From Foster Care to Security CEO | Gabriel Covarrubias Is Securing the Future - The Mark Haney Podcast

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Gabriel Covarrubias (00:00):
One of the big shifts that our
manufacturers implemented in the last few
months is now, instead of looking through
video, we can talk or text into our VMS
software and we could say I'm looking for a
gentleman with a white t-shirt and blue
jeans on and blonde hair, and it's going to
pull up that video in seconds.
Oh my gosh.
And it's going to scrub all of the cameras
on that account or the selected cameras

(00:21):
that you choose from.
So, going to that video investigation piece,
we've really expedited that process tenfold.

Mark Haney (00:28):
That's incredible.
That is yes.
This is the Mark Haney Show, on a mission
to ignite the entrepreneurial revolution
right here in the hometown we love.
We do that by building the Backyard
Advantage, which is really working on
building the most connected community in
the world for local entrepreneurs.
It's based around this culture of love and
you know I love entrepreneurs and sharing

(00:50):
the story of entrepreneurs is something
that I feel like the most successful
entrepreneurs should be on a pedestal and
we need to share their story so it inspires
the next one in line, and so today that is
what we are doing.
We have Gabriel Covarrubias.
Did I pronounce your name right?

Yeah, that's really close Covarrubias.
Thank you.

Mark Haney (01:11):
Covarrubias, and you know we have kind of
got to know each other.
We met each other at a UCP fundraiser a few
months back and it turns out we are kind of
from the same industry initially security
cameras, and there was a little bit of a
bond over that, but we just started bonding
too over family and discussing kind of like

(01:34):
some of the things that dads and I'm a
grandpa now as well, but you know that we
go through and dogs.
So you're a dog guy and I wouldn't call
myself a dog guy, that we go through and
dogs.
So uh, yeah, so you're a dog guy and I
wouldn't call myself a dog guy, but we've
got a bunch of dogs at our property.
So, uh, uh, I want to start the show by
talking a little bit about that, because I,

(01:54):
we started the show before you and I really
got into this and for the audience, this is
how it came up.
So about 40 minutes ago, you know, we had
just celebrated a nice family win.
I went home, worked out and, you know, sat
in the sauna.
I get up and decide I'm going to go for a
ride in my Jeep with my wife because we're
getting some new gates put on the you know,
at our property, and so I jump in the Jeep

(02:14):
to drive her across to go look at it.
And we have, like there's a bunch of dogs
on the property but there's like three or
four of them like to chase the Jeep and so
they're chasing the Jeep and I'm going
pretty slow and so we look at the gates and
we're pulling away.

(02:35):
I'm going maybe like one mile an hour and
this one dog, that's like super fast.
All of a sudden I hear yelping oh no, what
happened?
I could feel it under the Jeep, the dog had
got under the Jeep somehow and I was only
going about one mile an hour.
But the dog comes out limping and I just
felt like crap.
Went to put the dog in the Jeep so we could
take it to the vet or get it checked out or

(02:55):
whatever.
And it was my son's dog and it bit me and
so I've got this bandage and so I scrambled
to get here in the show, um, while
everybody's dealing with the dog taking it
to the vet.
But, um, just, you know life of, uh, you
know real world life.
You know entrepreneurs and you know we all
have these things that like, uh, great day

(03:16):
becomes this, you know really bad day and
now it's a great day again because I'm
talking to Gabe, but, um, anyway, thanks
for coming on the show, but you have a lab
and a golden retriever, yeah, yeah.

So I've got two senior dogs, I like to call
them.
I've got my rescue.
She's approximately 13 years old.
She's our golden retriever.
Uh, absolutely love her.
We've had her for about five years.
And then our family dog that we got when he
was a puppy, it's our black lab.
He turns 10 in October, so interesting.

Mark Haney (03:46):
I've been bit one other time in my life and
it was by a black lab, but we have three
yellow labs, so they're white, whitish in
color.
What's the demeanor of your black lab?
Is that a?
It sounds like a 10-year-old dog.
Is it super friendly towards people and
that kind of thing.

Yeah, super, super friendly.
This guy will lick your hand, although far
from biting it.
Wow.
And what's interesting about him?
At 10 years old, anytime he meets somebody
you think it's the first time he's ever
been introduced to humans Because he gets
so excited about any new scent he just like
will just start like not really barking,

(04:24):
but kind of yapping with excitement, almost
like a cry like pet me, pet me, please give
me attention.

Mark Haney (04:31):
Oh, wow Sounds like a super cool dog and
our three yellow labs sounds like they have
a very similar demeanor.
They're super friendly.
They bark at the Amazon guy or whatever,
but then he comes up and they're all happy
to see him.
Actually, they're just barking.
I don't know why.

Yeah, same with this guy.
He barks to make noise, but if he actually
sees a person, he's just going to run up to
you and want you to pat on the back.

Mark Haney (04:51):
What made you decide to rescue the dog?
Did you grow up being a dog lover type guy?

Yeah, interesting story.
So my wife and I are just total animal
people and that that's you know, gone down
to our children.
Uh, the unfortunate reality is my stepmom
passed away in 2020, and so in her wishes
was that one of the children take care of
her dog.
Okay, and so that's where we inherited the
black lab, and uh yeah, so the rest has

(05:19):
been history with her.
We brought her in immediately and she's
been taken in as one of the family members
and you've got little kids, so they're
probably great with those little kids.
Oh yeah.

