July 17, 2024 • 24 mins
In this episode of Connect the Knox, host Julia Hurley interviews TenHats CEO Brian Strong. They explore his career journey from various sales roles to his current position in IT and data center services. Brian explains the role of TenHats in providing essential IT infrastructure and support for businesses in Knoxville, highlighting the city’s growth as a tech and energy hub. They discuss the increasing demand for power, potential solutions like nuclear energy, and Knoxville's future prospects. The episode concludes with a rapid-fire round about Brian's favorite local spots, emphasizing the city's community and business appeal.
Show Highlights:
(00:00) - Intro
(00:43) - Brian’s Business Background
(02:03) - Knoxville’s Railroad Industry
(04:06) - Julia’s Fate Encounter with Brian
(04:48) - Brian’s Path to TenHats
(06:47) - Learning From Prior Small Business Experiences
(10:40) - Explaining TenHat and Its Services
(11:09) - Plans for Future Expansion
(12:41) - Ad - Just Homes Group
(13:11) - The Energy Industry and Knoxville’s Growth
(16:22) - The Local Future of Nuclear Energy
(18:23) - Knoxville as a Tech Hub
(21:17) - Rapid Fire Round
(23:36) - Where You Can Find Brian’s Business
Links Referenced:
TenHat’s Website: https://tenhats.com/
Brian’s email: brian.strong@tenhats.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
Welcome, everybody, to another episode of Connect the Knox.
I'm your host, Julia Hurley, connecting Knoxville to the nation.
Today with us is a gentleman that I did not know that I knew
for a long time until we actually re met each other at an event.
We'll get into that story in a minute.
(00:25):
Brian Strong with 10 hats.
And I'm going to let him explain all of this to you.
It went way over my head, which means that he has gone way above
and beyond our, our original training courses from Sandler Sales.
Brian, thank you so much for being here with us today.
Well, thanks, Julia, for having me.
Yes, of course.
So let's start with Knoxville.
(00:47):
How did we end up in Knoxville?
Tell us our history and roots of Knoxville, a little bit about
your company after that, and then we'll just take it from there.
All right.
Yeah.
So I was actually born in Dupuyt, Kentucky.
My mom and dad moved from, dad started at Oak Ridge National Lab, before
that moved to Paducah, and then, uh, we, I lived 4 years in California in
(01:08):
5th, grade, and then moved here 4 days before I started here at high school.
And so I've been here ever since.
While I was in college, I was a finance major, started doing a little
bit of a, um, financial planning and really decided that I didn't
want the responsibility of picking stocks for people that would
ultimately end up in their, Retirement being successful or the demise.
(01:32):
So I just, I didn't want to watch the stock market every day.
I got into, uh, sales.
So it's kind of funny.
My first sales job, I sold railroad material, actual
rails, you know, spikes and turnouts and stuff like that.
And then from there, well, went on to, uh, like telecom and then into IT.
So I was kind of, you know, finding it kind of funny.
From the same point of my career, I was, you know, Heavy industrial or some
(01:55):
of the very first technologies, old technologies of just a railroad system
and all the way up into, you know, kind of, um, leading edge technology.
How inter So, this is one of those conversations that
I have when people bring me something new that I don't
It's an industry that obviously needs to sell things.
You can put it in your head that obviously somebody has
to do that job, but you never think somebody in Knoxville
(02:17):
goes around and sells railroad equipment and ties.
You just immediately somehow magically think that the old
school Rockefeller family has their own little railroad
existence place and that's where it all comes from.
Oh yeah, that's exactly right.
It was, uh, it was, it was fascinating.
Uh, you know, we sold some new rail that we mainly sold used rail.
(02:37):
That was the craziest thing.
They would tear up old rail lines and then they
would, you know, put it in different places.
It was, it was fascinating.
I liked it just because, you know, I like trains.
I mean, what little boy doesn't like trains and stuff like that?
So, you know, and I was, I was getting to live that as an, as an adult.
So that was, that was fun.
I traveled, I traveled all the time.
(02:57):
I was in 17 states and a year and a half or something like that.
That's
amazing.
So you left that industry and you came back home?
Yeah.
So I was here in Knoxville.
It was actually called Unitrack at the time, and then I got into, uh, it was
more in industrial sales, and I had a Sunday school teacher that I wanted to
learn hardcore sales or whatnot, and he had a manager that was in the telecom.
(03:21):
I didn't care what industry it was.
It just happened to be in the telecom industry.
And, uh, he was a very pivotal role in my career.
His name was Jake Soudan.
And, uh, he just taught me the diligence of cold
calling and, you know, just getting out there.
I mean, if you were in the office too long, he'd kick you out and, you know, it
was just, uh, you know, the follow up and all these kinds of different things.
And then, uh, from there, what was, uh, I was pretty successful
(03:44):
and I got recruited to, uh, a technology firm, RM Technologies.
Around 2005, you know, that's kind of where
I got into the, you know, really IT business.
That company became Claris Networks, and
so I worked there for six and a half years.
Um, that's actually where we met.
I mean, you know, you know, um, a few years ago.
(04:06):
I know this is a side story from our story.
This morning we went to an event and there was another gentleman there
standing there and as soon as I walked up to the table to pick up
my name tag and I've been a member of this organization for going on
now this is our third year and this is the first time I've seen him
there and he goes Julia Hurley and I was like Sandler Sales Training.
I knew that guy the minute I was like oh my god this
(04:28):
was 25 years ago and I still when I saw you I was like
we already know each other you know so it's so odd.
It was not that long ago or at least let's lie and say it wasn't that long ago.
It feels like it, friend.
It does.
Okay, that's true.
I like that.
That's too funny.
So yeah, that's where we met.
