In this episode, Brian sits down with Janice Kephart, a national security and identity expert who has spent over two decades shaping identity policy and biometric solutions. Janice served as border counsel to the 9/11 Commission and has testified before the US Congress and the United Nations. Now, she's building ZipID—a groundbreaking identity authentication platform that simplifies compliance and solves a major pain point for employers. Janice’s story is a powerful example of how to apply entrepreneurial thinking to complex problems, and how creative problem-solving can drive business success.
💡 What You'll Take Away For YOUR Business
🚀 How to turn government-level expertise into a scalable business solution
🤖 Why simplifying complex problems is the key to creating market disruption
💼 How to position your business for success in a competitive market
💡 The importance of balancing vision with execution—and how Janice does it
🌍 Why knowing your customer’s pain points is essential to creating a successful product
💪 How to push through challenges even when the market is crowded
⚡ Why creative thinking is a superpower for entrepreneurs
📝 About Janice Kephart
Janice Kephart is a national security and identity expert with over 20 years of experience in identity policy and biometric solutions. She served as border counsel to the 9/11 Commission and has testified before the US Congress and the UN on identity and national security issues. Janice is the CEO of Identity Strategy Partners and the founder of ZipID, a compliance-focused identity verification platform designed to simplify hiring and employee authentication. A creative at heart, Janice is also a spoken word artist and narrator, blending her legal expertise with innovative thinking.
🎯 Janice’s BEST Piece of Advice for Wantrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs
"Believe in what you do. You have to know in your gut that what you’re doing is valuable—because if you don’t believe it, you won’t make it." – Janice Kephart
Key Takeaways from Janice’s Advice:
✔ Your idea needs to solve a real problem—passion alone isn’t enough
✔ Build conviction—because adversity will come, and belief will get you through it
✔ Focus on creating value first—the revenue will follow
📢 Memorable Quotes
“Entrepreneurs don’t wait for permission—we see problems and take action.” – Janice Kephart
“Be balanced, be clear, be thoughtful—people will resonate with you when you communicate value.” – Janice Kephart
“Preparation matters. Passion matters. But balance matters most.” – Janice Kephart
💡 Actionable Takeaways
✅ Focus on solving a problem, not just creating a product
✅ Build conviction in your business idea—confidence sells
✅ Surround yourself with the right people to fill knowledge gaps
✅ Simplify complex processes to give your business a competitive edge
✅ Don't be afraid of risk—it’s part of the entrepreneurial journey
🔗 Links & Resources
- Visit ZipID’s Website
- Connect with Janice on LinkedIn
- Subscribe to Janice’s Substack ‘Apolitics and Poetry’
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, what is up?
Welcome to this episode of theEntrepreneur to Entrepreneur
podcast.
As always, I'm your host, brianLoFermento, and we are all in
for such a treat in today'sepisode because we have got an
incredible guest whose work hasimpacted, quite frankly, all of
us, every single person here inthe United States of America if
you're tuning in from the US,which I know a lot of you are
(00:21):
and also, this is someone who isa pioneer in her industry, and
what I love about that is sheisn't just a pioneer because
she's got the skills, she's gotthe experience, but also because
she's one of us, she's a fellowentrepreneur who has realized
wait, I know all of these things, let me be even more impactful
under my own business androlling out new technologies,
new solutions, into the world.
(00:41):
So let me introduce you totoday's guest.
Her name is Janice Kephart.
Janice is a national securityand identity expert with over
two decades of experience inidentity policy and biometric
solutions.
If it sounds super complicated,janice is going to take away a
lot of the confusion there.
She served as border counsel tothe 9-11 Commission and has
(01:01):
testified before the US Congressand the UN Security Council on
issues of identity and nationalsecurity.
Janice is also the CEO ofIdentity Strategy Partners and
the founder of ZipID, which I'mso excited to hear about that
business.
Beyond her expertise in nationalsecurity, she's a spoken word
artist and narrator.
She's super talented in all theways.
(01:22):
This is someone who's appearedon TV, on a radio in so many
capacities made it really easyto research her body of work up
to this point.
She's also released anaudiobook of her great
grandfather's work, cherokees ofthe smoky mountains.
I'm personally so excited tohear all the things that go on
inside of janice's head.
We're all in for a treat today.
I'm not gonna going to sayanything else.
(01:42):
Let's dive straight into myinterview with Janice Kephart.
All right, janice, I am so veryexcited that you're here with
us today.
First things first, welcome tothe show.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Thanks so much for having me.
This is going to be a lot offun.
I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Heck, yes.
Well, the first very fun partis I feel like I had to boil
down all the cool things thatyou've done into just a short
little snippet.
So take us beyond that snippet.
Who's Janice?
How did you get into all thesecool things?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
So actually it's an interesting story.
Maybe I got into the issues ofcounterterrorism and identity.
It started way back when in the1993 World Trade Center bombing
my brother-in-law was in thebuilding at the time.
He ended up passing away a fewmonths later from complications
of the smoke inhalation and Inever forgot how it felt to not
(02:36):
hear from him until five o'clockthat that event happened in
February 1993 at the World TradeCenter bomb.
The Trade Center bombingterrorists had detonated a park
truck underneath the buildingand it was happened at about
nine o'clock in the morning.
We didn't hear from him until5pm and then in May of that year
(02:57):
he passed away fromcomplications from the smoke
inhalation.
So it was very tragic and Ialways held that with me.
And when I had the opportunityto work for the US Senate
Judiciary Committee I wasstrangely and maybe karmically,
assigned to the CounterterrorismSubcommittee and Technology.
It was the CounterterrorismTechnology Subcommittee on
(03:26):
issues of terrorism there andbrought forward a lot of
information that was not knownat that time about foreign
terrorist activity in the UnitedStates.
And then when 9-11 happened Iwas very privileged and honored
to be able to support the 9-11Commission in their
investigation.
So in the course of all thatinvestigation, it became very
clear that the solutions tothings were not just policy.
The solutions to things that Iwas dealing with had base in
(03:51):
technology as well, and so Ibecame sort of this techno
policy expert, translatingtechnology and policy and facts
for the greater good of ourcountry.
But being a bit of a maverickand stepping outside of that, I
realized that there was only somuch good I could do within the
confines of the governmentitself.
(04:11):
To really pursue the visionthat I had for helping secure
our country the way I wanted to,I had to step outside the box
and start my own business, andso, in 2017, I started a federal
services company calledIdentity Strategy Partners and
then within that, because I'm alawyer as well compliance issues
(04:32):
around identity emerged.
I became an identity biometricsexpert.
I really focused on thatprimarily, and ZipID is an
evolution of wanting to makesure, and ZipID is an evolution
(05:00):
of wanting to make sure that asolution could come for a very
complex into something thatpotentially could make me happy
and be lucrative and stillprovide value.
So that's what ZipID is for metoday.
So right now, I'm actuallyrunning two companies and
hopefully soon, just one of them, which will be ZipID, but
that's kind of a piece of it.
(05:22):
And then the whole creativepiece of it also feeds, I
believe, strongly into myentrepreneurship too, because
I'm willing to take risks and becreative about the solutions
that I provide.
And that is a different pieceof me but, I think, essential to
who I am.
So very mission driven alwayshave been.
(05:42):
But the commercial sector andentrepreneurship and the new way
allows me to be happier and dosomething really valuable for
the commercial sector when I'vealways focused on government.
So that kind of is an overview,I guess.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
I love that overview, janice.
I'm so appreciative of the waythat you spelled that out and
very appreciative of your workand the fact that, hey, you're
preaching to the choir here asan entrepreneur.
A fellow entrepreneur is thatwe can have so much more impact
when we go out under our ownumbrella.
You and I were joking togetheroff air before we hit record
about the fact that you are asubject matter expert that is so
(06:18):
well established over thecourse of your career, of your
career.
I found clips of you talking onCNN, testifying in front of
Congress, testifying at theUnited Nations and so many
important roles that you'veplayed.
Where my head goes, janice, isI'm just like.
You're so good at all thesethings you do.
I always think about.
If you want to be apractitioner, be a practitioner,
but you, you talk about themaverick inside of you.
(06:38):
You said I also want to be incharge of negotiating contracts
and getting clients and buildingnew tech solutions and
marketing and branding and allof these things.
Where did that come from,janice?
Because I love the fact thatthere was an entrepreneur living
behind all of that subjectmatter expertise you built.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
I think it's the creative piece.
