Keep It Simple: A Fresh Take on Bare-Metal Provisioning and Automation | Interview with Michael Wagner and Ian Evans, Co-Founders of Metify

The Valuu Makers Podcast

This week, Ryan interviews Michael Wagner and Ian Evans, co-founders of Metify, creators of the Mojo Platform for bare-metal provisioning.

Topics

• Michael and Ian's career paths in technology and convergence at Red Hat that led them to co-found a startup
• Ian's vision to reduce the complexity of bare-metal provisioning and automation, whether a user is a developer or CXO
• How Metify's Mojo Platform helps reduce manual effort for infrastructure and operations teams by automating server builds
• Metify's solution for rural wireless broadband that helped teachers connect with their classes during the pandemic
• How Metify helped MLB remotely discover, provision, and manage bare metal so they could deliver baseball stats to ballpark fans

Meet Our Guests

Michael Wagner is the Co-Founder and CEO of Metify, a software startup based in Madison, Wisconsin. He began his career in 1995 as a network engineer when he joined IBM while still attending the University of Wisconsin Madison. He worked in several senior management positions at IBM in Boston and San Diego before joining Red Hat in 2010. Michael was head of channel sales and alliances for North America at Red Hat. He was one of the creators of Red Hat’s Apex Partner Program for SI’s implementing OpenShift / Kubernetes solutions in his final role before launching Metify. He has been a vocal advocate of channel sales for his entire career and continued his “channels first” approach at Metify.

“Culture is everything”, is at the top of Michael’s whiteboard in his office. His leadership style is guided by the mindful skills he has acquired over many years of practice. Kindness, transparency, and willpower are fundamental principles of Metify’s culture along with an emphasis on discovery and having fun. One of his favorite proverbs and goal for all Metify employees is, “Choose a job you love and you will never work a day in their life.” –Confucius 563bc

Ian Evans is the Co-Founder and CTO of Metify, a software startup based in Madison, Wisconsin. He began his career in 1999 as the Director of IT for Quintus Resorts. He got his first taste of working in a software startup when he next joined Wasabi Systems. As Director of Product Management at Wasabi, Ian was deeply involved in all aspects of product development and strategy. Ian’s broad expertise in cutting-edge infrastructure technology led him to multiple Sr. Architect positions with some of the top technology companies on the planet including AWS, Verizon, Lockheed Martin, and Red Hat. Ian’s final role before launching Metify was Principal Architect for WWT’s Global Open Solutions practice.

Ian’s love for innovation and obsession with making things work reliably and efficiently has defined his career. He conceptualized Mojo Platform as a revolutionary solution for infrastructure and operations (I&O) teams back in 2016. The thesis he wrote defining the solution was the genesis of Mojo Platform and led to the eventual launch of Metify.

Learn more about Metify at www.metify.io.

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