And then I left Claris in 2012, and I started a company, uh, called
(04:52):
Vendor Registry, which was a, um, uh, we did a registration, um, platform.
We help run purchasing departments for public entities, so cities,
counties, local government, you know, all kinds of different
local governments and we built that company, um, you know, for a
number of years and we had 600 governments all across the country.
(05:15):
Using that platform.
Um, and it sold to, sold in 2020.
Yeah.
So we became the, we were the sixth largest, uh,
registration system in the country for public procurement.
We got bought by like number two and then they bought
a couple other ones and they became number one.
So it, it was really good success story that we have there.
(05:35):
And, uh, even.
Chris VanDeek, my partner at Vendor Registry, he
still works for the company and still doing that.
So, and then in, roughly in 2020, I did a short
stint at RDI Technologies and then SH Data Tech.
That's prior to 10 Habs.
And there was a bunch of, uh, there were several CLRES folks that were there.
(05:59):
They started recruiting me back in.
They were just having some issues of scale and sales and marketing.
The company was partially owned at the time by Covenant Health.
And so they had a, we had a, 10, 000 foot datacenter.
Here is the first datacenter built in this area in 20 years.
(06:19):
They just needed, you know, some leadership and some
guidance from the sales and marketing standpoint.
I actually called them nodes again when I was just like, I'm not interested.
Claris was, you know, for those people that are
familiar with it, it was lightning in a bottle.
We had, uh, it was just a great success, a great run.
It was a lot of fun.
And it's just like, could you rebuild that again?
(06:39):
And lightning strike twice.
Um, so.
It took them a little bit to convince me, and so I did finally come over here.
The company, one thing is that small businesses have trouble with,
they get to a certain level, and then they can't grow past that.
And so, through the experience of Claris, we
were 2008 2009, when the economy hit the skids.
(07:03):
We went from, I think it was like, 55, 60 employees down
to like 23 in like 90, 120 days, something like that.
I mean, it was all our projects dried up and Larry Bodie was the CEO at the
time and he goes, hey, you know, that was a time too when You lost your job.
You couldn't find one.
I mean, it was, it was terrible.
(07:23):
We were bleeding learning and just Larry and the leadership, like,
and I really rallied the team goes, hey, you guys are all handpicked,
you know, we're going to have to change our process procedures,
you know, we're going to have to do a bunch of different things.
But if you guys just stick with me.
You know, we can grow.
We can get out of this.
We have the customer base.
We have the cash flow.
We just got to, we just got to be better at
(07:44):
what we do and efficient with fewer people.
And so going through that experience really led us to a different plateau
and, you know, even beyond what we actually want to do here at Synapse.
But you know, they became one of the top 10 largest MSDs.
in the country when they sold.
You know, that experience helped me over here at Tin Hats to really break
(08:07):
through that barrier of the small business, really, you know, Covenant
was really good about letting me recruit my team and put those people
in place that we could build an organization to scale and to grow and
Over the last three years, we've actually grown by like 500 percent.
Ryan, you're killing it down there in Knoxville.
We're doing, you know, we're doing very well.
And, uh, you know, we always have room to grow.
(08:29):
And, uh, you know, we're, you know, the one
thing about us is that we're never content.
Where we are today is not where we're going to be tomorrow.
And we're always, you know, progressing forward.
So, um, you know, to get better and better, you just, you know, every
company's got its problems and, you know, we get them all fixed.
I mean, our, you know, what we say is our goal is for our clients is
that, you know, uh, uh, Our goal is for them to never call with an issue.
(08:52):
Um, is that achievable?
Probably not.
But every, every time we strive to get a little bit closer to
that, our ticket count goes down, the reliability goes up, you
know, it's a symbiotic relationship where it's good for the
client, it's good for the company, and we all can win together.
Over my head.
It's not a, it's not an industry I'm actually familiar with in
any capacity at all outside of The generalization of it, and I'm
(09:15):
going to bet the people listening to this podcast are considering
relocating to the market, possibly employment in the market.
Explain it.
Yeah, so basically what, uh, TenHat is two
different companies kind of rolled up into one.
We actually have a data center where we house servers.
And so we have lots of internet connectivity.
We have a lot of redundancy in here.
(09:36):
So if the power goes out, we've got generator backup and UPS and all that stuff.
If you have an industry moving into town, it's a very unique asset.
It's one of the 16 major assets that a
community needs is like good IT infrastructure.
And so that's what we provide for, um, you know,
larger companies to be able to house their servers.
(09:59):
Also, um, on the MSP side, we're an IT firm, consulting firm.
So we'll, people can, so the 10 hats is, it's emblematic, right?
So if, you know, if you're a small business, you know, IT usually rolls up to
somebody in accounting and finance, and they're wearing multiple hats, right?
You know, trying to juggle all the different
(10:20):
things that happens in a small business, right?
And so for us, we can take on that IT hat, and you can outsource your IT
to us, and we'll, we have helpdesk, we can help with all the equipment,
make sure your email runs, backups, and all those kind of different things.
And if you're a larger company, Uh, the way we look at it, too,
is that you may have, you may have an IT staff, and they're
(10:41):
proficient at, like, six of the ten different functions of IT.
But we can come along beside them and take those other four
to help the company be, you know, successful and well rounded.
We partner with, um, a lot of, uh, larger
companies here in town that have IT staff.
Half of our customers, Have IT staff, you know, right now.
They could have one to, we have one that has a couple dozen.
(11:04):
Yeah, so it's kind of, we kind of fit in that niche,
kind of wherever, kind of morphed to whatever we need.
So that's really interesting.
Genuinely, because I'm a business owner, and I've been a
business recruiter, and I've worked with Chambers, I still
don't even know the 16 things that companies truly look for.
