#99 Don't Go Phishing Here - Julie Davila, ZibaSec, Inc.

Published: June 3, 2021, 8:48 p.m.

Julie Davila likes tacos (and Manhattan cocktails too, evidently). And although she also likes fish, she hates those who phish. That’s part of the impetus behind ZibaSec, software security. Here’s her background: An Army vet, Julie applied to an ROTC scholarship which she received, but decided she did not want to be an officer, so she enlisted. Julie went into the infantry and learned very quickly that she could deal with the stress on her body because the military helped strengthen her mind. And that played very well in becoming an entrepreneur. Learning to push through on the training field translated very will into “having another Red Bull” and pushing through in the business security world. Seeing that her financial future would be better in civilian life, Julie exited and used her GI Bill in Mexico and went to school. Her money stretched a long way in Mexico and allowed her tacos every night (are you seeing the trend here?). For about two years, Julie was in a figure-it-out stage, coupled with a bartending career (see the Manhattan cocktail connection here?) and liked the idea of learning AWS, and it snowballed from there into a tech career. Working at the same software security company, Julie and her now co-founder found out their employer was going to lose a phishing platform contract due to some financial conflict. The client was the DOJ and since Julie had connections with the client, she and her partner approached them with the opportunist question, “If we build it, will you buy it?”, and the answer was “Yes”! Ah, the birth of new company. They even had the seed capital given to them as part of the package. Now, Julie and her partner are business veterans, too. And what is the name of one of their flagship product? Why, PhishTACO, of course! Veteran Founder Podcast with your hosts Josh Carter and Cynthia Kao We record the Veteran Founder Podcast inside NedSpace in the Bigfoot Podcast Studio in beautiful downtown Portland. Audio engineer, mixer and podcast editor is Allon Beausoleil Show logo was designed by Carolyn Main Website was designed by Cameron Grimes Production assistant is Chelsea Lancaster Theme music: Artist: Tipsy Track: Kadonka Album: Buzzz Courtesy of Ipecac Records 10% of gross revenue at Startup Radio Network goes to support women entrepreneurs in developing countries thru kiva.org/lender/markgrimes