February 11, 2025 • 55 mins
On this episode of The Founder's Sandbox, Brenda speaks with Chasity Lourde Wright. Chasity is inventor and founder of Infiltron Software Suite LLC. Infiltron operates in the cybersecurity space; a Service disabled-Veteran owned and women-owned small business. Infiltron offers quantum-resistant cybersecurity solutions for decentralized digital identity, digital assets, and AI governance, utilizing proprietary post-secure encryption. Its patented technology integrates AI, blockchain, and quantum-resistant encryption to provide advanced cyber resilience, compliance enforcement, and real-time threat mitigation across multiple industries, including aerospace & defense, fintech, smart cities, and EVs.
Chasity, as inventor, speaks about her team and how creativity in the work place is necessary for enhancing innovation on really tough problems like Cybersecurity.
As the CEO of Infiltron, Chasity Lourde Wright is also a former USAF Aerospace Engineer, Intel Officer, and Cybersecurity Instructor with extensive experience in cybersecurity, AI governance, and national security. She was part of the team that developed reconfiguration capabilities for the USAF C-130 and contributed to the creation of the CMMC framework since its inception in 2019. Additionally, she has engaged in high-level cybersecurity and AI governance initiatives, including industry collaborations, government advisory roles, and proprietary innovations in quantum-resistant encryption, AI security, and blockchain-based compliance solutions.
Her expertise extends beyond participating in NIST challenges, encompassing leading-edge cybersecurity development, policy influence, and defense sector innovations.
You can find out more about Chasity and Infiltron at:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/infiltronsoftwaresuite/
Transcript:
00:04
Hi, I'm pleased to announce something very special to me, a new subscription-based service through Next Act Advisors that allows members exclusive access to personal industry insights and bespoke
00:32
corporate governance knowledge. This comes in the form of blogs, personal book recommendations, and early access to the founder's sandbox podcast episodes before they released to the public. If you want more white glove information on building your startup with information like what was in today's episode, sign up with the link in the show notes to enjoy being a special member of Next Act Advisors.
01:01
As a thank you to Founders Sandbox listeners, you can use code SANDBOX25 at checkout to enjoy 25% off your membership costs. Thank you.
01:19
Welcome back to the Founder's Sandbox. I am Brenda McCabe, your host of this monthly podcast in which I bring entrepreneurs, founders, corporate directors, and professional service providers who, like me, want to effectuate change in the world by building resilient, scalable, and purpose-driven companies. I like to recreate a fun sandbox environment with my guests. And we will touch on not only their purpose,
01:47
and what has driven them to create their own businesses. But also we're going to touch upon topics such as resilience, purpose-driven, and scalable sustainable growth. Today, I am absolutely delighted to have as my guest Chasity Wright. Welcome, Chasity. Hey. Thank you for having me.
02:13
Super excited to talk about how Infil
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
We're standing on the edge of something big.We're going to make some changes. Hi, I'm pleased
to announce something very special to me, anew subscription-based service through Next
Act Advisors that allows members exclusive accessto personal industry insights and bespoke corporate
(00:33):
governance knowledge. This comes in the formof blogs, personal book recommendations, and
early access to the founder's sandbox podcastepisodes before they released to the public.
If you want more white glove information onbuilding your startup with information like
what was in today's episode, sign up with thelink in the show notes to enjoy being a special
(00:59):
member of Next Act Advisors. As a thank youto Founders Sandbox listeners, you can use
code SANDBOX25 at checkout to enjoy 25% offyour membership costs. Thank you.
Welcome back to the Founder's Sandbox. I amBrenda McCabe, your host of this monthly podcast
(01:25):
in which I bring entrepreneurs, founders, corporatedirectors, and professional service providers
who, like me, want to effectuate change in theworld by building resilient, scalable, and
purpose-driven companies. I like to recreatea fun sandbox environment with my guests. And
we will touch on not only their purpose, andwhat has driven them to create their own businesses.
(01:51):
But also we're going to touch upon topics suchas resilience, purpose-driven, and scalable
sustainable growth. Today, I am absolutely delightedto have as my guest Chasity Wright. Welcome,
Chasity. Hey. Thank you for having me. Superexcited to talk about how Infiltron has evolved
(02:18):
and the lessons learned and how we're preparingto relaunch in 2025. Excellent. And it's perfect
timing because I've known you for a couple ofyears now. Yeah. Right. So Chasity is CEO and
founder of Infiltron Software Suite, a companythat's headquartered out of Atlanta. She is
(02:41):
oftentimes in Los Angeles because she's workinglargely in the defense market and cyber security.
So I wanted to have you on my podcast becauseyou have gone further in building your business.
So you and I met, I want to say back in 2022,you came out of the Women Founders Network
(03:06):
cohort. kind of very early stage. One of theevents that I was a host of was the Thai So
Cal Women's Fund. And you weren't yet readyfor investing, but we struck up, I would say
a friendship and I admire many things aboutyou as, and we'll get into it in the podcast
(03:31):
here, but you touch. quite a few or check ofquite a few boxes for my podcast. You says,
so you are a woman owned veteran and women ownedbusiness. You are a veteran of the Air Force.
You're in deep tech and you're by park and queer.And so there's many boxes that you check and
(03:58):
it was difficult to kind of hone in on whatI really wanted to bring into the podcast today,
but we're going to we're going to start fromhere. I always like to ask my guests to start
with kind of their origin story. I, when I firstmet you, right, in private conversations, got
to hear your origin story and why you do whatyou do, what your firsthand experience while
(04:25):
on missions, right, that really informed youraha moments to create infiltrant. as a cybersecurity
company. So tell us a bit about your originstory, Chasity. So, I mean, my origin story
has, if you can imagine all of these differentpaths kind of streamlining into one path. So
(04:51):
one of those paths would be a little black girlborn in Georgia, still seeing dirt roads and...
being able to go to the country and work ona farm and, you know, just still having that
connection to the past, you know, and not necessarilythe past in a bad way. So athletic, played
(05:22):
ball in college, went to Clark Atlanta University,you know, the HBCUs are a big hurrah right
now, but they've always been one. I grew upwith one in my backyard, Fort Valley State,
which is in Fort Valley, Georgia. So, you know,roughed it with the boys, played in the backyard
with the boys, always been a boys girl, cousins,neighbor. We're all still close. We all still
(05:49):
play sports when we meet. So it's like an adultplay date, so to speak. But also, you know,
raised religiously, you know, I'm in SouthernBaptist Church,
two parent household, maybe lower middle class,but middle school was very transformative for
(06:15):
me because they decided to mix in everybody.So it was my first time, you know, being in
a more diverse population in school. And, youknow, music is a big thing for me as well.
I DJ, I make music. That's the creative partof me. And I found a lot of people in deep
tech to do something with music. So, yeah, so,you know, that's my like early years background.
(06:45):
And then coming through, I decided to go intothe Air Force. I actually took off between
my junior and senior year at Clark Atlanta.Um, there I was majoring in global leadership
and management. Okay. And went in and I wasin for eight years. I was an aerospace engineer,
uh, got deployed several times, uh, to differentplaces, and that kind of brings us to why Infiltron
(07:11):
exists and, um, on one of those deployments,I was a part of a network takedown. And it
was, whoo. I mean, I don't mean to quote thepitch deck story, but it is what it is. I wrote
(07:31):
it because that's the way it felt. It was catastrophic.So just imagine the city of Los Angeles losing
power out of nowhere. The rail stops working,Sinai has no power, so all of the medical equipment
is no longer working. The internet's completelygone and not rebooting like it normally would.
(07:55):
Your energy grid is down. That is what I experiencedin one of those deployments. And I was a part
of Iraqi freedom and Afghanistan. I was a partof both of those wars. And when we came, you
know, we got everything back. Thank God we weresmart enough to ship. brand new equipment.
(08:20):
Okay, you know, so you know, we weren't ableto get there. Yeah. I mean, I mean, that's
part of our job. We're engineers. And when you'rein the middle of nowhere, there's no calling
HP. There's no calling Cisco. Like you got toknow how to do what needs to be done. There
was there was a lot of makeshifting. I can beI came out of Air Force, I could be a mechanical
(08:45):
engineer to because we had to figure out howto make components on the fly. It was just
so many things. Innovation, right? Like youhad to be innovative. You had to be adapt quickly
while keeping the mission as a focus. So justimagine something that catastrophic and something
(09:07):
similar has happened. I feel like Colonial Pipelinewas something that is known now in the US for
sure. that had similar elements of what we experiencedin being deployed. Yeah, and that was two years
back. And SolarWinds is another one. I generallyrefer to those because people generally gasp,
(09:30):
even non-technical people, because they knowhow damaging it was. So we can reuse. Normally,
when the equipment goes down, Unplug, right?Plug back in. Reboot. Yeah, reboot. But that
was not happening. And what we found out inthe debrief was that quantum was used. So quantum
(09:59):
simplistically is about frequencies in thiscontext. It's about frequencies. And frequencies
matter in so many aspects of life, from spiritualityall the way through tech like what Infotron
has. So... What they did was they basicallyzeroed out the frequencies of our satellite
communications. And I believe that they createdsome frequencies that damaged other equipment.
