MilCom Founders Podcast, Episode 60: Rebuilding Hiring in Software with Sileon Murray Sr.
Join host Rod Loges and guest Sileon Murray Sr. as he shares how a kid who sold Krispy Kreme by the box at twelve became a retired 20-year Air Force veteran and CEO of SURV7X, LLC. Sileon explains how unpaid invoices forced him to lay off half his team, and how that moment led him to rebuild his company’s hiring process in software as VAETHRYN, an AI hiring platform starting with trucking and other blue-collar industries.
In this episode:
- Sileon taught himself guitar at eight or nine by pulling fishing line tight and using it as strings, because his family couldn’t afford an instrument.
- At twelve he took prepaid Krispy Kreme orders at $2.50 a box and sold extras for $3.50, buying them wholesale for $1.25.
- He joined the Air Force hoping to fly, following his older brother, and started in Security Forces before fighting his way into the cyber career field.
- As a government contractor, SURV7X tracked expiring contracts months in advance and had talent lined up, so vacancies were filled within hours.
- When companies and partners stopped paying their invoices, Sileon had to lay off half his team and realized software could run the same process his people had.
- With VAETHRYN, a truck driver can interview at 2 a.m. and be through onboarding within 72 hours, at a time when Sileon says fleets are short about 40 percent of the drivers they need.
- The intelligence system inside VAETHRYN is named Orita, after his mom.
Key takeaways:
- Strong delivery won’t protect you from customers who don’t pay. SURV7X was filling vacancies within hours, and unpaid invoices still forced Sileon to lay off half his team.
- Look at what your people do the same way every time. Sileon’s product came from automating a process his team already ran by hand.
- Match the advisor to the decision. Sileon keeps about 18 mentors, taking business questions to business people and life questions to someone whose life he would trade for.
- Make room for quiet. Sileon says the workforce intelligence inside VAETHRYN came to him in silence, not from a mentor or a book.
- Trust what you see coming. Sileon believes veterans have a rare ability to spot what’s ahead and act on it, even when the timing isn’t perfect.
Guest: Sileon Murray Sr., CEO of SURV7X, LLC and creator of the VAETHRYN AI hiring platform, retired 20-year U.S. Air Force veteran
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sileonmurraysr/
- Website: https://surv7x.com/
Sileon Murray Sr. is a retired 20-year U.S. Air Force veteran and the CEO of SURV7X, LLC. His first taste of entrepreneurship came at twelve, and SURV7X is his seventh business. He built VAETHRYN because candidates for driving and skilled trades jobs rarely wait. If nobody responds, the best of them are gone within 48 hours.
VAETHRYN is an AI hiring team that works around the clock. Its 7XHire module sources and qualifies candidates at any hour and follows up in seconds instead of days, so interviews get booked before a good candidate goes cold. The platform is now in pilots with companies that hire drivers and skilled trades, and SURV7X is a finalist for the Utah Business Innovation Awards.
The MilCom Founders Podcast champions and celebrates military community business founders. Each episode brings practical insights from successful veteran entrepreneurs.
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