Meet The Disruptors: Anthem Blanchard of HeraSoft On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

Acknowledge issues — When there is a communication problem, it’s much better to shed light on it than to ignore it. That’s how problems turn into solutions.

As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Anthem Blanchard, CEO of HeraSoft.

Anthem Blanchard, CEO of HeraSoft, also serves as a member of the Board of Directors. As Director of Strategic Development and Marketing with European-based GoldMoney, Anthem helped develop and implement their current business model, overseeing marketing and product development efforts which resulted in an increase of total value held by the company from $1 million in 2002 to $368 million by 2008; today, the company holds over $2 billion in client assets. From 2010–2013, Anthem served as an independent director and member of the audit committee, compensation committee, and nominating committee at Pernix Therapeutics Holdings Inc. (ticker symbol: PTX, traded on NASDAQ MKT), a pharmaceutical company based in The Woodlands, Texas.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

I started out as a gold e-retailer, selling people gold and silver bullion. The ability to track the transportation and storage of gold and silver is of utmost importance, and so when blockchain technology emerged, I immediately recognized the value it could bring to the gold and silver industry for tracking, tracing, and authentication.

Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?

One of the biggest challenges governments and businesses will face in 2021 and beyond is cybersecurity. Enterprises are losing billions of dollars per year to increasingly frequent and sophisticated ransomware and other cyber attacks. It’s estimated that ransomware damages have reached $20 billion, with a ransomware attack executed on businesses every 11 seconds. HeraSoft, our ransomware-proof solution for enterprises, protects cloud systems by eliminating single points of failure that make cloud-based software systems vulnerable to cyber attacks.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Early on in my career, I worked at a company called Gold Money and I was in charge of putting together a business development trip to Asia. When I got to the airport, I mistook the flight number for the time of the flight! The lesson I learned was the importance of process and attention to detail.

We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?

My family has been my greatest influence and motivation. I was raised by entrepreneurs who worked to help protect peoples’ wealth and financial freedom. Now, part of what we’re doing at HeraSoft is to give everyone the opportunity to generate wealth and expand access to lucrative marketplaces in a secure environment.

In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?

I generally think disruption of industry processes tends to be positive, but, of course, the traditional players being disrupted do not share that perspective. A bank is not incentivized to give its customers control over their own money since that would be counter-intuitive to a large part of its business model. That’s why we think of bitcoin as in conflict with traditional finance in many ways. All entrepreneurs need to find a balance between establishing stable systems and constantly improving them through disruption.

Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.

1. Be grateful and love-based — Remember that we all have our own perspectives and that is what makes a team strong.
2. Stay humble — There are always people who know more than we do; listen and learn from them.
3. Acknowledge issues — When there is a communication problem, it’s much better to shed light on it than to ignore it. That’s how problems turn into solutions.

We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?

At HeraSoft our main goal is to continue making the world safer for enterprises and for individuals. Our HeraSoft ransomware-proof solution confronts the growing cybersecurity challenges facing businesses and government organizations. This problem was worsened by the coronavirus, which sparked a mass migration of data and systems online. The immediacy of this shift meant that many companies did not (and still do not) have adequate security measures and protections in place, making them vulnerable to data hacks and ransomware attacks. We are using distributed technology to eliminate single points of failure in enterprise cloud systems and guard against damaging cyber attacks.

Do you have a book, podcast, or talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us? Can you explain why it was so resonant with you?

My middle name is Hayek, after Friedrich Hayek, the philosopher and economist known for furthering the ideals of classic liberalism. Interestingly, he is also credited with predicting the emergence of bitcoin. I was adopted into an extraordinary, loving family, and so I always try to share that good fortune with others.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Vive la vie,” roughly translates to “live life fully.” I used to have that on my license plate growing up in New Orleans and the phrase has always spoken to me as a message to put your “all” into everything you do.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

My goal would be to create a more peaceful world through safe and secure commerce. We depend on other people, businesses, governments, and institutions for almost every aspect of our lives — from food to healthcare to financial services to communication — and so the safer all these transactions can be, the better for everyone.

How can our readers follow you online?

You can learn more about HeraSoft on LinkedIn, and find out more about our other offerings and products on the Hercules website.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!