(10:29):
So these are things that again we found outin the debrief. And I wasn't really able to
talk to that probably when we met because Iwasn't sure if it was unclassified yet. But
as soon as Biden started talking about quantuminitiative, which was back in 2022, when we
were in, I was like, everything's hitting itthe right time because we were literally in
(10:52):
Techstars LA space. And Biden pushed the quantuminitiative. And I'm like, see, told you, because
a lot of people, a lot of people doubted whatI was saying because of the year that I said
it had happened. And as. we started to growout our team. There are other veterans on our
(11:14):
team from different branches. And of coursewe war story swap all the time. And those other
two people work for like NSA and they did kindof the same thing, telecommunications. And
I'm telling the pitch desk story and they'resitting there like, yep, yep. That happened
(11:36):
to us too. And I'm like, when? And they're sayingdifferent years. So at that point, we understood
it. It happened more than once. So that's whyInfiltronic. So what's Infiltronic? So let's
bring it back to, Yeah. So you leave, you leaveservice after eight years after also experiencing
(11:59):
that. I still feel like I'm a part of it becauseI do consult them still. Right. So it'd be
great. So. And once in the Air Force forever?Always. Well, I really would have been in Space
Force. Yes. Yeah. Well, you heard that hereon the Founder Sandbox. The next, yes. So for
(12:25):
my listeners, again, you check a lot of boxes.Deep tech, women in STEM. What is it exactly
that? your suite of services. All right. SoInfo-Trans software, right, has two patents
now. And on your landing page, it says, ourpatented solutions, solutions utilize adaptive
(12:52):
artificial intelligence, advanced quantum encryptionand blockchain technology to deliver real-time
cybersecurity for a wide array of applications.Later on, we'll get into smart cities, but
including the internet of things, smart devices,legacy systems, hybrid data, signals and devices.
(13:14):
All pretty, pretty understandable, but whatis it that Infiltrion software is able to do
that others are not? So we're able to createa easier way for businesses to migrate their
(13:35):
devices. and their software, so their applicationsthat they use, maybe they've developed them
themselves, we provide a way for them to easilymigrate those entities over into a more quantum-proofed
infrastructure. So we created what we've trademarkedas quantum encapsulation. So just imagine something
(13:59):
being encapsulated. And basically we've created,a brand new method of leveraging quantum, the
AI, we leverage it for the pro-activeness. Soin lieu of just waiting for threats to happen
to our clients, we go look for the threat. Sowe want to go be where the bad guys are and
(14:23):
find out and bring that information back andupdate the solution in real time to provide
protection for all of our clients in real time.That's how we leverage the AI. The blockchain
is kind of leveraged to kind of make sure thatpeople, things like devices, aren't on networks
(14:50):
that shouldn't be. So it's kind of, I mean,we use it for what blockchain was pretty much
basically developed for, and that's a ledger.So keeping up with the transactions of what's
happening. in a client's infrastructure. Fantastic.So it's largely a B2B business, yours, right?
We do. We have B2B, but we've been approachedseveral times here recently by consumers. Because
(15:20):
now, because of the biometric protection aspectof our solution using the quantum encapsulation,
we can protect, say, Halle Berry from deep fake,being deep faked, or, you know, protecting
her likeness from being used without her knowledgein movies, CGI'd into movies. So it's kind
(15:48):
of getting a little bit more consumerish aswe iterate, right? Yeah, and we were briefly
speaking before the podcast recording, Chasityand I, and... I've known her for years. She's
a very private person, would not allow photographs.So I told my producer, I'm certain Whitney
Chastity's not going to be sending us a picture,but you said yes, that you might, because you
(16:11):
do have biometric, artificial intelligence,safeguards that can actually discover deep
fakes, right? Yes, yes. Yep, if it didn't comefrom us, if it wasn't checked back from us,
It wasn't approved by the person. So it's kindof pretty much that simple. Amazing. Well,
(16:38):
later on in the show notes, we will have howto contact you at Enfield Tron. So you are
in the startup ecosystem. Again, you travela lot. You're between Washington DC, Atlanta,
Los Angeles, and actually the Bay Area. Yeah,the Bay Area. Right. So. Revenue can be elusive,
(16:59):
right? How? Especially in tech, and especiallyin these really large markets that I call deep
tech. Deep tech and leading edge, bleeding edge,right? People don't know what they're actually
buying, right? Or what they don't even, theyprobably don't even know that they have a need,
right? What's been your strategy at Infiltronto keep the revenue flowing while maintaining
(17:22):
also a pretty playful, innovative culture? Youtalked about your team and so talk, that's
kind of two questions. So how have you keptrevenue coming, right? While not going out
for dilutive funding yet, but tell us a littlebit about how, what's your business model?
(17:43):
So the business model in itself is set up forB2B and we also have a licensing element there.
So if they, for instance, a Fortune 500 companywho has a cyber team, right? They have an internal
cyber team. If they want to license out thepatents that we have and kind of customize
(18:06):
it or create or build off of those, use it asa baseline for what they need for their systems,
we offer that as well. But let me just put itout there. But back to your question, how do
we keep it fun? So the team... The originalteam members, should I say. So we met about
(18:32):
seven years ago at a place called the GatheringSpot in Atlanta. So the Gathering Spot is a
community and they just opened one in LA andI do go to the one in LA too when I'm there.
But it's a community of people, creatives fromcreative people to deep tech people like myself
(18:53):
and everything in between. We went to a blacktech event at the gathering spot and found
ourselves not being able to get into the actualroom. So we ended up, because they have a bar
and everything at the gathering spot. It's asocial club too. It has a club aspect to it
(19:16):
too, but you can network there, have meetingsthere, meet all types of people. I mean known
people, I mean it's a great great concept, shoutout to Ryan. But we found ourselves at the
bar, and we're looking at each other. We kneweach other because we had been introduced by
(19:36):
the Hellbrella person, Tracy. Yes, yes. Becausethey had done some things for her with a previous
startup that she had, development-wise. So we'reall sitting at the bar, and we're looking at
each other like, but we're the real tech people.
We do it. It's like we don't really take people.Um, we can't even get in there. We like, we
(20:00):
know the organizers and personally and everything.So let's start a company. Well, what we did
was we launched, um, what we launched kit labs.And it was literally right down the street
from the
(20:23):
and connect to the community. So we had, it'snot far from the AUC and the AUC is where Morris
Brown, Morehouse, Spelman and Clark Atlantaare. Got it. So a lot of times you would come
in there and find some of the founders, causethis was founded by myself and like six or
seven other black tech founders. The ones thatwere outside. Drinking like, you know. That's
(20:54):
where we had that conversation. You know, theconversation started at the bar, being outside
of that first Black Tech meetup, so to speak,with Joey Womack, who is a part of Goody Nation,
who we did get a 50K grant from back in 2020through Google for Startups. Let me just say
(21:16):
this so much. We were so interconnected. I mean,Atlanta is Wakanda. Don't let anybody tell
you anything different. It's definitely Wakanda.But literally, not even a mile away from the
Gathering Spot, we opened up Kit Labs. It'sa smart lab where we can tinker with stuff.
We're engineers. We're tech people. We needsomething. We need a makerspace. We don't necessarily
(21:38):
need a space that is compared. The GatheringSpot was a little bit more buttoned up. And
then what we needed, we needed to be able tothrow things and make things. We had everything
from like 3d printers to, um, VR, AR headsets.I mean, you, anything in tech. Innovative fun.
(22:01):
It was in, is in that lab. Um, but that's wherearound today. So we dissolved it. So it's been
dissolved. What one of, one of the founders,he unfortunately transitioned. Um, So, you
know, and he was kind of like the pillar ofit. And it kept going for a while, but it was
just a lot of people like myself, it was twofemale founders, Dr. Nashley Cephas, who herself
(22:27):
is from Jackson, Mississippi. I'm shouting outeverybody, right? She's from Jackson, Mississippi,
and she bought 10 acres in downtown Jackson,Mississippi and started a nonprofit called
Bean Pad. And he basically took the conceptof what we were doing at Kit Labs and brought
it to our hometown. So. Um, and it's so funny.She actually founded it on my birthday. So
(22:49):
I was like, okay, I can dig that. Um, uh, but,but no, but we're still connected. Everybody
still works with each other. You know, if Ihave to come in and do some things around cyber
for a contract or, you know, commercial or whateverclient that they have, I do like we, we all
kind of still work together on each other'sthings. So that has allowed you to bring in
(23:12):
some revenues, right? through its service context.Yeah. Oh, for sure. For sure. Consultant wise,
cause they're like, I think people may lookat Infotron and think that there's not a human
touch piece there, but if you're dealing withme, there's always gonna be a human touch point
(23:33):
there because we have to consult the client.We can't assume, you know, we cannot assume.
what you need, we have to actually have a conversationwith our clients throughout the process, even
after we possibly have set up the platform foryou, trained your people on it, there still
(23:55):
needs to be an element of communication, humancommunication, right? But the team, we've been
working together for about seven years. Yes.Infiltron has been around for five, going on
six years now. So, you know, I mean, respect,mutual respect, we're still kids at heart.
