An Interview With Chad Silverstein
AI works best when it’s solving a real problem, not when it’s adopted simply because it’s new or exciting.
In the ever-evolving and never-ending landscape of business, staying ahead of the curve is a prerequisite for success. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has gone from being a futuristic concept to a daily business tool that executives can’t ignore. In this interview series, we would like to talk with business leaders who’ve successfully integrated A.I. into their operations, transforming their companies in the process.
As a part of this series, we had the pleasure to interview Markus Scott.
Markus Scott is CEO of EyeQ Monitoring, an Atlanta-based provider of AI-powered video surveillance and business intelligence technology that helps businesses improve security, operations and profitability. Since acquiring the company in 2015, he has grown EyeQ from 15 employees to 150 monitoring thousands of sites across 42 states, overseeing an average of 34% revenue growth for the last decade. Prior to EyeQ, Markus held private equity roles at Lighthouse Equity and Brockway Moran & Partners and began his career in accounting at Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! To set the stage, tell us briefly about your childhood and background.
I grew up in Gainesville, Florida, where two lifelong influences shaped who I am today: football and entrepreneurship. My father, a former San Diego Charger who later became an educator, also ran a small engraving business on the side to support our family — work he still does today. Watching his entrepreneurial journey from an early age gave me a deep appreciation and drive to build something meaningful of my own one day.
For undergrad, I was lucky enough to stick around in Gainesville to play football at the University of Florida while getting my B.S. in finance. I thought I wanted to be an accountant and began my career in that arena, which is when the dream of one day building my own business began to take deeper root. The path to entrepreneurship looks different for everyone, but for me, that meant transitioning to M&A and private equity, where I discovered a community of investors that backs emerging entrepreneurs right out of business school. So back to school I went to get my MBA and learn the ins and outs of raising capital to acquire a business of my own one day that could improve people’s lives. The rest is history as in 2014, I discovered what is now EyeQ Monitoring and the opportunity to modernize a sector long dominated by outdated technologies and models.
What were the early challenges you faced in your career, and how did they shape your approach to leadership?
Early in my career, I was deeply afraid of failure. I had perseverance — the grit to keep going — but not yet the courage to move confidently through setbacks. As someone wired to build and optimize, I naturally look for what can be improved, which is valuable for driving progress but, early on, created unintended pressure on my team. I didn’t fully appreciate how my own stress, combined with my tendency to project a composed, “perfect” version of leadership, made others hesitant to admit mistakes or take risks.
Five years in, this hit a breaking point. I spent a lot of time reflecting and realized real leadership required openness, not perfection. I began sharing more honestly where I struggle as well as where I’m strong, reinforcing that failing fast is part of achieving any meaningful vision, and emphasizing that we should enjoy the journey, not just chase the outcome. That shift built trust across the team and ultimately strengthened both our culture and our business.
We often learn the most from our mistakes. Can you share one mistake that turned out to be one of the most valuable lessons you’ve learned?
One of the hardest lessons I’ve learned — that led to the aforementioned “soul searching” — came from a leadership decision I waited too long to make. I had promoted someone I deeply respected: a close friend who had sacrificed to join the company, carried a significant workload, and was fiercely loyal to both me and the mission. His work ethic and execution were unquestioned, but in an operational leadership role, the fit wasn’t right. Team trust eroded, turnover increased, costs climbed, and we ultimately experienced our most significant customer loss as a result. Looking back, my hesitation to act was rooted in the same fear of failure I felt earlier in my career: the fear of making the wrong call, paired with the fear hurting someone I cared about.
In addition to the lesson that true leadership requires personal transparency, I learned that clarity and accountability with others are acts of respect, not avoidance, and that putting the right people in the right roles is essential to protecting both culture and performance. It was incredibly painful at the time, but it shaped my commitment to lead with honesty, make hard decisions sooner, and create an environment where trust –not fear — drives the business forward.
A.I. is a big leap for many businesses. When and what first sparked your interest in incorporating it into your operations?
