In today’s episode, we talked with Matias Troccoli, CEO and Co-founder at Gybe, about his journey as a technical leader and now experiencing the go-to-market side of the business as a CEO.
In today’s episode, we talked with Matias Troccoli, CEO and Co-founder at Gybe, about his journey as a technical leader and now experiencing the go-to-market side of the business as a CEO.
Interested in more insights, industry best practices, and actionable content → connect with The Sales RX Community on social and don’t forget to like, subscribe, and follow to get the latest notifications from us!
Hatchet Ventures website: https://www.hatchetventures.com
Hatchet Ventures LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hatchet-ventures/
Chet Lovegren’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chetlovegren/
Connect with Matias Troccoli on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matias-troccoli-73609588/
Check out Gybe’s Website: https://www.gybe.cloud/
Listen on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/36ub3fpy
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/ystuxubt
Listen on Google Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/bdee8y9h
1, 2, 3, 4. Are you a founder, co-founder, aspiring entrepreneur, or just someone who loves to hear about how companies are built? Then join us as we talk with founders and CEOs who have been there and done that.
Welcome to the Founders Formula Podcast. Sponsored by Hatchet Ventures. And now your host, Chet Lovegren.
[00:00:33] Chet: All right. Hello. Welcome one, and welcome all. It's that time again, the Founders Formula Podcast the show that's designed to bring you the latest and greatest insights from founders and CEOs worldwide who have been there and done that. Sponsored by Hatchet Ventures. I'm your host, Chet Lovegren, and I'm thrilled for our guest today.
He is a, um, had, has had a successful IPO and exit at a company named Next Biometrics. He's got a PhD as well as several patents and publications. Got a great story. Welcome the CEO and Co-founder of Gybe Matias Troccoli. Matias how are we doing?
[00:01:10] Matias: I'm doing great, Chet it's great to be here. Thank you so much for, uh, inviting me to join.
[00:01:15] Chet: Yeah, we're, we're really thrilled to have you. I think, um, me personally, as someone who now we're in, I believe, episode 21 of the podcast. Oh, wow. That's, yeah. It's, it's been a pretty good run so far. It's a big number. Yeah. Well, you know, most 90% of podcasts don't make it past episode 25, and then 80% of those podcasts that do make it past their 25th, don't make it past their 30th episode.
So once we hit 30, I'm gonna, I'm gonna pop the champagne cuz that's kind of like a milestone. There you go. We're close to 25. We've got our guests slated and our podcast recording scheduled out to 25, so at least make it to 25. Let's see if we can go to 30. Um, but for, for me, as, as a podcast host and someone who's been talking to a lot of founders, I find your background incredibly interesting.
Um, we don't typically have the pleasure of number one, having someone from a technical background, but also having someone with the level of experience in their technical background from what you've accomplished and the tenure that you've had one company for over, over a decade. So I'm really excited to dig in your background, of course, talk about what Gybe does, and then we'll dig into some other things about you, your co-founder and raising capital.
But I want to turn it over to you. Give me the story, tell me about Matias and, uh, how you got to where you are today. And then we'll jump into the story about Gybe.
[00:02:29] Matias: Yeah, sounds great. Uh, where do I start? Let's see. Well, came to the US uh, I guess, uh, when I was 17 or 18, since it's been a while since I've been here.
Uh, this is really home to me. Um, started in the East coast. Um, I went to school, uh, just outside Philadelphia and, uh, started getting my, uh, electrical engineering degree. And then, uh, Stayed on all the way through my PhD and um, uh, it was, uh, it was really fun to, to get to know this country in the, in the east coast.
Cause there's a lot of cultures meshed together over there very, very tightly for sure. Um, we, um, uh, and that's actually where my, my, uh, entrepreneurial story began and also at PhD school because, um, we got approached by these folks from, uh, from Europe actually. They had some IP on. Technology that they needed some help to, to develop.
And you know, we took that as part of my PhD, uh, you know, project. And, um, you know, I spent a couple years developing some of that core IP was regarding biometrics and um, basically became my PhD thesis. And, uh, I built some pilots for them, some prototypes. And when I graduated I basically became their first.
So it was the, the two, the two, uh, CEO and the, the other founder. And then, uh, I was their first full-time, uh, employee. Not long after that, I became their CTO uh, and then was the three of us trying to, to figure out what to do next. And then, uh, we were, uh, talking quite a bit with companies in the West coast and also companies in Asia.
