Dug Song and Jon Oberheide

TALENT RETENTION

Position: Co-Founders
Company: Duo Security
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Impact: Major contributors to local technology start-up ecosystem
Attended: University of Michigan

U-M alum Dug Song and Jon Oberheide founded the security firm Duo Security in 2009. A cloud-based access security company, Duo Security works to solve the biggest problems in computer security today: account takeover, credential theft and online fraud.

Duo is based in Ann Arbor, MI and backed by Benchmark, Google Ventures, Radar Partners, Redpoint, Resonant Venture Partners and True Ventures. The company has grown rapidly and now serves thousands of customers including: Zillow, Etsy, NASA, Facebook, Paramount Pictures, Random House, Toyota, Twitter, Yelp and TripAdvisor. Headquartered in Ann Arbor and committed to innovation in the area, the company tripled revenue in 2014.

“We would like to see a whole ecosystem of tech start-ups that seed in Ann Arbor,”  said Oberheide, CTO, co-founder and U-M alum (B.S., M.S., Ph.D.)

The company finds much of its talent among University of Michigan graduates. Twenty full-time employees are University of Michigan graduates and there are approximately eight U-M student interns at any given time.

To help create a community that will nurture and grow tech startups, Song and Oberheide have created online forums, including Ann Arbor Geeks and Python Hackers, in-person events like Duo Tech Talks, ArbSec, Ann Arbor Newtech (a monthly meeting that allows startups to practice their pitches) and continually reaches out across the nation in an effort to recruit top talent to Michigan.

“We have a tremendous amount of talent. Every city is known for something. New York is all about money. Los Angeles is all about fame. D.C. is all about power. Ann Arbor is all about smarts—and those smarts are a result of the relationship between the University of Michigan and Ann Arbor,” said Song, CEO and co-founder.

Photo Note: Dug Song (left) and Jon Oberheide (right)