I think it's the creative sideof me.
It's the what more can I do?
How much further can I pushmyself?
Where is my limit?
Am I good at everything, brian?
No, I'm not.
I'm not good at everything, butthere's a lot I am good at.
And what I'm really really goodat and I found out was that,
even though I'm a lawyer bytrade, I'm kind of a solution
(07:18):
engineer in my head.
So I love problems and solvingthem, and I've been doing that
with the government for ages andmaybe I got a little confident
I could do it well and then Iwas like okay, so I can solve
problems.
There's this one particularproblem that ZipID is solving
niche.
I'm killing it.
(07:38):
We're gonna be next generation,the whole thing.
But what more can I do?
How much more can I push myself?
And who do I need to surroundmyself with?
Maybe it's not just thegovernment policy, people.
Maybe the way entrepreneursthink and people who support
entrepreneurs is so different,as you can imagine, from the way
the government thinks.
(07:58):
It's nearly completely theopposite.
I'm much more in line with theway entrepreneurs think than I
am with government, and so I amforcing myself to learn a lot of
things that I haven't before,but I'm also surrounding myself
with the people that know how toget this stuff done when I
don't have the answers.
So branding and that sort ofthing, that's my creative side.
(08:20):
Am I perfect at it?
No, but I have the ideas and Ican help know where to go to get
the help to execute.
So the entrepreneurship pieceof this for me is having a
mission and having a visionthat's bigger than the product
and then being able to executeall of that and seeing what I
(08:40):
can do, and I guess I like totake risk, and that's a big part
of it too.
I don't mind.
I don't mind the risk, I enjoyit.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
So yeah, I love that, janice.
I want to go a little bit deeperinto ZipID because I love that,
that delicate balance that youtalk about between the way that
government thinks and the waythat I'll just lump in
traditional institutions, thinkabout things versus
entrepreneurship.
Because the second our teamlanded on ZipID's website.
First things first.
It looks beautiful and it lookslike something that an
(09:09):
entrepreneur innovates and putsout into the marketplace,
because here we are talkingabout I-9 compliance, which I'm
sure is not the most excitingthing, but, janice, I do want
you, I want you to introducelisteners to that.
But what I want to interjectbefore I toss it back to you is
the fact that you've takensomething like that and applied
technology technology that whenI scroll through your website, I
think to myself.
(09:30):
Obviously I'm far removed fromthe job market, but I think to
myself why is this not the wayit's already existing?
Like thank you, janice, forbringing us into the current in
the future day.
Talk to us about that, becauseit is going into an archaic dare
I say archaic world andapplying entrepreneurial,
innovative thinking to bring anew solution to the market.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Right.
So the super fun part aboutthis is that government can't
get beyond itself.
Often and I've worked deep ingovernment I still contract with
the government.
They can't get out of their ownway.
So the federal government hasput the whole 4-9-9 issue that
you mentioned.
So the federal government hasput on every single employer in
(10:12):
the United States therequirement to legally authorize
their new hires before theystart work, as they start work
within three days of startingwork to be technically compliant
, work within three days ofstarting work to be technically
compliant.
And in doing so you have toprove that the person both has
legal authorization to work andtheir identity.
(10:32):
But the fact of the matter isthe government has provided and
this is part of our secret sauceninety six different compare
IDs to use to complete this form, and then the employer is
supposed to look at those IDsand look at the person and go,
oh yeah, it's the same person.
But you know what if they getit wrong?
(10:53):
That is where worksiteenforcement if you've ever heard
the term immigration and customenforcement doing worksite
enforcement they're doing it onthe I-9.
And if any part of that I-9 isinaccurate, you get fined
extensively.
So to me this is an unfairburden to put on employers.
Why can't the government solvethis?
They have a program calledE-Verify, but E-Verify doesn't
(11:16):
verify identity at all.
It verifies your socialsecurity number and that is it,
and employers don't really knowthat, but that is the truth.
So, basically, what I'm doing isI'm enabling the government to
do what they want it to do buthave never been able to
implement, because they refuseto use the biometric
technologies that are availableand super accurate now to help
(11:39):
do the identity authenticationportion.
So I am providing identityauthentication along with a
completely automated,streamlined, always accurate
completion of this form.
It seems like something thatshould have been done years ago,
but there are a lot of playersin this market and nobody's done
it.
So that's where we're startingwith ZipID.
(12:01):
I have bigger plans in thefuture, but we're starting with
this little form and I'm goingto get this market under my belt
.
And then we're starting withZipID.
I have bigger plans in thefuture, but we're starting with
this little form and I'm gonnaget this market under my belt,
and then we're gonna go furtherthan that.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Yeah, I love that.
Janice, I'm gonna put you alittle bit on the spot for some
of the entrepreneurial mindsetstuff here, because when I look
at the course of your career,you're so comfortable talking
about all things identity, eventhe technicalities the lawyer in
you came out, janice.
When you're talking about thethree-day timeline for I-9
compliance, and when I thinkabout that, your business
obviously is the fruit of somuch of the stuff that you had
(12:31):
done leading up to it.
And I think about allentrepreneurs.
We all have our inner mindsetstruggles when we start our
business of who am I to be doingthis?
And a lot of people willprobably look at your example,
janice, and say, okay,testifying in front of Congress,
testifying in front of theUnited Nations, 9-11 commission
work, all of these things thatyou've done, and they probably
think well, for Janice this iseasy.
All the doors are already opento her.
(12:52):
She's got the credibility,she's got the connections.
Give us the reality.
What's that picture actuallylook like?
Speaker 2 (12:57):
There's a lot of competition.
I'm brand new and you know whenyou're a startup, people worry
about your viability, right,your long-term viability.
So I have to put us on the mapand accelerate us.
The biggest challenge I willsay, brian, is that there are 72
million new hires in the US ayear.
(13:18):
Can you imagine the demographicI'm trying to figure out?
We've got remote, we've gotin-person hires, we've got all
different types of industries inthe US, with all have different
believe it or not customerdiscovery has shown all
different issues with the i9,all different types of pain
points.
So I'm literally trying to ballit all up and give a solution
(13:44):
that bubbles up the biggest painpoints and then also offer
something that nobody everthought was possible, which is
the identity authenticationpiece on top of it.
And we were successful ingetting the federal government
to change the regulation toallow for a digital type of
solution like ours now.
So that was a win.
But, yes, I have thecredibility.
(14:08):
But my other issue is I'm knownin the identity sector and I'm
known in government.
I'm not known in who mydemographic is, who is human
resources.
So I've been working extremelyhard to try to pull my knowledge
of identity and build myfollowing and educational piece
(14:29):
of this which there's a bigeducational piece with this to
the HR world.
But it's a challenge and I amtrying to figure out all the CRM
around this and the best way togo to market and to market this
.
And we have a lot of ideas andwe're bouncing them around.
(14:49):
But, as you know, as anentrepreneur you kind of have to
throw a few things at the walland see what sticks and then go
where your clients want you togo.
And so that's what I'm trying tokeep my ears open to them and
not make this a Jenna show inany stretch of the way.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yeah, really well said.
So many importantconsiderations.
And speaking of challenges,janice, as you were just
rattling some of those off, Iactually hadn't thought of
remote work.
How has that changed?
When I was a teenager andstarted working, you know you go
in and they physically look atall of your documentation I
hadn't even thought about thedifferences of today's work
environment.
That said, you're building atechnology solution around all
(15:27):
of this.
We've all heard the term of MVPminimum viable product.
Janice, how the heck do youeven sit down with such a big
problem?
You're talking tens of millionsof people every single year.
What's your MVP look like?
What did that roadmap to launchlook like?
How did you make sense of it?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
So I was extremely lucky.
There was a senior I hadresponded to a request for
information years ago in thefederal government to this very
large company came to my firm,said can you help us devise a
solution?
They didn't understand what wewere talking about, so we went
off and we submitted our ownresponse and the very, very
(16:04):
senior government official lovedit and when he left he brought
all of his internal knowledge ofthe I-9s, the statistics of how
it was used, what IDs were used, and he and I.
He asked to join the ZipID teamand for about a year and a half
he and I worked on the workflow.
So the point of the workflow isyou don't have to know anything
(16:26):
about this I-9 at all.
Workflow is you don't have toknow anything about this i9 at
all nothing.
You just come in and you justpush buttons and it tells you
what to do and the form will beauto filled.
So that is um, that is sort ofthe core of it.
But what we've done is it'ssuper frictionless.
