QuickSecure: How two Georgia Tech founders built a school safety company at Elbow Grease

QuickSecure is a school safety and operations platform founded by Rohan Kumar and William Susskind, two Georgia Tech students who left school to build full-time. This past January, they moved from Atlanta to New York City to join Elbow Grease, Gutter Capital’s founder-led accelerator. During the 10-week program, QuickSecure closed its largest contract to date, grew its engineering team, and built a strong pipeline of school districts that have since closed.

After the program ended, they decided to permanently relocate to New York City. We had an individual outside of Gutter conduct unbiased “graduation interviews” with each founder about their experience with the program, and this is what we learned from their responses.

Key facts

• Company: QuickSecure, a school safety and operations platform

• Founders: Rohan Kumar (CEO) and William Susskind (CTO)

• Background: Both were students at Georgia Tech and left school to build QuickSecure full-time

• Before Elbow Grease: Based in Atlanta, had closed a portion of a pre-seed round

• Program: Elbow Grease accelerator: $300k investment, 10 weeks in NYC

• Mentor: KJ Singh, Founder and CEO of ResQ

• Partner: James Gettinger, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Gutter Capital

• Key outcomes: Closed largest contract to date (55-building campus) in week one; ended the program in final talks with five public school districts.

What QuickSecure does

QuickSecure covers the full range of what a school needs to stay safe and run smoothly, from active shooter response at the worst-case end, down to the daily operational work of ticketing and asset management, like flagging a door that needs repair. Rohan, QuickSecure’s CEO, calls it software built to work at every level of severity.

The decision to go all in

Rohan and William were both students at Georgia Tech when we first met them. Rohan finished his freshman year, then spent his sophomore fall semester part-time, testing whether QuickSecure was something he and William had the skill set to build. By then, they had already closed a portion of their pre-seed round. Applications for Elbow Grease’s first cohort opened right as they were preparing to leave school.

They weighed a traditional VC round against an accelerator, and weighed San Francisco against New York. QuickSecure is an education technology company, and New York is home to one of the largest school systems and independent school networks in the country. Building there put them close to the market they were trying to serve, not just close to capital.

Inside the program

Mentorship from someone who has already done it

KJ Singh, Founder and CEO of ResQ, was matched to QuickSecure as their mentor. ResQ, which raised at a $100 million valuation, now counts Taco Bell and Raising Cane’s among its customers. Rohan and William describe KJ as one of the fastest people they’ve worked with at translating a problem into a plan. After their first call, KJ had already come up with two go-to-market ideas for growing QuickSecure’s presence in schools.

The relationship didn’t stay confined to the minimum weekly check-ins. KJ moved to two calls a week, stayed reachable by text, and asked to keep the mentorship going after the program ended. He also pushed QuickSecure toward a specific goal: getting its panic-button product into the hands of every school that needs it, regardless of budget. That thinking is now driving a pending agreement with an association representing more than 500 independent schools in Wisconsin.

Partners that work for the team

As co-founder and Managing Partner at Gutter, I partnered directly with half of the Elbow Grease teams, which included QuickSecure. I met with Rohan and William at least weekly to pressure-test everything from pricing and go-to-market strategy to how the company should be positioning itself. When the founders described their hiring bottleneck in an early meeting, I built out a hiring plan and timeline and encouraged them to start working with Gutter Operating Partner and Head of Talent, Richard Hughes. Rohan and William hadn’t fully realized how hiring was holding them back.

Recruiting support most two-person teams don’t have

Once they aligned with Richard on what they needed in their first hire, Richard sourced 40 to 60 vetted candidates for the team to screen. The time Richard spent sourcing was not time William and Rohan had while they were building and closing their first customers. Since William and Rohan didn't have hiring experience, having just left school, engineers at a few of our portfolio companies offered to help them with their interview process, giving them additional confidence when it came time to make an offer. With that support, QuickSecure hired its first full-time intern and developer, and has more hires in its pipeline.

Warm introductions that outrun cold outreach

Gutter’s network opened doors that neither founder could have found through LinkedIn. An introduction to Chike, who leads a program at Kapor Capital connecting startups with public and private institutions, put QuickSecure in front of multiple municipalities working on the same mission. A separate introduction, made through a Tech:NYC event hosted at Gutter’s office, put them across the table from leaders at Microsoft, Google, DoorDash, and CLEAR, and led to a meeting with CLEAR’s CEO.

Programming that didn’t get in the way of execution

Both founders shared that they came in worried that a structured program would eat into time they needed to spend shipping product and closing deals. Instead, they found the balance worked: enough programming to learn what they needed and enough open time to go apply it. Founder lunches and one-on-one time with entrepreneurs a step or two ahead of them stood out as some of the most useful time in the 10 weeks. Fireside chats with Mitch Kapor and Satya Patel of Homebrew gave them direct access to people they’d only read about. And the sales workshop mattered in particular: neither founder, one a mechanical engineer, one an industrial designer, had any formal sales background before the program.

The results

• Closed its largest contract to date in week one: one of the largest private schools in Georgia, covering 55 buildings, more than 1,000 staff members, and several thousand students.

• Ended the program in final contract negotiations with five public school districts, spanning more than 25 schools.

• Built its early team: hired a full-time intern and developer, with more roles in active pipeline.

• Established a permanent New York presence, with William relocated and Rohan following within six months, while continuing to grow the customer base along the entire east coast.

• In progress: a statewide agreement with an association of more than 500 independent schools in Wisconsin.

Why they chose Elbow Grease

Rohan put it plainly: they didn’t join for the check. They joined because they’d get to work directly with operators who had actually built and run companies. They also don’t describe the relationship in investor terms. In Rohan’s graduation interview, he mentioned the time I asked him what he does for exercise and suggested we work out together. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but he said he was surprised that someone at a VC firm would be so accessible. We got to know each other outside of the office, which he said made him more comfortable walking over to my desk with a problem, rather than waiting for our scheduled check-in.

Frequently asked questions

What is Elbow Grease?

Elbow Grease is a small-batch, founder-led accelerator run by Gutter Capital in New York City. It takes 10 to 15 pre-seed software companies per cohort, invests $300k per company, and runs for 10 weeks at Gutter’s headquarters on Canal Street in Chinatown.

What is QuickSecure?

QuickSecure is a school safety and operations platform, covering everything from active shooter response to day-to-day facilities and ticketing management. It was founded by Rohan Kumar and William Susskind, former students at Georgia Tech.

What results did QuickSecure achieve during Elbow Grease?

QuickSecure closed its largest contract to date in its first week of the program, a school system covering 55 buildings and more than 1,000 staff. By the end of the 10 weeks, the company was in final contract talks with five public school districts and had hired its first two team members.

Who mentored QuickSecure at Elbow Grease?

KJ Singh, Founder and CEO of ResQ, served as QuickSecure’s mentor. ResQ raised its Series A at a $100 million valuation and counts Taco Bell and Raising Cane’s among its customers.

Why did QuickSecure choose New York over San Francisco?

QuickSecure is an education technology company, and New York has one of the largest school systems and independent school networks in the country. Elbow Grease also gave them a partner with fewer teams competing for the same relationships compared to larger programs.

How much does Elbow Grease invest in each company?

Elbow Grease invests $300k per company as a first check, with the potential for a follow-on pre-seed opportunity.

Apply to Elbow Grease

If you're doing your life's work and solving a big problem you understand, we want to know about it. Elbow Grease's second cohort is now accepting applications through July 31. Learn more at elbowgrease.cc and apply at https://forms.gutter.cc/eg0002-application