My interest in AI began before it became a mainstream business conversation. In 2014, while searching for a company in an industry I felt passionate about, I zeroed in on security and saw how the shift from analog to digital cameras was creating a new opportunity. For the first time, video could do more than record incidents and could be paired with artificial intelligence to augment or even replace manual security processes. At the time, very few scaled providers were pursuing that vision. When I discovered what is now EyeQ Monitoring, then a small business offering remote security guard services, I saw the potential to build something much bigger by combining human expertise with AI-powered video technology, and I decided to acquire the business.
One of our earliest innovations was Virtual Guard, which uses AI to detect specific behaviors and risks through video and other low-voltage technologies, enabling real-time remote intervention at a fraction of the cost of onsite personnel. That capability opened the door for many customers that either couldn’t afford traditional security or needed a more scalable, proactive approach. Seeing the tangible impact of AI in protecting people and property reinforced my belief that this technology would fundamentally reshape how businesses think about security, and even go beyond that to provide our clients visibility into operational insights that humans or generic video cameras alone can’t see.
AI can be a game-changer for individuals and their responsibilities. Can you share how you personally use AI and what are your go-to resources or tools?
Personally I am adopting more and more AI every day. Early adoption for me, outside of our business, was with simple research projects with ChatGPT. Being able to quickly synthesize data on new subjects (or even helping my kids with how differently they process math questions today!) was an early force multiplier. Since then, I’ve used it to aid with quick marketing projects, building models in Excel in seconds, and even as an idea generator for vacations and home remodeling projects. I still feel like there is so much more opportunity to incorporate it into everyday life.
On the flip side, what challenges or setbacks have you encountered while implementing A.I. into your company?
While our proprietary AI technology fueled rapid early growth, helping customers optimize security, customer experience, and operations across industries like automotive, commercial real estate, retail, and multifamily housing, it also exposed important challenges. As the market accelerated and new competitors entered the space, we began to hear about customer churn driven not by the concept of the product, which they saw value in, but by gaps in service delivery and overall experience at scale. That was a clarifying moment.
I ultimately made the case to our board to intentionally pause our pace of growth so we could focus on building long-term value. We dedicated a year to invest deeply in strengthening our core technology, refining our product and elevating the customer experience. Since 2021, that discipline has paid off: our business has more than tripled in size, driven in large part by customers recognizing the difference in product delivery that now sets EyeQ apart.
However, we are still in early innings. A big challenge for all of our customers is that AI tools are changing rapidly. Figuring out where to invest and how best to do so is still a daunting task even though more and more people are recognizing the benefits of doing so. One of the things we love about our mission is that we get to do a lot of that leg work for our partners, with a deep understanding of the pain points they have from serving them for the past decade. It allows us to synthesize many of those AI options so that they can deploy tools that will persist in making their lives easier.
Let’s dig into this further. Can you share the top 5 A.I. tools or different ways you’re integrating AI into your business? What specific functions do they serve and what kind of result have you seen so far? If you can, please share a story or example for each.
Our remote video monitoring platform was built on using AI to disrupt the way people solved for loss prevention in outdoor environments. The impact has been significant, driving up to 75% lower cost of ownership, 87% greater footprint visibility, 98% better risk reduction and 110% improved response to crime attempts for our customers. But we’ve also evolved to provide our customers with operational business intelligence, solving for multiple pain points that currently require human intervention. We focus on practical tools that solve real problems for customers and deliver measurable business value. A few of the most impactful ways we’re doing that today include:
1. AI-guided human intervention through Virtual Guard.
Virtual Guard turns existing video cameras into a 24/7 intelligent monitoring system that can verify incidents in real time, handle live talk-down deterrence and dispatch to law enforcement within seconds, extending protection across large outdoor or multi-site environments where traditional guards alone aren’t practical. For many customers, this has meant stronger security coverage at a fraction of the historical cost.
2. Operational intelligence for automotive service departments.
Our Virtual Service Advisor uses AI to improve repair-order efficiency inside dealership service lanes by verifying vehicle condition, tracking workflow timing and revealing bottlenecks. Dealers gain visibility they’ve never had before, allowing them to improve customer experience, adjust staffing and protect revenue that might otherwise be lost to delays.
