The Unexpected Career Podcast

Derrick Walton: Navy to Entrepreneur

• Megan Dunford • Season 3 • Episode 4

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S3E4: Derrick Walton started his career in the Navy before transitioning to the world of payments and  is the CEO and co-found of Spheros, a data company that allows you to control access and share data across industries and applications. 

Check out Spheros website: https://www.spheros.io/


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Welcome to the Unexpected Career Podcast, where we share stories of real people and the twists and turns they have taken along their career journey. I am Megan Dunford, and as someone who found myself in the payments industry, largely by accident, I'm fascinated by how people's careers unfold and how they've gotten to where they are today. It's also why I'm passionate about reducing the pressure on young people, about going to university, what to take in school, and on getting that right first job My guest today is Derek Walton, CEO, and co-founder of Spheros, a technology company that allows you to control access and share data across industries and applications.

Derrick:

Good afternoon, Megan. How are you?

Megan:

Hi, Derrick. I'm good. How are you? Good.

Derrick:

So how do we start this thing?

Megan:

I usually kind of just jump right in.

Derrick:

Okay. All right.

Megan:

The first question is always when you were small what did you think you wanted to be when you grew up? Did you have an idea in mind?

Derrick:

Yeah, I did have an idea in mind of what I wanted to be. I've strayed, far from that but when I was young, I really wanted to be an archeologist. I was fascinated with history. I was fascinated with. How people lived because I felt like we just never knew. Which is weird because that was part of our history. Mm-hmm. And we just didn't know enough. And so for me, trying to figure out what happened and all the things that we've forgotten about our past was really enticing. And also I went to work outdoors. I did not want to be at a desk. For most of my life and like my parents going into work and they come back, I'm like, oh, I feel so good to be outside and feel the sun. And I was like, God, that must suck being in an office all the time. So yeah, I wanted to be an archeologist.

Megan:

So if that's what your starting point was as you got older and were making decisions about whether to go to university and things like that, what decisions did you make? Did you go to university? If you did, what did you choose to take? Why did you make that choice?

Derrick:

I did go to university, well actually I went to the Naval Academy in the United States, and there's a few reasons why I really wanted to go to Naval Academy. When I was in school, a lot of my peers and a lot of the other students were all trying to decide what school they wanted to go to, and they were making decisions based off the location off good football, basketball teams which is a good party school. But someone said. One of the hardest schools to get into was the Naval Academy. And I am a very competitive person. I tried to calm it down, but I'm very competitive. and so knowing that it was very hard because it wasn't just that you had to have good grades, you also had to be. Physically ready and you go through an interview. So that really enticed me.'cause I was like, can I do that? Can I say that out of the students in the United States will, they select me to do that? And so that really enticed me. Not to mention the idea of going to the Naval Academy. Also really focused my idea of not being behind a desk. Okay? Mm-hmm. I wanted to be on my feet. I wanted to do things. I wanted to, in a sense, make a difference. That became a key part of what I wanted to do. I never liked complacency. And so that's really what had me go to the Naval Academy. And when I was there, I went through a lot of different things. I wanted to study. Political science and physics were the two that I really focused the most of my time into.

Megan:

Amazing. So I don't know that much about the Naval Academy. Do you, specialize.'cause you said you did, both political science and physics, which are quite different.

Derrick:

Yeah, you do. You get a major, so it's a credit just like any other college in the

Megan:

United

Derrick:

States or guess in the world. And so you choose your major, but, the Naval Academy is heavily focused on math and sciences. They do have obviously liberal arts.'cause I was in a liberal arts major as well as covering physics.'cause I wanted to make sure, like I said, you cover your bases. But. The key part there is at the same time you're doing those, you have a lot of extra classes that teach you a lot about engineering, especially naval engineering oceanography, and then how to be a leader and manage the troops out into the fleet. there wasn't much partying that happened at the Naval Academy. Our summers, we didn't really always go home. We spent time. The fleet, learning more about what our job's gonna be. So it was a little bit different in that way, but I love the fact that it pushed me every day. There was nobody who was the most physically adept person, the smartest person, and the most socially active person. There was not one person could fill all those. Right? Yeah. So everyone had different strengths and weaknesses and it made. Do you understand how life really kind of works that way?

Megan:

Yeah. That's really cool. So I mean, they focus really on the degrees and skillset sets they would need in the, and the

Derrick:

leadership, right? Yeah. Yeah, that's a good part. Because when you come out, they all come out as officers. And when I came out, I came out as a officer when I was 21 years old, I had 13 people under me and Wow. Yeah. And all of them were older than me, all of them. Right. And so you have to try to gain their respect. Not just'cause you're an officer, but you need them to talk to you when there's a problem you need. Mm-hmm. You gotta learn things the hard way a lot of times.