Knoxville is just so well suited for everything, but I would assume
that being the technology corridor, As we are at this point in our, our
(11:27):
tenure as Knoxville, that is something that would be high on that list,
especially now that we have Amazon and things along that nature that
really, really, really need their IT department come heck or high water.
It's gotta be up.
It's gotta be running.
The information's gotta be there.
The servers have to run.
How big is your facility and do you have plans to keep growing that?
Yeah.
So, I mean, basically our facility is, uh, 10, 000 square
(11:50):
feet, so we can hold roughly 400 racks of equipment.
We have, you know, in the data center world, it's really the amount of power.
It's, it's interesting.
It's the amount of power you can pull into the
facility as AI comes on the scene a lot more.
Those servers that do AI actually consume a lot more power than your traditional
(12:12):
servers that we, you know, use for running disturb scene or business operations.
So we had two 10 megawatt feeds from both sides.
So we had, we're actually in two different power grids, but, you know, two
different substations that are, Powered by two different sets of power plants.
It's pretty unique.
So yeah, I mean, we can, we could expand if we, we needed to the
(12:33):
footprint of like the floor space, but the biggest limiting factor
of any data center is the power it can deliver to the floor.
We all know that real estate is location, location, location.
Our team at Just Homes Group has the true expertise,
pairing buyers and sellers with the right opportunities.
(12:54):
Whether you're looking to buy or sell a home right here
in Knoxville, Lenoir City, Clinton, or Farragut, we have
the expertise throughout every Knoxville surrounding area.
Call Just Homes Group today.
So I remember one of my very first real estate deals, uh, was a
purchase for Lenore City Utility Board for a substation off North Shore.
(13:17):
And I remember they had rolling blackouts during that time.
It was either during the construction of, or right after the construction
of, the Target Shopping Center, and I remember this happening.
Just this entire power grid meltdown of making sure that as
we continue to grow, there are substations to get electricity
and being as where we are, you know, lucky that we have TVA
(13:39):
and all the things that we have that bring in our electricity.
We create a large amount of our own electricity.
Where do you see that entire industry going?
Because I have the feeling that it's going to, you're going to need to continue
to grow as Knoxville continues to grow and brings these larger industries in.
And you'll need more power.
Where is this, is there like a conjuncture with TVA?
Is it a conjunction with Visit Knoxville, The Chamber?
(14:01):
How does that all work for you?
So that, I mean, that's a big challenge in our industry today.
I keep talking, this is a subject that keeps coming up.
Power is going to be a limited resource as we move forward.
You know, I mean, I don't, Blame TVA or anything like that.
It's, you know, the forecast of AI that those
servers are consuming four times the amount of power.
(14:24):
There's an estimation over the next two to three years.
That, you know, data centers will consume a 3rd of the power in the world.
And so it's, you know, from a, you know, and when TVA is, you know, or.
A B or any of these, well, it's really TVA doing the power plants.
I mean, they're looking at it at a 10 to 20 year
horizon to build a facility it takes, right?
(14:46):
And then all the regulations and, uh, you know, I mean, from the
political standpoint, you know, there are pressures to be more green
from that standpoint, but the demand of power is exceeding what those
capacities, you know, what those technologies can do at this point.
So we get funny, like, and then we also have.
(15:07):
EVs that are coming on to the scene too, and
they're consuming a lot of, um, power as well.
So we're, it's a, it's a really interesting time where the
regulations are coming down to make it cleaner, which I agree.
I mean, I don't disagree with any of this.
You know, I mean, we want a healthy earth from the standpoint, but
the power demands are increasing and the regulations are squeezing.
(15:30):
So, I mean, it's, Our companies have a, um, um, they're
walking like a tightrope from trying to, uh, fit in millions.
We have, I was talking to a, you know, industry expert, um,
uh, a couple months ago, and they were talking to a data
center operator that went out of one, uh, gigawatt data center.
So on the, if you want to put it in perspective, like in, uh, January
(15:55):
of this year, you know, when we had all the snowstorm, CDA on their
whole entire grid at a high, and it was 34 and some change gigawatts.
So you're thinking about one data center, you know, that has a footprint
of a few hundred thousand square feet is going to take up one of those 35?
That's, that's crazy.
(16:15):
It's insane.
I mean, that's just not, I don't know how, it's, the technology's got to evolve.
Something's got to give at some point.
I have this conversation often with, again, relocations mostly, where
they come from somewhere else and they don't, uh, things are just
different in different places, and Knoxville's one of those places
where we're very familiar with coal, we're familiar with water power,
(16:35):
we're familiar with how to generate electricity because we live in it.
Like we drive past a coal power plant every day and we have nuclear.
I think nuclear is going to be the next, uh, not that it hasn't been popular.
I think there's always a stipulation or whatever.
Um, you know what I'm trying to say.
There's some kind of negativity associated with nuclear power.
However, I understand that the governor's next initiative for the state
(16:58):
of Tennessee is to become The Nuclear Center for Power by the end of 2030.
And I think that initiative has already been put into place.
I think that nuclear energy is going to be one
of the only methods of clean energy left to do.
We can only create so many dams.
We can only run so much water.
We can only burn so much coal.
Heck, we can only dig so much coal.
(17:19):
But I think a lot of people really don't understand where our electricity
comes from and how difficult it truly is to manufacture and at the
levels to keep it as affordable as we have continued to keep it.
No, 100%.
I mean, I think nuclear is, um, you know, is It's a
sustainable, clean, you know, it's a whole lot more.
I mean, there are, there is a stigma from, you know, some of the disasters
(17:40):
back in the, you know, many, many years ago, but that, you know, that
technology and everything, the advancements have grown to make it a lot safer.
I mean, I think France is something like 85 percent plus all nuclear.
I mean, they're very green, friendly, you know, country.