(24:21):
I mean, we grew up wanting to be engineers.So, you really can't take the light of innovation
out of an engineer unless they're just at thepoint of not wanting to do it anymore. So we're
always, what I've found is most people in anyengineering discipline are very, curious and
(24:41):
forward thinking. So we, and we kind of, we'rekind of like a community. We are community
and not kind of like, but we are community offolks that contribute to each other's, you
know, projects. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And not just,not just business-wise, but personally, like
we, I mean, we've been around each other foralmost a decade, so. there's been kids born
(25:06):
and like I just said, one of our founders transitioned,like we've been through some things together
that have brought us closer together. And youcan, I believe when you have a team like that,
and we're all diverse, you know, we have a teamlike that cultivates innovation, for sure.
(25:26):
You know, I've had a few guests to my podcastand I also write about this, Creativity is
only possible or it's greatly possible whenyou create a fun environment and make games
out of things and have, right? And set up teams.So I think a shout out to you and what you've
(25:51):
set up at Infiltron and in its earlier renderingat Kit Labs, just creating an environment that
allows for what ifs, right? Is key. There area lot of what ifs in cyber. I bet you there.
So I have a boatload of questions here. Oneis, before we get into your fundraising path,
(26:17):
again, I mentioned earlier you have two patentsthat have been issued. What is post-quantum
encryption technology in layman language? Post.Quantum encryption technology. So there is
(26:42):
definitely confusion out there that has beenaddressed. And because there is a difference
between post secure quantum and encryption.There's a difference. So. Excellent. Post quantum
(27:04):
encryption, it is designed to protect data fromquantum computers. So. And that's done through
the encapsulation? For us, that is how we providethe protection, the encryption. That is the
quantum encapsulation is a method of encryptionwith Involtron. So the current encryption.
(27:30):
So you have things like RSA. elliptical curve,which elliptical curve is more widely used
and kind of being marketed as quantum encryption.It is, it is, it's on the list of quantum protections,
right, or quantum methods of encryption protection.So companies like Okta use ECC a lot. But what's
(27:54):
happening is that quantum computers are beingbuilt now. Yes. Like right now, there's no...
Yeah, the cost is going down. Yeah, there'sno waiting five years from now. Like I urge
anyone under the sound of my voice to preparenow for quantum computer attacks. The same
(28:19):
thing that I describe happening to us when wewere deployed, it's gonna happen. And again,
I alluded to feeling like situations like ColonialPipeline and SolarWinds were, I feel like they
were tests because there were so many differentelements of what we saw in the deployment that
(28:45):
happened in those two cases. Yeah, because I'msitting there and think it's like 2020, 2021,
2019 actually, it started. I think this didn'tknow, but. And it's still going like 20, SolarWinds
was still going, the last time I checked SolarWindswas still unraveling. Like it's still, still
(29:08):
going. But back to the question. So for us,quantum encapsulation for us is breakthrough.
So NIST has had these challenges, right? Wherethey put out bidding for companies, researchers,
(29:29):
because a lot of people that are in the quantumspace, whether it's physics, mechanics, are
generally found in academia. They're not atInfiltron. They're not at QED. They're just
not there, right? It's very far in between,and we generally have to lure them. Or we have
to do something like partner with them on...grants, like the STTR grants. Like that's the
(29:56):
only way, generally the only way that we canprobably connect with the academia or pierce
them and have them work with us. And they usuallythrough that take all the funding, but it's,
you're still. Exposed, right? You're exposed,but you're also getting the expertise that
you possibly need and can't rightly find inthe freelancing world. Yeah. So it generally
(30:20):
works out in the long run. Um, but so our encapsulationis a, is a breakthrough method because I look
at it like this, NIST is holding these challengesand nothing against NIST. We're connected.
I contribute to NIST and everything, but theyare holding these challenges. And basically
(30:43):
they're telling the hackers what people aregoing to the framework. what people are gonna
have to adhere to when they create their quantumalgorithms to protect their devices and data.
You know, you're giving away the secret ingredients.So like, even if they don't know specifically
your algorithm, they know what you've basedit off of. And that gives it like a tiny thread
(31:09):
can unravel a whole t-shirt, right? So I lookat it like that. So... And even before, you
know, we were already developing things beforeNIST put out these challenges. We are in alignment.
We can adhere and do it here to the frameworkthat they're putting out because, you know,
you have the DOD space who definitely followstheir framework, especially when it comes to
(31:34):
the risk management framework. So they're goingto follow NIST regardless. They're going to
follow their framework, whatever they put outabout cybersecurity protection. The DOD space
and all of its agencies are gonna follow that.However, being in the cybersecurity space every
day, seeing what is happening and knowing thatyou've given some clues, some contextual clues
(32:00):
to the malicious hackers about what you're usingas a baseline to build your algorithms will,
guess what? What we have is not that. Like weare... One of the things that differentiates
us right now, because I'm sure as quantum cybersecuritycontinues to grow legs, so to speak, people
(32:25):
are gonna start using the more, less susceptibleto hacks by quantum computers method. So you
have things like multivariate hash code. Sothese are some of the quantum properties that
you can use that are not generally hackableby a quantum computer. They won't be hackable
(32:48):
by a quantum computer. So we leveraged someof that. It was like, if I'm built, I looked
at it like this, I've been in cyber, I've beenin tech for almost 20 years. I know I don't
look it. I get it all the time. You don't haveto say it. I've been in tech for almost 20
years. I've been, and when I was in the airforce, we call it InfoSec. It's the same thing.
And that dates me. If I say, if you hear somebodysay InfoSec, trust me, they've been in cybersecurity
(33:13):
for at least 20 plus years. So, but it's cybersecurity,that's what it is. And I've seen the changes
and I've paid my dues too. Like I didn't, whenI got out of the Air Force, I was just, side
note, like I cut grass and loved it. I wouldgo back and do it if I can make these results.
So then like, it's very, it's very fulfilling.Don't let anybody fool you. Like I love, but
(33:37):
I like being outside, but. Um, my first techjob though, I literally went through the phone
book. Cause this is like still, you know, internetwas not quite what it is now, of course, but
it was like still growing. And I went throughthe yellow pages and went through the aerospace
companies and called all of them and was like,Hey, let's just get out of the air force, look
(34:01):
for a job. I don't care if it's an intern orco-op and L3 before they merged with Harris.
Uh, they created me a co-op. And, but again,still in touch with, cause you know, L3 is
a huge government contracting company, right?And in the satellite communication space, cause
they're in line with my background. And so I'veseen it all. I've seen the changes of InfoSec
(34:27):
into cybersecurity. And now we're entering anew frontier with quantum cybersecurity. So
I've been here, maybe at the latter part ofthe info set, but definitely through the cybersecurity
and here for and to forge some guidelines andpathways in the quantum cybersecurity space
(34:53):
with Inflotron. So when you know Inflotron wasfounded in 2019, I was like, okay, if I'm gonna
start something new in cyber and we hadn't evengotten to the quantum piece yet. They hadn't
even gotten to me yet. Like it started likeI was getting downloads. Yeah. Because I'm,
I always, I'm a reader. I wake up looking atcyber news and just staying in the know because
(35:21):
I need to know what's going on so I can protectmy clients, whether that was me in a government
contracting position or me as a consultant inmy businesses. So. I need to know what's going
on. And if I'm going to build something new,why am I going to build it with compromised
parts? Right. That's a great way to describeit. Yeah. Forget the tech. It didn't make logical
(35:50):
sense. If I'm going to build something new,a SaaS product that's going to integrate and
be flexible and adaptable and proactive. Whywould I use RSA encryption when I know what's
coming? Got it. That will be one of the snippetsthat I share in my YouTube channel as well
(36:17):
as the podcast. That is excellent. Why buildsomething with compromised parts? Frontier
technology, quantum cybersecurity is what Epfiltronis about. Next generation. Talk to me a little
bit more for us, less tech savvy listeners aboutthe use of Infiltron in a SelleGov's program
(36:45):
for smart cities. That kind of brings it morehome and more tangible. How is technology used
for smart cities? So first, SelleGov throughleading cities. Yes. It connects companies
like ours with municipalities to tackle urbanchallenges. So for us, it's infrastructure,
(37:09):
security, and sustainability. So we were a finalistin leading cities global competition back in
2021. And we've worked through them. You know,we've been able to work with city leaders to
secure IOT systems and critical infrastructure.And quick shout out to Michael Lake. Okay.
(37:32):
He's the founder of Leading Cities, amazingguy. Another keep in touch, answer the email
quickly person. He's based in Boston, but he'sbuilt a very supportive ecosystem. So shout
out to Michael Lake. But as a part of this program,We're offering smart cities our enhanced quantum
(38:00):
vulnerability assessment. And this is to helpthe smart city leaders identify areas that
need better quantum protections now. We've justhad a session on November the 11th, Veterans
Day. And the second one is coming up Decemberthe 5th. So you. If you're a smart city leader
(38:25):
or see so small, medium, large enterprise, nomatter what market you in, you're in, definitely
tap in. You can register for it on the leadingcity's website or on our website at Infotron.net.
Yeah, that's on December 9, 2024 at 1pm. Isthat Eastern? December 5th. December 5th? No,
(38:49):
it's the 9th, because I have it here. And that'smy cousin's birthday. So yeah, it's December
9th. Did you get to influence those dates? Yeah.So let's jump into your startup. You've taken
in very little dilutive funding. How much moneyhave you raised to date? And how have you,
(39:10):
what is the next phase, right? In terms of outreachfor fundraising. So we've raised 120K and that
was through Techstars, LA Space.