That's where a lot of this technology is actually, uh, produced these days. So decided to, um, to move, uh, move to Seattle and, um, Slowly started building the team, uh, uh, here in the area. Um, the, uh, the original CEO and founder were still in Norway. So basically I was all alone building this engineering and development team.
It almost felt like, uh, uh, like I was running in, um, uh, much of the company on my own here. So it was, it was really, um, uh, a really good learning experience. And, and one, one day I, I decided, or we decided, I sorry, to, to, to participate on this, um, , uh, bid for, uh, um, uh, Dell computers, you know, and at the time I only, I think I only had like 10 or 12, uh, people in, in the team.
Uh, so there I was trying to, to, uh, you know, submit a bid for, for Dell. And, um, uh, at the time, uh, fingerprinting was, was kind of getting hot. I think it was right around the time or just before, or just after. Don't remember when. Apple launched, uh, fingerprint sensors on their phone. So it was, it was a pretty hot topic.
Anyway, so we participated in, I don't know where we won that bid. Uh, I, again, 12 people in, in my team never have mass produced anything. Uh, very little software background. Uh, so, uh, and when you, and when you work with someone like Dell, it's not just their, you know, team and. In Austin. It's also all their, um, you know, support infrastructure in, in Asia and the earth of the world.
I mean, they're massive companies that build their stuff, right? Um, long story short, crazy 18 months. It was one of those things that either makes you, or breaks you as a company and, you know, almost, uh, almost died a couple times trying to build that product, trying to scale that, and, uh, so hard to do. And, uh, um, We, uh, we, we, we pulled it off.
Uh, don't know how. A lot of help from a lot of really great people, um, both here as well as overseas. And, um, I, I would say like 24 months later, I was supporting close to, close to 2 million units per year, globally had my product. Uh, so if you bought Enterprise Dell laptops back then, uh, we were part of the biometric stack.
And, and, and it was a great experience. It was, it was, it was. We learned a. It was very tough. Uh, but, but, but again, uh, um, it's one of those things that, uh, that, like I said, either makes you or breaks you. We, we managed to pull it off and we, we, uh, ended up actually doing I p o. This is back in Europe where, where the original founders were from.
Um, yeah, I stayed on with them, uh, for a couple more years. Uh, doing a few things here and there, and then finally, Decided to take a break. Uh, and then, um, um, not long after that, um, started, uh, working with, uh, with my friend Patrick. So that's the, that's the short story of how, how, how we got here.
[00:06:53] Chet: That's incredible.
How so? First job outta college, you're a CTO.. Like, how old were you? like, that's impressive, man. Like, if, if, oh man, that's, that's really impressive stuff. How, so how old were you? And you said you were working on part of this product as part of your thesis, right? So were you hired before started doing this?
[00:07:11] Matias: That's a great question. So I, I started pretty young because, uh, I was in a fast track also for my PhD. So I graduated when I got my PhD at 25, 26, somewhere around there. I don't remember, maybe 26. And uh, uh, so I had already done some prototypes for them by the time I actually presented my PhD dissertation.
Uh, which part of it was this product? Uh, so yeah, I was 26, 27. Uh, stayed on in, uh, east coast doing a little bit more research out of their labs for them. They're out of the university labs. Right. Cause we were still leveraging that infrastructure. And then, um, uh, yeah, and then I think I was about, uh, close to 30 when we decided to move to, to Seattle and start building the team.
And, um, it's funny, when I started, uh, um, hiring people, I, I didn't know where to go. I didn't know where to start. I was all alone too. So I did the first thing that. comfortable to me and started recruiting, uh, engineers right outta college because those were the people I was used to, uh, dealing with. And, uh, it was, um, um, right out of the recession, the last, uh, big recession too.
It was like 2010 or something. So really when the things were bad and, um, so it was not that hard to, to, to recruit people too. So that's a good thing, I guess. Um, we started, uh, slowly putting together more and more engineers. , uh, and most of them all, like I said around my age, cuz those are, those were the people I was used to do, you know, dealing with.
And, uh, I, I, I, I liked, uh, training them and, and telling them how the sensor works and how the technology works. Uh, and, and slowly we create, reach critical mass. And then, uh, you know, one thing led to another and you choose. , um, uh, finally you decided you have a, have a team. So it, it was a great experience for sure.