3. Parking and property flow optimization.
AI-enabled cameras analyze vehicle movement, occupancy and peak-use patterns to help property managers allocate resources, reduce congestion and use space more efficiently. What used to be guesswork is now data-driven decision-making that improves both operations and tenant satisfaction.
4. Protection against false damage claims and disputes.
Clear, searchable video evidence allows businesses to quickly validate what actually happened in high-traffic areas like parking lots or loading docks. Customers often tell us this capability alone saves significant time, legal expense and reputational risk.
5. Real-time customer recognition and experience personalization.
Our Key Customer Recognition technology helps car dealerships instantly identify returning or high-value customers as they arrive, enabling faster service and more personalized engagement. It’s a powerful example of how advanced AI cameras can directly enhance revenue and loyalty.
There’s concern about A.I. taking over jobs. How do you balance A.I. tools with your human workforce and have you already replaced any positions using technology?
Our point of view at EyeQ is that AI is embedded at the core of our business, enhancing human decision-making, not replacing it. Our technology helps cameras see more, recognize patterns, and flag true risks in real time. AI surfaces what matters most, and the highly trained U.S.-based agents in our 24/7 Security Operations Center apply judgment and act immediately. It’s not about replacing security guards, but about giving security teams smarter tools for better decision-making and dramatically better outcomes.
Across EyeQ specifically, we continue to grow as AI propels our business forward, with plans to expand our team.
Looking ahead, what’s on the horizon in the world of AI that people should know about? What do you see happening in the next 3–5 years? I would love to hear your best prediction.
For the security industry specifically, that AI-plus-human pairing is our superpower. It’s where the industry is headed, but we’re proud to already be there. Over the next three to five years, businesses will stop viewing cameras as tools that simply record incidents and start seeing them as sources of real operational intelligence. We’re excited to continue supporting that shift, with AI-powered video set to become a foundational layer of running any physical business.
If you had to pick just one AI tool that you feel is essential, one that you haven’t mentioned yet, which would it be and why?
I am biased, but I have to mention our new automated cycle time tool for car dealership service centers. While very specific to this industry, that’s actually the point. Using advanced video analytics and license plate recognition, the solution measures key-to-key cycle times for dealership service centers by tracking vehicles from arrival through service completion, even in low-light or high-traffic environments. Prior to the development of this platform, dealerships haven’t had an automated way to track service repair order cycle times, a critical area of fixed operations that serve as a significant profit center. When you have access to footage that shows where time is lost, you can improve efficiency, serve customers better and make smarter decisions every day. That’s the future of intelligence-led auto dealership operations, powered by AI video monitoring.
For the uninitiated, what advice would you give someone looking to integrate AI into their business and doesn’t know where to start?
Before jumping into the technology itself, I’d start by asking the right questions, especially, “What would genuinely make our customers’ lives easier or our team more effective?” AI works best when it’s solving a real problem, not when it’s adopted simply because it’s new or exciting.
From there, surround yourself with people who truly understand the space, whether that means hiring internal expertise or partnering with trusted specialists who can help you evaluate and implement the right solutions. Start small and focus on measurable impact.
Where can our readers follow you to learn more about leveraging A.I. in the business world?
You can follow me and EyeQ Monitoring on LinkedIn and learn more about our technology at eyeqmonitoring.com.
This was great. Thanks for taking time for us to learn more about you and your business. We wish you continued success!
About The Interviewer: Chad Silverstein is a seasoned entrepreneur with 25+ years of experience as a Founder and CEO. While attending Ohio State University, he launched his first company, Choice Recovery, Inc., a nationally recognized healthcare collection agency — twice ranked the #1 workplace in Ohio. In 2013, he founded [re]start, helping thousands of people find meaningful career opportunities. After selling both companies, Chad shifted his focus to his true passion — leadership. Today, he coaches founders and CEOs at Built to Lead, advises Authority Magazine’s Thought Leader Incubator.
Markus Scott of EyeQ Monitoring: How We Leveraged AI To Take Our Company To The Next Level was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.