Still counting. I do not take a salary. I couldtake one, but I'm just, it's the long game
(39:31):
for me. And I still consult. Don't let thesepeople tell you not to quit your job and be
an entrepreneur. Don't let people do that. Especiallyif you have a family. Don't let these people,
don't let these people try to guilt you or shameyou because you still have a job while you're
building your startup. Don't let, don't do it.Because I do have a company that I started
(39:56):
called Right Tech Solutions and we still, that'swhy I said I still feel like I'm in the Air
Force because I still consult them. So I can,you know, the revenue that we do and we've
hit 500K
in revenue. So you know, I could easily takea salary, right? But I just, it's the long
(40:19):
game for me. It's the global expansion. um,you know, more IP and patents, uh, protections,
right? Because we do have global count clients.And, um, one of the things that I wanted to
make sure of before we even took on the clientswas that we had legal backing there. So IP
(40:40):
trademarks, um, at least patent, at least theapplication is pending, but you know, like
I want to, I want to, I want it to at leasthave that. And we have great attorneys. Um,
shout out to Malika Tyson. and Matthew and Dorianwho have, they took over because I had a, I
(41:02):
had an attorney, IP attorney that would, hadher own boutique firm and then she had to go
back, you know, she just couldn't do the entrepreneurship,it's not for everybody, but we still stay in
contact as well. But she introduced me to McAndrews,they're based out of Chicago. And they are
the legal team for Impletron. I always tellthem that when we're on calls, like you are
(41:26):
the legal team. Like, yeah, anything that Ineed from them legal, legal wise, they do it.
I literally just sent a partnership NDA overto Malekka this morning and she just sent it
back to me. So like, that's not IP and trademark,right? But they do, they do it. And I always
tell them how much I appreciate them because...IP and trademarks are not free and they're
(41:54):
not inexpensive. So, and then imagine, you know,we have one pending now in Japan. We just got
one in Canada. So yeah, like it's expensive,you know, it's expensive. So a lot of the funding
that we get now is going to be allocated topay them, you know, even though they work with
(42:15):
us. But it's going to be paying them. doingsome iterations, we have a partnership where
there's some hardware that's gonna be involved.We're definitely tapping into the hardware.
So we'll be forging our way there because peoplelike things they can touch. SaaS isn't necessarily
(42:36):
something that you can touch, although put itinto a platform makes it a little bit more
tangible for people, visual at least. So inthe- Yeah, I mean, hardware has always been
a part of the vision. FBGAs, we have anothercolleague of mine, he has developed a cryptocurrency
(43:01):
mining machine, and it leverages quantum. Soit's mining at exponential speeds, right? Because
generally what quantum does is speeds thingsup. It speeds exactly, in simplified terms.
Definitely still going after Sivers traditionalgovernment contracts globally. We participated
(43:24):
in Fintech down in the Bahamas last October.Cause we are in the Fintech space and there's
a lot of similarities between Fintech and SpaceTech. Because when you're talking about fault
zeros and being able to detect anomalies. bothof those markets need that and they need it
(43:49):
quick. So we've been able to, yeah, like we'vebeen able to leverage some of the things that
we're learning in both of those for each other.So we've been able to participate in some conferences.
We actually getting ready to go to Barbadosin January for Fintech Islands, I'll be speaking
(44:13):
about the kind of the intersection of the quantumage and what's coming in respect to the fintech
space, cryptocurrency, web three, traditionalfinance and AI, because we do leverage AI.
And we've been in the AI space, Impletron hasbeen in the AI space from the beginning. One
(44:35):
of our advisors is an AI evangelist at AWS.I did say her name earlier on this podcast,
but. She's amazing. She's a Georgia Tech grad.We do have a few Georgia Tech people on the
team, but she's amazing. And I'm able to tapher. I've been able to tap her because she
was one of the Kit founders. So I've been ableto tap her about AI and machine learning very
(45:01):
early on. So all of the LLMs and the SLMs thateverybody's kind of talking about, we've been
doing. Like even as small as we are, we've been.Yeah, so, Chasity, how can my listeners contact
(45:21):
or get information about Infotron? So, yeah,of course the website. So, infiltron.net. You
can follow us on all of our socials at InfotronSoftware Suite. It might be, I think on Twitter
is Infotron app. We wanted to keep it short.And then, or you can email us at mfultronapp
(45:45):
at gmail.com. And I know people are gonna belike, why you use Gmail? That's another filter.
And that's an email that everybody on the teamcan look at and not be bombarded with, cause
spam and it's just, everybody has their ownemail address, but. So you probably, it's a
(46:07):
test environment for all of you. beautiful quantumencryption that you're working on. Yes. And
that's it all. One better way to start. Yeah,Gmail, right? Google knows a lot more about
us than we'd like them to. Oh, Google knowseverything. That's tough. Even when you turn
location off. Oh, Instagram. I just posted somethingabout Instagram. So Instagram's new. They just
(46:35):
updated their policy maybe a month ago, maybe.Okay. Whether you want to or not, they now
have access to your photos, your GPS location,everything even if you say no, even if you
turn it off, they still contract.
(47:00):
Just putting it out there guys. Yeah. So ifyou do platform. So there's cause to the platform.
Right? Yes. Thank you. All right. We're comingdown to the section of the podcast where I
like to ask each of my guests what the followingthree words mean to you. Because this is what
(47:22):
I do with my consulting business. In additionto my podcast, I work with founders that are
really building resilient, purpose-driven andscalable businesses. What's resilience mean
to you, Chasity? Man, that's a word that I use.Uh, I mean, I'm, I mean, you gotta think about
it. I'm black trying to raise money. It's hardfor black people to raise money on top of that.
(47:45):
I've been, you know, um, I've come face to facewith people that didn't believe that I wrote
my own patents. Like. you know, as if blackpeople didn't invent a lot of things, like
that we still use today. Like, come on. I mean,it's just the truth. Resilience. Resilience
(48:07):
for me is bending, but never breaking. Bending,but never breaking. Yeah. It's about, you know,
adapting to challenges. I just mentioned someand facing them. Like you can't, you can't,
and I'm about to sound run from the pain, yougotta run towards it. So you can come out stronger
(48:29):
on the other side. And it's not necessarilyabout survival, it's transformation. That's
transformation. It's transformation. And thattransformation is preparing you for what's
next. And you'll be standing taller than youwere before. Amazing, thank you. Purpose-driven,
(48:51):
what's a purpose-driven? Enterprises or? Yeah.I'm a visionary. So like, there's a lot of
founders that I've met. If I have the opportunityto get close to them or kind of hear them speak
about what they're building to include myself,because I do talk to myself about the things
(49:16):
that I'm building. I counsel myself. I'm suremy ancestors are around me.
Purpose is, it should be intentional. I thinkthat it's kind of interchangeable for me. But
in the context of the question that you askedon purpose driven enterprise, so it's the heartbeat
(49:38):
in what we build here at Infotron. I can definitelysay that. It's creating meaningful solutions
that solve real problems. And in solving thosereal problems, you're still staying true to
the mission. I still bring the aspect of themilitary into Infiltron. We are mission focused.
(50:03):
We have fun. We do all the fun things, right?Because again, that cultivates innovation too.
And it keeps it spicy. You need to let thingsbe spicy because in a regular deglar cybersecurity
job, you're probably bored. Like. I mean, let'sjust be real. Like you're probably bored. You're
probably looking at Excel spreadsheets and creatinga report by hand from that. Like it's boring.
(50:27):
Like, but you know, it's also making moves thatmatter. And it's solving problems that for
me leave a legacy and just never losing sightof why we started in the first place. So never
(50:48):
lives in sight. Excellent. What about scalable?So how does- That's one of those BC's favorite
words. That's right. Because that's what theywant to see. How will you scale? That's right.
I mean, I'm an investor too guys. Don't getit twisted. Like, I think that was a question
(51:09):
that I did ask with one of the investors I had.Like, how are you going to get over that challenge?
Like, before I give you this money. Scalable.So growth, like we can think about growth in
so many different ways, like growth, personalgrowth, because if you embark on the entrepreneur
(51:32):
trick, you are going to be, and need to be opento growth. To me, entrepreneurship is a spiritual
journey. Beautiful. about the Southern Baptistroots, but I'm not spiritual. I'm a yoga, meditating,
(51:53):
put my feet in the sand, grass grounding personnowadays, but still bringing that element of
praying. And it's all the same to me. They justchanged the name of God, right? Just that's
my perspective, but growth isn't just aboutgetting. bigger. It's about getting better.
(52:17):
And me speaking about the personal aspect, thatis what growth is. It might not feel good,
you know, while it's happening. But, you know,once you get through it and you can get in
a reflective mindset and look back with whatyou just came through and be grateful, like
(52:39):
find gratitude in it, you know. That's how Ilook at growth. It's expanding mindfully and
staying grounded in your values and making surethat every step that you take going forward
(53:05):
strengthens the foundation that you've alreadybuilt. And it's... Like I said, it's moving
with intention. And while you're moving withintention, you're also preserving the quality
and the vision that define you. Which goes backto purpose-driven. Yes, thank you. Last question,
(53:29):
Chasity. Did you have fun in the sandbox? Ohyeah, I mean, it's you. You know, we already
have a great rapport. I'll say this, one ofmy favorite memories of you is when you brought
Ty to the table to kind of see if they were,could invest in Infiltron and it was too early.
