Meet the Founders — CEO Suzanne Borders (Birthday Edition)
BadVR is made up of a diverse team of dedicated, multi-talented individuals, working together to solve the complex challenges of processing, understanding, and presenting data immersively. Although physically separated in the post-COVID world, we continue to work as a virtually connected family. And today is a very special day for that family!
We’re pleased to share that today is the birthday of our CEO and Co-Founder, Suzanne Borders! 🎊🎉
In honor of this special day we’re taking the opportunity to sit down for an interview with our very own Data Whisperer-in-Chief. Read on below for a peek into the mind, spirit, and beating heart of BadVR…
Reflecting back on this strange year, what are you most proud of personally and professionally?
It’s indeed been a strange year, but in many ways the COVID crisis has offered many opportunities for personal and professional growth. Without upheaval and change, true growth is impossible so despite the hardship I always welcome unexpected black swan events such as this pandemic. That being said, of course I wish that it hadn’t of happened due to the pain and loss of life. But as a catalyst of change, it’s served up quite the opportunity for many different types of growth!
Professionally, I’m proud of making the right, though difficult, decisions to help my company weather the COVID storm. While in hindsight, some of those decisions may have been a bit extreme, BadVR has come out of this crisis stronger, larger, and more resilient than before. And that makes me incredibly proud. As a leader, I did what I could to save as many people’s jobs as I could and to ensure the longevity of my business and succeeding in that brings me great pride.
Personally, I’m proud of being able to weather major life changes with serenity and acceptance. For many people, it’s incredibly difficult to change lifestyles overnight. I went from traveling 2–3x per month to being essentially locked in my home 24/7. A big part of my identity and the joy I derived from life was tied to travel.
So being able to look at myself in the mirror and learn to let go and rebuild my own personal routines and my personal identity was difficult. But with the help of many years of personal growth and change, and a great deal of wisdom and inspiration from Zen Buddhism and Heraclitus, I managed to get through. Embracing the mantra: “Change is the only constant” really inspired me to embrace the upheaval and find ways to personally grow from it.
How are you planning to spend your birthday?
In an ideal world, I’d be in Paris eating dinner at Les Deux Magots, but sadly this year that can’t happen. So instead, I’ll probably stay at home, eat some cake, and spend quality time with loved ones. I love reading and writing, so hopefully I’ll be able to spend some time reading my favorite Hemingway story “The Snows of Kilimanjaro,” followed by some quality writing time finishing up a screenplay, a short story, or perhaps just journaling. The joy is in the process of creation, not in the end creation itself, so anytime I am able to find the solitude and time required to write, and any time I am able to bleed out my feelings onto the blank page, I’m happy.
It’s been almost 2 years since BadVR was founded. What has been the most profound thing you’ve learned during this time? What would you do differently?
It’s hard to narrow such a life-changing experience down to a singular profound insight. There have been so many revelations throughout the course of founding and growing BadVR. I guess the biggest one would be about teams and team construction — the individual pieces matter less than the whole. And that great teams are able to transcend all the skills of their individuals to become something wholly greater than the sum of their parts. I think many founders make the mistake of hiring talented individuals instead of looking to create talented and effective teams. They tend to hire on resumes alone, looking for Harvard, Google, etc. Whereas I approached hiring differently, looking for individuals with complimentary talents, focusing less on credentials and more on personal ability to execute and the ability to work as a team.
I was very much inspired in this approach by Phil Jackson, the former Bulls and Lakers coach. His books on teamwork, team building, and construction really revolutionized the way I approached recruiting and building my own team. He talks about levels of leadership. Most teams function at a stage 3 or below — “I’m great, you’re not”, meaning that everyone is out to benefit themselves individually. I tried to focus on the mantra of stage 4 and 5 teams — “we’re great, they’re not” and the ultimate goal: “Life itself is great” where you work (or play) for the sheer and pure joy of doing so. Of course, I can’t compare myself to a great like Jackson, but I definitely used his framework of team-building to help guide my own strategy and aspirations.