[00:08:59] Chet: So let's, let's jump into that real quick before we talk a little bit about, uh, Gybe so what is, what is, um, What is, what is the culture like of, uh, 30 year old Matias , CTO hired a bunch of young guns outta college to build this incredible product. What are, what are, what's maybe one of your founders formulas to building that winning team that you kind of.
You know, led you to the success cuz I, an IPO is, is no, no small feat. So obviously you all were doing something incredible over there and like you said, you know, it was 12 people, it was a, it was a fairly small team for what the task was In terms of these, you know, millions if not billions of units that were going out.
What does that look like in terms of a winning culture and how to get people bought in?
[00:09:44] Matias: So it was 12 people at the time. We, we started the process by the time we, we, we were carrying high volume. I think we were close to 50 here in Seattle, and we had a whole support infrastructure in, in Asia, definitely.
So we had manufacturing facilities there and a whole operations team that took care of a lot of things over there. We had also a small software team in, in Europe, so by that time, you know, we were, we were a real business. But yeah, it started with a, a few folks here. Um, yeah. It was a very naive group at the beginning.
I, starting with myself, I mean, we didn't know what we were doing. We were just actually just a bunch of people developing technology, which, you know, now that I'm trying to do it all over again, I, I think back at the day when we were doing this and how valuable that was, that we kind of had like, you know, a bubble of just.
Developers that, uh, just wanted to make the product work. And sometimes that's what it takes to actually really get to, to, uh, you know, to really succeed. So yes, we, it was mo mostly learning in the job, learning about the technologies as, as we came along. We, we didn't know anything about industrial processes.
We didn't know anything about business processes either. Uh, it was, it was just trying to get the product to work and, and, um, I, I think, um, that's kind of the startup, uh, spirit. That leads you to, to succeed because if you really knew of, if we really knew what it took to make this work, both businesses well as operationally as, as well as, you know, technically you, you probably won't do it.
It's just so much work and so hard that if you really knew what it took to do it. , uh, we, we probably always have just hired somebody else to do it or something. It's so tough. So you kind of have to go at it a little bit, uh, with this, uh, being, uh, almost delusional about this vision that you have and trying to do everything that it takes to succeed.
So, uh, maybe that's part of the, the, the recipe there that, uh, just, just keep going after your vision and, and, and trying to, uh, uh, to, to, to make it work regardless of the obstacles, right, because.
[00:11:45] Chet: That's brilliant. Yeah. It's some delusional optimism. That's what it takes, yeah,
[00:11:49] Matias: I guess so. Maybe that's a, that's a better word for it, for sure.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
[00:11:53] Chet: Yeah. I think that's how I, I try to stay away from that because that seems to become the new, uh, uh, LinkedIn headline buzzword now that people are putting in their profile delusional optimist. But it is, oh, no, really? I didn't
know that. Oh, ok. Yeah. It's like the, I totally didn't
mean to, No, no, no, no, no.
It's, uh, no, I'm, I'm saying, I'm framing it that way. It's like the, we gotta do more with less. It's like, okay, we've been hearing that for six months. We get it right. Um, but it does, like, you have to, you have to, you're totally right. You know, you have to think outside of yourself. I mean, I'm a. With, with what I do professionally, full-time, I'm a solopreneur and you know, I come from a world where I was a sales leader, so I had people finding leads, reaching out to those leads, setting appointments, doing calls.
Like I had people doing all that. I'm really doing that myself now, you know? So even taking it back to getting back in the trenches and doing prospecting and even cold calling and doing some cold outreach and figuring out the best outreach strategy for. My top of funnel sales process. Like it's, uh, you know, it's a lot of work.
It's a lot of hats, and you gotta kind of walk into the day going, not only can I do this department's job, but I can do this department's job and this department's job. And if I really understood what it took to get this thing off the ground, I probably would've been a smarter man and just looked for another job.
You know what I mean? instead of deciding to go out on my own. But it's a, it's a, there's a thrill behind it as well, and I'm sure you feel that for sure. There's the thrill behind it, so, yeah. Yeah. Let's talk about, so let's talk about Jbe. Yeah. What, what do you all do? What's the problem you're solving for?
Who are you solving it for, and how did you come across this problem? And then we'll also dig into, you know, how you and Patrick met each other, and then kind of the synergy of us co-founders. But let's talk, let's highlight the company a little bit. Tell me a little bit about Gybe.
[00:13:32] Matias: Yeah, uh, we've been, uh, you know, playing around with some things for the last couple years.
