It's been a long journey on not one that I planned when I first started. So in a short story, I've always been very passionate about technology and engineering. Um, and even my grandfather. When I was growing up, I have benefit. Living close to my grandfather. He was big into electron ICS. He put his own computers together. He wrote his own accounting software for his company and basic of all languages. So he's always trying to get me to be an engineer, and so he would give me computers and Commodore 64 all these types of things. And when I was growing up, I was more interested in just going outside and playing outside. So I used the technology, but I didn't really. I didn't gravitate to it in that sense, but because I spent so much time outdoors, I decided I wanted to be a forest ranger. So when I was looking for colleges, I actually applied to colleges that have forest programs, outdoor programs to be a forest ranger. So I went to one university, Willamette University by Portland, Oregon, and I stayed with my uncle during the time that I was touring the school. And so at night after the tour, I went back to my uncle's house and he said, How was the tour? I said it was great and he said, What do you want to dio? I said, Well, I want to be a forest Ranger and they've got a good forestry program And so my uncle was the director of Process Engineering and Intel. Okay, so he looked at me and he said, Brian, if you want to be a Forest Ranger, do that on the weekends, Donate your time to the Park Service, go be an engineer for your day job, and so that really sunk in. And so I said, Okay, I better listen to my uncle. He knows what he's doing. So I went off in and made sure the schools that accepted me that had engineering schools. I went and got into those programs. So that's how I chose Santa Clara University School of Engineering. But then I still had this thing about doing something in the environment, and so I actually signed up for the Environmental Engineering School at Santa Clara. And so there was some required classes in engineering in the first year and one of them was, Ah, logic, design class and, uh, and programming an assembly language of all things. And in order to do that, I need to have access to a computer. So bear in mind, this is like back in the early to mid nineties. You know, not everybody had a computer link around their house like they do today. So I was working at my grandfather's company on the side toe help with the school costs. And so I went to one night and I said, Grandpa, I need a computer. Thio, do this class and he said, Great, let's get you a computer. You come by my house tonight and we'll take care of that. I went at home to his house that night and on this table, where all the components to put a computer together Mother board, memory processor, io carved cables, all that stuff. And he's so he showed me how to put this together across like, two or three nights of going there after school. And so then he said, Take it apart, put it all back together. And when it's all back together and working again, the computer is yours for free. And so that process of me actually doing that building of the computer by myself and learning how all this stuff had to work to make it actual working computer. It was like this bug that bit me and I went I have got to do computer engineering. I'll do the environmental stuff on the weekends like my uncle said. So I immediately switched into computer engineering at Santa Clara, and it was sort of off to the races from there, and then I actually worked for a professor at the school. So I was her. Tia and I was helping do labs and great papers and whatnot. And so that relationship I cultivated with her ended up giving me my first job because she had this pipeline of students that worked for her that went to these companies. And so that's how I got connected with quick logic. Was basically being this intern for this, this professor, that really new, the folks of quick logic. And so, um, that was it. That was like how that is literally what got me into the semiconductor industry.

was there a good question? So, um, as the CEO, obviously my ultimate responsibility is the success of the company and the employees and our investors Bond, trying to get all of this to happen at the same time. Eso If we start drilling down, how do we accomplish that? We start thinking about things like that. I have to make sure we have a sound strategy in place. And that was agreed to by everybody. And everybody's connecting with what it means to execute that sound strategy down to assigning individual tasks to people in the company so that they can understand how they contribute to realizing that vision of that strategy. Um, of course, one of the key things I'm responsible for is the team. We have to have the right team in place and that that's everybody that comes from people who advised the company people who are engineers who are finance people. The leaders in the company, Um, largely I'm responsible to make sure the executive team is the right executive team that they're bringing in place people that can execute on that vision. So really, it's about strategy. It's about ensuring the right team is in place. And then I think one of the roles, especially for a company of our size, is I have to be the chief evangelist, if you will, right? I need to be out in front of customers in front of partners in front of media in front of investors so that they can understand what we're doing and why. It's important, and they can feel the excitement that comes through from the CEO. You don't want to see you. That's just kind of sitting there quiet and then the shadows and not saying anything because then you wonder. Maybe that company is not up to something exciting. So you really want to be out there and conveying that excitement and that purpose behind what the company is doing? Um and really, you want a lot of people doing that? Not just me, but that is. One of my key roles is to make sure that that that is happening. Ast faras the types of decisions that we make. So the way I look at it, sort of like the analogy of a tree, okay. And everybody in the company makes decisions literally everybody every single day. And so what I think about our I'm involved in the trunk decisions or the root decisions, because if you lose the trunk or you lose the roots, the tree dies. Those air tree level decisions right for the roots in the trunk. As you start getting further up the tree and you think about branches, you know there's big branches where you can cut off. A big branch in the tree still survives, so I tend not thio get so much involved in those. I certainly don't get involved in the little branches and the leaves. I mean, that's really what the team is about us to make sure that tree it's flourishing at that level. But for me personally, I think about ones that make a right the company.

So I think we have to ensure that there's this balance of revenue today and future growth tomorrow, right? You don't wanna lose sight of either one of those, are you? You're not a good spot. And I think part of the way that you do that is make sure that there is effective communication. You talk about major challenges of pain points. It's really making sure that the team is operating at the right level and you have a good culture culture fit in the company culture itself. The company is very important to me. And so I spent a lot of time having one on ones with people that are not just my direct reports but people that are, you know, two and three levels down in the organization. Just to make sure that we have these check ins about how everybody's doing, how's everybody feeling? How are we contributing for this? This mission and then also giving context for people? I think bigger organizations. It's easy to lose sight of why you're doing something, and so the more you can actually talk with people and understand the meaning of your job and your role for the bigger company. Purpose is really important and so having those chickens really helps in that sense,