The Business of Saving Lives: Inside RapidSOS

**CJ Gustafson** (0:00)
Maybe you could just speak to how you've been rolling out AI, whether that's bottoms up or tops down.

**Richard Haram** (0:05)
For me, I think one of the first things is, a lot of people view AI as a tool. I think it's so much more. I think it has to be two things. Number one, it has to be part of a culture, and number two, it's a fluency. It's a capability the organization has to build.

**CJ Gustafson** (0:18)
What's a common failure mode here when there's so much data?

**Richard Haram** (0:21)
The more polluted your data, the harder it is to really understand how much you can trust it. And especially with the advent of AI, putting a lot of information in the system. Did it get it right? And so I think there's a lot more pollution that we're seeing.

**CJ Gustafson** (0:33)
Can you just give people kind of the appetizer here of what RapidSOS is and who it serves?

**Richard Haram** (0:38)
We're the leading public safety AI company out there and we're operating the world's largest public safety data platform. The more quickly we can get data and information from the source of where it's happening onto the screen of R911 operators and ultimately the first responders, the better outcomes we have in saving lives and making a difference in this world. And so literally our technology is saving lives every day.

**CJ Gustafson** (1:00)
Is this thing on?

**Richard Haram** (1:03)
Yesterday's price is not today's price.

**CJ Gustafson** (1:15)
Hey, you liking this show right now?
Do us a favor and we'll do you a favor. Share a link to the show on Apple or Spotify with your team at work. Drop it in a Slack or God bless you if you have to use teams. Throw it in there too. But send a picture of you dropping the link in to Ben at mostlymetrics.com that is Ben at mostlymetrics.com. Our creative dictator will hook you up with some Run the Numbers swag. Welcome back to Run the Numbers, the show where I interview the world's top CFOs and finance leaders. Today, I'm talking to my friend Richard Haram, the VP of Finance at RapidSOS.
I met Richard back at Abacom's annual conference this year, and we hit it off. And let me tell you, me and Richard, big FP&A guys, big ampersand guys.
Richard works for one of the more interesting companies I've ever covered. They serve the emergency responding sector, and they use AI to route calls to the right place at the right time, hopefully saving lives in the process. So other than the fact that they're saving lives, for anyone building a business in vertical software, you're going to love how he describes their layer cake strategy to monetization. Richard was also an entrepreneur before becoming a finance leader, and he takes us through some of the lessons he learned managing and motivating employees and how it impacts his leadership style today. We also go deep on the evolution of the FP&A function and what the modern forecast engine looks like when you supercharge it with a strong BI function. And to really spice things up, let's add some M&A to the mix. We talk about FP&A, forecasting and consolidation, how you do it well and what you do with your systems after you do a bunch of deals and bring new companies in house. Please subscribe to our show. It helps us with the algorithmic overlords. Let's get into the interview. Richard, thank you so much for joining the pod with me.

**Richard Haram** (3:02)
Yeah, pleasure to be here. Looking forward to some vibrant conversation. I know you've created a great ecosystem here in San Francisco. And so I've enjoyed a lot of the events you put on in the conversation. Still looking forward to today.

**CJ Gustafson** (3:12)
I was hoping before we get into the meat and potatoes of today, you work for one of the coolest businesses out there in terms of what it does. Can you just give people kind of the appetizer here of what RapidSOS is and who it serves?

**Richard Haram** (3:25)
Yeah, RapidSOS is an amazing company. Joined about three years ago and a lot of it is really based on mission. So we're the leading public safety AI company out there and we're operating the world's largest public safety data platform. So what that means is really we sit in this world where we connect digital devices to first responders.
And why is this so important? We know that in emergency responses, minutes matter. The more quickly we can get data and information from the source of where it's happening onto the screen of R911 operators and then ultimately the first responders, the better outcomes we have in saving lives and making a difference in this world. So I'll give you a simple example. Imagine driving in a car that runs off and it goes into some trees. In the old days, you would have to stumble out of your car, stun, go back to the road, find help, flag it down and get first responders there. Well, now with technology that exists out there, if you have, for example, Cirrus XM crash detection in your car, they pump all of that information through our network. And so we know your car has been an accident, the speed you were going, the number of people in it, airbags deployed. Also, if you have a smart device, so a smartphone, a smart watch, instantaneously, all that information now hits our system. And we're able to let the dispatch and first responders know that there's been an accident, the severity of it, and so that they can immediately dispatch the help that they need for you. Where you really see the difference of this, there's a great video on our website called 13 Seconds. This was a case where an elderly gentleman ran off the road. His car couldn't even be seen from the road, but because we had the GPS data, because we had the crash detection, police were able to show up, and literally you see on the officer's body cam, him pulling this person out of the vehicle, and 13 seconds later, the vehicle is engulfed in flames. And so literally our technology is saving lives every day.