Megan:

Yeah. That's so amazing to learn those skills at such a young age. So not only the leadership, but that teamwork of, we're kind of a puzzle of different skills and strengths and how to bring that together. That's really amazing.

Derrick:

Yeah, it definitely helped me. Later in life as I started getting more into the corporate world,

Megan:

yeah, I can see that. And I imagine with going to the Naval Academy, you then joined the Navy afterwards as your kind of first job.

Derrick:

Yes. And so we had an obligation. Every person who goes to the Naval Academy or West Point. Which is the Army equivalent or the Air Force which in Colorado Springs, they all have an obligation. We have an obligation to do. It changes from time to time. I think our obligation was five years after we graduate. Mm-hmm. you, what you do is you do an active tour out in the fleet somewhere in the world, and then you do a short tour. My short tour was at the Pentagon. And, I had to get a pretty high clearance to work there, so I had to add on an extra year. So I did that and I absolutely enjoyed one, the active life being part of the Navy in a very micro sense, going around the world and seeing how when things happen, you're there. It actually got me when I was there, I think golf storm, the second attack on Iraq happened and I was right off the shore. And so you're involved in a lot and you see it. But then when I went to the Pentagon, I saw things from a very macro way and you see things from policy and how people make decisions based off the data that they're getting in real time. And it was interesting as well there. So it was good getting both those, but. I love the people. I love that people there kind of work for a cause and which wasn't money. It was the defense of your country and trying to do what you think is right.

Megan:

That's really cool. So after you said you were there for six years so what made you choose to leave and not be a career? Naval officer

Derrick:

it was a hard decision because part of me was like, I could stay in, and it was one of those times when you decided to say, alright, now if I decide to stay in, then I'm gonna stay in the rest of my life. Mm-hmm. That's, I'm gonna be a career naval officer. Or it's time for me to get out and use everything I've taught in something different. And again, it was this whole complacency, not the fact that I thought I was gonna be complacent in the Navy, but I was so intrigued about doing something else. And you'll probably see that's pretty much a big fixture in my career. But I wanted to try something else and I didn't have a lot of experience let's say, a lot of civilian jobs, right? Mm-hmm. And so. I was trying to figure out what I was gonna do and a friend suggested I speak with this other Naval Academy grad who was the CEO of an FX payments company. And I was talking to him and he said, Hey, why don't you come work for me? And I said, I would be happy to, but I know nothing about payments. I don't know anything about fx. But it was interesting to see how, I love to see how clients. Responded to, again, real time or fast moving things that happened in the world that impacted their dollar and they had to kind of move money. I found it really interesting when I was in the military, you care about lives so much, right? You're always worried and that's what everyone's job was, And then when I went to the FX that's how they felt about money. Their money. Yeah. It was a bit of a change because I was like, it's just money. But for some people it's never just money.

Megan:

Yeah, I could see that's a change. And I think Being nervous about going into FX of well I don't know anything about payments. It's always interesting when you look back,'cause obviously I also got into payments by accident and didn't know anything about it when I started. But those are the things that are easy to learn. It's all the other for lack of better term, softer skills like leadership and teamwork and all of that, that really are transferable. So in a way, it doesn't matter that you don't know anything about the technical side of the business.

Derrick:

Yes. I think you're absolutely right there. I think the hardest part, to your point, you start learning to do things. But the things I think that really helped in my career was doing a lot of things I learned when I was in the military, which was, try to always push people to do something different. Always, always. I think it's important because if people start doing the same thing over and over people forget why they do things. So when you need a change, it becomes a whole culture mess. I also, and then going back to culture, I think fixing culture was a big part of it led You need to have a group of people who are always very ambitious, who are trying to move forward because it drives the others in your group. And there's always something to see them move on to bigger things, gives other people encouragement to do the same. And that was something I really tried to push in there. And the last one is, I tried to be a leader of the people I would say. And what I mean by that is I never ever consider myself too senior to do a job. Mm-hmm. So for example, if one of my operations people were off or they couldn't do something, I would pick up an operations because one, I went in how it worked. And two, just show people like, let's do this. And then when you show you care about, even sometimes it's the small part of the job, people have a better sense that you have a feeling that you're in it with them. And those kind of things I try to do over and over again. But then again, I would tell you there's also a level of that I did struggle with for a bit, which was the fact that even when it comes to. Money really resonates with a lot of people very quickly. I was always so loyal in my last job. Mm-hmm. There's no loyalty, I think always in corporates and maybe there shouldn't be very frankly. Yeah. But if someone got a bonus of 10,000 and someone got a bonus of 9,000, the person who got 9,000 would be really upset because they didn't get the 10,000. Mm-hmm. And you say to yourself, it's a thousand dollars difference. They did this. It's how they felt valued, they felt undervalued. And that has a huge difference on people's mental state. And I had to change my approach when you build things like that.