So, I mean, it's.
There's places all around the world that use a whole lot more than we do,
(18:01):
and I think that's a, for me, I think that's a, it's a good path forward.
Yeah, I agree.
I think we're going to see a lot of it.
I think that's definitely going to be something that
you, you and people in your, I mean, you own the company.
I think you're really going to be the forefront of
making those connections, especially with with the new
UT, very specifically geared toward nuclear engineering.
I think there's a reason that Knoxville is going that way.
(18:23):
I feel like that Knoxville wants to be a tech hub, wants to be an energy hub.
And you are, you're literally already in the, in the middle of it.
I can see in the background of your office here, you're
literally in the middle of the growth of Knoxville.
There's a, there's a crane in your window.
Yeah.
We're at the ballpark is being built like right in our back door.
(18:45):
So yeah, the new Smokies stadium.
Yeah, it looks good.
And then on the IT side of it, too, is like
what we're trying to help is businesses.
You know, use technology to, you know, thrive and grow, you
know, it's, it's one of those where in the past technology
was just kind of one of those things that you had to have.
It was kind of a necessary evil where, you know, today's time,
(19:06):
you know, technology is becoming essential and it's a, you know,
it's becoming a competitive advantage on how you use your data.
Um, also, uh, you, you think about this, I mean, I kind of say we're all,
uh, we all run technology companies, they just happen to be in different.
Industry.
So if you think about if you took the technology out of your industry, real
(19:27):
estate, you know, I mean, how could you know, how could you do your business
without, you know, really the NLS printed on paper and stuff like that?
I mean, it would mean it would drastically reduce.
You're a competitive advantage, right?
How do you use social media?
How are we doing this podcast?
I mean, all these different things on how we, uh, advance our businesses,
(19:48):
really tech companies doing, you know, this certain, you know, business aspect.
Yeah.
I think that technology is going to continue to thrive and change.
I see the future of Knoxville being, I believe this, truly
believe we are literally just starting our growth path.
And I think that businesses like yours are
going to continue to want to be in Knoxville.
(20:08):
I feel like since you already have an established
business in Knoxville, that you will have a leg up on that
conversation and those doors to be open for you as you grow.
I know a lot of people that listen to this podcast
are looking for career changes as they move here.
They are talking with us about, hey, we want to be able to work from home.
We need information.
We need, uh, server farms.
(20:30):
We need people to house our information for our large corporations.
I know the Chamber is constantly recruiting for large companies
to come here, and they can't do that without companies like yours.
So even having, having that in our backyard instead of,
plus in Chattanooga or in Nashville and having to rent that
space, having it here locally makes a massive difference.
in the ability for growth.
(20:50):
And I don't know if people really understand that connection.
So thank you for sharing that today.
Um, oddly enough, we've nearly hit our time.
I can talk to you all day about technology and power and how that works.
It's, um, being, you know, a politician for a decade,
energy has always been on, on the conversation.
So I've seen a lot of growth and change in Knoxville,
(21:12):
uh, with the right people in place, we are going places.
And I feel like you're definitely in that place.
And we appreciate you being here.
And I want to take a minute for fire round.
All right, favorite restaurant.
We were talking about this the other day.
There's so many awesome ones in here in Knoxville like right now.
So, I'm gonna say, uh, Keffy.
Keffy is your favorite restaurant.
(21:32):
You know, they just did an update on the interior design in there.
They posted it on their Insta.
Oh, did they really?
Oh
yeah.
It looks really good.
It looks really, really classy.
Love it.
Very, very happy about Keppe.
I really like that red.
What he's doing too, over Chay Holloway.
I mean, like, there's so many good ones.
I mean, it's like I'm not knocking all the ones out there.
I mean, I love 'em all.
Oh, Oliver.
(21:52):
Yes.
Oliver.
I love Oliver.
I know you tried to explain it to me.
It's, it's really interesting.
People will ask me all the time, Hey, uh, I'm new to town.
Where would you recommend that?
I go and I immediately say, please go to Oliver Royale.
Sit on the patio.
Best cheese plate in Knoxville.
Best cheese, you can get a couple of cocktails, a cheese plate,
enjoy yourself, beautiful scenery, great location, and amazing food.
(22:13):
Always a win for me.
Always a win.
Uh, favorite pub or brewery?
Man, we are big cocktail people.
Harvest has some amazing cocktails.
I mean, amazing cocktails.
The last time I was at Harvest, I needed one.
I was like, maybe half.
I think I'm good.
I will not be ordering a second.
They pour them strong.
They do.
(22:33):
I mean, they have some really good stuff.
I mean, the Maple Room.
The Maple Room has probably my favorite Old Fashioned in town.
I mean, it is just amazing.
I mean, they use pure maple syrup in there.
It is so good.
So it reminds me of our trip to Vermont.
Everything, everything, I mean, if it didn't
have maple syrup in it, I was shocked.
It was delicious.
Everything was delicious.
Alright, favorite gas station?
(22:55):
Um, uh, um, Ryan's.
I mean, you know, you have to go to the local gas station.
Do you have a favorite gas station location?
I have found that this, it matters to me.
Well, yeah, I mean, I live in Westfield, so there's one right outside
on Wesley that you'll see me dropping by at least once a week, you know.
Yeah, I actually drive from my office on South Peters
all the way down, just so I can get to a Weigel's.
(23:17):
It is very preferable.
Yeah, I hope the Weigel family tunes into my podcast.
I am pretty positive we talk about Weigels on every episode.
I'm going to send them every episode and say, listen
friends, you need to know you're on my podcast.
That's right.
Yeah.
Everybody loves Weigel.
Yeah, coffee's good.
Everything's good.
Everything is good there.
All right, my friend, listen, I'm going to let you go.