Mark Haney (05:28):
Yeah, that's how our dogs are too.
It's a.
It's a good thing, and I hadn't had a dog
for a long time since my kids were younger,
and when COVID hit, we went out and got
some yellow labs and you know my wife's in
heaven.
So I'm now I know nobody's mad at me for
running over the dog, but everybody feels
really bad about it.

(05:48):
So it's a tough deal.
But this show is not really about running
over your dog.

Although there are ups and downs in
entrepreneurship.

Mark Haney (05:57):
Today was an up and a down.
It started off as a great day and now it's
ended up being this weird day.
So thanks for I know I was a couple minutes
late for the show, so thanks for sticking
around and let's share your story Now.
You built a business in security cameras,
which is intriguing to me as a security
camera guy.

(06:17):
Let's talk about your journey.
Tell me about this journey into
entrepreneurship, and the name of your
company is MSC Integration.
It was Mr Security Cameras, right, or is it?

still that that is correct.
Yeah, so it's still Mr Security Camera Inc.
We're just doing business as MSC
integration Gotcha, and that change
actually came about four or five years ago
as we started offering a lot more than just
video surveillance and security cameras.
The business started doing card access,
intrusion detection systems, live video
monitoring, anything that really

(06:47):
encompasses security needed for a business,
and so we felt a name change was necessary
to help express kind of who we are, what we
do and how we're going to do it.
But the parent company is still Mr Security
Camera Inc and we still hold true to that.
Hence the MSC is just a play on words.

Mark Haney (07:09):
Okay, I didn't even catch what that stood
for.
Okay, well, I like the name, mr Security
Cameras, because it's I mean, it's to the
point.
It's like if you think you, if you have an
incident and you want to get some cameras,
okay, well, these guys are Mr Security
Camera, it's not wannabe security camera
dude.
And you, your company's really grown over
the years and I think you may have worked
with one of our companies is we do video
surveillance in casinos and I know so I

(07:31):
know you do like big jobs.
You know we do pretty much enterprise type
video security and then we do a little bit
of that card access and some of that stuff
too.
But you've built quite a business of a
variety of, I guess, industry verticals.
So maybe tell me about the different parts
of your business and the different customer
types.

Yeah.
So originally on back in the early days of
Mr Security Camera, we were primarily a
residential service company.
To your point, we were the guys that if you
had something security related for video,
you called us, we were Mr Security, and
that really carried us through and that
started like as a side gig for you.
You called us, we were Mr Security, and
that really carried us through and that
started like as a side gig for you.
Right, it did.

(08:10):
It did, yeah, it really started.
I was in transitioning from another
business this is actually the fourth
business I've started in my career and I
was transitioning out of a business selling
it back to my original partner at the time,
just trying to figure out what I was going
to do.
I was just doing some like side gigs,
working with some friends and you know we
were doing some Craigslisting, essentially

(08:31):
installing security cameras for local bars
and restaurants and things unlicensed.
Didn't quite know what we were doing, but
just having fun doing it and that's what
got us started.
And in 2014, when we became a licensed
contractor for Mr Security Camera Inc.
We focused on that residential market,
providing that quick turnaround.
You can call us today.

(08:52):
We're going to be out there tomorrow pretty
much installing cameras getting your house
protected.
As that progressed over the years, in 2017,
we made the shift to go from straight
business to business and our primary
vertical now is going to be multifamily
housing and light distribution warehouses.

Mark Haney (09:13):
Okay, I'm going to take the listeners down
a little bit of a memory lane.
Some may know this, but so when I got into
security cameras, it was 1992.
It was way back when, and it the people
that were in security cameras were doing it
totally on the side.
There really weren't too many security

(09:34):
camera specialists.
You had these alarm companies, right.
So, like a security company that does a
alarm, maybe a fire alarm, you know they
people started asking them for security
cameras and so they learned how to be
security camera installers.
Maybe there's an electrical contractor and
he gets a call, you know, okay, yeah, I can

(09:54):
figure it out.
And so when I got in at that time, and
because my mom and dad had owned a TV shop
when I was a kid, the security camera thing
I won't say it was easier for me, but I was
sort of attracted to it in a way, and
that's predominantly why we, you know,
built our, you know, we had a handful of

(10:15):
security camera companies, but very, very,
very focused on security cameras versus,
you know, everything associated with
security and that, and deciding to
specialize, at least at that time, ended up,
I guess, being a blessing for us.

(10:35):
So now you get into, take back to 2014 when
you first started getting into this Walk me
through that, so it becomes an official
business and you started off with the
residential site and maybe bars and small
businesses.
Was there a turning point in there where
you said, wow, I'm really onto something
and I can really expand?

Yeah, actually, the turning point happened
prior to us making it an official business,
back in 2023,.
We started getting into some customers
commercial customers that I started.
The light bulb started to turn on and I
said, wow, there is something here.
There's a need in our local market, people
that are not servicing it effectively.

(11:14):
Going back, to, the types of companies that
were offering the service were kind of one
man show alarm companies, and something
that we were hearing from our clientele
base at that time was they needed somebody
they can call that's going to answer the
phone, that's going to be able to provide
support and walk them through help when
they need it the most.
And that's what we based the business on.