(53:52):
But we had to sign an NDA, it was some typeof contract, but it was during Mercury retrograde.
You said it before I said it, I was like, Iwonder if she's onto this type. Cause I wasn't
going to sign it. I was going to try to delayit as much as possible, but you're like, no,
let's wait, let's wait. So after Mercer, that'syour great. Well, I was like, oh, these are
(54:14):
this. She's my people. And I was like, and Ithink I responded like, let's wait five days.
So it is no, it's like clear. So, um, that'sa little fighter for me with you. Oh, I love
it. I love it. Generally hear that in business.No, no. And the Founder Sandbox again is a
(54:34):
pretty eclectic podcast, bringing in deep techfounders like Chasity Wright that are on the
frontier, bringing in what the future, will,it's the future's here. It's here. That's right.
So to my listeners, if you like this episodewith Chasity Wright, CEO and founder of Infiltron,
(54:59):
sign up for the monthly release of this podcastwhere founders, business owners, corporate
directors, and professional service providersshare their own experiences on building with
strong governance, a resilient, scalable, andpurpose-driven company to make profits for
good. So signing off for this month, thank you,Chasity. Thank you, Brenda, so much. I hope
(55:19):
to see you soon.
We're standing on the edge of something big.We're going to make some changes. Hi, I'm pleased
to announce something very special to me, anew subscription-based service through Next
Act Advisors that allows members exclusive accessto personal industry insights and bespoke corporate
(00:33):
governance knowledge. This comes in the formof blogs, personal book recommendations, and
early access to the founder's sandbox podcastepisodes before they released to the public.
If you want more white glove information onbuilding your startup with information like
what was in today's episode, sign up with thelink in the show notes to enjoy being a special
(00:59):
member of Next Act Advisors. As a thank youto Founders Sandbox listeners, you can use
code SANDBOX25 at checkout to enjoy 25% offyour membership costs. Thank you.
Welcome back to the Founder's Sandbox. I amBrenda McCabe, your host of this monthly podcast
(01:25):
in which I bring entrepreneurs, founders, corporatedirectors, and professional service providers
who, like me, want to effectuate change in theworld by building resilient, scalable, and
purpose-driven companies. I like to recreatea fun sandbox environment with my guests. And
we will touch on not only their purpose, andwhat has driven them to create their own businesses.
(01:51):
But also we're going to touch upon topics suchas resilience, purpose-driven, and scalable
sustainable growth. Today, I am absolutely delightedto have as my guest Chasity Wright. Welcome,
Chasity. Hey. Thank you for having me. Superexcited to talk about how Infiltron has evolved
(02:18):
and the lessons learned and how we're preparingto relaunch in 2025. Excellent. And it's perfect
timing because I've known you for a couple ofyears now. Yeah. Right. So Chasity is CEO and
founder of Infiltron Software Suite, a companythat's headquartered out of Atlanta. She is
(02:41):
oftentimes in Los Angeles because she's workinglargely in the defense market and cyber security.
So I wanted to have you on my podcast becauseyou have gone further in building your business.
So you and I met, I want to say back in 2022,you came out of the Women Founders Network
(03:06):
cohort. kind of very early stage. One of theevents that I was a host of was the Thai So
Cal Women's Fund. And you weren't yet readyfor investing, but we struck up, I would say
a friendship and I admire many things aboutyou as, and we'll get into it in the podcast
(03:31):
here, but you touch. quite a few or check ofquite a few boxes for my podcast. You says,
so you are a woman owned veteran and women ownedbusiness. You are a veteran of the Air Force.
You're in deep tech and you're by park and queer.And so there's many boxes that you check and
(03:58):
it was difficult to kind of hone in on whatI really wanted to bring into the podcast today,
but we're going to we're going to start fromhere. I always like to ask my guests to start
with kind of their origin story. I, when I firstmet you, right, in private conversations, got
to hear your origin story and why you do whatyou do, what your firsthand experience while
(04:25):
on missions, right, that really informed youraha moments to create infiltrant. as a cybersecurity
company. So tell us a bit about your originstory, Chasity. So, I mean, my origin story
has, if you can imagine all of these differentpaths kind of streamlining into one path. So
(04:51):
one of those paths would be a little black girlborn in Georgia, still seeing dirt roads and...
being able to go to the country and work ona farm and, you know, just still having that
connection to the past, you know, and not necessarilythe past in a bad way. So athletic, played
(05:22):
ball in college, went to Clark Atlanta University,you know, the HBCUs are a big hurrah right
now, but they've always been one. I grew upwith one in my backyard, Fort Valley State,
which is in Fort Valley, Georgia. So, you know,roughed it with the boys, played in the backyard
with the boys, always been a boys girl, cousins,neighbor. We're all still close. We all still
(05:49):
play sports when we meet. So it's like an adultplay date, so to speak. But also, you know,
raised religiously, you know, I'm in SouthernBaptist Church,
two parent household, maybe lower middle class,but middle school was very transformative for
(06:15):
me because they decided to mix in everybody.So it was my first time, you know, being in
a more diverse population in school. And, youknow, music is a big thing for me as well.
I DJ, I make music. That's the creative partof me. And I found a lot of people in deep
tech to do something with music. So, yeah, so,you know, that's my like early years background.
(06:45):
And then coming through, I decided to go intothe Air Force. I actually took off between
my junior and senior year at Clark Atlanta.Um, there I was majoring in global leadership
and management. Okay. And went in and I wasin for eight years. I was an aerospace engineer,
uh, got deployed several times, uh, to differentplaces, and that kind of brings us to why Infiltron
(07:11):
exists and, um, on one of those deployments,I was a part of a network takedown. And it
was, whoo. I mean, I don't mean to quote thepitch deck story, but it is what it is. I wrote
(07:31):
it because that's the way it felt. It was catastrophic.So just imagine the city of Los Angeles losing
power out of nowhere. The rail stops working,Sinai has no power, so all of the medical equipment
is no longer working. The internet's completelygone and not rebooting like it normally would.
(07:55):
Your energy grid is down. That is what I experiencedin one of those deployments. And I was a part
of Iraqi freedom and Afghanistan. I was a partof both of those wars. And when we came, you
know, we got everything back. Thank God we weresmart enough to ship. brand new equipment.
(08:20):
Okay, you know, so you know, we weren't ableto get there. Yeah. I mean, I mean, that's
part of our job. We're engineers. And when you'rein the middle of nowhere, there's no calling
HP. There's no calling Cisco. Like you got toknow how to do what needs to be done. There
was there was a lot of makeshifting. I can beI came out of Air Force, I could be a mechanical
(08:45):
engineer to because we had to figure out howto make components on the fly. It was just
so many things. Innovation, right? Like youhad to be innovative. You had to be adapt quickly
while keeping the mission as a focus. So justimagine something that catastrophic and something
(09:07):
similar has happened. I feel like Colonial Pipelinewas something that is known now in the US for
sure. that had similar elements of what we experiencedin being deployed. Yeah, and that was two years
back. And SolarWinds is another one. I generallyrefer to those because people generally gasp,
(09:30):
even non-technical people, because they knowhow damaging it was. So we can reuse. Normally,
when the equipment goes down, Unplug, right?Plug back in. Reboot. Yeah, reboot. But that
was not happening. And what we found out inthe debrief was that quantum was used. So quantum
(09:59):
simplistically is about frequencies in thiscontext. It's about frequencies. And frequencies
matter in so many aspects of life, from spiritualityall the way through tech like what Infotron
has. So... What they did was they basicallyzeroed out the frequencies of our satellite
communications. And I believe that they createdsome frequencies that damaged other equipment.
(10:29):
So these are things that again we found outin the debrief. And I wasn't really able to
talk to that probably when we met because Iwasn't sure if it was unclassified yet. But
as soon as Biden started talking about quantuminitiative, which was back in 2022, when we
were in, I was like, everything's hitting itthe right time because we were literally in
(10:52):
Techstars LA space. And Biden pushed the quantuminitiative. And I'm like, see, told you, because
a lot of people, a lot of people doubted whatI was saying because of the year that I said
it had happened. And as. we started to growout our team. There are other veterans on our
(11:14):
team from different branches. And of coursewe war story swap all the time. And those other
two people work for like NSA and they did kindof the same thing, telecommunications. And
I'm telling the pitch desk story and they'resitting there like, yep, yep. That happened
(11:36):
to us too. And I'm like, when? And they're sayingdifferent years. So at that point, we understood
it. It happened more than once. So that's whyInfiltronic. So what's Infiltronic? So let's
bring it back to, Yeah. So you leave, you leaveservice after eight years after also experiencing
(11:59):
that. I still feel like I'm a part of it becauseI do consult them still. Right. So it'd be
great. So. And once in the Air Force forever?Always. Well, I really would have been in Space
Force. Yes. Yeah. Well, you heard that hereon the Founder Sandbox. The next, yes. So for
(12:25):
my listeners, again, you check a lot of boxes.Deep tech, women in STEM. What is it exactly
that? your suite of services. All right. SoInfo-Trans software, right, has two patents
now. And on your landing page, it says, ourpatented solutions, solutions utilize adaptive
(12:52):
artificial intelligence, advanced quantum encryptionand blockchain technology to deliver real-time
cybersecurity for a wide array of applications.Later on, we'll get into smart cities, but
including the internet of things, smart devices,legacy systems, hybrid data, signals and devices.
