Shadrach White is the CEO of CloudPWR, who we had the
opportunity to hear from as our final guest speaker. Shadrach started his
vision around the year of 2010-2011 when he saw cloud computing as the next
generation emerging technology that will be used widely. Too much of his back
then business partners’ disagreement, who did not see cloud computing the same
way as he does, Shadrach left his old
company and started what is now CloudPWR. Not only did he prioritize something
that not a lot of people see then, Shadrach also has a different targeted market
than majority of tech companies—government sector. He believes that this market
is approachable, despite the fact that the government sector did not buy into
cloud computing due to security risks at the time, and that if he were able to
make connections, then it’ll be easier in the future to continue expanding his
business in this market. And it sure did, Shadrach’s company to this date is
working with at least 100 clients around Washington State, which is an
incredible number for the market that he is.
One thing that stood out between Shadrach and previous speakers that we
had is his method of “bootstrapping”. He did not hire his first employee until
he had months of their pay prepared to ensure that he would not be running on
negative net gain between incoming revenues and employee pay. Entrepreneurship
is heavily about raising funding to get the business running; however it is
nice to see someone who explains the running of the money ‘safely’. I think
Shadrach is someone who believes in safely running a business in terms of
finances. One of his quotes is that: “The more you’re willing to ask for money
without a proper evaluation, the more you’ll give up.” I think the sentence
holds true to his philosophy as he was not willing to expand his company,
looking for more investments, until he had proved the success and reputation of
himself and his company. Shadrach’s visit was very motivating and I think it
helps me a lot when thinking ways to start a business such that it’d run without
suffering financial problems as well as when it is good enough to start looking
for funding.
Coding Review/Mentoring As a CS student who only started learning about coding since freshman year of college and had to mostly learn coding styles, standards, and conventions on my own through classes (which I also feel that majority of CS students go through the same process), I feel that aren’t many resources established around school campuses that are dedicated to helping students learn these useful fundamentals. When it comes to English writing classes, there are writing centers, tutoring, even paper review services that are available to help students improve their writing skills. In the same way for coding, I think a business that aims to help students improving their coding skills, reviewing their codes, and giving feedback can be something that’s extremely helpful at the same time profitable. Obviously, the business idea is limited to the marketplace of only college students and younger adults. On top of that, CS programs around the local area are very strict on academic int...
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