Now, I already did this once, so didn't really have need to, to jump straight into something right away. And, and we took our time to figure out really what we wanted to do. But, um, we're now starting to put out a little bit more information. Maybe by the time this this is out, uh, there'll be a little bit more out about, uh, Gybe.
But, um, um, there's this, there's this market actually out there that is, there is very, very, uh, uh, untapped. It's, um, there's, if you think about it, I was reading the other day an article, uh, something like 80% of the global Workforce is either a frontline worker or doesn't sit at a desk 80%. And the funny thing about that number is that the, the source where I got it from was an article, um, someone referred me to, it was an article, uh, that Microsoft wrote.
Now think about Microsoft Company that basically has been helping us office workers for like 25 years off Microsoft's office. Probably the most successful software of all time or something, right. And. Why did they put out this article is because basically a trillion dollar company for 25 years, one of the biggest companies in the world, they've basically been going after, uh, 20% of the addressable users.
What about the other 80%? Uh, so it's a huge, uh, uh, huge market that, uh, that doesn't have all the digital tools or you and I. Uh, to, to, to go about our, our, our, our day-to-day, um, uh, our day-to-day task. Um, if you think about frontline workers, people in manufacturing, people in supply chain healthcare, Uh, logistics, uh, uh, you name it.
Um, most of them, or a large number of them around the world, they're just using, you know, paper clipboards or two-way radios or, uh, you know, hos, hospitals still use pagers. Uh, and uh, and the hardware obviously is not just the only problem. Getting that software to them, securing the infrastructure for them, and then conceptualizing the services that they need.
Um, all of that is an area that is, uh, uh, really underserved and, uh, and that's the market that Gybe is going after. We we're actually, uh, been working on for the last couple of years, building, um, uh, a. That, uh, that, that helps them get what I call, uh, cloud goodness for, for all these workers at the frontline.
And, uh, sometimes all they need is, uh, you know, simple checklist or, uh, maybe an a critical alert or some critical control or, uh, some security notification or some safety, some safety notice or something. Um, uh, those very little snippets of cloud goodness is, uh, is what Gybe is all about. We're trying to conceptualize all that for.
and then building a platform all the way from the ground up to actually deliver the plat, the, the, the goodness to them. So, um, uh, you'll be seeing a little bit more of about, about us in the next, uh, uh, the next few weeks. Uh, but uh, yeah, we're really excited, excited about what we're building for sure.
[00:16:39] Chet: And that's really cool.
I think we were talking a little bit before the show. Um, I had worked in supply chain for a couple years and I was telling you, yeah, I've been to warehouses and everybody's just walking around with these big booklets of sometimes of these like the, the top loaded bound spiral notebooks and they're just flipping things through, flipping things through and yeah, I literally seen a, um, you know, a budget person. Uh, I don't think they were classified as a C F O. I don't think that's the term they use at a mom and pop warehouse, but they were the, you know, they were the accountant on staff and they're walking through literally with like some ledger. You'd think you'd see someone from like the 18 hundreds using at like an old time.
Good story, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they just, the, the adoption of like even just tablets, you know, and you were talking a little bit about how expensive and how much maintenance and the software costs to tablets, uh, that happens.
[00:17:24] Matias: Yeah. It's a real big problem cuz what all of them have in common.
they're not at a desk. So things that you and I take for granted, like at PC or even our phones, uh, they, they, they, they, they're not in reach. So, um, you need to come up with a solution that is very comprehensive, all the way from, from, from the front end, all the way to the back end, and, uh, and it becomes a really deep tech problem.
That's kind of the reason why we've been, you know, fooling around with things for a couple years, but, uh, you need to come up with that comprehensive solution and needs to be built from the ground up to deliver. That, those snippets of information that they need and, and that's what we're building at Agile.
[00:18:00] Chet: Yeah. That's really cool. And I, I might have missed it. I don't, I don't think I did, but like, I think you were talking about the article from Microsoft, which kind of piqued your interest, but that wasn't, that wasn't how you figured out about this problem, right? That was just an article that you were referencing.
Um, how did you, how did you uncover this problem? Like how did you get wind of this and. Find this passion for solving this problem. What was kind of the, what was kind of the compelling event or the, the triggering event that led you down this path?
[00:18:27] Matias: Yeah, so it all started back basically, uh, um, uh, coming out of my, my last, uh, uh, my last, uh, venture, we, uh, I got exposed to, to, um, a lot of people needing access to a lot of tools and not having the, the way to, to actually deliver, uh, or, or really, you know, rendering all those tools.
