Stephen Gillett, Co-Founder and CEO of Chronicle

Episode Overview

• Stephen’s transition from Symantec to Google/Alphabet, including how his original role as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at GV led to his work with their moonshot factory, X
• X’s process for identifying which moonshots to pursue, which include (1) addressing a huge problem, (2) employing a radical solution, and (3) using relatively feasible technology
• Stephen’s ambition to work on an ambitious enterprise security project, and how that led to a cybersecurity project within X that resulted in Chronicle
• A high level overview of Chronicle, which will offer an intelligence and analytics platform to help enterprises manage their own security-related data, and a malware intelligence service
• The benefits of being an Alphabet company, including the ability to leverage Google’s infrastructure and machine learning expertise, their ability to attract talent, and the credibility they have with potential customers
• Stephen’s diverse career and how that prepared him to be a CEO, such as honing the ability to see things from a holistic perspective, which is one of the advantages IT has over many other functions within an organization
• Stephen’s perspective on digital, having been one of the first executive to carry the digital title, such as how digital can be applied to internal operations as well as to the customer experience

Stephen is the co-founder and CEO of Chronicle, a cybersecurity company born out of Alphabet’s Moonshot factory X (formerly Google X) that aims to “10X the speed and impact of security teams by making it easier, faster, and more cost-effective for them to capture and analyze security signals that have previously been too difficult and expensive to find.” As CEO, Stephen is building the team, setting the vision and strategy, and developing relationships with potential customers.

Prior to founding Chronicle, Stephen was a senior leader and advisor at X. While at X, Stephen explored the potential for a cybersecurity moonshot and developed the concept for Chronicle. Stephen’s collaboration with X grew out of his position as Executive in Residence at GV (formerly Google Ventures), where he was a resource and mentor to the entrepreneurs of the fund’s portfolio companies. Prior to joining Alphabet, Stephen was the Chief Operating Officer of Symantec. Prior to Symantec, Stephen was the President of Digital, Marketing, and Operations at Best Buy. Before Best Buy, Stephen was the Chief Information Officer and GM of Digital Ventures at Starbucks. Prior to Starbucks, Stephen held a number of IT leadership roles at Corbis, Yahoo!, CNET and Sun Microsystems.

Stephen received a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from the University of Oregon, and an MBA from San Francisco State University.

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