Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Rich.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Born November 4, 1976, to two loving parents who are both from a small towns most have never heard of, Georgiana, Alabama and Long Creek, Alabama. I come from an era of when neighbors were easily confused as family members as they really took the term, “It takes a village,” to heart. My family comes from hard workers, proud and respectful people that expect a lot from each other. My father is a veteran and mother is a career government employee and took my younger sister and I around the world from an early age.
As a kid, I got to meet many types of people from different walks of life, around the world as we moved every three years. I was someone that was always a protector as my father was always away for military training and even a couple of wars. I felt that it was my job to make sure my mother was safe so that trait pretty much stayed with me. I later attended Western Kentucky University and was involved in Track, ROTC and Army reserves during my college years. I ended up working with the government after college for a couple of years before jumping into corporate America to chase the money. I never really felt fulfilled working a 9-5 regardless of the pay and ended up trying several different business concepts, while working full-time. I had no idea that what I was doing was turning into a part-time entrepreneur as I was too scared to let go of my full-time job.
I ended up meeting my wife at the Kentucky Derby and she changed my life forever. She was the push I needed to jump out on the ledge and try all the things I wanted to do, full-time. She saw something in me that I hadn’t seen in myself and really is my claim to fame per se, as most of the business success I’ve had was due to her support, belief in me and love. We later ended up moving to Tampa, Florida where we ended up experiencing an attempted home invasion while we were home at 3:00 am. That incident changed our lives and pretty much brought my life full circle back to wanting to being a protector again. We live in a world that increasingly becoming more and more dangerous with fewer law enforcement officers to protect us. I wanted to come up with a solution that would provide people empowerment and more options for safety as my wife and I felt helpless with the options available. As a result, I came up with the idea of creating a technology solution that would connect users to security providers, through a mobile application. The concept of Hawque was born and I was truly obsessed with finding a solution that was affordable and easy.
I did extensive research around the security industry and opportunities to improve or uplift the workforce and engulfed myself into it through extensive training. I still hesitated on announcing my concept as being a technology entrepreneur was an entirely different world for me. It wasn’t until my wife and I relocated to Atlanta, Georgia in 2015 and got involved with the community, city council and law enforcement around the cities crime issues. My faith and the larger need and issue with crime in Atlanta pushed me to invest my own savings into the product and ignore the historical success rates around minority and female entrepreneurs. I spent another year around developing the product as the product manager along with testing. 2018 came and our MVP was ready to be released and even after all of the testing, I was terrified to show my creation to the world. In 2018, Hawque was launched and we are currently live in Atlanta and learning how to improve our platforms each day while staying very connected to the community we are here to help.
I’ve always gave back through philanthropy since I was little and if my efforts can improve society around this issue that impacts everyone, then I’m fulfilled as you can’t do everything for money. You get more from life when you do things that improve your community and the people around you. If my social startup, Hawque can do that and provide a peace of mind to even one community, my mission is fulfilled.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It surely has not as we missed our target launch date, recruited team members that weren’t the right fit and have had to wear 5-10 hats during this journey! I can say we have learned a lot during this trip and thankfully on our own dime as we have bootstrapped our startup to date. You have the natural rollercoaster emotions such as fear, doubt, comparison, and several other things. I always remember where I came from and that I have an entire village of people in the sky and below that support me during this challenging time. I’m just thankful that I can do what I love which is helping people and giving back but with technology.
Hawque – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Hawque is a socially driven, technology startup that is the bridge to scheduled security providers, security vendors and management solutions for businesses and individuals. Our main mission is to make communities safer through our technology solutions. We have created two mobile applications that are on both Apple and Google for a client (Hawque) in need of security services as and for the security provider (Hawque Guard) that is looking for clients to service.
We offer unarmed guards, police officers and close protection (one on one) agents through our mobile platforms. We currently work with clients ranging from homeowners, Civic Associations, HOA’s to WeWork for event security and Sotheby’s for home showing protection. I can say that our team is most proud of the feedback we get from all of our clients that have the Hawque experience. The feedback from the clients to the actual providers is amazing and tells us that we are doing the right thing for all parties. We help client users feel at ease through our technology and also help the guard or officer supplement their income which is historically low in this industry.
I think what sets us apart is that we are part of the community and we give back regularly to other non-profits and we plan to give even more through our upcoming campaign called #SafeATL. Through this program, we will try to get business support to offer security services through our technology to neighborhoods that possibly need it and can’t afford it. We will partner with a non-profit to accept donations and use those funds for further security support with local security vendors as well as programs that would help our troubled youth. Our team is in this for the long haul and hope to influence even one person to want to create something that impacts their community!
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The proudest moment of my career was in my early days at Humana when I mentored interns that came in through our diversity and inclusion program. To see those young, eager, insecure minds grow and move on to bigger and better things there or at other companies. I can say that is a feeling that keeps giving inside me and can only hope that the little help or influence I’ve provided to people becomes contagious in them. So to answer the question, I can’t say it was just one moment but several throughout my career. No one can truly be successful until you have put someone else on to something with no expectations of a return. That for me is greater than any award or recognition I’ve received over my lifetime.
Pricing:
- Unarmed Guards $22 per hour ($26 after midnight)
- Police Officers $40 per hour
- Personal Protection $50 per hour
Contact Info:
- Address: WeWork Buckhead / Tower Place 100 / Suite 1296
3340 Peachtree Road NE, #1010 Atlanta, GA 30326 - Website: https://www.hawque.com
- Phone: 678.408.8800
- Email: admin@hawque.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/downloadhawque/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hawque17/
Image Credit:
Hawque Administration
Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