(23:38):
I really appreciate you.
Let everybody know where they can find your business if they need your business.
It's very intricate and important that we know where to find.
Yes, it's tenhats.
com, T E N H A T A S dot com, or you can email me directly.
It's brian.
strong at tenhats.
com.
It is such a pleasure to catch up with you.
I hope to see you at an AGC meeting soon.
(24:00):
Yes, as many as I can.
Absolutely, you too.
I look forward to it.
everybody for tuning in to another episode of Connect the Knox.
I'm Julia Hurley, Connecting Knoxville to the Nation.
Until next time.
Thank you for tuning into the show.
Make sure to like and subscribe, leave a five star review
on your podcast player of choice, and if you would like
(24:22):
information on moving to Knoxville, send me a private message.
As always, this is Julia Hurley, Connecting Knoxville to the Nation.
Welcome, everybody, to another episode of Connect the Knox.
I'm your host, Julia Hurley, connecting Knoxville to the nation.
Today with us is a gentleman that I did not know that I knew
for a long time until we actually re met each other at an event.
We'll get into that story in a minute.
(00:25):
Brian Strong with 10 hats.
And I'm going to let him explain all of this to you.
It went way over my head, which means that he has gone way above
and beyond our, our original training courses from Sandler Sales.
Brian, thank you so much for being here with us today.
Well, thanks, Julia, for having me.
Yes, of course.
So let's start with Knoxville.
(00:47):
How did we end up in Knoxville?
Tell us our history and roots of Knoxville, a little bit about
your company after that, and then we'll just take it from there.
All right.
Yeah.
So I was actually born in Dupuyt, Kentucky.
My mom and dad moved from, dad started at Oak Ridge National Lab, before
that moved to Paducah, and then, uh, we, I lived 4 years in California in
(01:08):
5th, grade, and then moved here 4 days before I started here at high school.
And so I've been here ever since.
While I was in college, I was a finance major, started doing a little
bit of a, um, financial planning and really decided that I didn't
want the responsibility of picking stocks for people that would
ultimately end up in their, Retirement being successful or the demise.
(01:32):
So I just, I didn't want to watch the stock market every day.
I got into, uh, sales.
So it's kind of funny.
My first sales job, I sold railroad material, actual
rails, you know, spikes and turnouts and stuff like that.
And then from there, well, went on to, uh, like telecom and then into IT.
So I was kind of, you know, finding it kind of funny.
From the same point of my career, I was, you know, Heavy industrial or some
(01:55):
of the very first technologies, old technologies of just a railroad system
and all the way up into, you know, kind of, um, leading edge technology.
How inter So, this is one of those conversations that
I have when people bring me something new that I don't
It's an industry that obviously needs to sell things.
You can put it in your head that obviously somebody has
to do that job, but you never think somebody in Knoxville
(02:17):
goes around and sells railroad equipment and ties.
You just immediately somehow magically think that the old
school Rockefeller family has their own little railroad
existence place and that's where it all comes from.
Oh yeah, that's exactly right.
It was, uh, it was, it was fascinating.
Uh, you know, we sold some new rail that we mainly sold used rail.
(02:37):
That was the craziest thing.
They would tear up old rail lines and then they
would, you know, put it in different places.
It was, it was fascinating.
I liked it just because, you know, I like trains.
I mean, what little boy doesn't like trains and stuff like that?
So, you know, and I was, I was getting to live that as an, as an adult.
So that was, that was fun.
I traveled, I traveled all the time.
(02:57):
I was in 17 states and a year and a half or something like that.
That's
amazing.
So you left that industry and you came back home?
Yeah.
So I was here in Knoxville.
It was actually called Unitrack at the time, and then I got into, uh, it was
more in industrial sales, and I had a Sunday school teacher that I wanted to
learn hardcore sales or whatnot, and he had a manager that was in the telecom.
(03:21):
I didn't care what industry it was.
It just happened to be in the telecom industry.
And, uh, he was a very pivotal role in my career.
His name was Jake Soudan.
And, uh, he just taught me the diligence of cold
calling and, you know, just getting out there.
I mean, if you were in the office too long, he'd kick you out and, you know, it
was just, uh, you know, the follow up and all these kinds of different things.
And then, uh, from there, what was, uh, I was pretty successful
(03:44):
and I got recruited to, uh, a technology firm, RM Technologies.
Around 2005, you know, that's kind of where
I got into the, you know, really IT business.
That company became Claris Networks, and
so I worked there for six and a half years.
Um, that's actually where we met.
I mean, you know, you know, um, a few years ago.
(04:06):
I know this is a side story from our story.
This morning we went to an event and there was another gentleman there
standing there and as soon as I walked up to the table to pick up
my name tag and I've been a member of this organization for going on
now this is our third year and this is the first time I've seen him
there and he goes Julia Hurley and I was like Sandler Sales Training.
I knew that guy the minute I was like oh my god this
(04:28):
was 25 years ago and I still when I saw you I was like
we already know each other you know so it's so odd.
It was not that long ago or at least let's lie and say it wasn't that long ago.
It feels like it, friend.
It does.
Okay, that's true.
I like that.
That's too funny.
So yeah, that's where we met.
And then I left Claris in 2012, and I started a company, uh, called
(04:52):
Vendor Registry, which was a, um, uh, we did a registration, um, platform.
We help run purchasing departments for public entities, so cities,
counties, local government, you know, all kinds of different
local governments and we built that company, um, you know, for a
number of years and we had 600 governments all across the country.
(05:15):
Using that platform.
Um, and it sold to, sold in 2020.
Yeah.
So we became the, we were the sixth largest, uh,
registration system in the country for public procurement.
We got bought by like number two and then they bought
a couple other ones and they became number one.
So it, it was really good success story that we have there.
