Why CrowdStrike's CEO says you need AI to fight AI

It's good to see you. You know, you call, we answer, and here we are.

Racing.

You know, it's interesting. I've always been a gear head. Always loved cars and going fast and the thrill of the adrenaline rush, if you will, and never had the opportunity to do it as a kid. So I got into it a little bit later in life. Probably been doing it about 20 years now. Started really kind of at the club level and then I was like, 'Ah, this is pretty fun. I'm pretty good at it.' And then went national and then bumped up into GT4, GT3, and LMP2. So, you know, I don't get paid to be a race car driver, but I have a professional race car license and race around the world doing that. So it's actually been pretty good.

Well, normally the race takes a long time. One of the things, you see the llama hat there, the llama trophy is back there as well. That was the 100th anniversary that I was fortunate enough to win in the LMP2 class. But some of those events are like a week long or even longer. So you've got a lot of activities, a lot of preparation of the car, the data, the seats. I just got back from Asia and we had a race over the weekend in the rain in Spa, which was really interesting because it rained cats and dogs and it was on and off. One part of the track was rain, the other part was sunny. But a lot of it is making sure the seat fits because you have different drivers for different series and there's just a lot of things that have to happen. And at the same time, I carry two Starlinks. So wherever I'm at, I'm always connected. So between sessions, I'm doing Zoom calls and I've done plenty of interviews between sessions. So I keep things rolling on the work front and fit this all in. And we actually do a lot of customer events around these races. So there's always something to do and the hardest part is context switching between what we're doing and then getting back on track. But I make it all work.

Well, when you're in the middle of the race, the good thing is you really can't focus on anything but the race. You're not thinking about emails or texts or anything. But there's always something going on at home and you just try to manage it. At the end of the day, you have meetings, you have work commitments, you get it all done and you try to separate the two. That's what I was saying about the context switching between work mode versus race mode. It takes a different level of mental preparation and you have to be really good at being able to context switch between the two. I think I've gotten pretty good. A lot of the pro guys that I race with are like, 'We don't know how you go back and forth between doing all this stuff.' But you make it all work and you have a little bit of fun. A big part of our ethos, as many know, is racing between Formula 1 and some of the things that I do. So it's been part of the brand and we bring people into the racing family, give them an experience, spend some time with them, and generate some business out of it as well.

That's a good question because in racing it's the small little details that matter. At the professional level, it's the small details. It's the car preparation, the data analysis, the little things that separate being on the podium and winning from not. It's incredibly competitive and you have to do all the right things. So it's not just about driving; it's making sure that all the preparation is in place and that you can execute. Are the pit stops right? Do you have the right tire pressures? Do you have the right tire? Like we were in Spa, it was wet tires and dry tires and you're out there in slicks but it's still raining. So you have to do all that. But that's what separates the winners from the folks who don't win. I think one of the takeaways if you spend any time with a professional driver is these are kids who started when they were five in karting. They're young. Some of the guys I race with now that are professionals are like 19, 20, somewhere in their mid-20s, and they look like video gamers. You run into them and you think they play Xbox all day. They're skinny guys and gals, but they're the nicest folks outside. And then when the visor comes down, they are assassins. I think that level of 'they're going to win no matter what it takes' is something you can bring between the boardroom and here. It's about competition, preparation, execution, and winning. It's very clear who's going to win. You have a clock and whoever is at the front is winning. No excuses.

Well, we got to work with Mercedes really before IPO in 2018. Part of it was we thought Formula 1, which we still think is a great area of exposure for a company like CrowdStrike and technology. Before we IPOed, we wanted more international experience. Just some facts: every Formula 1 race is pretty much bigger than a Super Bowl. This is the worldwide audience, so it's massive exposure. It's not just having your name on the car, which we have, but we've grown our relationship with Mercedes over the years. It's also about being able to host customers, immersive experience, and showing someone what Formula 1 is all about, but how security, technology, and data all come together. We've been doing that for the last number of years and I got to know Toto Wolff really early on in the journey, and they became a customer of CrowdStrike. That's really how we got to know them. They were switching off some other endpoint technology and they knew I was a car guy. The rest is history. Over the last couple years I've been chatting with him about what other opportunities are there, and these sorts of things take a while. There's only 10 now going to 11 teams. There's only one Mercedes team. So these are really coveted opportunities that just don't come around, and they're very protective of who gets into ownership groups. So I worked on that for a couple years, we were able to put it together, and I'm delighted to say that I'm now a technical adviser with them, working on both commercial as well as leveraging data for on-track performance. If we think about AI and data, it's a big part of what's going to happen in not only motorsports but in sports in general.

Formula 1 has been a losing proposition for teams for many years until the cost cap came into place in 2021. Now you see the value of these Formula 1 teams. That means all the money they used to spend on limited testing, wind tunnel time, those sorts of things are all managed now. Being able to leverage data, simulate from data, and use AI to come out with better performance on the car is going to be incredibly important because you can't just throw unlimited dollars at it. With the cost cap and the fact that the car is a rolling computer, it's terabytes of data sent back from wherever the car is racing to the factory in Brackley. All that can be analyzed even on track: what decisions you make, who's doing what, what tires are in play, tire degradation. There are so many variables that if you can get that right, in my opinion, AI is going to dramatically increase on-track performance.

I'm one small piece of the operation there. Obviously Toto is running it and has put together an amazing team. Eight championships. Next year we've got a change in car, a change in engine, and new regulations. DRS is gone and the engine package is different. So we'll see what all that looks like. There's always going to be reliability issues up and down the grid for everyone. But if I can help in the areas of understanding and making sense of data, and they have a team of people to do that, I provide my input and guidance. And then on the commercial side, being able to leverage technology, particularly in North America, and my relationships to drive commercial success is important. Like anything else, it's a team sport, and I'm here to help, but there's a great team in place already led by Toto.