Megan:

That's a really good point. So your first kind of role out of the Navy was fx. And I know you're an entrepreneur now. Tell me a little bit of that journey from that first role outta the Navy to what you're doing now.

Derrick:

Yeah. to the point you made, like I got into payments, I got really comfortable with payments, and I think by the time when I was going into payments, there was quite a few things happening. Data was moving much faster. So, the idea that you do transactions during your time zone started disappearing and you started doing transactions. All the time, real time, constantly moving. I was very fortunate to be able to be in positions where whenever I saw an opportunity to push the boundaries on something we were doing, I got the backing to do that. Mm-hmm. And so I always really wanted to push and then I guess it came to, my company got purchased by another company. We got purchased by another company. But then it came to a point when I started thinking to myself, which was. I kind of have this down and I don't know if I'm the right person to lead this anymore. Maybe I'm getting very complacent. Maybe I'm not getting the response I needed to. So I literally up and left and I went to a company called like Hyper Wallet, which is a lot smaller. And so I went from having somewhere around 600 or so people under me to having 20. Yeah. And I really enjoyed it because my whole life wasn't. People, administrative, it was building stuff out. We sold that company to PayPal and then bank of America asked me to join them to run their emerging payments innovation group. Now, at that point, I was moving a little bit away from payments and just fully into innovation. Mm-hmm. And to push the boundaries of what the banks were willing to do. And as you know, banks are extremely. Risk, the risk mitigation approach. Like I gotta be careful with do everything I do because the regulators are always watching. Mm-hmm. And so trying to work in a heavily regulated environment was very interesting because you had to convince people to do things that they otherwise wouldn't do and try to explain to them. And that part was kind of fun. But at the same time, I was exposed to a lot of entrepreneurs out there who were doing really interesting, cool stuff, and I got the bug. I said to myself, what if I didn't have to ask 27 committees, inside the bank, and I'm not even joking, it would be 27 committees, but if I didn't have to ask 27 committees, can I do this small change? And I just did it, and so I found this out idea that I was thinking about areas of where people struggle.'cause really, you really wanna have an idea, right? A simple idea like mm-hmm. Crypto, I understand why people are into it, but it's still hard for people to wrap their arms around. Even when you talk about ai, I think people love ai, but they're still trying to figure out. what can I do with it? Yeah, it makes cool images and stuff, but what can I really do with this thing? Yeah. And so really, I, I try to focus on an area which I saw in every part of my business, which was every single time I wanted to do business with a counterparties, especially in the business to business. Standpoint, but I asked the thought in my own personal life how many times people ask for information and they ask for the same information over and over again. And I said, what if I just created myself a wallet? Now having a wallet for a consumer is not new Apple. Mm-hmm. Has tried to do this or has done this. a lot of companies try to do it, but there's also when you go to do your and I'm sure it's different in Canada, but in the US when every time you go to a different doctor's you have to give your health updates. And it's all this information. Businesses have the same problem we thought and we said, listen, why don't we try to make it easier for businesses to share and collect information so they don't have to put the dozen or so people whose sole job is to move data back and forth between two counterparties.

Megan:

So like a data wallet.

Derrick:

It was a data wallet for businesses, right. To make it easier for them to exchange data. But we looked at it really from a large enterprise standpoint first and said, you guys ask all these suppliers and clients to onboard with you, and it's emails back and forth, and it's such a pain. What if you make it easier for them just to be able to collect that information in a simple place and then for the client or the vendor, we said, put all your data in one wallet. And connect with your different clients that way, and then just update it in one place. And they all get your updates. So when you change your address, when you change your payments, do it here. And they all get updated. It just pushes out the updates. And now we're coming to a point where we're saying like this, okay, how can we bring AI into this? Because if you're not thinking about bringing AI into your world, it's people are like this. Are you even in this? Are you even at 2025? Right? So whether you think you need AI or not, the answer is you need ai. But we said to ourselves, what's the other problem that businesses have when doing things? And that is filling out forms, right? I never met a person who says, God, I really enjoy filling out forms, or, it's not that big deal. Yeah. And so we said, if your data is in your wallet, why can't I take that data? And when someone sends me a form, it'll just use AI to pre-populate that form with all the data you have and send it back to'em. Some that usually sometimes could take hours or a week or so, filling out forms. What if it's done in 30 seconds and all you have to do is review. And that's where we brought our whole system in. So our hope is that Spheros, our company becomes the standard for where businesses exchange data around the world, you know? Yeah.