(11:35):
And so when 2014 hit and the light bulb had
already turned on, at that point I said,
wow, we can do something here.
We have not necessarily a secret sauce.
Our secret sauce is communication.
We're going to be here and we're not going
to.
We're not going to be a fly by night
company.
And what also happened at that time in 2014,

(11:56):
we went from buying camera systems at
Costco and and installing them for you to
finding a distributor at that time, which
happened to be a company I think you might
have some association with Mark Northern
Video.
Yes, okay, yeah, so, interesting enough, I
went to one of our clients' facilities last
week at Tikert, and they still had the

(12:16):
original Northern Video PTZs.
We sold them back in 2014.

Mark Haney (12:20):
Oh my gosh Still functioning Still.

great video quality, by the way.
14 still functioning still great video
quality, by the way.
Uh, the server happened to to uh pass away
on us, okay, but the cameras have outlived.

Mark Haney (12:30):
That cameras worked.
Okay, that's good to hear.
Uh, you know, keep kept in, because that's
uh, that's that's pretty old.
The northern cameras, yeah, yeah, I don't,
they're not, so for anybody that might be
listening.
So I owned a company called northern video
and it was actually a pro video company and
we sold basically no security cameras and
then we started selling Sony security

(12:52):
cameras.
Ultimately, we built it into like the
largest independent security distributor in
the country.
It got bought by.
We actually merged with another company and
went on a roll-up strategy and bought a
bunch of companies and became the largest
security camera distributor in the country,
and then we ended up getting bought a few

(13:12):
more times later.
After I left the company, it's now, I think,
part of the largest distributorship in this
realm in the world.
Do you still buy your stuff there?
We do, and that's Wesco now Wesco.
Okay, I forgot the name of it.
I don't deal with it anymore.
I have my security camera company.
Now I'm like a silent, whatever we want to
say.
I'm like a silent passive investor, if you

(13:35):
will.
My brother-in-law runs it, so I'm not up to
date on where we get all our stuff these
days.

Yeah, they still operate out of the
original Triad which was part of, I believe,
your roll up with Northern Video and Triad,
so they're still there in Natomas, wow, and
they've been a great partner for us.
We've been working with them since 2014.
That's great, do you?

Mark Haney (13:55):
guys buy from ScanSource at all.

Very little.
I think that's where we we don't buy, we
buy most of our stuff directly from the
manufacturer.

Mark Haney (14:05):
But when we have to buy something through
distribution on the video side, I think we
buy it from ScanSource, who got into the
business, you know, late in the game,
because they're like they have.
They're just a distributor that got into
video because they thought it was a.
The video was an emerging technology, so
interesting.

Yeah, we do a little bit with them.
Our go-to is going to be Wesco and then
direct with manufacturers such as Avigilon.
Okay, yeah, yeah.

Mark Haney (14:27):
We deal somewhat with Avigilon as well.
So now thinking about the technology, so
it's interesting to think about how the
technology has changed over the years.
You know, back in 92, I kind of talked
about people's reluctance to get into
security cameras, and partially because
they just weren't that good and maybe

(14:49):
people were like kind of anti big brother.
At that time People were like, oh, you know,
I don't want cameras all over keeping an
eye on everything.
It was like almost they were worried about
them being offensive to their customers and
to uh, you know, to the populace.
But now I think people want security
cameras.
If you're a patron, it makes us feel more
safe when you know that you've got enough

(15:09):
cameras up to keep track of stuff.

Well, most certainly.
I think the industry and market has shifted
180 degree.
Now people want to go to places that they
know have an adequate video surveillance or
security system.
The world that we live in nowadays it's
gone from being the big brother to now
adding that layer of protection that, if
you're going to go out to a shopping center
or a shopping mall, knowing that there's

(15:34):
video surveillance everywhere you go, and
if you're out with your kids or your loved
ones, knowing that you have that little
extra layer of protection, provides that
peace of mind.

Mark Haney (15:42):
You sort of get used to it.
They're everywhere, they're ubiquitous.
If you will and I don't know if you do this
or not you know you hear the stories about
if you're, let's say, your wife's pregnant
and then you start noticing pregnant people.
Well, if you're in the video surveillance
business, if I walk into a store,
especially if I go into a casino, which is
like our customer base is all casinos

(16:04):
they're everywhere.
There's just thousands and thousands of
cameras inside a casino, but a lot of times
you sort of just get used to seeing them.
They don't even stand out anymore because
they're so small, but the technology is so
much better than what they had been in the
past and they're getting better every day.

Yeah, most certainly getting better every
day.
And what I find to be fascinating about the
technology shift is we went from, you know,
just even a few short years ago, where a
lot of the analytics and computing was
happening on site.
You know it was happening at a camera level
or a server or NVR level that was located
on premise, and now that the industry is

(16:42):
pivoting to cloud, the possibilities and
capabilities are absolutely endless and it
is amazing what we can do with video
nowadays to maximize, you know, coverage,
to searching video, investigations and the
time that we've been able to cut out of the
picture.
What used to be a full-time job we can now
do in minutes and in seconds.

Mark Haney (17:02):
Yeah, it's crazy how much better it's
getting.
I heard this on the news today that and I
attribute it at some level to security
cameras.
But I hear crimes actually coming down in
America some recent statistics, even though
you know, maybe it's gone up over the last
several years due to you know how well we

(17:22):
enforce the law, but I think surveillance
cameras catch bad guys, bad people, and you
know how well we enforce the law, but I
think surveillance cameras catch bad guys,
bad people, and you know we have all kinds
of examples of solving challenges in
society by just stringing, piecing things
together because more people have cameras.