(05:35):
And, uh, even.
Chris VanDeek, my partner at Vendor Registry, he
still works for the company and still doing that.
So, and then in, roughly in 2020, I did a short
stint at RDI Technologies and then SH Data Tech.
That's prior to 10 Habs.
And there was a bunch of, uh, there were several CLRES folks that were there.
(05:59):
They started recruiting me back in.
They were just having some issues of scale and sales and marketing.
The company was partially owned at the time by Covenant Health.
And so they had a, we had a, 10, 000 foot datacenter.
Here is the first datacenter built in this area in 20 years.
(06:19):
They just needed, you know, some leadership and some
guidance from the sales and marketing standpoint.
I actually called them nodes again when I was just like, I'm not interested.
Claris was, you know, for those people that are
familiar with it, it was lightning in a bottle.
We had, uh, it was just a great success, a great run.
It was a lot of fun.
And it's just like, could you rebuild that again?
(06:39):
And lightning strike twice.
Um, so.
It took them a little bit to convince me, and so I did finally come over here.
The company, one thing is that small businesses have trouble with,
they get to a certain level, and then they can't grow past that.
And so, through the experience of Claris, we
were 2008 2009, when the economy hit the skids.
(07:03):
We went from, I think it was like, 55, 60 employees down
to like 23 in like 90, 120 days, something like that.
I mean, it was all our projects dried up and Larry Bodie was the CEO at the
time and he goes, hey, you know, that was a time too when You lost your job.
You couldn't find one.
I mean, it was, it was terrible.
(07:23):
We were bleeding learning and just Larry and the leadership, like,
and I really rallied the team goes, hey, you guys are all handpicked,
you know, we're going to have to change our process procedures,
you know, we're going to have to do a bunch of different things.
But if you guys just stick with me.
You know, we can grow.
We can get out of this.
We have the customer base.
We have the cash flow.
We just got to, we just got to be better at
(07:44):
what we do and efficient with fewer people.
And so going through that experience really led us to a different plateau
and, you know, even beyond what we actually want to do here at Synapse.
But you know, they became one of the top 10 largest MSDs.
in the country when they sold.
You know, that experience helped me over here at Tin Hats to really break
(08:07):
through that barrier of the small business, really, you know, Covenant
was really good about letting me recruit my team and put those people
in place that we could build an organization to scale and to grow and
Over the last three years, we've actually grown by like 500 percent.
Ryan, you're killing it down there in Knoxville.
We're doing, you know, we're doing very well.
And, uh, you know, we always have room to grow.
(08:29):
And, uh, you know, we're, you know, the one
thing about us is that we're never content.
Where we are today is not where we're going to be tomorrow.
And we're always, you know, progressing forward.
So, um, you know, to get better and better, you just, you know, every
company's got its problems and, you know, we get them all fixed.
I mean, our, you know, what we say is our goal is for our clients is
that, you know, uh, uh, Our goal is for them to never call with an issue.
(08:52):
Um, is that achievable?
Probably not.
But every, every time we strive to get a little bit closer to
that, our ticket count goes down, the reliability goes up, you
know, it's a symbiotic relationship where it's good for the
client, it's good for the company, and we all can win together.
Over my head.
It's not a, it's not an industry I'm actually familiar with in
any capacity at all outside of The generalization of it, and I'm
(09:15):
going to bet the people listening to this podcast are considering
relocating to the market, possibly employment in the market.
Explain it.
Yeah, so basically what, uh, TenHat is two
different companies kind of rolled up into one.
We actually have a data center where we house servers.
And so we have lots of internet connectivity.
We have a lot of redundancy in here.
(09:36):
So if the power goes out, we've got generator backup and UPS and all that stuff.
If you have an industry moving into town, it's a very unique asset.
It's one of the 16 major assets that a
community needs is like good IT infrastructure.
And so that's what we provide for, um, you know,
larger companies to be able to house their servers.
(09:59):
Also, um, on the MSP side, we're an IT firm, consulting firm.
So we'll, people can, so the 10 hats is, it's emblematic, right?
So if, you know, if you're a small business, you know, IT usually rolls up to
somebody in accounting and finance, and they're wearing multiple hats, right?
You know, trying to juggle all the different
(10:20):
things that happens in a small business, right?
And so for us, we can take on that IT hat, and you can outsource your IT
to us, and we'll, we have helpdesk, we can help with all the equipment,
make sure your email runs, backups, and all those kind of different things.
And if you're a larger company, Uh, the way we look at it, too,
is that you may have, you may have an IT staff, and they're
(10:41):
proficient at, like, six of the ten different functions of IT.
But we can come along beside them and take those other four
to help the company be, you know, successful and well rounded.
We partner with, um, a lot of, uh, larger
companies here in town that have IT staff.
Half of our customers, Have IT staff, you know, right now.
They could have one to, we have one that has a couple dozen.
(11:04):
Yeah, so it's kind of, we kind of fit in that niche,
kind of wherever, kind of morphed to whatever we need.
So that's really interesting.
Genuinely, because I'm a business owner, and I've been a
business recruiter, and I've worked with Chambers, I still
don't even know the 16 things that companies truly look for.
Knoxville is just so well suited for everything, but I would assume
that being the technology corridor, As we are at this point in our, our
(11:27):
tenure as Knoxville, that is something that would be high on that list,
especially now that we have Amazon and things along that nature that
really, really, really need their IT department come heck or high water.
It's gotta be up.
It's gotta be running.
The information's gotta be there.
The servers have to run.
How big is your facility and do you have plans to keep growing that?
Yeah.
So, I mean, basically our facility is, uh, 10, 000 square
(11:50):
feet, so we can hold roughly 400 racks of equipment.
We have, you know, in the data center world, it's really the amount of power.