Megan:

That's amazing. And the opportunity just to save time is. Massive because you're right, every time you sign on, I'm just gonna go back to payments in FX since I'm still in that world. when a new business signs on to do business with us, of course they have to provide all sorts of their incorporation documents and all this stuff for KYC and due diligence and. There are other businesses they're providing it for, and we all have different timelines for yes. doing re-accreditation and et cetera. If it was just all in your wallet in one place and you connected to that, it'd be so much faster for both parties and as it's updated, those re-accreditation. Cycles you wouldn't need as much because it would just always be updated.

Derrick:

A hundred percent. And the funny thing about it is, as you and I both worked at payment companies, they always tell the speed in which they can get those payments out the door. Like, Hey, I can get your payments out the door and to the beneficiary within hours, but it's gonna take me days, if not weeks set up. To get you set up and do it. It's almost like when people like this, Hey, you wanna be digital? Use Apple Pay to pay for something, and then they give you a paper receipt. Right. I've gone digital, but I'm still carrying all this receipts around with me. Mm-hmm. And those kind of things. I just felt like we never get that last mile. And so for businesses who think about this, that is an important aspect of their world.

Megan:

So when you look back on this career journey, starting from the Navy through payments innovation and now as an entrepreneur in the data space mm-hmm. What do you think are some of the common threads when you look back are there connections you see, in that journey?

Derrick:

Yeah, like I said before, one, I made sure I wasn't complacent. So I look at myself where I've been, every company I worked at for three to last, three to four years, have I moved up? Have I made a difference? Am I doing the same thing? In essence, when I was doing three or four years ago, if I am, it's time to go. That's just always, even if it was a lateral move, even if it was potentially stepback or a different industry, I made that decision because, and listen, I will never knock people who. Who feel very comfortable in that environment, but I know that's not me, you know? And I've also seen people be in those environments where they've been in the same role for 12 or 13 years and they can't change. And then when the world changes on them, they don't adapt well at all. Yeah. So that's one. I think the other part was, and I strongly suggest that anybody who is young and thinking about. How to make sure that they do the right things in life. It's like you are gonna make mistakes. So first of all, just get that out. You're going to make bad decisions. but I think one thing that really helped me is continue to build out my network. And I know people oh, we should go visit this, this, I'm saying when you have coffee chats, it's not a check the box. Exercise. Yeah. Get to know people and don't just have one every month. Just get to know people. Like you'll never know, as an entrepreneur, when I'm calling on people, I'm calling on people I've worked with like 12 or 13 years ago, but it's not like I'm reaching out of the blue. I still talk with some of these people. Building your, and I wouldn't say always calling'em friends because I feel like that's a pretty heavy word. But colleagues are people that you have a connection with becomes really important, you know? Mm-hmm. And I feel like when people say oh, you know, I don't know where to go. It's like, use your connection of people, because I promise you, they all have open positions. They know. So if you're looking for it, go to them. And then decide if that's what you want to be or what you want to do. But I really believe that people don't do that enough, especially in this digital data age, LinkedIn. Is not a a replacement for a in-person drink lunch or coffee. Yeah, meeting people is is important.

Megan:

That's a really good point. And you're right, it is a little bit harder in digital because we feel like we've done it. With people maybe I went high school with and people will say, oh, have you spoken to so and so? And I'm like. No, but I know what they're up to.'cause we're connected on Instagram and LinkedIn's the same way. So you feel like, oh, well I'm connected with people. People know what I'm up to and I know what they're up to. But to your point, that's not the same as an actual conversation. It's not really personal. Like yes, they're getting the top level kind of update, but that's not a personal connection that you're maintaining if that's all you're doing. On the flip side, digital can be really helpful. We've been able to catch up on WhatsApp and Zoom because, we don't live close together anymore. So, there are benefits and people should also use those things. I feel like people are hesitant to sometimes to have a team's coffee or a Zoom coffee. It's like. You might not live in the same city anymore or whatever. And so I lean into that. And I know you do that'cause you've, you, you give that out as well.'cause you've shown up for me, when I needed it. So, reciprocate it as well.

Derrick:

you're right. And I don't wanna put down the digital aspect of it because I think to your point mm-hmm. The world is getting smaller. It's important to, to utilize it. I just, When we post something on LinkedIn or Instagram, it's curated, right? Yeah. Rarely do we just roll out of bed, take a picture like, Hey, morning. Like nobody posts that. No one says things are really rough at work. I didn't get the promotion I wanted. I'm struggling. We don't get that where you get that. Yeah. When you talk to somebody. Mm-hmm. Right. That's an important part. But I think what you do get out of it, it should spurt everyone. If you see someone, one of your friends at a beach or a town, for example, I saw someone post something like, Hey, in New York City, I'm here looking at this. I will immediately email them you are in New York City, let's grab lunch, let's grab coffee. Mm-hmm. That's how you can like, you know where they are, you know? Yeah. Kind of say next thing you're here, please look me up. I'd love to connect. Those are the parts that really I think are important to get out of it.

