Hear the dulcet tones of Corey Quinn

Leon Adato is a head geek and technical evangelist at SolarWinds, a software company that delivers affordable IT infrastructure management solutions. He’s also the founder and operator of AdatoSystems, a provider of low-cost web solutions. Leon has nearly three decades worth of experience in the tech world, having worn all kinds of IT-related hats for companies like Nestle, PNC Financial Services Group, and Cardinal Health. Join Corey and Leon as they explore the fabled world of on-premises data centers and touch upon a number of topics, including how the world of IT has evolved over the last 30 years, Leon’s mindset on monitoring,the lone genius’ IT domination in the ‘90s, how the perception of IT has changed over the last several years, the path Leon took from a degree in theater to a career in IT, Corey’s musings on the configuration management wars, the concept of “technical empathy,” why you always need to be ready to pivot, how what you learn today bleeds into what you need to know tomorrow, and more.

Adam Jacob co-founded Chef Software and created Chef, a platform that helps DevOps teams ship software faster. Though he still serves on Chef’s board, Adam has a new role these days: serving as CEO and co-founder of a new startup called The System Initiative. For more than a decade, Adam has been designing, building, and managing large production systems. He has more than 20 years of experience working in tech. Join Corey and Adam as they explore the pros and cons of taking venture capital, why Adam believes VC money unfairly gets a bad rep, how great 1Password is and why Adam believes the company’s $200 million raise makes sense, when to take VC money and when to turn it down, how expanding from a tool that performs a specific function to a platform business can be a scary thing for end users, how not all VCs are alike, how “bad founders” exist, why the people who tend to dislike venture capitalists usually aren’t the ones making the tough decisions, and more.