It's, it's interesting.
It's the amount of power you can pull into the
facility as AI comes on the scene a lot more.
Those servers that do AI actually consume a lot more power than your traditional
(12:12):
servers that we, you know, use for running disturb scene or business operations.
So we had two 10 megawatt feeds from both sides.
So we had, we're actually in two different power grids, but, you know, two
different substations that are, Powered by two different sets of power plants.
It's pretty unique.
So yeah, I mean, we can, we could expand if we, we needed to the
(12:33):
footprint of like the floor space, but the biggest limiting factor
of any data center is the power it can deliver to the floor.
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(12:54):
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Call Just Homes Group today.
So I remember one of my very first real estate deals, uh, was a
purchase for Lenore City Utility Board for a substation off North Shore.
(13:17):
And I remember they had rolling blackouts during that time.
It was either during the construction of, or right after the construction
of, the Target Shopping Center, and I remember this happening.
Just this entire power grid meltdown of making sure that as
we continue to grow, there are substations to get electricity
and being as where we are, you know, lucky that we have TVA
(13:39):
and all the things that we have that bring in our electricity.
We create a large amount of our own electricity.
Where do you see that entire industry going?
Because I have the feeling that it's going to, you're going to need to continue
to grow as Knoxville continues to grow and brings these larger industries in.
And you'll need more power.
Where is this, is there like a conjuncture with TVA?
Is it a conjunction with Visit Knoxville, The Chamber?
(14:01):
How does that all work for you?
So that, I mean, that's a big challenge in our industry today.
I keep talking, this is a subject that keeps coming up.
Power is going to be a limited resource as we move forward.
You know, I mean, I don't, Blame TVA or anything like that.
It's, you know, the forecast of AI that those
servers are consuming four times the amount of power.
(14:24):
There's an estimation over the next two to three years.
That, you know, data centers will consume a 3rd of the power in the world.
And so it's, you know, from a, you know, and when TVA is, you know, or.
A B or any of these, well, it's really TVA doing the power plants.
I mean, they're looking at it at a 10 to 20 year
horizon to build a facility it takes, right?
(14:46):
And then all the regulations and, uh, you know, I mean, from the
political standpoint, you know, there are pressures to be more green
from that standpoint, but the demand of power is exceeding what those
capacities, you know, what those technologies can do at this point.
So we get funny, like, and then we also have.
(15:07):
EVs that are coming on to the scene too, and
they're consuming a lot of, um, power as well.
So we're, it's a, it's a really interesting time where the
regulations are coming down to make it cleaner, which I agree.
I mean, I don't disagree with any of this.
You know, I mean, we want a healthy earth from the standpoint, but
the power demands are increasing and the regulations are squeezing.
(15:30):
So, I mean, it's, Our companies have a, um, um, they're
walking like a tightrope from trying to, uh, fit in millions.
We have, I was talking to a, you know, industry expert, um,
uh, a couple months ago, and they were talking to a data
center operator that went out of one, uh, gigawatt data center.
So on the, if you want to put it in perspective, like in, uh, January
(15:55):
of this year, you know, when we had all the snowstorm, CDA on their
whole entire grid at a high, and it was 34 and some change gigawatts.
So you're thinking about one data center, you know, that has a footprint
of a few hundred thousand square feet is going to take up one of those 35?
That's, that's crazy.
(16:15):
It's insane.
I mean, that's just not, I don't know how, it's, the technology's got to evolve.
Something's got to give at some point.
I have this conversation often with, again, relocations mostly, where
they come from somewhere else and they don't, uh, things are just
different in different places, and Knoxville's one of those places
where we're very familiar with coal, we're familiar with water power,
(16:35):
we're familiar with how to generate electricity because we live in it.
Like we drive past a coal power plant every day and we have nuclear.
I think nuclear is going to be the next, uh, not that it hasn't been popular.
I think there's always a stipulation or whatever.
Um, you know what I'm trying to say.
There's some kind of negativity associated with nuclear power.
However, I understand that the governor's next initiative for the state
(16:58):
of Tennessee is to become The Nuclear Center for Power by the end of 2030.
And I think that initiative has already been put into place.
I think that nuclear energy is going to be one
of the only methods of clean energy left to do.
We can only create so many dams.
We can only run so much water.
We can only burn so much coal.
Heck, we can only dig so much coal.
(17:19):
But I think a lot of people really don't understand where our electricity
comes from and how difficult it truly is to manufacture and at the
levels to keep it as affordable as we have continued to keep it.
No, 100%.
I mean, I think nuclear is, um, you know, is It's a
sustainable, clean, you know, it's a whole lot more.
I mean, there are, there is a stigma from, you know, some of the disasters
(17:40):
back in the, you know, many, many years ago, but that, you know, that
technology and everything, the advancements have grown to make it a lot safer.
I mean, I think France is something like 85 percent plus all nuclear.
I mean, they're very green, friendly, you know, country.
So, I mean, it's.
There's places all around the world that use a whole lot more than we do,
(18:01):
and I think that's a, for me, I think that's a, it's a good path forward.
Yeah, I agree.
I think we're going to see a lot of it.
I think that's definitely going to be something that
you, you and people in your, I mean, you own the company.
I think you're really going to be the forefront of
making those connections, especially with with the new
UT, very specifically geared toward nuclear engineering.
I think there's a reason that Knoxville is going that way.
(18:23):
I feel like that Knoxville wants to be a tech hub, wants to be an energy hub.
And you are, you're literally already in the, in the middle of it.
I can see in the background of your office here, you're
literally in the middle of the growth of Knoxville.
There's a, there's a crane in your window.
Yeah.
We're at the ballpark is being built like right in our back door.
(18:45):
So yeah, the new Smokies stadium.
