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Bruno Lecoq — Co-Founder, CEO and CISO of BEMO and the leader who blocks his own employees from working on weekends
Episode Summary
Bruno Lecoq is the Co-Founder, CEO, and CISO of BEMO, a Microsoft-focused cybersecurity and compliance firm serving small and mid-sized businesses across the United States. Before founding BEMO in 2010, Bruno spent nearly 20 years at Microsoft, where he worked on MS-DOS, Windows NT, Exchange, Xbox, and finished his tenure in HR. Born in a village of 1,200 people in France, Bruno moved to Seattle at 22 with a $10,000 loan, a backpack, and a dream he had announced to his mom at midnight after watching a late night TV show about two young American millionaires, one of which was Bill Gates. Today BEMO manages over 470 companies and is one of approximately 50 MSSPs in the United States that is CMMC Level 2 compliant. In this episode, Bruno traces his unlikely path from a French village to the Microsoft campus, through MS-DOS, Windows NT, Exchange, Xbox, and eventually HR, before launching BEMO in 2010 and pivoting to cybersecurity in 2018. He breaks down why CMMC compliance is like having a child, why most SMBs believe they are immune to cyberattacks, and why running AI agents inside your company without governance is a recipe for chaos. Jack Clabby and co-host Kayley Jerrell talk with Bruno about the day Bill Gates walked into his shipping party and canceled the product he had spent a year building, what it was like watching Microsoft decide to eat his lunch in 2012, and what he learned from eight years of working alongside his son Brandon before he left to start his own company. In the Lifestyle Polygraph, Bruno reveals his favorite French pastry is the éclair, explains how he got involved in owning a French bakery in Seattle, shares the story of watching France beat Brazil (his wife is a die-hard Brazil fan) at the 1998 World Cup two months before his wedding, tells us about the family intervention that ended his flying lessons, and explains why soccer will never be at the level of football in Seattle and he has accepted that. Follow Bruno on LinkedIn and learn more about BEMO at bemopro.com
Episode Notes
In this episode:
- Bruno's origin story: a fifteen year old in a French village of 1,200 people watches a late night TV show about two young American millionaires and wakes up his mom at midnight to announce his plan (05:47 - 07:08)
- Arriving in Seattle with a $10,000 loan, a backpack, and English as a work in progress (07:08 - 08:06)
- From MS-DOS to Windows NT to Exchange to Xbox to Hardware to HR, how a developer ends up running Microsoft's worldwide HR planning (08:06 - 09:42)
- The day Bill Gates walked into the shipping party and canceled the product Bruno had spent a year building, and the box he still has (09:42 - 10:57)
- Starting BEMO in 2010 before Office 365 or Azure existed and building a system that could deploy SharePoint in 15 minutes (11:07 - 12:07)
- Watching Microsoft decide to eat his lunch in 2012 and becoming the second biggest reseller of Project Online and SharePoint Online on the way out (12:07 - 13:39)
- The deliberate pivot to cybersecurity in 2018 and winning Microsoft Partner of the Year in 2023 (13:39 - 14:34)
- Why CMMC compliance is like having a child and the birthday is just the beginning (14:34 - 15:34)
- Opening the hood on companies that have been self-attesting perfect CMMC scores for five years and what you find inside (15:34 - 16:53)
- What the average SMB gets wrong about cybersecurity and why being on Copacabana beach with a laptop makes you a very effective hacker (16:53 - 18:28)
- AI versus AI: going from 46 agents to 21 and building a governance framework that mirrors BEMO's human staffing levels (18:28 - 20:34)
- Eight years working alongside his son Brandon, how he kept it professional, and why he is relieved they never had an accident (20:34 - 22:00)
- The Lifestyle Polygraph: éclairs, a French bakery, the 1998 World Cup, flying lessons, the Marshawn Lynch earthquake, and the leader who blocks his own employees from connecting on weekends (22:29 - 33:15)
Timestamp Highlights:
- (05:47) The midnight promise to his mom that became a thirty-six year adventure
- (07:08) Arriving in Seattle with a $10,000 loan and English as a work in progress
- (09:42) Bill Gates walks into the shipping party
- (11:07) Building BEMO before Office 365 existed
- (12:07) Watching Microsoft eat his lunch and becoming the second biggest reseller anyway
- (14:34) CMMC compliance is like having a child
- (16:53) Why hackers love small businesses who think they are immune
- (18:28) From 46 AI agents to 21 and why governance matters
- (20:34) Eight years working with his son Brandon
- (23:18) His favorite French pastry is the éclair
- (25:59) France beats Brazil two months before his wedding
- (27:31) The family intervention that ended his flying lessons
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