(13:14):
All pretty, pretty understandable, but whatis it that Infiltrion software is able to do
that others are not? So we're able to createa easier way for businesses to migrate their
(13:35):
devices. and their software, so their applicationsthat they use, maybe they've developed them
themselves, we provide a way for them to easilymigrate those entities over into a more quantum-proofed
infrastructure. So we created what we've trademarkedas quantum encapsulation. So just imagine something
(13:59):
being encapsulated. And basically we've created,a brand new method of leveraging quantum, the
AI, we leverage it for the pro-activeness. Soin lieu of just waiting for threats to happen
to our clients, we go look for the threat. Sowe want to go be where the bad guys are and
(14:23):
find out and bring that information back andupdate the solution in real time to provide
protection for all of our clients in real time.That's how we leverage the AI. The blockchain
is kind of leveraged to kind of make sure thatpeople, things like devices, aren't on networks
(14:50):
that shouldn't be. So it's kind of, I mean,we use it for what blockchain was pretty much
basically developed for, and that's a ledger.So keeping up with the transactions of what's
happening. in a client's infrastructure. Fantastic.So it's largely a B2B business, yours, right?
We do. We have B2B, but we've been approachedseveral times here recently by consumers. Because
(15:20):
now, because of the biometric protection aspectof our solution using the quantum encapsulation,
we can protect, say, Halle Berry from deep fake,being deep faked, or, you know, protecting
her likeness from being used without her knowledgein movies, CGI'd into movies. So it's kind
(15:48):
of getting a little bit more consumerish aswe iterate, right? Yeah, and we were briefly
speaking before the podcast recording, Chasityand I, and... I've known her for years. She's
a very private person, would not allow photographs.So I told my producer, I'm certain Whitney
Chastity's not going to be sending us a picture,but you said yes, that you might, because you
(16:11):
do have biometric, artificial intelligence,safeguards that can actually discover deep
fakes, right? Yes, yes. Yep, if it didn't comefrom us, if it wasn't checked back from us,
It wasn't approved by the person. So it's kindof pretty much that simple. Amazing. Well,
(16:38):
later on in the show notes, we will have howto contact you at Enfield Tron. So you are
in the startup ecosystem. Again, you travela lot. You're between Washington DC, Atlanta,
Los Angeles, and actually the Bay Area. Yeah,the Bay Area. Right. So. Revenue can be elusive,
(16:59):
right? How? Especially in tech, and especiallyin these really large markets that I call deep
tech. Deep tech and leading edge, bleeding edge,right? People don't know what they're actually
buying, right? Or what they don't even, theyprobably don't even know that they have a need,
right? What's been your strategy at Infiltronto keep the revenue flowing while maintaining
(17:22):
also a pretty playful, innovative culture? Youtalked about your team and so talk, that's
kind of two questions. So how have you keptrevenue coming, right? While not going out
for dilutive funding yet, but tell us a littlebit about how, what's your business model?
(17:43):
So the business model in itself is set up forB2B and we also have a licensing element there.
So if they, for instance, a Fortune 500 companywho has a cyber team, right? They have an internal
cyber team. If they want to license out thepatents that we have and kind of customize
(18:06):
it or create or build off of those, use it asa baseline for what they need for their systems,
we offer that as well. But let me just put itout there. But back to your question, how do
we keep it fun? So the team... The originalteam members, should I say. So we met about
(18:32):
seven years ago at a place called the GatheringSpot in Atlanta. So the Gathering Spot is a
community and they just opened one in LA andI do go to the one in LA too when I'm there.
But it's a community of people, creatives fromcreative people to deep tech people like myself
(18:53):
and everything in between. We went to a blacktech event at the gathering spot and found
ourselves not being able to get into the actualroom. So we ended up, because they have a bar
and everything at the gathering spot. It's asocial club too. It has a club aspect to it
(19:16):
too, but you can network there, have meetingsthere, meet all types of people. I mean known
people, I mean it's a great great concept, shoutout to Ryan. But we found ourselves at the
bar, and we're looking at each other. We kneweach other because we had been introduced by
(19:36):
the Hellbrella person, Tracy. Yes, yes. Becausethey had done some things for her with a previous
startup that she had, development-wise. So we'reall sitting at the bar, and we're looking at
each other like, but we're the real tech people.
We do it. It's like we don't really take people.Um, we can't even get in there. We like, we
(20:00):
know the organizers and personally and everything.So let's start a company. Well, what we did
was we launched, um, what we launched kit labs.And it was literally right down the street
from the
(20:23):
and connect to the community. So we had, it'snot far from the AUC and the AUC is where Morris
Brown, Morehouse, Spelman and Clark Atlantaare. Got it. So a lot of times you would come
in there and find some of the founders, causethis was founded by myself and like six or
seven other black tech founders. The ones thatwere outside. Drinking like, you know. That's
(20:54):
where we had that conversation. You know, theconversation started at the bar, being outside
of that first Black Tech meetup, so to speak,with Joey Womack, who is a part of Goody Nation,
who we did get a 50K grant from back in 2020through Google for Startups. Let me just say
(21:16):
this so much. We were so interconnected. I mean,Atlanta is Wakanda. Don't let anybody tell
you anything different. It's definitely Wakanda.But literally, not even a mile away from the
Gathering Spot, we opened up Kit Labs. It'sa smart lab where we can tinker with stuff.
We're engineers. We're tech people. We needsomething. We need a makerspace. We don't necessarily
(21:38):
need a space that is compared. The GatheringSpot was a little bit more buttoned up. And
then what we needed, we needed to be able tothrow things and make things. We had everything
from like 3d printers to, um, VR, AR headsets.I mean, you, anything in tech. Innovative fun.
(22:01):
It was in, is in that lab. Um, but that's wherearound today. So we dissolved it. So it's been
dissolved. What one of, one of the founders,he unfortunately transitioned. Um, So, you
know, and he was kind of like the pillar ofit. And it kept going for a while, but it was
just a lot of people like myself, it was twofemale founders, Dr. Nashley Cephas, who herself
(22:27):
is from Jackson, Mississippi. I'm shouting outeverybody, right? She's from Jackson, Mississippi,
and she bought 10 acres in downtown Jackson,Mississippi and started a nonprofit called
Bean Pad. And he basically took the conceptof what we were doing at Kit Labs and brought
it to our hometown. So. Um, and it's so funny.She actually founded it on my birthday. So
(22:49):
I was like, okay, I can dig that. Um, uh, but,but no, but we're still connected. Everybody
still works with each other. You know, if Ihave to come in and do some things around cyber
for a contract or, you know, commercial or whateverclient that they have, I do like we, we all
kind of still work together on each other'sthings. So that has allowed you to bring in
(23:12):
some revenues, right? through its service context.Yeah. Oh, for sure. For sure. Consultant wise,
cause they're like, I think people may lookat Infotron and think that there's not a human
touch piece there, but if you're dealing withme, there's always gonna be a human touch point
(23:33):
there because we have to consult the client.We can't assume, you know, we cannot assume.
what you need, we have to actually have a conversationwith our clients throughout the process, even
after we possibly have set up the platform foryou, trained your people on it, there still
(23:55):
needs to be an element of communication, humancommunication, right? But the team, we've been
working together for about seven years. Yes.Infiltron has been around for five, going on
six years now. So, you know, I mean, respect,mutual respect, we're still kids at heart.
(24:21):
I mean, we grew up wanting to be engineers.So, you really can't take the light of innovation
out of an engineer unless they're just at thepoint of not wanting to do it anymore. So we're
always, what I've found is most people in anyengineering discipline are very, curious and
(24:41):
forward thinking. So we, and we kind of, we'rekind of like a community. We are community
and not kind of like, but we are community offolks that contribute to each other's, you
know, projects. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And not just,not just business-wise, but personally, like
we, I mean, we've been around each other foralmost a decade, so. there's been kids born
(25:06):
and like I just said, one of our founders transitioned,like we've been through some things together
that have brought us closer together. And youcan, I believe when you have a team like that,
and we're all diverse, you know, we have a teamlike that cultivates innovation, for sure.
(25:26):
You know, I've had a few guests to my podcastand I also write about this, Creativity is
only possible or it's greatly possible whenyou create a fun environment and make games
out of things and have, right? And set up teams.So I think a shout out to you and what you've
(25:51):
set up at Infiltron and in its earlier renderingat Kit Labs, just creating an environment that
allows for what ifs, right? Is key. There area lot of what ifs in cyber. I bet you there.
So I have a boatload of questions here. Oneis, before we get into your fundraising path,
(26:17):
again, I mentioned earlier you have two patentsthat have been issued. What is post-quantum
encryption technology in layman language? Post.Quantum encryption technology. So there is
(26:42):
definitely confusion out there that has beenaddressed. And because there is a difference
between post secure quantum and encryption.There's a difference. So. Excellent. Post quantum
(27:04):
encryption, it is designed to protect data fromquantum computers. So. And that's done through
the encapsulation? For us, that is how we providethe protection, the encryption. That is the
quantum encapsulation is a method of encryptionwith Involtron. So the current encryption.
