After months of planning and having our IP and technology scrutinized, one of the largest law firms in the world, at the most senior level, offered me an invitation this week to a 2 hour round table with the U.S. President’s Senior Advisor on Cyber Security, former Mayor of NYC, Rudy Giuliani.
There were 12 people so it was quite a intimate group. The Mayor opened up the conversation with his own background story and how he came to be involved in security and cyber. He is very entertaining and just when I was thinking this was going to be it, a one way monologue, he stopped and said “So the President has charged me with looking for solutions to this Cyber problem and I’m was here to listen to what you each have to offer. Who would like to go first”?
I shot my hand up and went first.
I had at least 20 minutes one-on-one with him sitting directly across the boardroom table, after which the others in the room chimed in with their comments and questions about BankVault.
Giuliani was hilarious and very quick witted. He asked me for the background story on BankVault and a little while later announced suddenly that I reminded him of “Viagra”! When the room stopped laughing and I was wondering what was coming next, he drew out the story of how Viagra had pivoted from a being drug addressing circulatory issues to suddenly finding a incredibly valuable new market. It was a funny and perfect analogy of our own pivot and where we had come from.
We had lodged another Patent application early in the week on what we’ve called an “invisible keyboard” so it was wonderful to be able to talk in depth about this. The team expect to release this new cyber technology in June.
When I ended my session the lawyer who organised the day took the floor again and in language and voice that only a lawyer can make so crisp and clear said, “Mr Mayor, I think the BankVault technology is EXACTLY what you’re looking for to take back to the President”.
It was breathtaking to experience this level of support for an Australian technology in the U.S.