Uh, we were building, um, uh, for, uh, for Dell access control platforms, but that was just the beginning of, of the whole chain. Um, once, once you get through a system or into a system, what happens next?
Uh, and um, that, that's how we started thinking about, okay, the solution needs to be a little bit more comprehensive and it cannot just be, uh, a collection of one or two pieces. Um, and, um, uh, slowly, um, as I. Taking a little bit of a break, hiking quite a bit here in the Pacific Northwest. Started thinking about what, what could, could be the solution.
And um, and that's when I also started, uh, talking quite a bit with my co-founder Patrick, who, um, uh, in the past has had done, uh, uh, quite a bit of work in, um, IOT space and, uh, um, um, had build, uh, solutions for, uh, um, you know, for people to, to connect to cloud services in a, in an efficient and secure way.
So between the two of us, we started to brainstorm, uh, uh, what does it really take to make this happen? And, and, and we decided, let's, let's, let's just rebuild the, the stack specifically just for this purpose. So that's kind of how the, the, it all came about.
[00:20:05] Chet: That's really cool. Let's, let's dig into that relationship.
So, um, I was telling you a little bit before the show, I thought it was kind of funny because you spent 12 years, had a successful IPO and a sec, successful exit as a cto. Um, but your co-founders, actually, the CTO you decided to take the reigns as CEO. So let's talk a little bit about how you and Patrick met.
And kind of the synergy between you two. And then let's also dig into that. What made you wanna, what made you wanna, uh, learn the new, the other side of the business? Learn a new side of it and, and venture in as the ceo.
[00:20:34] Matias: So actually I, I met Patrick, uh, in my previous life. I contracted him for some work to help me out with a couple of things.
And then, um, um, I saw some clip ins later on of, uh, some other work that he had done, uh, for some other companies and. Which, uh, was very relevant to, some of the things that, I also wanted to do. So, you know, over many lunches and over many coffees, we, we decided to, to, give it a shot. So I actually knew him for, uh, for, for a little bit of time before Gybe uh, uh, but yeah, that's a, that's a funny question.
I, I'm not the type of person that likes to do same thing twice, so maybe that's probably the reason why, uh, this time around, uh, uh, you know, wanted to try it being. The ceo, but personally, I'm also more of the, uh, the visionary type person. I, I like to just think about a vision and say, okay, what, what, what does the world really need?
And, uh, what can I offer to solve a problem? And what does the world look like when, when, when, you know, I, I, I, you know, I, I, I put my, my 2 cents, uh, on, on things. Um, and I figured that, okay, um, maybe as a CEO I can start shaping a company that. actually Follows whichever vision, uh, that, uh, that we have as a, as a team of founders.
So again, a little bit of me not wanting to do things, the two, the same thing twice, uh, but also a little bit about the way I am. I, I think, uh, uh, as a cto you have to really kind of wear blinders and. Is focus on building the product sometimes, uh, more so than anything else. And, um, uh, uh, better as a ceo, you, you cannot have to sell this vision, so I wanted to try given that, try for sure.
[00:22:18] Chet: What is, uh, so there are a lot of things you're probably doing as a C E O, uh, that you didn't do as a C T O, um, at next biometrics. There's probably a lot of things that you were doing at Next Biometrics that overlap because you're a founder. But I'd love to hear from you, what is the thing you've had to do as a C E O that you didn't have to do in your past life, that you're actually surprised how much you enjoy doing?
Oh, that last piece is a key piece. Yeah, exactly.
[00:22:48] Matias: It's uh, um, no, for sure. It's different . Um, you know, um, one thing that, uh, is completely different, uh, that I really enjoy, uh, between being a CEO and being cto, um, is, uh, how much more outside of the company you have to work. , uh, as a CEO So basically the majority of my relationships, not just because we're a small team, but because I have to interact with others, you know, potential partners, potential customers, uh, funding sources, uh, advisors, et cetera.
All of these people, and none of 'em work for me. uh, none of them are in, technically in part of my, part of my team. So, uh, that's an aspect. , uh, um, I, I really wasn't quite, um, you know, I didn't quite digest back when I was a cto. Cause my entire team was my entire team. Uh, and that, that's who, who, those were the people I dealt with.
