opportunities within her organisation and the wider business community. More about Zirca Digital at www.zirca.in Host: Rose Ross Download or subscribe to this show on Spotify You can contribute to Tech Trailblazers by sending an email to innovate@techtrailblazers.com

On today's Tech Trailblazers: Chief Trailblazer, Rose Ross speaks with Cody Cornell, Co-founder and CEO of Swimlane, this years winner of Male Tech Trailblazer. Cody shares more about Swimlane and his journey to receiving this leading industry recognition. More about Swimlane at www.swimlane.com. Host: Rose Ross You can contribute to Tech Trailblazers by sending an email to innovate@techtrailblazers.com. More on the Tech Trailblazers at www.techtrailblazers.com.

On today's Tech Trailblazers: Chief Trailblazer, Rose Ross speaks with Evan Blair, Co-founder and Global VP Channel Sales at Zerofox, a previous winner of the Security Trailblazers. Evan shares more about Zerofox and the company's journey since winning this leading industry recognition. More about Zerofox at www.Zerofox.com. Host: Rose Ross You can contribute to Tech Trailblazers by sending an email to innovate@techtrailblazers.com. More on the Tech Trailblazers at www.techtrailblazers.com.

On today's Tech Trailblazers: Chief Trailblazer, Rose Ross moderates a panel discussion with Dr Jacqui Taylor, CEO of FlyingBinary, Joe Baguley of VMware and Nema Sampat, CEO of Contentstack. The panellists explore diversity and inclusion in technology today and explore where it is heading and how it may evolve. Host: Rose Ross You can contribute to Tech Trailblazers by sending an email to innovate@techtrailblazers.com Listen on Spotify

On today's Tech Trailblazers: Chief Trailblazer, Rose Ross speaks with Manish Gupta, CEO and founder of ShiftLeft, winner of this year's Security Trailblazers. Manish shares more about ShiftLeft and what made it stand out amongst other security firms, his journey before and during his time leading this Security Trailblazer. More about ShiftLeft at www.ShiftLeft.com. Host: Rose Ross Download or subscribe to this show on Spotify You can contribute to Tech Trailblazers by sending an email to innovate@techtrailblazers.com