{"625696":{"#nid":"625696","#data":{"type":"news","title":"From Restaurateur to Tech Entrepreneur: Alum Tells Why the Shift Was Worth the Risk","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EKabir Barday\u003C\/strong\u003E (BS CS 2009) always knew he wanted to own a business \u0026ndash; his family owns restaurants and convenience stores, and he planned to follow in their footsteps.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I had a pizza franchise all picked out,\u0026rdquo; he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAfter graduating from Georgia Tech with his \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/academics\/degree-programs\/bachelors\/computer-science\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ecomputer science degree\u003C\/a\u003E, Barday took a job at AirWatch, an enterprise mobile security startup eventually acquired by VMware. His plan was to save money to start his restaurant empire, but his computing work led him in a different direction.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s riskier to be a real tech entrepreneur,\u0026rdquo; Barday said. \u0026ldquo;I never thought I would solve such a big problem.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThat big problem is data privacy and the hundreds of laws that govern it. Barday\u0026rsquo;s company, OneTrust, provides a privacy, security and third-party risk technology platform to more than 3,000 companies. In July, OneTrust raised $200 million in a fundraising round that valued the company at $1.3 billion.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/youtu.be\/auKlK3c3kOg\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E[WATCH: Kabir Barday Shares Insights Into Evolving Role of Data Protection Officers]\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAlthough he didn\u0026rsquo;t intend to be a tech entrepreneur when he arrived on campus, Barday says that his Georgia Tech experience has been key to his success.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Once you\u0026rsquo;re part of Georgia Tech, there are so many different paths you can take,\u0026rdquo; he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEntrepreneurial Education\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBarday took advantage of multiple \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.scheller.gatech.edu\/index.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Eoptions for learning about business\u003C\/a\u003E while he was an undergraduate. He got a certificate in entrepreneurship from the Institute.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I still use some of the courses in that curriculum, like finance and accounting,\u0026rdquo; he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBarday named two key faculty mentors. The first, Distinguished Professor\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/people\/merrick-furst\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMerrick Furst\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, the director of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cdi.gatech.edu\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ECenter for Deliberate Innovation\u003C\/a\u003E and an expert in commercialization and new venture creation.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Learning about those philosophies and methodologies was really helpful,\u0026rdquo; Barday said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/youtu.be\/8pLyQNuyXn4\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E[WATCH: Then Undergrad Barday Demos Talent for Catching Gummy Bears]\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe other mentor was School of Computer Science Professor\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/people\/ellen-zegura\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEllen Zegura\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, who oversaw Barday\u0026rsquo;s capstone project.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I helped build a laboratory information management system for remote facilities in Africa,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;In other words, I got experience solving real-world problems.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe final key in Barday\u0026rsquo;s entrepreneurial education was his experience in the tech ecosystem of Atlanta. He joined \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hub.tie.org\/c\/tieatlanta\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ETiE Atlanta\u003C\/a\u003E, a local networking group for entrepreneurs, and attended their monthly meetings.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I met so many people in the city who were doing great things and who really mentored me,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;I would absolutely encourage students to take advantages of these resources.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Tech Difference\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBarday and OneTrust have always hired a lot of Georgia Tech alumni \u0026mdash; they are located in Atlanta, and of course, Barday knows first-hand the rigorous education our alumni have received.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESome of those alumni have been so good that they actually changed Barday\u0026rsquo;s hiring practices.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I had a formula in my mind for what made a good job candidate,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;Engineering degree, good GPA, lots of extracurriculars. Then I had a couple of candidates sneak through my process.\u0026rdquo; The candidates in question were Tech alumni, but with low GPAs.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;They were rock stars,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;Some of the best I\u0026rsquo;ve ever hired.\u0026rdquo; He realized that a lot of non-academic factors can affect GPA \u0026ndash; a family tragedy, for example, or even a change of major.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Having that Georgia Tech background is a strong statement that kind of supersedes those problems,\u0026rdquo; he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"GT Computing Alum Kabir Barday shares his thoughts on being a tech entrepreneur."}],"uid":"32045","created_gmt":"2019-09-05 17:43:51","changed_gmt":"2019-09-06 15:36:18","author":"Ben Snedeker","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2019-09-05T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2019-09-05T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"625689":{"id":"625689","type":"image","title":"GT Computing Alum Kabir Barday headshot","body":null,"created":"1567702740","gmt_created":"2019-09-05 16:59:00","changed":"1567702740","gmt_changed":"2019-09-05 16:59:00","alt":"GT Computing Alum Kabir Barday","file":{"fid":"238204","name":"Kabir Barday_headshot.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Kabir%20Barday_headshot.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Kabir%20Barday_headshot.png","mime":"image\/png","size":61567,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Kabir%20Barday_headshot.png?itok=jCavifYb"}}},"media_ids":["625689"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"182232","name":"Kabir Barday"},{"id":"46361","name":"GT computing"},{"id":"1051","name":"Computer Science"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAnn Claycombe, Director of Communications\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:ann.claycombe@cc.gatech.edu?subject=Kabir%20Barday%20profile\u0022\u003Eann.claycombe@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["ann.claycombe@cc.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}