Yeah. But now the majority of the people you deal with are outside of your company, especially as you're building the, the startup. Right. Maybe when we hit critical mass, that changes a little bit or balances out. Uh, but for sure that's, that's one aspect that I. , uh, I'm totally surprised by and, and, and, and really fascinated and it's really one of the great parts of, of, uh, of being a C E O for sure.
[00:24:07] Chet: Yeah, I like asking that question. Um, especially when somebody is doing something more go to market related where there is probably like some, some aspect of partnership and sales and even like talking to investors that maybe they haven't experienced in the past. Yeah. Uh, as a first time founder, cause I think there's, there, there's.
What do they always say? There's, there's, there's beauty in like those little things. Um, yeah. You know, we had, uh, Michael Abel, co-founder of Singularity on here, and he said one of the things he enjoys, you know, he, he, he grew up in the sales world, so you know, ae, senior ae, and then a sales leader. And he said, you know, for me, one of the things that I really enjoyed was building prototypes and Figma for product features and the UI and the UX design.
I didn't think I'd enjoy that, but it was kind of nice to be able to, you know, work in the early days with those building blocks. And so I always find like there are these little tiny things even for me. . Oddly enough, being the cfo F of my own business is actually kind of oddly satisfying somehow. Like I love numbers and spreadsheets, , I've always used a lot of data and so it helps me like look at like cost control and acquisition costs and how to lower those and get me to think strategically with what I'm doing.
And I think that's really interesting. I was telling my dad that and he's like, so you like being an accountant basically. I was like, I know it sounds really weird, but I've always had a thing for data. So I love, I love hearing that from people. What they, what they thought was, you know, they didn't, they didn't know they would like what they really do like, so that's, uh, yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome.
Um, let's talk a little bit about, uh, capital. So I know you, you've kind of been operating the shadows a little bit. You're releasing a lot more information, a lot more things are coming out, uh, with the product. Um, but what has your experience been raising capital at this point? I know we were talking a little bit before the show and you had this kind of interesting way of raising some capital initially that we can talk about, but fill everybody in, especially having had a successful i p o and an.
We know you're no stranger to, like, what's, what needs to be done? Um, not only from a product side, but just from an investor side. But let's talk a little bit about your experience raising capital and what you've experienced at Gybe so far as a co-founder.
[00:26:04] Matias: Yeah, sure. So we, we did things a little bit in a, um, unusual way.
Um, Uh, in part because the problem that we're trying to solve really requires a structural change from the bottom up. Uh, re re-engineering things, uh, just to fit this, this need. Um, so I had to go out there and start selling this idea, this vision to people that really understood technically what this this meant.
So, um, I had to actually put a lot of mileage. , um, in, in, in, um, air, air miles, , uh, listening folks and, and explaining, Hey, listen, this is the problem and this needs, this is what needs to happen. And most of 'em, uh, were people that really understood the technology or understood, uh, uh, security concerns or understood cloud infrastructure, understood hardware, understood software services, understood everything that was part of that value.
Uh, or the value chain for, for delivering critical cloud cloud services. Uh, so starting from there, that's where I started basically getting angels to commit and say, Hey, listen, we believe what you're, you're building. And, uh, one by one, uh, not only was I actually putting together a little bit of nice little pocket change for, for building a few things and, and playing around, but also I was building the credibility on the idea.
So when you start getting these folks that actually, um, know what they're. To actually start putting some money to work, uh, then all of a sudden starts getting a little bit more, more, more credible. And, and, and it's not just about the value of the, uh, of the cash they put in, but it's also about their, their, their support for sure.
So we went a little bit, uh, different route in that sense. Uh, we, we, we got, uh, we got quite a few, um, uh, industry, uh, um, executives and quite a few people that they're really superstars in, in what they. Uh, to, to come in and, and, and, and help us out early. And, um, at the same time, you know, this is a problem that needs a lot of deep tech, um, work.
And, uh, we, we needed our time to just to, to build things. So, um, we, um, we weren't quite ready, um, you know, two years ago to go after a, a fund and start asking for $3 million or anything like that, right? So we needed, we needed to actually start. From the bottom up. So, um, uh, we think we have something now that is getting to where we want it to be.
So, so now that's gonna change a little bit and we're gonna go more to the traditional ways of, um, you know, going after the, the venture world for sure.
[00:28:36] Chet: That's awesome. It's gonna be great to see. And and I, I love that idea of, it feels like you were almost building your M V P while you were also raising capital with like what you're saying, like, Hey, we had people that understood the technicality of this and the need for this.
