Luke Cooper
There has been a lot of talk about the need for allies in the fight against racial injustice, and that’s true in entrepreneurship, as well. It’s something I learned firsthand while leading Baltimore startup Fixt. Today, I want to share my journey with a key partner-turned-investor to illuminate what real allyship looks like.
I got to know Tom Quinn, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at T. Rowe Price, through what started off as a customer relationship. Fixt had a long-standing service relationship with T. Rowe Price to offer enterprise device management services. The CIO had asked him to visit our office to do security analysis of our technology. He reviewed our security protocols and delivered his feedback to the CIO — one of likely hundreds of these types of requests he gets each year. What started as an otherwise mundane diligence exercise turned into an ongoing personal friendship. We developed a collaborative, mentoring relationship – sharing industry trends, catching up over coffee, and exploring potential new use cases for Fixt’s technology. Tom took a genuine interest in the business and my personal journey as an entrepreneur of color.
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