Yeah, I would agree with that.
I mean something I've said for years is it
helps keep honest people honest, right.
It takes that opportunistic criminal and
makes them think twice.
You know they see a bag sitting on a table
at a restaurant.
They know that there's cameras.
Maybe they might have been a not so good
person and said I'm going to take that
opportunity and steal that bag or steal

(18:03):
that phone.
But I feel a lot of that is starting to
become alleviated throughout time with the
implementation of video.
Yeah, there's kind of like a peace of mind.

Mark Haney (18:11):
Now, one of the things that you did you
were telling me about is you made an
investment into I'll call them towers I
don't really know what you call these
things, but they're portable surveillance
systems that go high in the sky to keep
track of.
It could be construction site or something
like that and that has done pretty well for

(18:33):
you guys.

Yeah, most certainly.
So that's our latest brand that we launched
officially September of 2024, which is our
Mr Security Camera Trailers brand.
So that's for our mobile security units.
Those are completely off-grid,
cellular-enabled generator backup, if need
be, eyes in the sky.
We've got a few different models that we
can deploy within, I'd say, less than 24

(18:56):
hours.
Wow, so the time a client calls us, I mean
we've even done same-day delivery.
We just did for a local police department
in the Bay Area last week and so it's
becoming increasingly popular to cover
those off-grid areas or areas that might be
a little cost-prohibitive to put in a full
integrated security system.
We can deploy that unit, like I said,

(19:17):
within 24 hours.
We can custom tailor the solutions to any
client's needs.
Most of those units go out for job site
security and parking lots, as well as
special events.

Mark Haney (19:29):
Yeah, that's what I was imagining is you
mentioned law enforcement.
I started thinking, well, why, how would
that work?
But picture there's a protest, you know
it's going down or you've heard about
something happening.
It's like, well, we better bring extra
security.
And it's instead of just showing up with
just showing up with 200 cops, let's show
up with 100 and a couple of trailers and we

(19:51):
can basically manage part of the situation
from a remote location versus everybody
stuck down in the crowd.

Exactly, and that was the use case for that
local municipal was.
It was a union strike actually, and so they
were worried about some retaliation during
that strike.
They were short staffed and officers, so
we're able to maximize their capabilities
and coverage by getting those trailers out
there.
So within 24 hours we had three units
deployed and providing extra eyes in the

(20:21):
sky that one officer can manage all of
those units.
They get full live feed on those trailers.

Mark Haney (20:26):
Interesting Because you hear that there are
less, and I don't know if you've heard this
or not, but I've heard that there are
people out there that don't really want to
go into law enforcement because of, maybe,
backlash from society or certain people

(20:46):
don't like cops and stuff like that.
So maybe the recruitment for strong police
officers is maybe a little bit more
difficult than it might have been 10 or 20
years ago, but cameras are actually an
affordable way to deal with and a safe way
to deal with a security scenario where
you're not really putting police officers

(21:09):
as many police officers in harm's way.

Yeah, I would agree, and I think it's just
the nature of that industry right now and
the stigma that's been put on it by society
to your point.
It is increasingly harder for them to
recruit and most jurisdictions that we
speak to are understaffed in that
department.
So being able to get them an affordable way
to utilize what resources they have and

(21:35):
provide that at a cost-effective solution
is something that we're able to help with.

Mark Haney (21:38):
Yeah, and then I feel like it would make
sense too, because a lot of times these
guys, these government agencies, or even a
larger you know, corporation.
It's hard for them to allocate the funding
for, let's call it, 500 cameras and a
complete system might just be like that's a
CapEx expense.
We got to go to through all these layers of

(21:58):
approval and it's not in this year's budget
and stuff kind of gets kicked down.
The, you know, the can gets kicked.
But we have an event.
Let's go rent a trailer, let's go get a
couple of trailers.
You could sort of like almost make it a
variable expense, so you deal with it more
on a you know as needed basis, versus like
we just had this massive outlay.

(22:19):
Now we have a small outlay.
Every time we, you know, feel like we have
threats or opportunity to you, opportunity
to get hit.

Yeah, most certainly.
I mean.
The beauty about our mobile security units
is they fall typically under an operating
expense budget, not a CapEx budget, because
it is a much lower cost of entry.
We don't sell the units, so we only lease
them out on rental term, and that's where
it comes in.
Is that operating expense as opposed to
that CapEx?
And on one trailer, how many cameras are

(22:47):
there?
Typically Typically four.
Okay, we do have some custom units where we
have up to six cameras on them, depending
on the use case.

Mark Haney (22:54):
So four cameras will typically.
You're looking, you have 360 degree
coverage.
It's like front and back.
You can see everywhere.

Yeah, 360 degree coverage.
We equip all of our trailers with PTZ
cameras, so pan tilt zoom up to 25 times
optical zoom.
So from any direction that we're looking
into, we can zoom that camera in up to 300
feet effectively.

Mark Haney (23:16):
Right, so everything is transmitted to the
cloud.
So somebody is actually pan tilting and
zooming from a remote location.
If they're doing it live, is that right?
That is correct, so you can do that, live
through the crowd, and you could be back at
police headquarters if you will and zooming
in on a hotspot and I would assume like I'm

(23:37):
not up on the latest technology but there's
things like facial recognition and there's
different kinds of things that you can have
the camera look for and help highlight
certain issues right?

