244 - TZL - Peter Johann

00:12:42.504 - 00:13:17.272 As I'm sitting here hearing you talk, I'm sure there's somebody that's going to watch this and it's going to say, Peter was so brave to step out of his comfort zone to do this. A couple of questions that I have for you. One is, did you feel like you were wired for this type of business, or was it more that you just figured things out as you went and you knew the problem and you figured out a way to just come up with a solution in an area that you didn't have as much comfort and experience in as you had as a civil engineer.

Peter Johann 00:13:17.376 - 00:14:00.812 Absolutely. I think this is a little different mindset than my partner.

I think my partner had always for a longer period thought about doing something like this. For me, I had never really thought that this was ever going to be my path. I just stumbled into it. And at the very beginning, eyes wide open. I was more just being excited for the opportunity to do this rather than feeling like I was the right person for it.

That's part of building a company, you can't really know, and you can't be good at it before you actually do it. The only way to progress in your journey is to actually just go ahead and do it.

And so I think I've developed into someone who is a good fit for our type of company, but certainly wasn't one going in.

Randy Wilburn 00:14:00.916 - 00:14:36.676 Yeah.

I imagine that you all probably have to pinch yourselves every day when you come into work, right? Getting to do what you're doing now. Not only are you able to exercise your skillset, your background and experience as a structural engineer, but you're also able to work on something totally brand new. Is KPFF now a client? Yep. Okay. All right. So basically, firms that you were working with or competing against while you were with them, as you created Pirros, have now become clients of yours and companies that you are providing your solutions to. Peter Johann 00:14:36.828 - 00:15:05.156 Yeah, absolutely. A bunch of structural engineering firms on the West Coast is now using it that compete with KPFF. You know, Daikon Cole, Walter Primor, Buhler Engineering, John A. Martin, a bunch of them. And they're all using the solution. And partly because, it was just something that did not exist in the industry.

Again, still really don't have a direct competitor to it, which is interesting, but something that was a need for these firms, which is why these firms are adopting it.

Randy Wilburn 00:15:05.268 - 00:15:19.714

So are you and your partner waiting for the other shoe to drop in terms of competitors or what are you doing to distance yourself from everybody else since you are an early adopter and a one of one, if you will?

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