Yeah. So the fact that they were raising money also gave us that confidence that we were all right track, you know, for sure.
[00:28:55] Matias: It's a little bit different for deep tech, right? Mm-hmm. So sometimes when we're building software product, These days, it's so, so easy to to, to build prototypes for software and, and you can actually start getting customers to use it, uh, very easily.
Right? So one of the first metrics investors have is, you know, what are, what are your users, uh, or what kind of revenue you have. And, uh, when you're building deep tech, it's a little bit different. You, you actually need to build a portfolio of people that are behind you, what you're trying to build, and.
And you need to buy yourself a little bit of extra time to actually get that technology to, to make sense. Um, so, uh, uh, for sure the, the, um, it's, it's slightly different than, than the standard SaaS company. .
[00:29:36] Chet: Yeah. Well, Matias we're almost outta time here. Um, but I would love to close the show with just getting, what's your founder's formula of her founders or what's a piece of advice that you would leave with them as they go on their own journey or as they're already on their journey, but experiencing the ups and downs, the ebbs and flows you should say, of, uh, being a founder, what would, what would Matias' wisdom be?
[00:30:00] Matias: Matias' uh, wisdom. Uh, oh, I don't know. That's, that's too strong. of a word. . Uh, here's what, here's what, uh, helped me, uh, through, through, uh, the last, uh, the last, you know, few years as I've been building this.
Uh, and also going back to, to, um, uh, to my first, uh, uh, to my, my first thing at it. Um, not, uh, be willing to fail. Uh, sometimes it's a lot stronger drive. It's a lot stronger, much more powerful than actually wanting to, uh, succeed . And for many of us, uh, that refusal to. You know, fail is what it actually gets us, uh, to succeed.
Um, I know it's a little bit of a twisted way of describing things, but I even heard it from, uh, from people in sports that, that, uh, what made them wanna win is that just, I didn't wanna lose. Right? Uh, that the feeling of losing is horrible. So, uh, I think one of that's one of the most underrated, uh, sources of energy for, for us, which is, which is willing to try everything that it takes to make.
uh, did, did, what was it that we called it earlier, de delusional, um, uh, positivity or whatever, uh, to, to actually get that to, reality. You just don't wanna, you don't wanna fail. So that's, that's, uh, for sure one of those things that, um, that, uh, if you're an early founder or first time founder, just, you know, just don't give up.
Just keep, keep, keep at it.
[00:31:32] Chet: Yeah, there's, there's always lessons to be learned in failure, but failure for the sake of failure is madness. So it's a, yeah, I, I love that. Cuz if you look at it from the, I mean, you're most likely you are going to fail in certain things and it happens and you can learn from it.
But if you have that mindset or that drive of like, yeah, I, I, I think it's a Moneyball, one of my favorite movies in one of the montages. He's, you know, motivating the team, Brad Pitt's. Character of Billy Beane.. And he says, I hate losing, I hate losing more than I wanna win it's like, that always scares me.
[00:32:04] Matias: True. Cause it's so, yeah. A lot of, yeah. A lot of people in sports say that. And, uh, I think what you're really reali doing is, uh, when you're quote unquote failing, uh, Temporarily is you're just figuring out ways not to succeed and you just keep trying. Mm-hmm. until you actually figure out a way to succeed.
So don't call it failure, just call it figuring out ways not to succeed and , and eventually you'll find the right one. So, uh, yeah, for sure.
[00:32:28] Chet: That's awesome. Matias, this has been a great episode. If people want to connect with you or learn more about Gybe, how do they do that?
[00:32:35] Matias: Yeah, Matias at Gybe dot cloud so very easy, uh, um, g y b e.
Um, I would love to talk to you guys if you have a suggestions, feedback, and, and just wanna chat about, uh, uh, startups for sure.
[00:32:50] Chet: Love it. Thank you Matias for your time today. Um, to all of our listeners of the Founders Formula podcast, if you're interested in engaging with us or Hatchet Ventures our sponsor any further, we will have links, um, to our website, our LinkedIn pages and everything in the episode description below, as well as a link to Gybe and Matias LinkedIn, uh, um, and you can interact and engage with all of us there.
Thank you for listening. We're live every Tuesday as early as 6:00 AM. With a brand new episode and we look forward to seeing everybody next week. Thank you, Matias.
[00:33:22] Matias: Thank you so much. This was a blast.
[00:33:24] Chet: Likewise.