It's completely built basedupon technology so that all the
(16:49):
information would be autofilledoff of the IDs themselves, which
makes the form accurate.
And then we're doing aone-to-one between a selfie that
we're requiring and the ID sothat the employer can make a
decision if they're confidentthat that person is who they say
they are.
The ID and the selfie match.
And then we're autofillingeverything on the employer's
side and we're fulfilling somepain points that employers have
(17:12):
as well, because not only dothey have the remote worker
issue, they have transparencyacross location issue.
So I talk to many peoplecharter schools, health
organizations that havelocations in multiple states and
they don't know what'shappening in the I-9s in the
other states because othermanagers are doing them and they
(17:35):
know that they're liable ifimmigration and custom
enforcement comes along and doesan audit, they're liable for
anything done wrong in thoseother locations.
So we've built transparencythroughout the entire employer
dashboard.
You know exactly where everyI-9 at every location and which
HR person is working on them.
We give you reminders.
We're audit ready.
(17:56):
We'll retain the data as youneed, all with encryption.
Nothing leaves our platform.
So all personally identifiableinformation is secure is secure.
I used all of my lessons learnedfrom all the failures and
successes of biometric companiesand identity companies that I
know because I know all thevendors, and I put that to work
(18:18):
as well in this solution.
So hopefully I won't have madeany mistakes any huge mistakes
as we launch.
We're not going to be perfectwhen we launch.
We're going to have a verystrong, minimum viable product.
But as development goes, thingsdrop because you can't get it
done on time, and so there willbe details, little details lost,
(18:39):
but we'll catch up to them verysoon after we launch.
Right now we're working to getthose initial clients in and
people are loving what they'reseeing, they're loving the ui.
They're like oh my god, this iswow.
You know five.
We're taking it from about 35minutes to about five minutes
total.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
that's crazy, all right.
Well then, janice, I'm gonnaask you this question that when
I hear cases like this, I'vebeen asking this question more
and more lately, and that is.
It sounds like a no-brainer,like where's the stumbling block
?
Because, for me, obviously I'mnot having these conversations,
I'm just talking to you on apodcast and I'm a big fan of the
work that you do.
Especially, you called out theui.
That's what immediately standsout to me and that's what, for
(19:17):
me, I immediately recognize.
Oh, this is not a governmentsolution, because this actually
looks good and it actuallyfunctions well and it's so clear
to see that.
So, with that said, it sounds tome like if I'm an employer and
I have to fill out the I-9, whywouldn't I use zip ID?
Why wouldn't I go all in onsomething like this?
Talk to me about some of thestumbling blocks or some of the
(19:37):
objections that you've alreadyforeseen and said no, we're
going to have a way tocounteract that and really
penetrate the market.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
So the biggest issue is not my product, because
people really like my product.
The problem is there are thesehuge human resource information
systems that already exist andthey have like a PDF version of
the Form I-9.
It's not worth it to them tolike upset the entire balance of
their entire HR system, whichoften is both onboarding and
(20:05):
then it's onboarding and thenit's payroll as well.
So there's a lot to it's thebamboos and the workdays, those
kinds of ADP.
So, to include the I-9 piece in, I am building the B2B piece of
this, so we'll have threedifferent varieties of B2B APIs
that can be used by these largercompanies.
(20:29):
And we're learning which I wassurprised that background check
companies are also extremelyinterested in what I'm doing
because of the identityauthentication piece of it, that
they can do both onboarding andidentity authentication at the
same time, which is huge to thebackground check folks.
So it turns out I actually havea bigger market than I thought
(20:51):
I had, but it's also a challengebecause they can be kind of
frenemies, right.
Until I make them my friends,they're kind of my enemies,
right.
So that's the biggest challengeI have right now is getting
inserted into a market that'srelatively thick but has poor
I-9 products out there right nowextremely poor actually.
(21:13):
So that's the biggest struggle.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
That's super interesting to hear about the
landscape of it because, you'reright, there's so many different
stakeholders and you can plugin anywhere.
I guess this question is not toJanice, the subject matter
expert, but more towards Janicethe founder, the fellow
entrepreneur, and that is, whenyou look at that landscape, how
do you pick?
I guess it's a question of bothbusiness model as far as
monetization and revenuestrategies, but also, of course,
(21:36):
we all need to pick our idealcustomer and with such a broad
market, it's almost a blessingand a curse.
I would imagine that some daysyou debate yourself internally
of which way should we go?
How do you navigate that?
Speaker 2 (21:46):
So I have spent a tremendous amount of time
exactly on that question.
The customer discovery neverreally clarified who my customer
was, because it was stilleverybody, because every
employer has to do this right.
So the usual thing that you doin entrepreneurial school, right
, is you figure out yourdemographic.
But my demographic has neverreally narrowed.
(22:10):
So what we've done is we'vefocused on the employers out
there who usually have thehighest turnover your
construction industry, yourtravel and industries.
Then there's also a differenttype, which are your technology
companies, who love cutting edgeproducts right and have a lot
(22:33):
of remote workers.
So we have sort of the remotework piece and then we have the
large turnover and hires.
The large turnover and hiresget us a lot of transactions
right, and I need that right tobuild.
But the remote worker, I needthat right to build.
But the remote worker, thetechnology companies, might
gravitate to us, are gravitatingto us because of we're bringing
(22:55):
something new to the table andthey like that.
So it's kind of two separatesegments.
And then we have that thirdsegment which would be our
channel partners, which is ourB2B, and that is going to be our
biggest segment of all.
I think that in the end, isgoing to be our biggest segment
of all.
I think that in the end isgoing to be our biggest segment
of all.
As I see it, those are kind ofour three demographics.
That I would.
(23:15):
Does that answer the question?
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Yeah for sure.
I love hearing the way youthink about it as well, not just
the answer, but I really lovehearing the way you navigate
that.
You already know, janice, howmuch I enjoy switching gears in
these conversations towards theend, which time always flies by
in these episodes but I socherish getting inside the mind
of the entrepreneur as well.
And what's really clear to me,janice, about you is that I
think you share in one of mybeliefs that everything that we
(23:40):
do is a microcosm of life, andbusiness is a microcosm of life,
and you actually you brought itup a few times in our
conversation today about howmuch the creative side of what
you do.
You're obviously a spokensongwriter.
You are a vocalist of trippoetry.
You do so many.
I love youngins these days,generations younger than me.
They call it side quests, and Ilove that concept of doing side
(24:01):
quests, janice.
I know, though, how importantthose so-called side quests are
to your work and the way you seethe world.
Talk to us about that.
I think it's such an importantpart of who you are and how you
operate.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Yeah, so for me for years I'll be completely honest
For years because what I wasdoing publicly, very publicly,
on the policy side, was so heavy.
I was talking about terrorismand border security and identity
and it was super heavy.
And then I had this other side,that was very sort of
intellectual slash, emotional,which was my spoken word and my
poetry.
And I got to this point where,like people at the recording
(24:41):
academy, the Grammys werenoticing me and they asked me to
join up because I was doingsomething that they had never
heard before, which was spokenword, to truly to real music,
right, like writing music aroundthe spoken word and the poetry
which hadn't been done quite theway that I do it.
And so that piece of it I keptthem really separate for a long
(25:05):
time because, you know, whenyou're very public, not
everybody wants to approve ofwhat you're doing and when
you're in a very stateenvironment like DC, being
creative is is some peopleconsider a no-no.
But more recently I've, inrecent years, I decided to let
go of the concern that peopleknew that I was an artist as
(25:28):
well and allow them to begin tomerge, and so that is where I
get the spoken, the narrativefor historical writing, etc.
It drives me when I go to do mywork for ZipID every morning.
Morning, the first thing I thinkis what the creative side it
(25:51):
always is that it's the branding, it's the marketing, it's how
I'm stating our vision, it's howI'm talking to other people,
what we're doing there, and thenI'm letting sort of other
people take care of the financesand that sort of thing.
But it's sort of the marryingof a vision and purpose vision
(26:14):
purpose product, vision purposeproduct and it all.
If I'm doing something creative, it's still vision purpose
product.
If I'm doing zip ID, it's stillvision purpose product.
If I'm talking before theSenate, it's still vision
purpose the, you know theproduct being the idea right.
So it all is kind of the samething, but it's just different
(26:37):
wheels turning on differentvehicles a little bit, but it's
in the end it's kind of the samefor me.
I think my mind just works likethat.