Yeah, most certainly so.
The facial recognition we've got some
behavioral analytics that we can implement,
as well as audio analytics that can help
detect threats from a noise level.
Now, all of those are just customized
features that we could add on to any mobile
security unit, and same with facial
recognition and any sort of analytic.
We can add that on on the backend, because

(24:10):
now all of that's done in the cloud
computing side and it's not hardware
limited.
On the actual trailer Wow.

Mark Haney (24:16):
So cool, so cool.
So what's the all right?
So where do you think the industry is going?
And then I want to hear sort of your vision
for where MSC is going.
But from an industry standpoint, security
is, from what I can tell, is people.
There's an increasing need for security and

(24:39):
an increasing desire for cameras
specifically.
So I think we're on a growth trajectory.
You and I are both in a business that is
probably going to grow pretty steadily over
the next several years.

Yeah, most certainly, and our data is
showing that as well.
When it comes to video and card access and
intrusion, that is a market that is going
to continue to grow for the foreseeable
future.
Aside from your statistic you brought up
earlier, most would argue that, you know,
is crime getting better or worse?
And most response to that is it's not

(25:14):
getting better, of course, it's getting
worse it feels worse it is.

Mark Haney (25:17):
So I just heard it on the news as I was
coming in from getting my finger bit and I
heard it on John McGinnis show.
I was listening to KPK and I'm like crime's
going down Really.

I did not know that Exactly and and it's
subjective maybe, to to a local area.
You know zip code maybe, but realistically
I feel that the crime is not getting better.
Uh, as our population continues to grow,
there's going to continue to be more and
more crime and the need for security.
Um, the industry right now is in a really
good position as things are starting to
shift to all cloud computing.

(25:47):
For the security side of the business, we
went from strictly on-premise, very high
cost initial investment getting your
servers and cable infrastructure etc.
Bringing that cost of entry up pretty high.
Now, cloud side of things makes it scalable,
affordable and you can go to infinity in

(26:08):
terms of scalability.
You're not limited to the hardware you have
on site anymore.
So that's a big push for our company.
At MSC We've almost strictly gone to
cloud-based offerings for gate entry
systems, card access and video and the
compute power is increasing at this
exponential rate.

Mark Haney (26:27):
It's incredible how AI is infiltrated every
technology in the world, but it is making
strides in video analytics.
That is really game-changing for video
security, and really anybody who's doing
things with video right now is seeing AI

(26:47):
come in and be, I guess, really helpful and
really disruptive as well.

Yeah, one of the big shifts that our
manufacturers implemented in the last few
months is now, instead of looking through
video, we can talk or text into our VMS
software and we could say I'm looking for a
gentleman with a white t-shirt and blue
jeans on and blonde hair, and it's going to
pull up that video in seconds.
Oh my gosh and it's going to scrub all of
the cameras on that account, or the

(27:13):
selected cameras that you choose from.
So, going to that video investigation piece,
we've really expedited that process tenfold,
that's incredible that is.

Mark Haney (27:22):
That's awesome, actually, because that
means we're getting to the, because time is
of the essence.
If you're on an investigation or you're
looking to solve some issue, time is
critical.
If you have to go back and rewind the tape
and search and you know who is that guy and
you zoom in and it looks like crap that guy

(27:47):
and you zoom in and it's all you know.
It looks like crap, uh.
I mean, all that technology is just making
things uh, makes all the uh solutions
happen at a very fast pace.

Yeah, so you saw more crime and I like to
express that like think of something you
know, not as bad per se as like a lost
child at a mass transit maybe you get
separated from your child at an airport and
you've got a recent picture.
You could run up to security and say I'm
missing my son.
He's about four feet tall.
He was last seen in a red shirt.
They could type that in and scrub all the

(28:15):
data within seconds to find that that's
incredible and that's something that we're
really proud to be a part of.
We're not the manufacturers of that
equipment of you know, we're not the
manufacturers of that equipment.
We're the integrators, we're the installer,
we're the person that hands off to the end
user to make sure that we implement the
systems effectively and train them on the
use case.

Mark Haney (28:33):
Well, it's great that you do that.
Have you ever done work in prisons?
We have, okay, so we used to sell.
We didn't go in and do the integration into
prisons although my current company has
done a little bit of that, but that can be
an experience, I assume, like.
What prisons have you done, have you worked
on?

Well, so we were a subcontractor for a
nationwide integrator and we have touched,
I want to say, about 25 of the 32 prisons
here in the state of California.

Mark Haney (29:04):
Oh, my goodness.

Our team was the installation piece behind
those, so I've done more time in prison
than most would ever admit, but they let me
out every day, and so, as a project manager
working on those sites, I've seen a lot of
interesting things.
Well, they've got cameras.

Mark Haney (29:21):
You know, keeping track of death row people
and people are in it for life.
And you know it.
Keeping track of death row people and
people are in it for life.
And you know it's like, oh my gosh, you've
you got to go into some very hostile areas
where people they have nothing to lose
anymore and you're in and among those
people.
Obviously, I would assume they provide a

(29:41):
level of comfort for you so that you don't
feel completely at risk, but that's gotta
be scary.

