From Department of Defense to Cybersecurity Startup: Justin Travis Shares His 10 Best Pieces of Advice

Justin Travis always had an entrepreneurial spirit. After studying and working in IT administration, he became interested in cybersecurity. For many years, Justin consulted for the Department of Defense and the Airforce, and it was during this time he met his future co-founder, Matt McClaskey. He then spent nearly a decade focusing on cyber research and development.

The idea for Kasm actually stemmed from a capstone project Justin completed for an IT security course back in college. He and Matt knew they always wanted to build something together, and they finally had the time and the tech they needed to found Kasm Technologies Inc in 2017. Kasm is a container streaming platform for people who want a virtual desktop or higher level of security for applications used over the web. It enables remote work for employees and vendors trying to access remote systems, a very helpful tool during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Kasm is built on the philosophy that you can’t protect your computer and personal data from threats you don’t know about. It provides a rendering of a browser, application, or desktop in a temporary container, and none of the code running in the container ever touches your personal computer.

During our Clubhouse interview with Justin, we learned more about his startup journey, biggest obstacles, and greatest lessons. Let’s dive into Justin’s advice for other startup founders:

1. Sometimes you have to wait for the right time to turn a concept or idea into reality

Although Justin came up with the original idea for a containerized streaming service in college, there was no technology available at the time to bring the concept into reality. Justin and Matt had to wait over a decade before they had the capability to begin building Kasm.

“That was really the genesis of kicking off that project,” said Justin. “Here’s this idea we’ve had for awhile, and we now have the capability and the technology to apply that concept to a new area that seemed really…