I think that answers yourquestion.
Yeah, I'm gonna put you on thespot here, janice.
I've never asked anyone thisquestion, but I think my mind
just works like that.
I think that answers yourquestion.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Yeah, I'm going to put you on the spot here, janice
.
I've never asked anyone thisquestion, but I think that you
are the perfect one to talkdirectly to our audience about
this.
It's not the most fully fleshedout question, but I trust that
you'll understand where I'mgoing with it.
When I hear you talk about this, what I really hear and
obviously I'm tying it in withthe background information that
I have about you and I know thatpart of your superpower is
(27:10):
getting people on board with agood idea, and I would argue
that that's an essential partfor every single one of us as
entrepreneurs, as leaders, justas people on this planet.
And so when I combine it withthe things that you just shared
with us, what I really hear isyou own your voice and you've
stepped into your voice.
And, janice, I will say, as apodcaster, I'm fully aware of
(27:33):
the moment when that happened.
For me, it was not episode one,it was not when I hit record
for the first time.
It was a few hundred episodesin, because you get used to it.
How often, colloquially, do wehear people say, oh, I hate the
sound of my own voice?
And to me I'm just like, oh, no, but your voice is your power.
Your voice can do so much goodwith the world.
Janice, how would you, what's,what's your insights in helping
people to navigate to that point?
(27:53):
Because our voice is part ofthat power in convincing others
of good ideas, in moving people,in getting people to feel the
way that we want to invite themto feel.
But the voice is such asensitive topic for most people.
What would you say on thattopic?
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Oh geez.
So that's a really interestingquestion and one that requires
some really good thought.
But let me see if I canarticulate a little bit of where
to go here.
I think the biggest piece isthat you've got to have in your
gut, in your heart, in your mind, why you're doing what you're
doing and when you start withthe place of I'm doing something
(28:34):
valuable and that meanssomething to other people and it
provides value to other peopleinto my world.
That voice has to come out.
So is it easy?
No, you need to build yourfacts.
You need to hone and hone andhone.
Even today, when I was gettingready for this interview, I
(28:56):
wrote a whole bunch of notes andthen I rewrote them, and then I
got it down to a few sentencesand I rewrote again.
I'm not sure I said any of whatI wrote down, but it.
Let me think through what I'mdoing.
Preparation means something.
Yes, go with your gut, butpreparation matters.
Knowing what you're talkingabout matters and feeling it
(29:19):
matters.
It is true not to overthink,but you got to think, you do
have to think, and then you haveto believe, with that passion
of what it is, that you're doing, Not angrily.
And another thing is balance,and I think we've lost balance
and diplomacy in our societyvery much these days.
(29:40):
And it's very sad for me to saybut you're most influential
when you're balanced in what yousay, when people are not
rocking back on their heelsgoing oh no right, they're not
putting their hands up, they'regoing wait what?
And they're leaning in.
So be balanced, be clear, bethoughtful and know what you're
(30:01):
doing is of value, and if it'snot a value, maybe you keep it
to yourself.
But if you really think it's avalue, then figure out how to
articulate it and practice it.
Practice does make, maybe notperfect, but better.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
So so well said, Janice.
Listeners know that there areno pre-planned questions here on
the show and I love the factthat you shared with listeners.
Yeah, of course you have noteson your end and you have an idea
and a direction, but ultimately, ultimately, what I'm really
hearing from so many of youranswers here today is the belief
, the conviction, the why thatyou spoke about.
That's what guides so much ofit and I will say it's a
(30:38):
personal point of pride when Ihear that guests come on the
show with some preparation andthen they're like I didn't end
up saying any of these thingsand it's because we trust we go
where the conversation has thatgood, juicy stuff waiting.
And I know that listeners aregoing to deeply resonate with
what you just shared, because itis hard and I love the fact
that you and I are calling thisout on a podcast episode that
neither of us were born here andit was a lot of reps, a lot of
(31:00):
ugly reps, bad reps.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
And I will say, brian , like I never expected in the
world to ever be a public figureever, I was a staff lawyer in
the Senate before 9-11 happened.
I got dragged to testify beforethe Senate and that's, and, with
all the cameras and everything,and I managed to hold my own
and I ended up on national TVthat night and then I became a
(31:23):
darling of national TV for thenext 10 years, from about 2004
to 2014 or so, and so I never,ever expected, as a mom of three
kids, to be doing what I do fora living, and I feel incredibly
blessed and incredibly honoredto have had the career I have.
(31:45):
But being an entrepreneur willlet me go a whole entrepreneur
in a different way than I havebeen to date, and doing the work
that I'm doing now is a way toreally spread my wings in a way
that is mine and still valuablefor the rest of the world,
instead of just being about therest of the world, and it's just
(32:07):
so exciting for me to be ableto share those thoughts, but any
, there's so many people havegreat ideas and you know, making
sure that that idea has valuein the world.
People call it doing customerdiscovery, or discovering the
pain points or whatever, soimportant.
So yeah, no, be convicted inwhat you do, but be, be
(32:31):
diplomatic, and people willresonate with you a whole lot
more.
Um, I, that one I just have tokeep saying because you are that
way, but we're.
We hear a lot of things thesedays that are very vitriolic.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
Yeah, and Janice, I'll I'll tag onto that.
This is just going to be youand I really hammering this
point home together.
But I'll say, early on in myentrepreneurial career I'm 17
plus years into this journey andI felt like I didn't fit in
because so much of the marketingadvice out there is about you
have to be polarizing, you haveto push people away so that you
draw people in, and I was justlike no, I like university.
(33:07):
I enjoy people feeling betterafter they encounter me and
that's part of the role that Iplay.
And, janice, it's so cool tohear that from your vantage
point, someone who has worked inDC so extensively, someone who
is in probably the mostpolarizing industry of all when
it comes to policy and all ofthat, so that's such an
important takeaway.
I'm only going to put you on thespot one more time.
(33:28):
It's the only question that Iask at the end of every episode.
I don't know how you're goingto top what you've already
shared, but I do want to ask youfor your one best piece of
advice Knowing that we're beinglistened to by both
entrepreneurs and entrepreneursat all different stages of their
own growth journeys.
They're all going to have a lotof takeaways from this, janice,
but what's the one thing youwant to leave them with today?
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Believe in what you do.
Believe in what you do becausethere's a lot of risk, there's a
lot of money you put on theline, there's a lot of adversity
that's coming at you from a lotof different places, and if you
don't know in your gut thatwhat you're doing is powerful,
you're not going to make it.
You have to wake up every dayand and be able to put aside the
(34:10):
adversity and march forward.
And um, yeah, that's what I Iwould say is you, you need to
believe in your gut and whatyou're doing.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Boom.
I love that.
Believe it not just throughwords, but believe it down to
your very bones.
That is so important for all ofus, janice, and it's not
something we can do once.
We have to constantly go therewith ourselves and check in, so
I love that advice for ourlisteners.
I'm super excited to followyour journey from here.
I know that listeners are goingto want to check out.
I've tooted your horn quite abit as far as the UI perspective
(34:41):
I want people to see the UI,because it's so different from
what we're used to in thesearchaic ways of doing things,
especially when it comes tocompliance.
So, janice, for all thelisteners who want to see it in
action, drop those links on us.
Where should listeners go fromhere?
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Okay, so our website is zipidappcom
Z-I-P-I-D-A-P-Pcom.
You can also find me onLinkedIn under Janice Kephart,
and I'm sure Brian will bespelling out my name.
Find me on LinkedIn.
I also have a sub stack where Ido talk about technology and
politics and it's called apolitics and poetry the Janice
(35:20):
Kephartcom on sub stack.
So yeah, and we're happy tostart.
We're doing demos now.
I'm happy to take peoplethrough it and if they have
compliance issues, a lot of HRpeople are not fond of the Form
I-9.
So if there are any HR peopleout there listening or other
companies that are interested inwhat we're doing, come find me
(35:42):
and we'll get you hooked up.
It's at bydcom.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Listeners, you already know the drill.
Janice made my life easy fromher radio work.
She knows that we're droppingall that information down below
in the show notes.
You don't have to rememberanything, especially if you're
on the go.
Check out the show notes, nomatter where it is that you're
tuning into today's episode.
You can click right on throughto ZipID's website.
We're also linking to Janice'spersonal LinkedIn, as well as
her sub stack and all thoselinks that she just mentioned.
So check the show notes outdown below.