Megan:

Yeah, that's a good point. Allison and I did that once in Copenhagen. All places. Like crazy.

Derrick:

So if that's where you guys meet, then that's where you guys are meeting, right? Yeah,

Megan:

that

Derrick:

is. Which is great.

Megan:

Yeah. She saw I was in Copenhagen on Instagram and messaged me. She's like, I'm here for work. Like let's meet for a drink. It was amazing.

Derrick:

Yeah. So

Megan:

yeah, you're right. Use those as opportunities or someone posts a celebration about something. Use that as a reason to actually send a message and not just like their post.

Derrick:

Yeah. Because I will say this, we all post for a reason. If you really think about it, there is a reason why people post that they've got. A promotion while they, went to this place is that it's because they are looking for some level of connectivity with people. They want their peers to be proud of them. They want some level of, Hey, reach out to me. I love to on hear from people. What are your thoughts? When people post it is a request to connect.

Megan:

a hundred percent. I think the other thing that you said about common threads, about being very conscious of not becoming complacent I think it's a good reminder for everyone of have that kind of check in with yourself. Because you mentioned, sometimes people will stay in a role for like 13 years. Then they're not prepared when the world starts to change because they haven't, pushed out of their comfort zone at all. The other thread I heard in your journey is curiosity of oh, actually that's kind of interesting. And the need to wanna roll up your sleeves, that move into hyper wallet, from being in a really large organization to a small organization and being back into the thick of it a little bit more and you know, the learning and curiosity there. So yeah, that's something else I heard in your journey.

Derrick:

Yeah. you're right. I do find it very curious. I think some of it is also like salvation too. Like I'm in a survival mode, which is to say, yeah. If I don't know what's going on with ai, then I'm going to fall behind. I'm not saying I'm a big TikToker, but I had to understand why people like TikTok. Yeah. And it's much more generational, right? but the fact that people can express a concept, take something in all within 30 seconds is not just. Fascinating. It means that's the way that they expect to get their information. Mm-hmm. So, or when you put out a video, and I do this as a sphere, it's like, Hey, put out a five minute videos like this. Five minutes. That's too long. Yeah. You can't do that. I have maybe a minute. And the shorter the better. Now I will say it's generational because an older generation's like I wanna watch the whole video of, to make sure I fully understand it. The younger generation's like break that up. Break it up. So make it five

Megan:

videos instead of one five minute video, five videos of one

Derrick:

minute. And so if you're not keeping up with that, you will falter. And so it's funny when people talk about Hey, we gotta care for diversity on this. But I'm like, if you're not, you're losing out. Because if you're not getting young people in, if you're not getting people who think very differently you are losing out. You're losing business. So yes, I think the curiosity part is much more, I'm looking for some level of survivability, but also, I am always very curious about how things work. I just, I can't just sit there and just be like, oh, that's magic, you know?

Megan:

Love that. if you think of 15-year-old, 16-year-old Derrick, what do you think he would think of where you are now?

Derrick:

I think he'd be really baffled. One why I live up in New Jersey, near New York City. I think he'd be very baffled by that. But I also think that when I was younger, I was like you'll never be caught seeing me sitting behind a desk as I literally sit behind a desk right now. Yeah. But I also There's a lot of things I think I've learned about myself over the years that I've pushed myself from. There's, I mean, and honestly I think about this a lot more even now when I have with my son, which is everything that my son says, Ugh, I don't like to do this, I don't like to do that. That's gonna change so much and it's changed so much in my life. Right. so there's things that I, I thought I would never do that I've really. Gotten into. And so I think even though I'd be baffled, I think, my young self would love the journey that I've taken both the good and bad to got here. So, you know, it's, it is always seemed the end. You're like this, I saw the end of the movie, but what happened during it? Because that's the best part is what's going on through the movie.

Megan:

that's a really great way to look at it. And you know, you're right. As we get older, our interests, our values, all those things continue to evolve as we learn things. And the world is also changing all around us. So yeah, I think that's really important. And I think it just goes back, and you mentioned it before of when you were talking about failure of., we're never gonna have all the information. So, just make a decision and take a step forward. And then you make a new decision, depending on the outcome of the first one. And that's, it's just a chain and it is the journey that is exciting.

Derrick:

I used to have this boss, one of my first bosses, and he said. At best at any given time. And he said this to this whole entire leadership team, he goes, I'll have 70% of the information. And he is like, and if I could take out of that, 70% be right, 60 to 70% of the time, that's a win. You'll never have a hundred percent of the information and you'll never be right a hundred percent of the time. Mm-hmm. you gotta have to deal with the hand you're dealt. You can try to be as prepared as possible. And that really stuck with me, right? Like it's easy to get into analysis paralysis. That is so easy to find into what if you're gonna do this or do that. Like, should I go left or right? But a lot of times it's better to say I'm going right and I'm going to adapt whatever happened when I go

Megan:

just take that step forward and then. Depending on the outcome, then you make, well, you're gonna make another decision anyway,

Derrick:

that's exactly right.