Looking back, if I could do anything differently, I’d spend less time following “traditional” or “standard” methods for either running or funding my business. There are these certain “things” you’re told to do as a start-up founder and I’ve personally found that most of them are completely not suited to my business or how I approach life or management. I get most tripped up generally speaking when I try to fit myself — or my business — into someone else’s mold. I’m at my very best when I’m true to myself and my own wisdom, when I don’t second guess my own instincts. Of course, some time-tested things work well, but in general I spent way too much time trying to follow some standard path when really the path that’s yielded the most fruit has been one I’ve blazed myself.
Why are AR/VR technologies so important to the future of data and how can immersive data visualization change our world moving forward?
It’s crazy to say, but the way we visualized data has not fundamentally changed in over 100 years! We’re still using the same pie charts, line graphs, and bar charts that were used over a century ago. The only thing that has changed is the delivery method — digital screens over ink and paper.
But the fundamental nature of data has changed dramatically! Datasets of a decade ago are completely different from the datasets of today. The size and scale and complexity of modern datasets demand a new method of visualization; one that’s as complex and multi-dimensional as these datasets themselves. 2D visualization methods have reached their limits, which is why immersive (AR/VR) technology is so important to the future of data. Immersion provides a way to look at the entirety of modern datasets, instead of just viewing one limited vantage point at a time. Immersion offers limitless space to fill with data, providing one single source of truth that’s ultimately accessible and understandable to everyone if represented correctly. The potential is there, anyways. And I believe BadVR is in the process of realizing that potential.
In terms how immersive data visualization can change the world, there are many, many ways it will do so. For instance, an immersive geospatial visualization environment, showing telecom datasets could help global carriers, operators, and their tens of thousands of downstream technicians by increasing the efficiency of planning and deploying next-generation 5G wireless communications networks. Beyond telecom applications, immersive, and interactive data environments hold the potential to revolutionize how companies — and the people that comprise them — conceive of, work with, and ultimately understand information. The addition of immersion to the process of data visualization will help bring us closer together by democratizing access to important datasets, making the process of analyzing them faster, easier, and more effective.
As a CEO, why are you drawn to designers, engineers, and employees that have diverse and often artistic backgrounds, as opposed to traditional tech resumes?
I guess we seek in others what we find in ourselves. I’m equal parts creative and technical. I have chosen a more unique and diverse path through life. So I know first-hand that people who make such life decisions tend to be tougher, more innovative, and more internally motivated.
When life is set up to funnel you down one particular path, and when all the resources and assistance are only offered to people who agree to that approved life path, choosing to do things differently takes moxie, courage. It also takes more work and more dedication, and more self-discipline. Many people look at those with non-traditional resumes and see losers without focus, but me, I see innovators, I see courage, I see the gumption to try something new at great risk. And quite frankly, those are the personal characteristics that are necessary to thrive in a startup environment.
How does an artistic point of view differentiate BadVR from its competitors in the immersive data visualization space?
People don’t usually associate data or data visualization with art or creativity which is a shame really, because all innovation and engineering is as creative as any visual or auditory art piece. When you work with engineers who don’t see themselves as creative, or you have a team full of people with the same degrees from the same universities, you’re never gonna truly innovate. If everyone on your team is trained to see the world in one particular way, it’s exceptionally difficult to get them to come together to truly revolutionize the way anything is done.
So I think that by taking an artistic-driven view of a traditionally left-brained approach, that’s allowed BadVR’s approach and products to be much more effective, innovative, and revolutionary than they would have otherwise been.
How have you seen COVID-19 directly impact the adoption of immersive technologies in enterprises and organizations?
As we all know, COVID-19 has spear-headed a huge movement to remote work. And of course, teams that work remotely still need to access and work with their datasets. So since the spread of COVID, we’ve seen a big increase in the interest in, and the adoption of, solutions like BadVR that allow remote teams to come together virtually to explore and analyze multiple, large, complex datasets. Immersion adds a level to collaboration that’s impossible to achieve with 2D screens and adds the feeling of ‘presence.’ This makes the users really feel like their teammates are standing right beside them and strengthens teams and increases collaboration. Beyond the data visualization use case, we’ve seen immersive technology adoption increase across other use cases as well, due to this same reason.
Why is data transparency so important to you and do you believe that enterprises will be willing to adopt technology that fosters this transparency?