Yeah, I would say that the very first time
entering a prison I walked into a prison
down in Central California called KVSP and
we were walking the site with the assistant
warden, all the engineers, project managers
associated with this job site I want to say
total implementation was around 1,100
cameras and we're walking through one of

(30:11):
the yards and you know, we're in a group of
maybe 20 people, about five, 20 civilians,
20 civilians yeah, about five of them,
maybe more were correctional officers that
kind of kept us in a pod and we walk
through the gates of the yard and we get to
the programs, which is where they have all
their commissary and things like that

(30:32):
library, and we get into the programs area
and the gate shuts and I'll never forget
this, the siren sounded about five seconds
later and I'm like what is going on here?
Within about 60 seconds we see CEOs coming
from all directions and they're in riot
gear and a riot had kicked off on the yard.

(30:54):
And you know me being new to this
environment, completely caught off guard,
I'm like, do we run?
Do we hide what's going on, kind of thing.
And they're like, no, we have to go into
this room.
And everybody was very calm about it.
And you know, after the fact, speaking with
some of the CEOs there, it was interesting
because they had acknowledged that they saw

(31:15):
this coming.
And what I thought was interesting it was
nothing had happened until we left the yard
and as soon as you know, the contractors
and everybody associated with the project
left the yard.
That's when the riot took place and I don't
know the outcome of that situation.
I just know that nobody in our group was
harmed whatsoever.

(31:35):
But there was a level of angst.
Originally, getting into the prison work,
we did prison contracting for about five
years, wow, up and down the state of
California, throughout Texas, florida and
Louisiana, and you know the general
consensus that our team had received from
inmates, as we were working around inmates
for many years, is we were kind of the

(31:56):
heroes to them, which is really interesting
to think.
So putting in the video surveillance really
helped them, you know, from issues that
they might have had with correctional
officers or abuse and things like that.

Mark Haney (32:07):
Interesting.
My former son-in-law is a prison guard at
Folsom and he's in the worst of the worst
and he has described to me that, just as he
begins to, you know, enter the town of
Folsom.
He doesn't live in Folsom, you know his,
his whole um, he, he has a visceral
reaction to uh, every morning when, or you

(32:31):
know, when, he goes to work.
It's like before he gets to work it all of
a sudden hits him because it's such a high
stress sort of environment.
So you got to just hand it to those people
that do that on a daily basis.
You don't think about like you are just in
danger for the whole shift.
And yeah, being a contractor is bad as well,

(32:52):
or it's not bad but scary, or probably had
your heart racing.
I was at CrossFit preparing for the MRF,
which is a CrossFit workout, for it's kind
of called a hero workout, and a group is a
CrossFit workout for it's kind of they call
it a hero workout.
And a group of our CrossFit people were
going to go over to Folsom Prison and

(33:12):
compete against the guards.
So they're like, mark, you want to go
compete and nah, that's okay.
My son-in-law says it's not that fun.
So I didn't.
I've never been on Folsom prison grounds
and I don't know that I really have a
desire to.
I don't know, Would you go back on there?

(33:32):
I mean, you quit doing it.
Sounds like you were doing it until more
recently, but why'd you quit?

Yeah, the contract term had ended.
That was a term with the state of
California and some changes happened with
the prime contractors.
They were acquired.
You know, mark, you're not missing much.
Okay, you know it's not a desirable place.
You know it's interesting to witness some
of the things that we did and see some of

(33:59):
the unique places that myself and our team
got to be a part of.
But it's not a place that you're going to
run back to and say, man, I can't wait to
get on the grounds of another prison.

Mark Haney (34:09):
Yeah, you're going to have to pay me a lot
of money to get in there because of the you
know.
I would think that that would be where your
company approach would be.
It's like if I've got to put that kind of
stress on the team, it needs to be a
lucrative contract.

Otherwise it's just not worth it.
Agreed, agreed and we did take it on.
It was fairly lucrative for the time that
we were in with that contract.
But it's not an area that we run back for.
We're happy in our current lane.
We do a decent amount of government
contracting, mostly for facilities, DGS,
that type of stuff, and then we work with
local municipals but we've been happy to

(34:46):
get out of the prison and even local
jurisdictions for jails and things like
that, Because the jails, I would honestly
say, were worse.
Those people, they don't have necessarily
the respect that you would get in a prison
from the inmates.
Again, there's a-.

Mark Haney (35:04):
What now?
Yeah, there's a whole the there's, there's
a jail feels uh, sketchier than the prison
yeah, because, and because the people in
the jail that are there let's call it short
term they have less respect.

I would say so wow, that's interesting the
prison and not to get into it because I
don't know.
A lot of it is there is, I heard it when I
went on.
The first prison is a term called prison
politics and and they have their own little
society there.
A guard had once told me he goes, remember
you're a guest in their house and I said
well, why is that?
He goes?

(35:37):
Because they sleep here and we all go home
and so they show a certain level of respect
to the inmates and the inmates give them a
certain level of respect.
As a contractor, we didn't feel threatened
in most prisons.
Jails were different Jails.
It seemed like people would make comments
and try and you'd say things, ask you for

(35:59):
screwdrivers or lighters or that type of
stuff.
But prison didn't happen very often.

Mark Haney (36:04):
Well, I guess that's a note to anybody out
there Don't get yourself arrested and go to
jail for even a night.
It might not be too pleasant.