Megan:

I saw something on probably Instagram and I think it was like a psychology professor or something. But she was talking about literally every decision in your life is 50 50. You never know the outcome. So when you're making big life decisions. Just make the decision and don't have regret. You just make the next decision. I'm gonna use, the example she used was, you know, someone might pick a university and then it's not working out. They don't like the school, whatever it might be. And they're like, oh, if I just picked that other university, everything would've been better. But actually you literally have no idea. It could have been worse, it could have been a completely just different thing. Like you don't know. So don't look back.

Derrick:

I mean, there's so much truth to that. There's always in society, I think there's always and I say society because I think there's norms and expectations we put on people and we live in those. Yeah. And when people don't do those, we think them either as geniuses or weird. And I think about even like you talk about university, so many more kids do not go to universities these days because they make more money not going to university. Yeah. Why would you spend, let's say quarter million dollars,$250,000 to go to a university. When a tech company's like, Hey, come work for me, I'll start you off at a hundred or$80,000 and then you'll work your way up. Mm-hmm. There's a huge, I think people are surprised you didn't go to university, and I think that people who expect that you go to university or companies that do, I think they're gonna find themselves laggards again.

Megan:

I think it's definitely not for everyone. And I like, in Europe, especially the uk there's the concept of the gap year. I like that as a concept. Take more time to make some of these decisions. Explore, figure out who you are. So I think, as the world is changing and that's one of the ways it's changing is companies are starting to, not have that as a requirement, especially in the tech space. it gives people a lot more flexibility to design their life and make changes along the way. It's not like our parents or our grandparents who got into a job and were there forever.

Derrick:

That's right. There's not the expectation.

Megan:

Along the same lines, thinking back to 16-year-old Derrick who's a bit baffled about where you are today. If you could go back in time and give yourself some advice, what advice would you give your younger yourself?

Derrick:

I'm gonna give one that I feel like everyone feels they should give. And it's so cliche, but I also still think it's really important, which was really to enjoy the moment. I felt like I go back to so many times when I was so eager to move on to the next thing, and I should have just really enjoyed the thing was doing at that time. And I think that's just the world. Like when you're young, you're always really eager to grow and when you've grown, you started so much eager to be younger again, but mm-hmm. I feel like I also. Wish I took I took advantage of having more opportunities, like when people invited me to do things and I'd be like, I don't know if I really want to do that, and I wouldn't do it, and I'm wished back. I'm like, I don't know why I just didn't want to do it. What was I being scared? Was I just being, cranky? But that's it. I think I would say jump on every opportunity given to you that you want to do. Don't do something because, I think there's always this, and I don't know, anyone doesn't think this, but everyone always thinks that another person knows so much better that there's oracles out there who could tell you, yeah, right. We treat a lot of these celebrities, like, oh, this person said something, so they must know. And I found myself finding that Sometimes a mentor or someone I respect would say, I wouldn't do that. And I really wanted to do it. And I was like, okay, well if they said I shouldn't do it, so I'm not gonna do it. And I regret not doing it. And I'm like, why don't I trust myself? so I think the advice I would give is be in the moment and trust yourself a lot more. Yeah. There's gonna be people who give you advice, and I think you should listen to advice, but do what you want to do.

Megan:

I think advice is a just another data point, but you still ultimately have to make the decision that's right for you.

Derrick:

Yes. And it's just so funny because I feel like even when we ask advice, we really want to hear that, right. The answer we want them to do, we already

Megan:

have an answer in mind. Yeah. Yeah.

Derrick:

And it's good for someone to play devil's advocate, say why, and then maybe some questions like, why shouldn't I do this? Yeah. And someone can give you that and you're like, this, okay, taking that into account, but I'm gonna do it anyway. So I guess that's the part I've really gotten into myself a lot more now. I'm much more comfortable saying, I hear, and you have to, first of all, right now, as a CEO, your team could be telling you, I don't think you should do this. And then you kinda have to say, the ball's in my court, so. I hear you all, but I think we're gonna do it anyway. And you don't have to do that sparely, right? Don't get me wrong. Yeah. You can't just be a dictator. But my point is, there's something that kind of got you to where you are today and you have to be respectful of what got you there. So trust yourself a little bit.

Megan:

Yeah. Yeah. this is probably a motivational meme or something I've seen before, but it's like you never regret the things that you tried. You regret the things you didn't do.