Well I believe strongly in two things: transparency and accessibility. Your team, and your data, is only ever as valuable as the people who are able to access, understand, and operationalize it. If everyone in your company except a small team of data scientists are effectively blocked out from accessing the data due to a lack of technical expertise, your company will face an uphill battle if wanting to implement or encourage data-driven decision-making.
However, if your data is open, accessible and easy to work with, natural law dictates more people engage with it and use it to make decisions. And since we can all agree that data-driven decision-making in businesses is the way to go, why make that difficult when it could be as easy as putting on a headset?
These issues are important to me because I’ve seen many, many organizations misuse data to manipulate or exclude voices from important conversations, and as a female, I have suffered many times from having my input and voice marginalized. I am a big believer in the idea that EVERYONE has something valuable to contribute and that every voice matters. To me, when it comes to making decisions, everyone should have the ability to have input. And that starts with everyone being able to access and understand the data that’s driving that decision.
How do you define success for BadVR? What does it look like?
If BadVR can truly democratize access to data and make it universally accessible and understandable to everyone, everywhere — then we’ve succeeded. That’s always been our goal, our mission. That is what success looks like to us. And everyone on our team is uniquely focused on achieving that goal, one way or another. Success looks like a more equitable place, where data drives decisions and everyone’s input is heard, valued, and achieved.
What is the best part about being the CEO of BadVR?
There are so many great parts of leading such a talented team of people! If pushed to make a choice, I’d say the best part of being CEO is having the opportunity to work with such a great team of people every day, working towards a goal I value so much. I’ve always dreamed of having the opportunity to assemble a team of talented people to achieve great, world-changing things. And now, it’s become real. And I’m proud to say that I have accomplished this all on my own, without parental support, without a rich dad to fund my project or an uncle to be my first customer. Together as a team, we build our own opportunities. That make me so proud!
What was your first job?
Technically, my very first job was being a stable hand at a local barn. I loved horses growing up, and was a competitive show jumper from ages 10–20. However, my parents didn’t have the money needed to really fund a show jumping career, so I’d work at my local stable mucking horse stalls (i.e. cleaning horse poop), feeding horses, exercising them, and generally keeping the stable in exchange for the board of my horse and horse riding lessons. That was my first job at around age 10, although I didn’t really get paid, it was just barter for pursuing a passion.
Another “first” job was working for my dance instructor at her business, Highland Xpress. I was also really into Scottish Highland dancing as a kid, since my family is part Scottish. So again, to pay for dance lessons, I worked part time at my dance instructor’s home business, packing up orders and processing them in her system. Honestly, I really enjoyed the job because I got to see first-hand entrepreneurship — how it was done, how it worked, etc. My dance instructor started this business all on her own, out of her own home, via the early days of the web. It really inspired me to someday do something similar myself. I learned a lot from Miss B, both about Scottish Highland dancing and being an entrepreneur!
Who was your childhood idol?
Oh that’s a tough one! I was obsessed with Evita as a child. I loved the movie with Madonna playing the role of Evita. Something about Evita’s life and story really resonated with me — she was a no one from a small town, a woman that no one took seriously, who had big dreams and great ambitions. By any means she could, she clawed herself out of poverty to become the most powerful woman — person even! — in all of Argentina. Those were the sorts of ambitions I had as a young girl and Evita’s story was the first time I saw someone of my gender, of my situation, achieve something I wished to achieve.
So in many ways, she inspired me, with her imperfections and roughness, her naked ambition, her passion. I saw myself in her. And if she could do it, so could I. To this day, I’m still an Evita fan. I visited her hidden grave in the La Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires, when I was last there. It was a very moving experience.
Who or what is your spirit animal?
I’m a big fan of horses, as I mentioned earlier. Their untamed and wild spirit appeals to me. If a horse doesn’t like your energy or vibe, there’s no way you’ll ever be able to convince them otherwise. Horses are instinctive, proud, and majestic. I’d like to think that in some way I embody some of those characteristics too.
Outside of BadVR, what recharges your batteries when you can escape work?
