Marc Frankel

Absolutely. My name is Mark Frankel. I am the CEO and co-founder of a software supply chain security company called Manifest.

Absolutely. My name is Mark Frankel. I am the CEO and co-founder of a software supply chain security company called Manifest.

Not by accident, I can tell you that much. That's good. So my co-founder Daniel and I met about 10, 11 years ago. We started at a company called Palantir on the same day together. He was this symbolic systems grad from Stanford. I had barely touched a keyboard in my life. And so we were seated together during orientation. I was like cheating off of his computer. I had come from the finance world.

Not by accident, I can tell you that much. That's good. So my co-founder Daniel and I met about 10, 11 years ago. We started at a company called Palantir on the same day together. He was this symbolic systems grad from Stanford. I had barely touched a keyboard in my life. And so we were seated together during orientation. I was like cheating off of his computer. I had come from the finance world.

I didn't have much of a background in tech, but he was this, you know, very patient, very accommodating, really great teacher. And we stayed friends for about a decade. We followed each other through Palantir, working on federal civilian, intelligence community, DoD stuff. He left for a company called Exabeam and then Defense Digital Service and ultimately CISA.

I didn't have much of a background in tech, but he was this, you know, very patient, very accommodating, really great teacher. And we stayed friends for about a decade. We followed each other through Palantir, working on federal civilian, intelligence community, DoD stuff. He left for a company called Exabeam and then Defense Digital Service and ultimately CISA.

I left for an attack service management company called Expanse, but we stayed in touch. And when the log four shell vulnerability hit, I was at Palo Alto Networks that had acquired Expanse. Daniel was at the Pentagon.

I left for an attack service management company called Expanse, but we stayed in touch. And when the log four shell vulnerability hit, I was at Palo Alto Networks that had acquired Expanse. Daniel was at the Pentagon.

And we both watched these large mission critical, sophisticated organizations unable to answer a simple question of where do we have a problematic component in our software supply chain? And that seemed like a problem, not just a problem worth solving, but a problem worth solving urgently. And those were our criteria for success. jumping in and taking the entrepreneurial leap together.

And we both watched these large mission critical, sophisticated organizations unable to answer a simple question of where do we have a problematic component in our software supply chain? And that seemed like a problem, not just a problem worth solving, but a problem worth solving urgently. And those were our criteria for success. jumping in and taking the entrepreneurial leap together.

So that was about about two years ago now. And and we're still friends.

So that was about about two years ago now. And and we're still friends.

I spare a thought for anybody. You know, we hear stories of people who found companies based on folks that they met on Hacker News or, you know, Y Combinator or whatever. I just I can't imagine going on this journey without somebody that I had the bedrock of a decade long friendship to rely on.

I spare a thought for anybody. You know, we hear stories of people who found companies based on folks that they met on Hacker News or, you know, Y Combinator or whatever. I just I can't imagine going on this journey without somebody that I had the bedrock of a decade long friendship to rely on.

And so I think that's a really, really important criteria for anybody who's, you know, considering taking the plunge.

And so I think that's a really, really important criteria for anybody who's, you know, considering taking the plunge.

Wow. Okay. So my favorite, I'll start with my favorite food memory and it's not a good one.

Wow. Okay. So my favorite, I'll start with my favorite food memory and it's not a good one.

I know that, you know, probably most people, they hearken back to, you know, the Thanksgiving table or what have you, but my favorite food memory actually was an ice and they're a local, I don't even know if you would call it a delicacy, but certainly a local food that they've eaten historically or traditionally is called Hakarl. It's fermented Greenlandic shark.

I know that, you know, probably most people, they hearken back to, you know, the Thanksgiving table or what have you, but my favorite food memory actually was an ice and they're a local, I don't even know if you would call it a delicacy, but certainly a local food that they've eaten historically or traditionally is called Hakarl. It's fermented Greenlandic shark.