This chief executive of grocery stores in Publix moved to the establishment of an electronic company worth $ 3.4 billion – with a small technical background

• Despite the lack Ritzi or A lot of the background in technologyGeneral Xer Brian Murphy built the Reliaquest in a billion dollars in the aftermath of credit card debts. Now its value is now valued at 3.4 billion dollars and went to the public subscription path. The secret? He says that recognition of failure is inevitable luck.

Brian Murphy could not start his company in a worse time.

It was in late 2007, and Murphy had just left his accounting job for companies full of large plans to build his information technology company called Reliquest. But the financial crisis has other ideas.

In a period of 40 days, almost all of his work disappeared in the delicate air, which he left and his eight staff scratching their heads on how to extend the individual governmental contract that focuses on cybersecurity of satellite satellites abroad to a sustainable company.

Despite the “disturbances for a period of nine years”, he was not thrown in the towel – he doubled his belief that the growing digital age would lead to an electronic explosion.

Murphy says to luck.

Along the way, Murphy was forced to remove a second real estate mortgage in his home, complete his credit cards, and eliminate his salary.

But over a decade and a half since its foundation, the company is now a leader in cyberspace B2B security operations with its pioneering program “Greymatter”. Reliaquest has more than 1,200 employees on three continents, with senior customers including billions of dollars such as Southwest Airlines, Circle K and Trartor Supply Co. Earlier this year, a financing round RELIAQUEST value at $ 3.4 billion.

Murphy says to luck.

Although 48 -year -old may be called luck, others may call it hard work. The next station? Public subscription.

Lessons learned from Bag Boy to CEO

Like many people who grew up in Florida, Murphy was first exposed to the business world with grocery store Now Publix CEO). The lessons you learn in adolescence are related today.

He says, “The customer taught me.” “And this idea is that you do not direct the customer to the ketchup corridor, you are walking there, and you see them the five or six different types.”

But Murphy scenes were not always in the technology industry. In fact, he studied accounting and financing at Florida State University before starting what he imagined would be a long career as an auditor. It was not even attracted to technical consultations and learned to program that he realized the capabilities of the industry.

Now, as a founder and executive president, the greatest challenge to overcome is accepting that failure is inevitable and to satisfy everyone can be an impossible task.

“It does not matter how good you, your work, or the feasibility of” grinding “. Murphy says:” You always fail in someone. “

“It is the most feasible journey-at all.”

For the ambitious business of Gen Z, it provides advice from advice: it appears ready to work hard, and not be ashamed to express your opinion.

“You will not always be right, but if you don’t say anything, you will always be wrong,” said Murphy. “As you get older, you learn that the best you can do is sometimes silence, but when you are young, you want to stand and speak as much as you can get this experience.”

A businessman in the generation once

One of the things that characterizes Reliaquest from its competitors in the field of cybersecurity is that the company is based in Tampa, Florida, not in Silicon Valley.

According to Paul Shukri, CEO of RayMond James Financial (Tampa Fellow Company), the Reliaquest focus on staying on a good basis in its community is what helped find success. In fact, he goes away to say Murphy is “once in a businessman of its kind.”

“He got a campaign that is difficult to match with regard to his dedication to work and his people, and the density he built business,” says Shukri, who is also a member of the Reliaquest Board of Directors. luck.

“It is very real, and tells you as it is,” he says. “Whenever you ask him a question, he will never overcome the bush. It will never give you a polished answer. For the better, for the worst, he is just a really real person.”

This story was originally shown on Fortune.com