(36:07):
Otherwise, janice, on behalf ofmyself and all the listeners
worldwide, thanks so much forcoming on the show today.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Thank you so much, Brian.
It was really a joy.
It really was.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
Hey, it's Brian here and thanks for tuning in to yet
another episode of theWantrepreneur to Entrepreneur
podcast.
If you haven't checked us outonline, there's so much good
stuff there.
Check out the show's websiteand all the show notes that we
talked about in today's episodeat thewantrepreneurshowcom.
And I just want to give a shoutout to our amazing guests.
There's a reason why we are adfree and have produced so many
(36:40):
incredible episodes five days aweek for you, and it's because
our guests step up to the plate.
These are not sponsoredepisodes.
These are not infomercials.
Our guests help us cover thecosts of our productions.
They so deeply believe in thepower of getting their message
out in front of you, awesomeentrepreneurs and entrepreneurs,
that they contribute to help usmake these productions possible
(37:03):
.
So thank you to not onlytoday's guests, but all of our
guests in general, and I justwant to invite you check out our
website because you can send usa voicemail there.
We also have live chat.
If you want to interactdirectly with me, go to
thewantrepreneurshowcom.
Initiate a live chat.
It's for real me, and I'mexcited because I'll see you, as
always every Monday, wednesday,friday, saturday and Sunday
(37:26):
here on the Wantrepreneur to
Hey, what is up?
Welcome to this episode of theEntrepreneur to Entrepreneur
podcast.
As always, I'm your host, brianLoFermento, and we are all in
for such a treat in today'sepisode because we have got an
incredible guest whose work hasimpacted, quite frankly, all of
us, every single person here inthe United States of America if
you're tuning in from the US,which I know a lot of you are
(00:21):
and also, this is someone who isa pioneer in her industry, and
what I love about that is sheisn't just a pioneer because
she's got the skills, she's gotthe experience, but also because
she's one of us, she's a fellowentrepreneur who has realized
wait, I know all of these things, let me be even more impactful
under my own business androlling out new technologies,
new solutions, into the world.
(00:41):
So let me introduce you totoday's guest.
Her name is Janice Kephart.
Janice is a national securityand identity expert with over
two decades of experience inidentity policy and biometric
solutions.
If it sounds super complicated,janice is going to take away a
lot of the confusion there.
She served as border counsel tothe 9-11 Commission and has
(01:01):
testified before the US Congressand the UN Security Council on
issues of identity and nationalsecurity.
Janice is also the CEO ofIdentity Strategy Partners and
the founder of ZipID, which I'mso excited to hear about that
business.
Beyond her expertise in nationalsecurity, she's a spoken word
artist and narrator.
She's super talented in all theways.
(01:22):
This is someone who's appearedon TV, on a radio in so many
capacities made it really easyto research her body of work up
to this point.
She's also released anaudiobook of her great
grandfather's work, cherokees ofthe smoky mountains.
I'm personally so excited tohear all the things that go on
inside of janice's head.
We're all in for a treat today.
I'm not gonna going to sayanything else.
(01:42):
Let's dive straight into myinterview with Janice Kephart.
All right, janice, I am so veryexcited that you're here with
us today.
First things first, welcome tothe show.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Thanks so much for having me.
This is going to be a lot offun.
I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Heck, yes.
Well, the first very fun partis I feel like I had to boil
down all the cool things thatyou've done into just a short
little snippet.
So take us beyond that snippet.
Who's Janice?
How did you get into all thesecool things?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
So actually it's an interesting story.
Maybe I got into the issues ofcounterterrorism and identity.
It started way back when in the1993 World Trade Center bombing
my brother-in-law was in thebuilding at the time.
He ended up passing away a fewmonths later from complications
of the smoke inhalation and Inever forgot how it felt to not
(02:36):
hear from him until five o'clockthat that event happened in
February 1993 at the World TradeCenter bomb.
The Trade Center bombingterrorists had detonated a park
truck underneath the buildingand it was happened at about
nine o'clock in the morning.
We didn't hear from him until5pm and then in May of that year
(02:57):
he passed away fromcomplications from the smoke
inhalation.
So it was very tragic and Ialways held that with me.
And when I had the opportunityto work for the US Senate
Judiciary Committee I wasstrangely and maybe karmically,
assigned to the CounterterrorismSubcommittee and Technology.
It was the CounterterrorismTechnology Subcommittee on
(03:26):
issues of terrorism there andbrought forward a lot of
information that was not knownat that time about foreign
terrorist activity in the UnitedStates.
And then when 9-11 happened Iwas very privileged and honored
to be able to support the 9-11Commission in their
investigation.
So in the course of all thatinvestigation, it became very
clear that the solutions tothings were not just policy.
The solutions to things that Iwas dealing with had base in
(03:51):
technology as well, and so Ibecame sort of this techno
policy expert, translatingtechnology and policy and facts
for the greater good of ourcountry.
But being a bit of a maverickand stepping outside of that, I
realized that there was only somuch good I could do within the
confines of the governmentitself.
(04:11):
To really pursue the visionthat I had for helping secure
our country the way I wanted to,I had to step outside the box
and start my own business, andso, in 2017, I started a federal
services company calledIdentity Strategy Partners and
then within that, because I'm alawyer as well compliance issues
(04:32):
around identity emerged.
I became an identity biometricsexpert.
I really focused on thatprimarily, and ZipID is an
evolution of wanting to makesure, and ZipID is an evolution
(05:00):
of wanting to make sure that asolution could come for a very
complex into something thatpotentially could make me happy
and be lucrative and stillprovide value.
So that's what ZipID is for metoday.
So right now, I'm actuallyrunning two companies and
hopefully soon, just one of them, which will be ZipID, but
that's kind of a piece of it.
(05:22):
And then the whole creativepiece of it also feeds, I
believe, strongly into myentrepreneurship too, because
I'm willing to take risks and becreative about the solutions
that I provide.
And that is a different pieceof me but, I think, essential to
who I am.
So very mission driven alwayshave been.
(05:42):
But the commercial sector andentrepreneurship and the new way
allows me to be happier and dosomething really valuable for
the commercial sector when I'vealways focused on government.
So that kind of is an overview,I guess.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
I love that overview, janice.
I'm so appreciative of the waythat you spelled that out and
very appreciative of your workand the fact that, hey, you're
preaching to the choir here asan entrepreneur.
A fellow entrepreneur is thatwe can have so much more impact
when we go out under our ownumbrella.
You and I were joking togetheroff air before we hit record
about the fact that you are asubject matter expert that is so
(06:18):
well established over thecourse of your career, of your
career.
I found clips of you talking onCNN, testifying in front of
Congress, testifying at theUnited Nations and so many
important roles that you'veplayed.
Where my head goes, janice, isI'm just like.
You're so good at all thesethings you do.
I always think about.
If you want to be apractitioner, be a practitioner,
but you, you talk about themaverick inside of you.
(06:38):
You said I also want to be incharge of negotiating contracts
and getting clients and buildingnew tech solutions and
marketing and branding and allof these things.
Where did that come from,janice?
Because I love the fact thatthere was an entrepreneur living
behind all of that subjectmatter expertise you built.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
I think it's the creative piece.
I think it's the creative sideof me.
It's the what more can I do?
How much further can I pushmyself?
Where is my limit?
Am I good at everything, brian?
No, I'm not.
I'm not good at everything, butthere's a lot I am good at.
And what I'm really really goodat and I found out was that,
even though I'm a lawyer bytrade, I'm kind of a solution
(07:18):
engineer in my head.
So I love problems and solvingthem, and I've been doing that
with the government for ages andmaybe I got a little confident
I could do it well and then Iwas like okay, so I can solve
problems.
There's this one particularproblem that ZipID is solving
niche.
I'm killing it.
(07:38):
We're gonna be next generation,the whole thing.
But what more can I do?
How much more can I push myself?
And who do I need to surroundmyself with?
Maybe it's not just thegovernment policy, people.
Maybe the way entrepreneursthink and people who support
entrepreneurs is so different,as you can imagine, from the way
the government thinks.
(07:58):
It's nearly completely theopposite.
I'm much more in line with theway entrepreneurs think than I
am with government, and so I amforcing myself to learn a lot of
things that I haven't before,but I'm also surrounding myself
with the people that know how toget this stuff done when I
don't have the answers.
So branding and that sort ofthing, that's my creative side.
(08:20):
Am I perfect at it?
No, but I have the ideas and Ican help know where to go to get
the help to execute.