Derrick:

A hundred percent. It's such a classic one, but that's someone what advice I give.

Megan:

And I think it's a universal thing that we go through, especially when you're young of, and I think gen Z is going through it right now of, oh, well that's cringe, so I don't wanna do something that's cringe. But we all, every generation has gone through it. We just had a different term for it when you're young. There's a, an image or what have you. And of course when you're young, you are susceptible to listening to mentors, et cetera, because as you said, we don't have enough life experience to necessarily realize that they're just people too, and they don't have all the answers. And so their advice is colored through their own experience. And it's not necessarily. the right advice for us, although it is a useful data point.

Derrick:

I think that's very true. I think we also, like I said, I go back to there's this world that a lot of us are living in, which is a very curated world in which we brand ourselves, you know? Yeah. We always wanna make sure that the best brand is the best way We look out to people instead of the most authentic. One of us that goes out there, like we all struggle, but we all act like none of us struggle.

Megan:

Right?

Derrick:

That's hard. And that's what Gen Z kind of feels, I feel like, when they tried to be very real about it. It always seems to be at inopportune times and we harp on'em about it, right? Like, Hey, don't be, don't cry at work or don't do sometimes they just, they've been so curated that they're trying to figure out where it is. Like I tell you, I work with a lot of Gen Z either in my last job or this job now, they have a lot of anxiety. I don't even know if it's wrong. Anxiety. I just feel like they clearly have a lot of people to talk to in person that's not digital. when I was at age, I had anxiety too. But you had your friends, you talked a lot. We didn't have all this it our, my first mode of communication was not text with a lot of my friends. It was, yeah, certainly at a bar, having a drink right on watching a game. But that's just not The world is today, you know?

Megan:

I mean, I think in some ways this is gonna make me sound really old, but kind of a lucky generation. I didn't get my first cell phone till my last year of university and it was a tiny little Nokia. Yeah. And you would have to type out to text and it was so expensive to text you. Right. It literally was basically for emergencies and Right.

Derrick:

I agree. So I agree. I completely agree with you on that. I was, same way. I didn't text because I was like, that costs money. So it had to be important. You would wait even if someone was an emergency, how big an emergency is it, is it a 75 cent text emergency? Because it's off my roaming hours started after 5:00 PM So you had to wait to find out. Yeah.

Megan:

Is this a before 5:00 PM or an after 5:00 PM That's right. Exactly. PM emergency.

Derrick:

That's right.

Megan:

I think the other thing, with personal brand and social media that's really difficult is sometimes I think they do start from a fairly authentic place, but then you get locked into a box because social media doesn't like you to change. And of course people do evolve and change. And so then you get locked into this box of, oh, I got known on social media for this. And. So then you have to keep that up to keep your followers or whatever. And then if you do start to change, there's backlash but as we were talking about earlier in the conversation, like that evolution of interests and values is very normal as you. Get older and you experience new things and you meet new people and you travel and all of those things. So yeah, I guess that's another potential downside.

Derrick:

No, I completely agree with you. I do think it starts with an off opening place, but frankly it's like when we go to the movies, we don't go to the movies to watch ourselves What really gets people's attention is the extreme situations, and it works the same way in social media. True. The more extreme you are. The more people wanna see it. Yeah. Nobody wants to see, my day sitting behind a desk at an office and saying, yeah, I had to put some reports together. It was interesting, but frankly that is a good portion, what most people's days are like. Yeah. True emails and being in meetings, that's not sexy. It's not fun.

Megan:

No. They want the spectacle.

Derrick:

They do. So you have to build a spectacle world around people.

Megan:

Yeah. True. So obviously we've done a lot of, looking back, when you look forward, what are you hoping for or what's your vision for the future, whether it's short term, long term? Both.

Derrick:

