Federico's Story

“As a business owner, you have limited time to do the things you want, and you don’t want to spend it making mistakes,” says Federico Charosky, founder of award-winning cyber security firm, Quorum Cyber”.

The Edinburgh firm, whose mission is to defend teams and organisations against the rising threat of cyberattacks, this year doubled its headcount and expanded services overseas following year-on-year growth since launching in April 2016.

“Quorum is my second start-up. I was one of the original partners of another business in 2010, which we successfully sold in 2012. Two years after that I moved to the Middle East, and after working as Head of Security for Gulf International Bank, I decided to take the lessons I’d learned from my first start-up, also in Edinburgh, and my time at the bank, and using the latest innovations in security technology, start all over again.”

Starting-up is never easy

“A start-up is basically an experiment and you need to de-risk the outcome of your experiments if you want to scale and succeed. The magic of a Vistage group is that you get to sit in a virtual room with a bunch of CEOs from different industries. People who genuinely care about your business, and whose diverse experiences and opinions help shape your own success.

Although this wasn’t my primary motive for going to my first Vistage session, this input has been invaluable in helping me make smarter, faster decisions that have helped my business grow. Diversity of opinion is also vital from a core strategic business level, especially within cyber security. You need those valuable different perspectives in order to best protect, detect and respond to customer security threats.”

It’s lonely at the top

“Starting and growing a business is a lonely experience. I had investors and a great team, but no business partner or anyone else to share problems with or bounce ideas off. On meeting Edinburgh Chair, George Hall via LinkedIn, he encouraged me to see for myself how his Vistage group could help.

Having been born and raised in Argentina – the most psychoanalytic nation in the world – I have a naturally skeptical mindset. However, I was intrigued by the idea of having people I could share the pressures and stresses of running a business with. Meeting the other CEOs and seeing the Vistage benefits first-hand helped swing my decision to join.

Since that first meeting, Vistage’s crowning jewel continues to be its members, and the openness and vulnerability they willingly express. The problems members discuss are real, not veneer; there’s no ‘well this is a weakness, but in reality, it’s a hidden strength!’. Just a bunch of CEOs meeting and committing emotionally to the process in order to become better people and leaders. Each meeting is also brilliantly well run.

Another benefit of Vistage are the monthly one-to-one coaching sessions I have with my Chair. It’s the first time I’ve had proper coaching and George has been invaluable in helping me become a better CEO. This, along with my group’s support, was especially welcome in 2020 when I needed help resolving a problem that ultimately led me to take my business through an MBO. The group helped me get to the root of the problem, identity the pros and cons of each option and come up with a plan. They even helped me find the right people to architect the deal. I am forever grateful for that help.