So the entrepreneurship pieceof this for me is having a
mission and having a visionthat's bigger than the product
and then being able to executeall of that and seeing what I
(08:40):
can do, and I guess I like totake risk, and that's a big part
of it too.
I don't mind.
I don't mind the risk, I enjoyit.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
So yeah, I love that, janice.
I want to go a little bit deeperinto ZipID because I love that,
that delicate balance that youtalk about between the way that
government thinks and the waythat I'll just lump in
traditional institutions, thinkabout things versus
entrepreneurship.
Because the second our teamlanded on ZipID's website.
First things first.
It looks beautiful and it lookslike something that an
(09:09):
entrepreneur innovates and putsout into the marketplace,
because here we are talkingabout I-9 compliance, which I'm
sure is not the most excitingthing, but, janice, I do want
you, I want you to introducelisteners to that.
But what I want to interjectbefore I toss it back to you is
the fact that you've takensomething like that and applied
technology technology that whenI scroll through your website, I
think to myself.
(09:30):
Obviously I'm far removed fromthe job market, but I think to
myself why is this not the wayit's already existing?
Like thank you, janice, forbringing us into the current in
the future day.
Talk to us about that, becauseit is going into an archaic dare
I say archaic world andapplying entrepreneurial,
innovative thinking to bring anew solution to the market.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Right.
So the super fun part aboutthis is that government can't
get beyond itself.
Often and I've worked deep ingovernment I still contract with
the government.
They can't get out of their ownway.
So the federal government hasput the whole 4-9-9 issue that
you mentioned.
So the federal government hasput on every single employer in
(10:12):
the United States therequirement to legally authorize
their new hires before theystart work, as they start work
within three days of startingwork to be technically compliant
, work within three days ofstarting work to be technically
compliant.
And in doing so you have toprove that the person both has
legal authorization to work andtheir identity.
(10:32):
But the fact of the matter isthe government has provided and
this is part of our secret sauceninety six different compare
IDs to use to complete this form, and then the employer is
supposed to look at those IDsand look at the person and go,
oh yeah, it's the same person.
But you know what if they getit wrong?
(10:53):
That is where worksiteenforcement if you've ever heard
the term immigration and customenforcement doing worksite
enforcement they're doing it onthe I-9.
And if any part of that I-9 isinaccurate, you get fined
extensively.
So to me this is an unfairburden to put on employers.
Why can't the government solvethis?
They have a program calledE-Verify, but E-Verify doesn't
(11:16):
verify identity at all.
It verifies your socialsecurity number and that is it,
and employers don't really knowthat, but that is the truth.
So, basically, what I'm doing isI'm enabling the government to
do what they want it to do buthave never been able to
implement, because they refuseto use the biometric
technologies that are availableand super accurate now to help
(11:39):
do the identity authenticationportion.
So I am providing identityauthentication along with a
completely automated,streamlined, always accurate
completion of this form.
It seems like something thatshould have been done years ago,
but there are a lot of playersin this market and nobody's done
it.
So that's where we're startingwith ZipID.
(12:01):
I have bigger plans in thefuture, but we're starting with
this little form and I'm goingto get this market under my belt
.
And then we're starting withZipID.
I have bigger plans in thefuture, but we're starting with
this little form and I'm gonnaget this market under my belt,
and then we're gonna go furtherthan that.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Yeah, I love that.
Janice, I'm gonna put you alittle bit on the spot for some
of the entrepreneurial mindsetstuff here, because when I look
at the course of your career,you're so comfortable talking
about all things identity, eventhe technicalities the lawyer in
you came out, janice.
When you're talking about thethree-day timeline for I-9
compliance, and when I thinkabout that, your business
obviously is the fruit of somuch of the stuff that you had
(12:31):
done leading up to it.
And I think about allentrepreneurs.
We all have our inner mindsetstruggles when we start our
business of who am I to be doingthis?
And a lot of people willprobably look at your example,
janice, and say, okay,testifying in front of Congress,
testifying in front of theUnited Nations, 9-11 commission
work, all of these things thatyou've done, and they probably
think well, for Janice this iseasy.
All the doors are already opento her.
(12:52):
She's got the credibility,she's got the connections.
Give us the reality.
What's that picture actuallylook like?
Speaker 2 (12:57):
There's a lot of competition.
I'm brand new and you know whenyou're a startup, people worry
about your viability, right,your long-term viability.
So I have to put us on the mapand accelerate us.
The biggest challenge I willsay, brian, is that there are 72
million new hires in the US ayear.
(13:18):
Can you imagine the demographicI'm trying to figure out?
We've got remote, we've gotin-person hires, we've got all
different types of industries inthe US, with all have different
believe it or not customerdiscovery has shown all
different issues with the i9,all different types of pain
points.
So I'm literally trying to ballit all up and give a solution
(13:44):
that bubbles up the biggest painpoints and then also offer
something that nobody everthought was possible, which is
the identity authenticationpiece on top of it.
And we were successful ingetting the federal government
to change the regulation toallow for a digital type of
solution like ours now.
So that was a win.
But, yes, I have thecredibility.
(14:08):
But my other issue is I'm knownin the identity sector and I'm
known in government.
I'm not known in who mydemographic is, who is human
resources.
So I've been working extremelyhard to try to pull my knowledge
of identity and build myfollowing and educational piece
(14:29):
of this which there's a bigeducational piece with this to
the HR world.
But it's a challenge and I amtrying to figure out all the CRM
around this and the best way togo to market and to market this
.
And we have a lot of ideas andwe're bouncing them around.
(14:49):
But, as you know, as anentrepreneur you kind of have to
throw a few things at the walland see what sticks and then go
where your clients want you togo.
And so that's what I'm trying tokeep my ears open to them and
not make this a Jenna show inany stretch of the way.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yeah, really well said.
So many importantconsiderations.
And speaking of challenges,janice, as you were just
rattling some of those off, Iactually hadn't thought of
remote work.
How has that changed?
When I was a teenager andstarted working, you know you go
in and they physically look atall of your documentation I
hadn't even thought about thedifferences of today's work
environment.
That said, you're building atechnology solution around all
(15:27):
of this.
We've all heard the term of MVPminimum viable product.
Janice, how the heck do youeven sit down with such a big
problem?
You're talking tens of millionsof people every single year.
What's your MVP look like?
What did that roadmap to launchlook like?
How did you make sense of it?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
So I was extremely lucky.
There was a senior I hadresponded to a request for
information years ago in thefederal government to this very
large company came to my firm,said can you help us devise a
solution?
They didn't understand what wewere talking about, so we went
off and we submitted our ownresponse and the very, very
(16:04):
senior government official lovedit and when he left he brought
all of his internal knowledge ofthe I-9s, the statistics of how
it was used, what IDs were used, and he and I.
He asked to join the ZipID teamand for about a year and a half
he and I worked on the workflow.
So the point of the workflow isyou don't have to know anything
(16:26):
about this I-9 at all.
Workflow is you don't have toknow anything about this i9 at
all nothing.
You just come in and you justpush buttons and it tells you
what to do and the form will beauto filled.
So that is um, that is sort ofthe core of it.
But what we've done is it'ssuper frictionless.
It's completely built basedupon technology so that all the
(16:49):
information would be autofilledoff of the IDs themselves, which
makes the form accurate.
And then we're doing aone-to-one between a selfie that
we're requiring and the ID sothat the employer can make a
decision if they're confidentthat that person is who they say
they are.
The ID and the selfie match.
And then we're autofillingeverything on the employer's
side and we're fulfilling somepain points that employers have
(17:12):
as well, because not only dothey have the remote worker
issue, they have transparencyacross location issue.
So I talk to many peoplecharter schools, health
organizations that havelocations in multiple states and
they don't know what'shappening in the I-9s in the
other states because othermanagers are doing them and they
(17:35):
know that they're liable ifimmigration and custom
enforcement comes along and doesan audit, they're liable for
anything done wrong in thoseother locations.
So we've built transparencythroughout the entire employer
dashboard.
You know exactly where everyI-9 at every location and which
HR person is working on them.
We give you reminders.
We're audit ready.
(17:56):
We'll retain the data as youneed, all with encryption.
Nothing leaves our platform.
So all personally identifiableinformation is secure is secure.
I used all of my lessons learnedfrom all the failures and
successes of biometric companiesand identity companies that I
know because I know all thevendors, and I put that to work
(18:18):
as well in this solution.