Yeah. This, it's a, it's a good question and I guess I'd start off by saying last I had before, I don't know. What the future holds. And I don't even say it's leading this way, I just don't know. Yeah. I think if there's any point in time in my life, it's probably the most uncertain. And I don't say that because I don't think my startup will work. I do think my startup will work. I think it'll do well. Mm-hmm. I do think though, the country, the world is moving very fast. There's so many changes. you get a notification from the news organization on your phone like every hour about not just a small change, but a big change that's happened. But I also say to myself, I felt like I had pretty good success in my career. And so I wanted to do one of the hardest things I could think of, which was start your own business because when you're there you do a lot of parts of it and you can't be great at everything, right? I mean, I've never really done sales before, but I'm selling. I've done a lot with product and I feel comfortable there, but you're, every part of it, You have to be the best at what you're doing because those decisions make a difference. Yeah. But I do kind of fall back on the things I feel comfortable with is, which is the people part. But to your point, where do I see the future going? I think that the world is up for a pretty big change. I think people are exhausted one way or the other about. Where we are. I've known, I've said to myself, you know what? That's not my lane. I'm just gonna stay out of it. But now I'm not, I don't feel that way anymore. I feel like I should be involved a lot more. I also feel I should be a lot kinder to people. I think that, I know this sounds so crazy, but sometimes you don't realize how much better you have it onto the other person. For people struggling because it's hard out there. It really mm-hmm. Is and so I try to be, I try to help every single chance I get, I try to take every call. If someone wants time, I try to give it to them. So that's where I think as I think about the future, I wanna be more empathetic and I want to build a company that's built around that. And it's not just to say yo, we're not gonna take revenue to account and a profit account. It's just that I want to build a culture where it's not trying to say, Hey, the CEO makes. 150 times more than the lowest paid person. Mm-hmm. I don't know if I care about me having money as much as I think other people do. It's, it was something that's always been really fascinated me how much money that I think some people really want. You know, like for example, I always think about Elon Musk's money. He could, I mean, he could literally be the biggest savior And we don't though, right. It's, yeah. And those kind of things. I'm not saying that he should give it away, but I also made me feel like. If I had that much money. If I'm a billionaire, I don't want to be a billionaire, if that makes sense. Yeah. I'd rather be known for, Hey, he made us college free for the next 20 years for anyone they bring in or he changed this neighborhood around. Those kind of things, I feel like should be what's next. So when I look at my company and where I want to take it, I want to build it off a culture of just being kind and doing the right things. You know, that's really where I'm looking at it.

Megan:

I love that as a, focus isn't the right word, but perspective. Because those are the really the only things you can control is, focusing on kindness, empathy, what kind of culture you wanna build and continuing to improve that. And the business, of course, you have to try to make the best business decisions, et cetera. That's right. But some of those outcomes are out of your control, but you can always control doing it in the best way possible.

Derrick:

It is. and you know, and listen, I, live in a very capitalist country where everyone wants more and more money, but I also think that, I do believe, and maybe it's wishful thinking, but I do believe that people are starting to think to themselves. Especially the younger generations, I think they're thinking themselves. It's nice to have a lot of money, but if I, did I travel more and maybe spend more time with my friends other than trying to make even more money? Yeah. I think that there is becoming a part when people are saying like, a billion dollars, what would I do with a billion dollars? Yeah. Would I change any way in which I live and it's some people are gonna be like I don't know what I would do with it. So, that's the part I guess I look at, and I hope that the world changes. So when I think about what's next is I know what's next for me is just really living into that empathy and being at the company based off of that. And I hope other people follow suit because I think we need a more, never know.

Megan:

Yeah, I, I agree. Like that. Focus on community and experience and taking care of each other.

Derrick:

Yeah. I mean, it's so, so simple. And I really hope we go back to that because I think people need that right now.

Megan:

a hundred percent agree. Awesome Derric k, thank you so much for sharing your journey with me and taking time out of your busy day. I know when you're building a company, there's lots of things on the go and, a lot of people who need your time. So I really appreciate, that you took the time for this conversation and your journey is amazing and I can't. Wait to see where it goes and where as Spheros goes and yeah. Thank you.

Derrick:

Nope. Megan, thank you. It's always fun to do a retrospect on your own life and get your questions and think about where you're headed to. And I really love the idea of having this podcast just a very, in a sense, straightforward way of talking about your career and how it may impact other people. You never know who's gonna hear this and maybe take whatever, both good or bad from it. And if you do, please, I'd love for people to reach out for to me and tell me, Your thoughts are it, but, thank you for this medium and this opportunity.

I really enjoyed chatting with Derrick and hearing not only his career journey from the Navy to payments to entrepreneur, but also his insight into his own evolution on that journey from a kid who did not want to be stuck behind a desk to trying to build a company with a culture of doing the right thing. A few of the things I took away from our conversation were, first of all, complacency. Derek's journey is such a great example of moving forward and not becoming stagnant in your career, which was not only driven by his curiosity, but also a recognition that if you get too comfortable, you are in danger of being left behind. Second connection. Everyone talks about how important networking is, but Derrick really reminded me of how important the personal connection is, and we should grab those opportunities to meet face-to-face whenever we can. Third, curiosity. Curiosity has not only helped Derrick avoid complacency, but it has been a driving force in terms of understanding the different needs and expectations across generations, which is key to understanding your customers, but also connecting with your team. And I'll leave you with Derrick's advice to his younger self. Jump on every opportunity given to you that you want to do. Ultimately take chances and enjoy the moment. Thank you for listening to the unexpected career podcast, please follow, share and rate on your favorite podcast provider. The unexpected career podcast is produced, edited and hosted by me, Megan Dunford. See you next week.

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Megan Dunford

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