(27:30):
So you have things like RSA. elliptical curve,which elliptical curve is more widely used
and kind of being marketed as quantum encryption.It is, it is, it's on the list of quantum protections,
right, or quantum methods of encryption protection.So companies like Okta use ECC a lot. But what's
(27:54):
happening is that quantum computers are beingbuilt now. Yes. Like right now, there's no...
Yeah, the cost is going down. Yeah, there'sno waiting five years from now. Like I urge
anyone under the sound of my voice to preparenow for quantum computer attacks. The same
(28:19):
thing that I describe happening to us when wewere deployed, it's gonna happen. And again,
I alluded to feeling like situations like ColonialPipeline and SolarWinds were, I feel like they
were tests because there were so many differentelements of what we saw in the deployment that
(28:45):
happened in those two cases. Yeah, because I'msitting there and think it's like 2020, 2021,
2019 actually, it started. I think this didn'tknow, but. And it's still going like 20, SolarWinds
was still going, the last time I checked SolarWindswas still unraveling. Like it's still, still
(29:08):
going. But back to the question. So for us,quantum encapsulation for us is breakthrough.
So NIST has had these challenges, right? Wherethey put out bidding for companies, researchers,
(29:29):
because a lot of people that are in the quantumspace, whether it's physics, mechanics, are
generally found in academia. They're not atInfiltron. They're not at QED. They're just
not there, right? It's very far in between,and we generally have to lure them. Or we have
to do something like partner with them on...grants, like the STTR grants. Like that's the
(29:56):
only way, generally the only way that we canprobably connect with the academia or pierce
them and have them work with us. And they usuallythrough that take all the funding, but it's,
you're still. Exposed, right? You're exposed,but you're also getting the expertise that
you possibly need and can't rightly find inthe freelancing world. Yeah. So it generally
(30:20):
works out in the long run. Um, but so our encapsulationis a, is a breakthrough method because I look
at it like this, NIST is holding these challengesand nothing against NIST. We're connected.
I contribute to NIST and everything, but theyare holding these challenges. And basically
(30:43):
they're telling the hackers what people aregoing to the framework. what people are gonna
have to adhere to when they create their quantumalgorithms to protect their devices and data.
You know, you're giving away the secret ingredients.So like, even if they don't know specifically
your algorithm, they know what you've basedit off of. And that gives it like a tiny thread
(31:09):
can unravel a whole t-shirt, right? So I lookat it like that. So... And even before, you
know, we were already developing things beforeNIST put out these challenges. We are in alignment.
We can adhere and do it here to the frameworkthat they're putting out because, you know,
you have the DOD space who definitely followstheir framework, especially when it comes to
(31:34):
the risk management framework. So they're goingto follow NIST regardless. They're going to
follow their framework, whatever they put outabout cybersecurity protection. The DOD space
and all of its agencies are gonna follow that.However, being in the cybersecurity space every
day, seeing what is happening and knowing thatyou've given some clues, some contextual clues
(32:00):
to the malicious hackers about what you're usingas a baseline to build your algorithms will,
guess what? What we have is not that. Like weare... One of the things that differentiates
us right now, because I'm sure as quantum cybersecuritycontinues to grow legs, so to speak, people
(32:25):
are gonna start using the more, less susceptibleto hacks by quantum computers method. So you
have things like multivariate hash code. Sothese are some of the quantum properties that
you can use that are not generally hackableby a quantum computer. They won't be hackable
(32:48):
by a quantum computer. So we leveraged someof that. It was like, if I'm built, I looked
at it like this, I've been in cyber, I've beenin tech for almost 20 years. I know I don't
look it. I get it all the time. You don't haveto say it. I've been in tech for almost 20
years. I've been, and when I was in the airforce, we call it InfoSec. It's the same thing.
And that dates me. If I say, if you hear somebodysay InfoSec, trust me, they've been in cybersecurity
(33:13):
for at least 20 plus years. So, but it's cybersecurity,that's what it is. And I've seen the changes
and I've paid my dues too. Like I didn't, whenI got out of the Air Force, I was just, side
note, like I cut grass and loved it. I wouldgo back and do it if I can make these results.
So then like, it's very, it's very fulfilling.Don't let anybody fool you. Like I love, but
(33:37):
I like being outside, but. Um, my first techjob though, I literally went through the phone
book. Cause this is like still, you know, internetwas not quite what it is now, of course, but
it was like still growing. And I went throughthe yellow pages and went through the aerospace
companies and called all of them and was like,Hey, let's just get out of the air force, look
(34:01):
for a job. I don't care if it's an intern orco-op and L3 before they merged with Harris.
Uh, they created me a co-op. And, but again,still in touch with, cause you know, L3 is
a huge government contracting company, right?And in the satellite communication space, cause
they're in line with my background. And so I'veseen it all. I've seen the changes of InfoSec
(34:27):
into cybersecurity. And now we're entering anew frontier with quantum cybersecurity. So
I've been here, maybe at the latter part ofthe info set, but definitely through the cybersecurity
and here for and to forge some guidelines andpathways in the quantum cybersecurity space
(34:53):
with Inflotron. So when you know Inflotron wasfounded in 2019, I was like, okay, if I'm gonna
start something new in cyber and we hadn't evengotten to the quantum piece yet. They hadn't
even gotten to me yet. Like it started likeI was getting downloads. Yeah. Because I'm,
I always, I'm a reader. I wake up looking atcyber news and just staying in the know because
(35:21):
I need to know what's going on so I can protectmy clients, whether that was me in a government
contracting position or me as a consultant inmy businesses. So. I need to know what's going
on. And if I'm going to build something new,why am I going to build it with compromised
parts? Right. That's a great way to describeit. Yeah. Forget the tech. It didn't make logical
(35:50):
sense. If I'm going to build something new,a SaaS product that's going to integrate and
be flexible and adaptable and proactive. Whywould I use RSA encryption when I know what's
coming? Got it. That will be one of the snippetsthat I share in my YouTube channel as well
(36:17):
as the podcast. That is excellent. Why buildsomething with compromised parts? Frontier
technology, quantum cybersecurity is what Epfiltronis about. Next generation. Talk to me a little
bit more for us, less tech savvy listeners aboutthe use of Infiltron in a SelleGov's program
(36:45):
for smart cities. That kind of brings it morehome and more tangible. How is technology used
for smart cities? So first, SelleGov throughleading cities. Yes. It connects companies
like ours with municipalities to tackle urbanchallenges. So for us, it's infrastructure,
(37:09):
security, and sustainability. So we were a finalistin leading cities global competition back in
2021. And we've worked through them. You know,we've been able to work with city leaders to
secure IOT systems and critical infrastructure.And quick shout out to Michael Lake. Okay.
(37:32):
He's the founder of Leading Cities, amazingguy. Another keep in touch, answer the email
quickly person. He's based in Boston, but he'sbuilt a very supportive ecosystem. So shout
out to Michael Lake. But as a part of this program,We're offering smart cities our enhanced quantum
(38:00):
vulnerability assessment. And this is to helpthe smart city leaders identify areas that
need better quantum protections now. We've justhad a session on November the 11th, Veterans
Day. And the second one is coming up Decemberthe 5th. So you. If you're a smart city leader
(38:25):
or see so small, medium, large enterprise, nomatter what market you in, you're in, definitely
tap in. You can register for it on the leadingcity's website or on our website at Infotron.net.
Yeah, that's on December 9, 2024 at 1pm. Isthat Eastern? December 5th. December 5th? No,
(38:49):
it's the 9th, because I have it here. And that'smy cousin's birthday. So yeah, it's December
9th. Did you get to influence those dates? Yeah.So let's jump into your startup. You've taken
in very little dilutive funding. How much moneyhave you raised to date? And how have you,
(39:10):
what is the next phase, right? In terms of outreachfor fundraising. So we've raised 120K and that
was through Techstars, LA Space.
Still counting. I do not take a salary. I couldtake one, but I'm just, it's the long game
(39:31):
for me. And I still consult. Don't let thesepeople tell you not to quit your job and be
an entrepreneur. Don't let people do that. Especiallyif you have a family. Don't let these people,
don't let these people try to guilt you or shameyou because you still have a job while you're
building your startup. Don't let, don't do it.Because I do have a company that I started
(39:56):
called Right Tech Solutions and we still, that'swhy I said I still feel like I'm in the Air
Force because I still consult them. So I can,you know, the revenue that we do and we've
hit 500K
in revenue. So you know, I could easily takea salary, right? But I just, it's the long
(40:19):
game for me. It's the global expansion. um,you know, more IP and patents, uh, protections,
right? Because we do have global count clients.And, um, one of the things that I wanted to
make sure of before we even took on the clientswas that we had legal backing there. So IP
(40:40):
trademarks, um, at least patent, at least theapplication is pending, but you know, like
I want to, I want to, I want it to at leasthave that. And we have great attorneys. Um,
shout out to Malika Tyson. and Matthew and Dorianwho have, they took over because I had a, I
(41:02):
had an attorney, IP attorney that would, hadher own boutique firm and then she had to go
back, you know, she just couldn't do the entrepreneurship,it's not for everybody, but we still stay in
contact as well. But she introduced me to McAndrews,they're based out of Chicago. And they are
the legal team for Impletron. I always tellthem that when we're on calls, like you are
(41:26):
the legal team. Like, yeah, anything that Ineed from them legal, legal wise, they do it.