So hopefully I won't have madeany mistakes any huge mistakes
as we launch.
We're not going to be perfectwhen we launch.
We're going to have a verystrong, minimum viable product.
But as development goes, thingsdrop because you can't get it
done on time, and so there willbe details, little details lost,
(18:39):
but we'll catch up to them verysoon after we launch.
Right now we're working to getthose initial clients in and
people are loving what they'reseeing, they're loving the ui.
They're like oh my god, this iswow.
You know five.
We're taking it from about 35minutes to about five minutes
total.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
that's crazy, all right.
Well then, janice, I'm gonnaask you this question that when
I hear cases like this, I'vebeen asking this question more
and more lately, and that is.
It sounds like a no-brainer,like where's the stumbling block
?
Because, for me, obviously I'mnot having these conversations,
I'm just talking to you on apodcast and I'm a big fan of the
work that you do.
Especially, you called out theui.
That's what immediately standsout to me and that's what, for
(19:17):
me, I immediately recognize.
Oh, this is not a governmentsolution, because this actually
looks good and it actuallyfunctions well and it's so clear
to see that.
So, with that said, it sounds tome like if I'm an employer and
I have to fill out the I-9, whywouldn't I use zip ID?
Why wouldn't I go all in onsomething like this?
Talk to me about some of thestumbling blocks or some of the
(19:37):
objections that you've alreadyforeseen and said no, we're
going to have a way tocounteract that and really
penetrate the market.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
So the biggest issue is not my product, because
people really like my product.
The problem is there are thesehuge human resource information
systems that already exist andthey have like a PDF version of
the Form I-9.
It's not worth it to them tolike upset the entire balance of
their entire HR system, whichoften is both onboarding and
(20:05):
then it's onboarding and thenit's payroll as well.
So there's a lot to it's thebamboos and the workdays, those
kinds of ADP.
So, to include the I-9 piece in, I am building the B2B piece of
this, so we'll have threedifferent varieties of B2B APIs
that can be used by these largercompanies.
(20:29):
And we're learning which I wassurprised that background check
companies are also extremelyinterested in what I'm doing
because of the identityauthentication piece of it, that
they can do both onboarding andidentity authentication at the
same time, which is huge to thebackground check folks.
So it turns out I actually havea bigger market than I thought
(20:51):
I had, but it's also a challengebecause they can be kind of
frenemies, right.
Until I make them my friends,they're kind of my enemies,
right.
So that's the biggest challengeI have right now is getting
inserted into a market that'srelatively thick but has poor
I-9 products out there right nowextremely poor actually.
(21:13):
So that's the biggest struggle.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
That's super interesting to hear about the
landscape of it because, you'reright, there's so many different
stakeholders and you can plugin anywhere.
I guess this question is not toJanice, the subject matter
expert, but more towards Janicethe founder, the fellow
entrepreneur, and that is, whenyou look at that landscape, how
do you pick?
I guess it's a question of bothbusiness model as far as
monetization and revenuestrategies, but also, of course,
(21:36):
we all need to pick our idealcustomer and with such a broad
market, it's almost a blessingand a curse.
I would imagine that some daysyou debate yourself internally
of which way should we go?
How do you navigate that?
Speaker 2 (21:46):
So I have spent a tremendous amount of time
exactly on that question.
The customer discovery neverreally clarified who my customer
was, because it was stilleverybody, because every
employer has to do this right.
So the usual thing that you doin entrepreneurial school, right
, is you figure out yourdemographic.
But my demographic has neverreally narrowed.
(22:10):
So what we've done is we'vefocused on the employers out
there who usually have thehighest turnover your
construction industry, yourtravel and industries.
Then there's also a differenttype, which are your technology
companies, who love cutting edgeproducts right and have a lot
(22:33):
of remote workers.
So we have sort of the remotework piece and then we have the
large turnover and hires.
The large turnover and hiresget us a lot of transactions
right, and I need that right tobuild.
But the remote worker, I needthat right to build.
But the remote worker, thetechnology companies, might
gravitate to us, are gravitatingto us because of we're bringing
(22:55):
something new to the table andthey like that.
So it's kind of two separatesegments.
And then we have that thirdsegment which would be our
channel partners, which is ourB2B, and that is going to be our
biggest segment of all.
I think that in the end, isgoing to be our biggest segment
of all.
I think that in the end isgoing to be our biggest segment
of all.
As I see it, those are kind ofour three demographics.
That I would.
(23:15):
Does that answer the question?
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Yeah for sure.
I love hearing the way youthink about it as well, not just
the answer, but I really lovehearing the way you navigate
that.
You already know, janice, howmuch I enjoy switching gears in
these conversations towards theend, which time always flies by
in these episodes but I socherish getting inside the mind
of the entrepreneur as well.
And what's really clear to me,janice, about you is that I
think you share in one of mybeliefs that everything that we
(23:40):
do is a microcosm of life, andbusiness is a microcosm of life,
and you actually you brought itup a few times in our
conversation today about howmuch the creative side of what
you do.
You're obviously a spokensongwriter.
You are a vocalist of trippoetry.
You do so many.
I love youngins these days,generations younger than me.
They call it side quests, and Ilove that concept of doing side
(24:01):
quests, janice.
I know, though, how importantthose so-called side quests are
to your work and the way you seethe world.
Talk to us about that.
I think it's such an importantpart of who you are and how you
operate.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Yeah, so for me for years I'll be completely honest
For years because what I wasdoing publicly, very publicly,
on the policy side, was so heavy.
I was talking about terrorismand border security and identity
and it was super heavy.
And then I had this other side,that was very sort of
intellectual slash, emotional,which was my spoken word and my
poetry.
And I got to this point where,like people at the recording
(24:41):
academy, the Grammys werenoticing me and they asked me to
join up because I was doingsomething that they had never
heard before, which was spokenword, to truly to real music,
right, like writing music aroundthe spoken word and the poetry
which hadn't been done quite theway that I do it.
And so that piece of it I keptthem really separate for a long
(25:05):
time because, you know, whenyou're very public, not
everybody wants to approve ofwhat you're doing and when
you're in a very stateenvironment like DC, being
creative is is some peopleconsider a no-no.
But more recently I've, inrecent years, I decided to let
go of the concern that peopleknew that I was an artist as
(25:28):
well and allow them to begin tomerge, and so that is where I
get the spoken, the narrativefor historical writing, etc.
It drives me when I go to do mywork for ZipID every morning.
Morning, the first thing I thinkis what the creative side it
(25:51):
always is that it's the branding, it's the marketing, it's how
I'm stating our vision, it's howI'm talking to other people,
what we're doing there, and thenI'm letting sort of other
people take care of the financesand that sort of thing.
But it's sort of the marryingof a vision and purpose vision
(26:14):
purpose product, vision purposeproduct and it all.
If I'm doing something creative, it's still vision purpose
product.
If I'm doing zip ID, it's stillvision purpose product.
If I'm talking before theSenate, it's still vision
purpose the, you know theproduct being the idea right.
So it all is kind of the samething, but it's just different
(26:37):
wheels turning on differentvehicles a little bit, but it's
in the end it's kind of the samefor me.
I think my mind just works likethat.
I think that answers yourquestion.
Yeah, I'm gonna put you on thespot here, janice.
I've never asked anyone thisquestion, but I think my mind
just works like that.
I think that answers yourquestion.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Yeah, I'm going to put you on the spot here, janice
.
I've never asked anyone thisquestion, but I think that you
are the perfect one to talkdirectly to our audience about
this.
It's not the most fully fleshedout question, but I trust that
you'll understand where I'mgoing with it.
When I hear you talk about this, what I really hear and
obviously I'm tying it in withthe background information that
I have about you and I know thatpart of your superpower is
(27:10):
getting people on board with agood idea, and I would argue
that that's an essential partfor every single one of us as
entrepreneurs, as leaders, justas people on this planet.
And so when I combine it withthe things that you just shared
with us, what I really hear isyou own your voice and you've
stepped into your voice.
And, janice, I will say, as apodcaster, I'm fully aware of
(27:33):
the moment when that happened.
For me, it was not episode one,it was not when I hit record
for the first time.
It was a few hundred episodesin, because you get used to it.
How often, colloquially, do wehear people say, oh, I hate the
sound of my own voice?
And to me I'm just like, oh, no, but your voice is your power.
Your voice can do so much goodwith the world.
Janice, how would you, what's,what's your insights in helping
people to navigate to that point?