I’m a classic introvert, so being alone really recharges me. I love reading, writing, creating visual art, and listening to music. But the key is being alone, which allows my mind to wander and to really get into the zone, fusing together unexpected and traditionally unrelated things. I also love going down Wikipedia rabbit holes and just reading about anything and everything — could be Darvaza, an endless burning hole in the Turkmenistan desert, or Mormanism as a faith, or even something as mundane as architecture or road construction. I just like to learn, to read, to ingest information about everything, all the time. Learning recharges me, even though structured learning environments like classrooms were not my cup of tea. I just like to ingest data on everything at my own pace. YouTube also has some great rabbit hole appeal. My latest foray into YouTube lead me to some great documentaries about the Kola Superdeep Borehole. All of these things recharge me, far more so than say, a day at the spa.
How do you feel that your background as an artist influences your skill set in the tech space?
I feel like it gives me a unique approach and vantage point towards everything from product design, to UX design, to the fundamental processes of the tech industry. When you have such a different background as everyone else, and ultimately different life experiences, you have a different wisdom that can ultimately lead to some pretty innovative and unconventional approaches. Of course, not all of these approaches are better than the standard, and sometimes these differences can cause issues, but I am who I am and I value my differences for what they can offer.
All great innovation happens at the intersection of two otherwise unrelated or unexpected things. What better way to channel and embody innovation than to actually live it in my daily life?
What was your first tattoo? Do you regret any of them? If so, why?
My first tattoo was a lucky horseshoe on my lower back with a portrait of my horse at the time, named Pumpkin Pie. I got it when I was 18. Later on, in my life when I was injured badly in a horseback riding accident, I had to have emergency surgery and the doctor had to cut through the tattoo so now there’s a big scar bisecting the tattoo vertically. I don’t mind though; it gives the ink character. I don’t at all regret the tattoo — I loved my horse then and now, and it’s a great reminder of that time in my life.
I don’t regret any of my tattoos or anything in life, really. This quote from Theodore Roethke’s poem “The Waking” sums up my view on life perfectly:
“I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go.”
Every tattoo is a reminder of some piece of my existence and/or an expression of who I am, was, or will be. Even when I outgrow a piece, I honor it’s place in my life and would never want to remove it. Life is an accumulation of experiences, some good, some bad, and that’s the same with tattoos. But you are the sum of all of these things so why try to erase a part of yourself?
In other interviews you mentioned being ostracized and bullied for being different during your childhood move from the West Coast to Kansas City. I’m curious, how has this experience impacted your career path and resilience as a woman in the tech world?
Yeah, it was a hard transition to move from the West Coast to the Midwest. I did get bullied a lot. I remember one time someone stole my shoes at school and peed in them. People wouldn’t sit next to me at lunch, so I always ate alone. Stupid stuff like that. Honestly, If anything it just made me think to myself: “I’m gonna learn how to not need anyone.” It made me self-sufficient. Sure, it hurt emotionally to not fit in or be wanted, but at the same time, it gave me the motivation to learn to be secure in who I was independent of the group. It taught me to have the courage to do things alone, the courage to be true to myself regardless of other’s opinions. It probably made me a bit rebellious and anti-authoritarian too, but ultimately being a loner and being picked on turned me into the person I am today. It taught me strength in the face of adversity and is responsible for my ambition, courage, and dogged determination.
I’m not a fan of bullying and I do not in any way support it, but for me personally, it toughened me up and taught me I didn’t need anyone’s approval or buy-in to be and do and achieve what I wanted in life. In that regard, I’m glad to have gone through that experience and glad that I learned from it. Ultimately, we can choose to let negative things bring us down, or dig deeper to learn the lesson they have to teach us. I’ve always chosen to embrace the idea that everything in life — the good and bad and everything in between— holds some important lesson. Every experience I’ve had, no matter how small, has taught me something or shaped who I am today in some way.
Ultimately, life is a journey full of interesting, painful, and joyous lessons. I look forward to seeing what life brings me next!
If you want to get to know more about our immersive data analytic solutions, BadVR would be happy to chat with you! Our team strongly believes in putting usability and accessibility first with all of our products. We have solutions for everyone, from every background, for every dataset! BadVR is here to make YOUR data easy.
Contact us today via the links below:
BadVR’s Twitter
BadVR’s LinkedIn
info@badvr.com
If you’re interested in following our CEO, Suzanne Borders, here are her social media links:
Suzanne’s Twitter
Suzanne’s LinkedIn