Yeah, and don't go to prison.
Yeah, definitely don't go to prison.
Let's face it, that's not a place I think
anybody would desire to be.

Mark Haney (36:21):
Okay, this is an interesting show.
We've taken the show in some different
directions today, but I always like to know
two last questions.
It's like what's the vision for the company?
And then I'll finish with one or two last
questions.
But what's the vision for MSC moving
forward?

Yeah, great question.
Right now we have two legs of the business.
I have pivoted my focus and gone to our
mobile side of the business and currently
we're expanding our mobile security units
rapidly.
From last year to this year we 3X'd our
inventory, our fleet.

(36:57):
This year we're looking to hit our first
hundred units by the end of the year.
Wow, and have those units leased out.
It's one thing having them sit in a park.

Mark Haney (37:05):
Yeah, yeah.

We want to make sure they're out protecting
properties and facilities.
On the integration side of the business,
we're going to continue to focus our growth
trajectory there, pivoting our clients to
cloud-based solutions.
A big growth for us right now has been card
access.
As you see in the news on a regular basis,
unauthorized individuals gaining access to

(37:27):
businesses, buildings, et cetera and,
unfortunately, doing some heinous crime.
So that is a big vertical for us that we're
focusing a lot of effort and energy into to
make sure that we provide a comprehensive
product for our clients Wow.

Mark Haney (37:41):
And so what did I not ask you that I should
ask you?
What message should we get out there about
your business or about anything else you're
working on?

That's a great question, what I think you
asked some really good questions.
You know I'm a Sacramento native here, born
and raised in Carmichael.
What high school.
Did you go to?
Interesting enough, mark, and I'll say this
on the air here I'm an eighth grade dropout,
really, so I did not go to high school.
Did you go to?
Interesting enough?
Mark, and I'll say this on the air here I'm
an eighth grade dropout, really, so I did
not go to high school.

(38:11):
I grew up primarily in the foster system
from the age of six and left the foster
system at the age of 13.

Mark Haney (38:18):
Tell me about that.
Okay, so you left the foster system.
The foster system.
I assume that was a very difficult set of
transitions.
From what I've heard that you know there's
a guy named Dale Carlson, a local person
that has really helped a lot of that system

(38:40):
and helped so many people through the sleep
train.
So I followed his, the stuff he's working
on and there's these really cool
inspirational stories about people that
have gone, had it so difficult and then
live to, you know, really do great things
in their life.
But was it a tough?
Was the foster system difficult for you?

Most certainly it was tough.
My brother and I were separated.
I want to say I was about eight years old,
he's a year and a half older than me, so
he's probably about nine and a half ten at
that time.
We got separated in the foster system and
went to different homes, had a family
member that took us in for, or took me in
for, a little while, and that was
short-lived, that lasted about two years,

(39:18):
and so through various group homes, um,
group homes, group homes, yeah.

Mark Haney (39:26):
What's a group home like for a little kid?

Yeah, very scary number one, oh wow.
Number two.
I mean I think they were called orphanages
or various names over our time, but now
they consider them a group home.
It's going to be a location that's a safe
haven for children to come, and so, in the
event that you get separated from a family
member, your parents, the first stop you're

(39:51):
going to go to is going to be a group home.
That home is going to house you in a pod
with maybe 16 other kids of your age and
gender.
They'll have a school on site.
They'll have teachers and counselors that
you would still try and live a normal life
as possible, but everything to the Dale

(40:11):
Carlson ticket to dreams.
We work with those guys too a little bit.
You know you live out of a black trash bag
as you transition, and so Wow.

Mark Haney (40:19):
Okay, so you got.
Whatever all your belongings are in a big,
put them in a big trash bag.

Big trash bag yeah.

Mark Haney (40:25):
And so you leave your family member's house
who only wanted to have you.
For did you get in trouble and you had to
go to there?
Got in trouble, yeah, got in trouble, yeah.
And then.
So then you got hey, sorry, you're going to
the group home.

Well, a little bit different.
You know, got in trouble.
I wasn't one for authority at a young age.
So, uh I, I would run away.
And uh, in the event, I would run away if,
uh, I would run into a law enforcement
figure.
Yeah, I wasn't a criminal, I was a little
kid.
And so they'd take you back to the group
home.
And every time you transition, for my, my
situation, anytime I would transition out

(40:59):
of a foster home.
You know, if they couldn't find housing for
me right away, it would be back to the
group home.

Mark Haney (41:06):
Yeah, Wow, and so you go to school.
Did you go through like seventh and eighth
grade at the group home or did you go to a
school like in Sacramento?

Yeah, Seventh and eighth grade.
I went to some local middle schools here
Starking and Churchill and I was living
with foster families during that time.

Mark Haney (41:27):
And then you tell them one day you don't
want to go back to school.

One day I get in trouble at the end of
eighth grade.
What'd?

Mark Haney (41:36):
you do.

I came home late because I wanted to spend
the last day of school with a girl I had
met.
Of course, boys and girls is all the
trouble.
So I came home late and when I'd gotten
home, you know I was abused a little bit.
Not bad and not to go down that, but we'll
talk a little bit later.

(41:59):
So I took off, you know the individual
decided that they thought it was
justifiable to hit me and at that point I
ran away.
That was actually the last home I had ever
lived in and I'd been on my own ever since,
since the age of 13.