Yeah, it looks good.
And then on the IT side of it, too, is like
what we're trying to help is businesses.
You know, use technology to, you know, thrive and grow, you
know, it's, it's one of those where in the past technology
was just kind of one of those things that you had to have.
It was kind of a necessary evil where, you know, today's time,
(19:06):
you know, technology is becoming essential and it's a, you know,
it's becoming a competitive advantage on how you use your data.
Um, also, uh, you, you think about this, I mean, I kind of say we're all,
uh, we all run technology companies, they just happen to be in different.
Industry.
So if you think about if you took the technology out of your industry, real
(19:27):
estate, you know, I mean, how could you know, how could you do your business
without, you know, really the NLS printed on paper and stuff like that?
I mean, it would mean it would drastically reduce.
You're a competitive advantage, right?
How do you use social media?
How are we doing this podcast?
I mean, all these different things on how we, uh, advance our businesses,
(19:48):
really tech companies doing, you know, this certain, you know, business aspect.
Yeah.
I think that technology is going to continue to thrive and change.
I see the future of Knoxville being, I believe this, truly
believe we are literally just starting our growth path.
And I think that businesses like yours are
going to continue to want to be in Knoxville.
(20:08):
I feel like since you already have an established
business in Knoxville, that you will have a leg up on that
conversation and those doors to be open for you as you grow.
I know a lot of people that listen to this podcast
are looking for career changes as they move here.
They are talking with us about, hey, we want to be able to work from home.
We need information.
We need, uh, server farms.
(20:30):
We need people to house our information for our large corporations.
I know the Chamber is constantly recruiting for large companies
to come here, and they can't do that without companies like yours.
So even having, having that in our backyard instead of,
plus in Chattanooga or in Nashville and having to rent that
space, having it here locally makes a massive difference.
in the ability for growth.
(20:50):
And I don't know if people really understand that connection.
So thank you for sharing that today.
Um, oddly enough, we've nearly hit our time.
I can talk to you all day about technology and power and how that works.
It's, um, being, you know, a politician for a decade,
energy has always been on, on the conversation.
So I've seen a lot of growth and change in Knoxville,
(21:12):
uh, with the right people in place, we are going places.
And I feel like you're definitely in that place.
And we appreciate you being here.
And I want to take a minute for fire round.
All right, favorite restaurant.
We were talking about this the other day.
There's so many awesome ones in here in Knoxville like right now.
So, I'm gonna say, uh, Keffy.
Keffy is your favorite restaurant.
(21:32):
You know, they just did an update on the interior design in there.
They posted it on their Insta.
Oh, did they really?
Oh
yeah.
It looks really good.
It looks really, really classy.
Love it.
Very, very happy about Keppe.
I really like that red.
What he's doing too, over Chay Holloway.
I mean, like, there's so many good ones.
I mean, it's like I'm not knocking all the ones out there.
I mean, I love 'em all.
Oh, Oliver.
(21:52):
Yes.
Oliver.
I love Oliver.
I know you tried to explain it to me.
It's, it's really interesting.
People will ask me all the time, Hey, uh, I'm new to town.
Where would you recommend that?
I go and I immediately say, please go to Oliver Royale.
Sit on the patio.
Best cheese plate in Knoxville.
Best cheese, you can get a couple of cocktails, a cheese plate,
enjoy yourself, beautiful scenery, great location, and amazing food.
(22:13):
Always a win for me.
Always a win.
Uh, favorite pub or brewery?
Man, we are big cocktail people.
Harvest has some amazing cocktails.
I mean, amazing cocktails.
The last time I was at Harvest, I needed one.
I was like, maybe half.
I think I'm good.
I will not be ordering a second.
They pour them strong.
They do.
(22:33):
I mean, they have some really good stuff.
I mean, the Maple Room.
The Maple Room has probably my favorite Old Fashioned in town.
I mean, it is just amazing.
I mean, they use pure maple syrup in there.
It is so good.
So it reminds me of our trip to Vermont.
Everything, everything, I mean, if it didn't
have maple syrup in it, I was shocked.
It was delicious.
Everything was delicious.
Alright, favorite gas station?
(22:55):
Um, uh, um, Ryan's.
I mean, you know, you have to go to the local gas station.
Do you have a favorite gas station location?
I have found that this, it matters to me.
Well, yeah, I mean, I live in Westfield, so there's one right outside
on Wesley that you'll see me dropping by at least once a week, you know.
Yeah, I actually drive from my office on South Peters
all the way down, just so I can get to a Weigel's.
(23:17):
It is very preferable.
Yeah, I hope the Weigel family tunes into my podcast.
I am pretty positive we talk about Weigels on every episode.
I'm going to send them every episode and say, listen
friends, you need to know you're on my podcast.
That's right.
Yeah.
Everybody loves Weigel.
Yeah, coffee's good.
Everything's good.
Everything is good there.
All right, my friend, listen, I'm going to let you go.
(23:38):
I really appreciate you.
Let everybody know where they can find your business if they need your business.
It's very intricate and important that we know where to find.
Yes, it's tenhats.
com, T E N H A T A S dot com, or you can email me directly.
It's brian.
strong at tenhats.
com.
It is such a pleasure to catch up with you.
I hope to see you at an AGC meeting soon.
(24:00):
Yes, as many as I can.
Absolutely, you too.
I look forward to it.
everybody for tuning in to another episode of Connect the Knox.
I'm Julia Hurley, Connecting Knoxville to the Nation.
Until next time.
Thank you for tuning into the show.
Make sure to like and subscribe, leave a five star review
on your podcast player of choice, and if you would like
(24:22):
information on moving to Knoxville, send me a private message.
As always, this is Julia Hurley, Connecting Knoxville to the Nation.
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