NW Valley Times

QuSecure co-founder and COO Skip Sanzeri recently addressed potential entrepreneurs during the T.W. Lewis Speaker Series at Sunset Auditorium. He emphasized the importance of testing business ideas thoroughly before pursuing them.

“This is one of the lessons I’ve taught my students,” Sanzeri said. “The most important thing out of all the startups I’ve done, which is about 60 different startups, is don’t fool yourself, right? Don’t fool yourself and think this idea is better, that it is doing fantastic. What you have to do is you have to test it."

Sanzeri advised entrepreneurs to engage with potential customers early on: “You have to take your idea, and you have to go out, and you have to talk to people that might buy that product. You have to ask them, ‘If I built this, would you buy it?’ You have to get a lot of those people who would say, ‘Yes.’ That's how you start, right?”

Alongside him was Pete Ford, QuSecure's head of federal operations. Their company focuses on creating software aimed at neutralizing quantum threats—a pressing concern given global security challenges.

Ford highlighted concerns regarding China's attempts to unencrypt quantum computers for military purposes. “We’re ready to protect what’s unprotected,” he stated.

Both speakers touched upon the burgeoning market for cybersecurity solutions within defense sectors. Sanzeri noted an increase in hiring demand and identified enterprise software as particularly crucial: “We need this for our defense department.”

For aspiring business founders seeking funding insights, Sanzeri shared strategic advice: "Take this as far as you can with your own money and your own time before you go out... The further you progress (your idea), then the more value you're going to create before you go out and get asset funding."

Ford also offered guidance for those interested in careers involving quantum computing technology: “Jump in with both feet,” he encouraged. “It’s an emerging market that’s not going to stop.”