Mark Haney (42:16):
Where did you live?
Where did you go to get shelter and stuff
like that?

Yeah, great question.
I have been able to surround myself with
some really great individuals that I still
call family to this day, so I just had
older friends.
You know, I lived in my first apartment
with a good friend of mine.
He was 18.
I was 13.
He slept on the couch.
He had a great paying job and I found ways

(42:39):
to create side hustles.
I found ways to create side hustles.
I was a great Craigslist advertiser and
sales guy at a very young age.
I would take things from garage sales,
things that maybe he was getting rid of,
and found ways to generate income.
Wow.

Mark Haney (42:57):
So you've always been like that.
I guess that's what difficult times brings
out of people, brought out of you.
Difficult times caused you to be sort of
scrappy and use your ingenuity Craigslist
yeah, wow.

Yeah, I started learning a skill.
I had a good friend I think I was probably
about 15 years old Taught me how to tint
windows in automobiles, so I would work
under the table at a shop here in
Sacramento and would tint windows.
So that was a good gig for a while and in
fact in 2008, that turned into my very
first business.
I opened a window tinting shop over there

(43:34):
off Marconi and 80.
So it's very first business in a rough time
to start a business too.
Yeah.

Mark Haney (43:40):
How old?

were you then 2008?
I was 18.
And so it was probably within a month after
my 18th birthday I went down and got my
first business license and now look what
you've built.

Mark Haney (43:51):
I mean you've got this incredible.
You're putting in thousands and thousands
and thousands of cameras.
Uh, you've got these mobile trailers.
You've got a vision for growth and you're
still a young dude.
I mean, you're still a really young guy
with a young family.
You are got a vision for growth and you're
still a young dude.
I mean, you're still a really young guy
with a young family.
You are just a great, I guess.
Story of my shirt says everything is

(44:13):
figureoutable, which is one of my mottos,
and you are a you're living proof that
everything is figureoutable, no matter what
kind of circumstances you put yourself in.
Even if you are a little anti-authority,
maybe have a chip on your shoulder for one
reason or another, you can straighten it
all out and figure it out.

That's so true, mark, and I love that on
your shirt.
I'm going to have to get one of those
shirts from you.
It is something I live by that you can
figure out just about anything, and to the
point of hardship and trouble and setbacks.
I learned at a young age that, no matter my
story, no matter what I'm going through,
somebody always has it worse and I'm the

(44:57):
last person to say, oh, pity me, or man, I
didn't have this.
I didn't have that opportunity growing up,
I didn't have the parents that stayed
together.
I didn't, I didn't have that.
But instead of saying, wow, this was the
cards I dealt or I was dealt and I have to
deal with that, I said, no, I'm going to
change that trajectory, I'm going to be the

(45:17):
difference on that family, that family line,
and and that's something that motivates me
every morning and now married with two kids,
beautiful family, absolutely love, love my
family.
And you know I look back my wife had the
great, great family, upbringing, beautiful
parents, stayed together their whole life,

(45:39):
and high school and college, all that fun
stuff.
And, and you know as, as we started a
family, I said to myself and to her uh, I'm
not going to do what, what I had done to me
and and just making sure that I I'm the
change in that path, but, um, I never let
you my past be.

(46:00):
Uh, something that's going to hold me back
in what the future holds, because
possibilities are endless.
It's all up to us and what we make of it.

Mark Haney (46:08):
Well, I was going to ask you for words of
wisdom for somebody who's aspiring to be an
entrepreneur, but I can tell you you've
added a lot of wisdom and a lot of
inspiration and I didn't really understand
that this was going to come out of this
show.
But I'm really honored that you came on the

(46:30):
show and were, you know, made yourself
vulnerable, you shared, you shared the real
you.
But is there any other words of wisdom that
you might have up your sleeve?

Words of wisdom, specifically if we're
talking to some younger individuals that
are thinking about entrepreneurship, is
don't give up.
And you know, no idea is a bad idea.
You know, see it through, try it, run it by
your peer groups, talk about it, but don't
give up and don't use your past as a

(47:03):
crippling to your future.
Right, it's up to you.
You hold the keys of what you're going to
make of your future.
Wow.

Mark Haney (47:12):
Well, thank you for sharing your story.
Appreciate you?

Yeah, thank you, mark, I didn't expect it
to come out.
Just, you know I used to run from the truth
there and you know it's something I would
never lie about.
But I would just deviate the question.
And as I've gotten older and decided that
that's not something I want to hide
necessarily, I think it's important for
people to understand that you know you can

(47:36):
come from any walk of life and still do
great things in society, and that's
something I strive to do every day.

Mark Haney (47:42):
You can come from any walk of life and do
great things.
Wow, what a, what a statement.
Thank you for coming on the show.
Thank you, mark.
You bet, thanks for watching today's show.
My goal for every episode is that you find
a takeaway, something tangible you can use
in your business today, and if you have a
comment about a favorite takeaway, feel
free to put it in the in the box below.

(48:02):
And if you have a comment about a favorite
takeaway, feel free to put it in the box
below.
And if you have a topic that you'd like me
to bring up on the show, don't forget to
let me know.
And also, don't forget to subscribe to our
YouTube channel if you wanna learn more
about entrepreneurship, because at Haney
Biz, we are always by your side.

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}From Foster Care to Security CEO | Gabriel Covarrubias Is Securing the Future