I literally just sent a partnership NDA overto Malekka this morning and she just sent it
back to me. So like, that's not IP and trademark,right? But they do, they do it. And I always
tell them how much I appreciate them because...IP and trademarks are not free and they're
(41:54):
not inexpensive. So, and then imagine, you know,we have one pending now in Japan. We just got
one in Canada. So yeah, like it's expensive,you know, it's expensive. So a lot of the funding
that we get now is going to be allocated topay them, you know, even though they work with
(42:15):
us. But it's going to be paying them. doingsome iterations, we have a partnership where
there's some hardware that's gonna be involved.We're definitely tapping into the hardware.
So we'll be forging our way there because peoplelike things they can touch. SaaS isn't necessarily
(42:36):
something that you can touch, although put itinto a platform makes it a little bit more
tangible for people, visual at least. So inthe- Yeah, I mean, hardware has always been
a part of the vision. FBGAs, we have anothercolleague of mine, he has developed a cryptocurrency
(43:01):
mining machine, and it leverages quantum. Soit's mining at exponential speeds, right? Because
generally what quantum does is speeds thingsup. It speeds exactly, in simplified terms.
Definitely still going after Sivers traditionalgovernment contracts globally. We participated
(43:24):
in Fintech down in the Bahamas last October.Cause we are in the Fintech space and there's
a lot of similarities between Fintech and SpaceTech. Because when you're talking about fault
zeros and being able to detect anomalies. bothof those markets need that and they need it
(43:49):
quick. So we've been able to, yeah, like we'vebeen able to leverage some of the things that
we're learning in both of those for each other.So we've been able to participate in some conferences.
We actually getting ready to go to Barbadosin January for Fintech Islands, I'll be speaking
(44:13):
about the kind of the intersection of the quantumage and what's coming in respect to the fintech
space, cryptocurrency, web three, traditionalfinance and AI, because we do leverage AI.
And we've been in the AI space, Impletron hasbeen in the AI space from the beginning. One
(44:35):
of our advisors is an AI evangelist at AWS.I did say her name earlier on this podcast,
but. She's amazing. She's a Georgia Tech grad.We do have a few Georgia Tech people on the
team, but she's amazing. And I'm able to tapher. I've been able to tap her because she
was one of the Kit founders. So I've been ableto tap her about AI and machine learning very
(45:01):
early on. So all of the LLMs and the SLMs thateverybody's kind of talking about, we've been
doing. Like even as small as we are, we've been.Yeah, so, Chasity, how can my listeners contact
(45:21):
or get information about Infotron? So, yeah,of course the website. So, infiltron.net. You
can follow us on all of our socials at InfotronSoftware Suite. It might be, I think on Twitter
is Infotron app. We wanted to keep it short.And then, or you can email us at mfultronapp
(45:45):
at gmail.com. And I know people are gonna belike, why you use Gmail? That's another filter.
And that's an email that everybody on the teamcan look at and not be bombarded with, cause
spam and it's just, everybody has their ownemail address, but. So you probably, it's a
(46:07):
test environment for all of you. beautiful quantumencryption that you're working on. Yes. And
that's it all. One better way to start. Yeah,Gmail, right? Google knows a lot more about
us than we'd like them to. Oh, Google knowseverything. That's tough. Even when you turn
location off. Oh, Instagram. I just posted somethingabout Instagram. So Instagram's new. They just
(46:35):
updated their policy maybe a month ago, maybe.Okay. Whether you want to or not, they now
have access to your photos, your GPS location,everything even if you say no, even if you
turn it off, they still contract.
(47:00):
Just putting it out there guys. Yeah. So ifyou do platform. So there's cause to the platform.
Right? Yes. Thank you. All right. We're comingdown to the section of the podcast where I
like to ask each of my guests what the followingthree words mean to you. Because this is what
(47:22):
I do with my consulting business. In additionto my podcast, I work with founders that are
really building resilient, purpose-driven andscalable businesses. What's resilience mean
to you, Chasity? Man, that's a word that I use.Uh, I mean, I'm, I mean, you gotta think about
it. I'm black trying to raise money. It's hardfor black people to raise money on top of that.
(47:45):
I've been, you know, um, I've come face to facewith people that didn't believe that I wrote
my own patents. Like. you know, as if blackpeople didn't invent a lot of things, like
that we still use today. Like, come on. I mean,it's just the truth. Resilience. Resilience
(48:07):
for me is bending, but never breaking. Bending,but never breaking. Yeah. It's about, you know,
adapting to challenges. I just mentioned someand facing them. Like you can't, you can't,
and I'm about to sound run from the pain, yougotta run towards it. So you can come out stronger
(48:29):
on the other side. And it's not necessarilyabout survival, it's transformation. That's
transformation. It's transformation. And thattransformation is preparing you for what's
next. And you'll be standing taller than youwere before. Amazing, thank you. Purpose-driven,
(48:51):
what's a purpose-driven? Enterprises or? Yeah.I'm a visionary. So like, there's a lot of
founders that I've met. If I have the opportunityto get close to them or kind of hear them speak
about what they're building to include myself,because I do talk to myself about the things
(49:16):
that I'm building. I counsel myself. I'm suremy ancestors are around me.
Purpose is, it should be intentional. I thinkthat it's kind of interchangeable for me. But
in the context of the question that you askedon purpose driven enterprise, so it's the heartbeat
(49:38):
in what we build here at Infotron. I can definitelysay that. It's creating meaningful solutions
that solve real problems. And in solving thosereal problems, you're still staying true to
the mission. I still bring the aspect of themilitary into Infiltron. We are mission focused.
(50:03):
We have fun. We do all the fun things, right?Because again, that cultivates innovation too.
And it keeps it spicy. You need to let thingsbe spicy because in a regular deglar cybersecurity
job, you're probably bored. Like. I mean, let'sjust be real. Like you're probably bored. You're
probably looking at Excel spreadsheets and creatinga report by hand from that. Like it's boring.
(50:27):
Like, but you know, it's also making moves thatmatter. And it's solving problems that for
me leave a legacy and just never losing sightof why we started in the first place. So never
(50:48):
lives in sight. Excellent. What about scalable?So how does- That's one of those BC's favorite
words. That's right. Because that's what theywant to see. How will you scale? That's right.
I mean, I'm an investor too guys. Don't getit twisted. Like, I think that was a question
(51:09):
that I did ask with one of the investors I had.Like, how are you going to get over that challenge?
Like, before I give you this money. Scalable.So growth, like we can think about growth in
so many different ways, like growth, personalgrowth, because if you embark on the entrepreneur
(51:32):
trick, you are going to be, and need to be opento growth. To me, entrepreneurship is a spiritual
journey. Beautiful. about the Southern Baptistroots, but I'm not spiritual. I'm a yoga, meditating,
(51:53):
put my feet in the sand, grass grounding personnowadays, but still bringing that element of
praying. And it's all the same to me. They justchanged the name of God, right? Just that's
my perspective, but growth isn't just aboutgetting. bigger. It's about getting better.
(52:17):
And me speaking about the personal aspect, thatis what growth is. It might not feel good,
you know, while it's happening. But, you know,once you get through it and you can get in
a reflective mindset and look back with whatyou just came through and be grateful, like
(52:39):
find gratitude in it, you know. That's how Ilook at growth. It's expanding mindfully and
staying grounded in your values and making surethat every step that you take going forward
(53:05):
strengthens the foundation that you've alreadybuilt. And it's... Like I said, it's moving
with intention. And while you're moving withintention, you're also preserving the quality
and the vision that define you. Which goes backto purpose-driven. Yes, thank you. Last question,
(53:29):
Chasity. Did you have fun in the sandbox? Ohyeah, I mean, it's you. You know, we already
have a great rapport. I'll say this, one ofmy favorite memories of you is when you brought
Ty to the table to kind of see if they were,could invest in Infiltron and it was too early.
(53:52):
But we had to sign an NDA, it was some typeof contract, but it was during Mercury retrograde.
You said it before I said it, I was like, Iwonder if she's onto this type. Cause I wasn't
going to sign it. I was going to try to delayit as much as possible, but you're like, no,
let's wait, let's wait. So after Mercer, that'syour great. Well, I was like, oh, these are
(54:14):
this. She's my people. And I was like, and Ithink I responded like, let's wait five days.
So it is no, it's like clear. So, um, that'sa little fighter for me with you. Oh, I love
it. I love it. Generally hear that in business.No, no. And the Founder Sandbox again is a
(54:34):
pretty eclectic podcast, bringing in deep techfounders like Chasity Wright that are on the
frontier, bringing in what the future, will,it's the future's here. It's here. That's right.
So to my listeners, if you like this episodewith Chasity Wright, CEO and founder of Infiltron,
(54:59):
sign up for the monthly release of this podcastwhere founders, business owners, corporate
directors, and professional service providersshare their own experiences on building with
strong governance, a resilient, scalable, andpurpose-driven company to make profits for
good. So signing off for this month, thank you,Chasity. Thank you, Brenda, so much. I hope
(55:19):
to see you soon.
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