(27:53):
Because our voice is part ofthat power in convincing others
of good ideas, in moving people,in getting people to feel the
way that we want to invite themto feel.
But the voice is such asensitive topic for most people.
What would you say on thattopic?
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Oh geez.
So that's a really interestingquestion and one that requires
some really good thought.
But let me see if I canarticulate a little bit of where
to go here.
I think the biggest piece isthat you've got to have in your
gut, in your heart, in your mind, why you're doing what you're
doing and when you start withthe place of I'm doing something
(28:34):
valuable and that meanssomething to other people and it
provides value to other peopleinto my world.
That voice has to come out.
So is it easy?
No, you need to build yourfacts.
You need to hone and hone andhone.
Even today, when I was gettingready for this interview, I
(28:56):
wrote a whole bunch of notes andthen I rewrote them, and then I
got it down to a few sentencesand I rewrote again.
I'm not sure I said any of whatI wrote down, but it.
Let me think through what I'mdoing.
Preparation means something.
Yes, go with your gut, butpreparation matters.
Knowing what you're talkingabout matters and feeling it
(29:19):
matters.
It is true not to overthink,but you got to think, you do
have to think, and then you haveto believe, with that passion
of what it is, that you're doing, Not angrily.
And another thing is balance,and I think we've lost balance
and diplomacy in our societyvery much these days.
(29:40):
And it's very sad for me to saybut you're most influential
when you're balanced in what yousay, when people are not
rocking back on their heelsgoing oh no right, they're not
putting their hands up, they'regoing wait what?
And they're leaning in.
So be balanced, be clear, bethoughtful and know what you're
(30:01):
doing is of value, and if it'snot a value, maybe you keep it
to yourself.
But if you really think it's avalue, then figure out how to
articulate it and practice it.
Practice does make, maybe notperfect, but better.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
So so well said, Janice.
Listeners know that there areno pre-planned questions here on
the show and I love the factthat you shared with listeners.
Yeah, of course you have noteson your end and you have an idea
and a direction, but ultimately, ultimately, what I'm really
hearing from so many of youranswers here today is the belief
, the conviction, the why thatyou spoke about.
That's what guides so much ofit and I will say it's a
(30:38):
personal point of pride when Ihear that guests come on the
show with some preparation andthen they're like I didn't end
up saying any of these thingsand it's because we trust we go
where the conversation has thatgood, juicy stuff waiting.
And I know that listeners aregoing to deeply resonate with
what you just shared, because itis hard and I love the fact
that you and I are calling thisout on a podcast episode that
neither of us were born here andit was a lot of reps, a lot of
(31:00):
ugly reps, bad reps.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
And I will say, brian , like I never expected in the
world to ever be a public figureever, I was a staff lawyer in
the Senate before 9-11 happened.
I got dragged to testify beforethe Senate and that's, and, with
all the cameras and everything,and I managed to hold my own
and I ended up on national TVthat night and then I became a
(31:23):
darling of national TV for thenext 10 years, from about 2004
to 2014 or so, and so I never,ever expected, as a mom of three
kids, to be doing what I do fora living, and I feel incredibly
blessed and incredibly honoredto have had the career I have.
(31:45):
But being an entrepreneur willlet me go a whole entrepreneur
in a different way than I havebeen to date, and doing the work
that I'm doing now is a way toreally spread my wings in a way
that is mine and still valuablefor the rest of the world,
instead of just being about therest of the world, and it's just
(32:07):
so exciting for me to be ableto share those thoughts, but any
, there's so many people havegreat ideas and you know, making
sure that that idea has valuein the world.
People call it doing customerdiscovery, or discovering the
pain points or whatever, soimportant.
So yeah, no, be convicted inwhat you do, but be, be
(32:31):
diplomatic, and people willresonate with you a whole lot
more.
Um, I, that one I just have tokeep saying because you are that
way, but we're.
We hear a lot of things thesedays that are very vitriolic.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
Yeah, and Janice, I'll I'll tag onto that.
This is just going to be youand I really hammering this
point home together.
But I'll say, early on in myentrepreneurial career I'm 17
plus years into this journey andI felt like I didn't fit in
because so much of the marketingadvice out there is about you
have to be polarizing, you haveto push people away so that you
draw people in, and I was justlike no, I like university.
(33:07):
I enjoy people feeling betterafter they encounter me and
that's part of the role that Iplay.
And, janice, it's so cool tohear that from your vantage
point, someone who has worked inDC so extensively, someone who
is in probably the mostpolarizing industry of all when
it comes to policy and all ofthat, so that's such an
important takeaway.
I'm only going to put you on thespot one more time.
(33:28):
It's the only question that Iask at the end of every episode.
I don't know how you're goingto top what you've already
shared, but I do want to ask youfor your one best piece of
advice Knowing that we're beinglistened to by both
entrepreneurs and entrepreneursat all different stages of their
own growth journeys.
They're all going to have a lotof takeaways from this, janice,
but what's the one thing youwant to leave them with today?
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Believe in what you do.
Believe in what you do becausethere's a lot of risk, there's a
lot of money you put on theline, there's a lot of adversity
that's coming at you from a lotof different places, and if you
don't know in your gut thatwhat you're doing is powerful,
you're not going to make it.
You have to wake up every dayand and be able to put aside the
(34:10):
adversity and march forward.
And um, yeah, that's what I Iwould say is you, you need to
believe in your gut and whatyou're doing.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Boom.
I love that.
Believe it not just throughwords, but believe it down to
your very bones.
That is so important for all ofus, janice, and it's not
something we can do once.
We have to constantly go therewith ourselves and check in, so
I love that advice for ourlisteners.
I'm super excited to followyour journey from here.
I know that listeners are goingto want to check out.
I've tooted your horn quite abit as far as the UI perspective
(34:41):
I want people to see the UI,because it's so different from
what we're used to in thesearchaic ways of doing things,
especially when it comes tocompliance.
So, janice, for all thelisteners who want to see it in
action, drop those links on us.
Where should listeners go fromhere?
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Okay, so our website is zipidappcom
Z-I-P-I-D-A-P-Pcom.
You can also find me onLinkedIn under Janice Kephart,
and I'm sure Brian will bespelling out my name.
Find me on LinkedIn.
I also have a sub stack where Ido talk about technology and
politics and it's called apolitics and poetry the Janice
(35:20):
Kephartcom on sub stack.
So yeah, and we're happy tostart.
We're doing demos now.
I'm happy to take peoplethrough it and if they have
compliance issues, a lot of HRpeople are not fond of the Form
I-9.
So if there are any HR peopleout there listening or other
companies that are interested inwhat we're doing, come find me
(35:42):
and we'll get you hooked up.
It's at bydcom.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Listeners, you already know the drill.
Janice made my life easy fromher radio work.
She knows that we're droppingall that information down below
in the show notes.
You don't have to rememberanything, especially if you're
on the go.
Check out the show notes, nomatter where it is that you're
tuning into today's episode.
You can click right on throughto ZipID's website.
We're also linking to Janice'spersonal LinkedIn, as well as
her sub stack and all thoselinks that she just mentioned.
So check the show notes outdown below.
(36:07):
Otherwise, janice, on behalf ofmyself and all the listeners
worldwide, thanks so much forcoming on the show today.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Thank you so much, Brian.
It was really a joy.
It really was.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
Hey, it's Brian here and thanks for tuning in to yet
another episode of theWantrepreneur to Entrepreneur
podcast.
If you haven't checked us outonline, there's so much good
stuff there.
Check out the show's websiteand all the show notes that we
talked about in today's episodeat thewantrepreneurshowcom.
And I just want to give a shoutout to our amazing guests.
There's a reason why we are adfree and have produced so many
(36:40):
incredible episodes five days aweek for you, and it's because
our guests step up to the plate.
These are not sponsoredepisodes.
These are not infomercials.
Our guests help us cover thecosts of our productions.
They so deeply believe in thepower of getting their message
out in front of you, awesomeentrepreneurs and entrepreneurs,
that they contribute to help usmake these productions possible
(37:03):
.
So thank you to not onlytoday's guests, but all of our
guests in general, and I justwant to invite you check out our
website because you can send usa voicemail there.
We also have live chat.
If you want to interactdirectly with me, go to
thewantrepreneurshowcom.
Initiate a live chat.
It's for real me, and I'mexcited because I'll see you, as
always every Monday, wednesday,friday, saturday and Sunday
(37:26):
here on the Wantrepreneur to
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