Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Wright.
Hi Eric, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in South Memphis, zip code 38109. Poverty, drugs, all of it surrounding us, But I had both my parents, and that made the difference, I walked to school every day through neighborhoods most people avoided. As a kid, I was the one rescuing stray dogs and cats off the street, feeding the homeless with whatever I had. My friend Myron, who used to wash cars just to survive, he passed recently. But before he did, he told my COO about how I was as a kid. How I was always looking out for people, feeding folks, bringing strays home, That meant everything to me, His memory is part of why I do what I do, as well as my parents.
At nine years old, I founded House of SYN. Not a business, a body of protection. A circle of people who looked out for each other when nobody else would, That was 1994. It’s still active today as a private organization.
The internet changed everything for me, The AOL era gave me my first real community, people from that time are still my best friends, still family. I taught myself everything: web development, networking, security. I didn’t have mentors in tech. I had curiosity and an obsession with understanding how systems worked, and how they broke.
That led me to founding two companies. The Private Firm (TPF) is my cybersecurity and investigations firm — we handle threat assessments, penetration testing, digital forensics, and security consulting for businesses. SynEVOL R&D is my biotech company focused on advanced research including 3D bioprinting and therapeutic technologies. House of SYN is the organization that ties it all together, the foundation everything was built on.
I hold certifications from IBM in Ethical Hacking, Oxford in AI Foundations, UPenn in Healthcare Law, and I’m a published researcher with work on platforms like Zenodo. I didn’t get here through a traditional path. No Ivy League pipeline. No Silicon Valley connections. The streets taught me threat assessment before any textbook did.
I didn’t leave Memphis, I elevated what I could do from Memphis. This city shaped my instincts, my resilience, and my understanding that the struggle itself is the credential. Everything I build carries that with it.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No, it has not been a smooth road, and I wouldn’t want it to be. Smooth roads don’t build anything worth having.
The biggest challenge has always been being self-taught in spaces that gatekeep with credentials. I didn’t come from a university or a corporate mentorship program. I learned cybersecurity by breaking things and figuring out how to fix them. I learned biotech because the questions I was asking didn’t have answers yet. That means every room I walk into, I have to prove myself twice before anyone listens once.
Funding has been a constant battle. When you’re a Black founder from South Memphis running a cybersecurity firm and a biotech R&D company, investors don’t exactly line up. I’ve bootstrapped everything, The Private Firm, SynEVOL, all of it. Every dollar reinvested came from work I did with my own hands.
Losing people has been the hardest part. Friends who didn’t make it out. People I grew up with who are gone now. My friend Myron just passed recently, That kind of loss doesn’t get easier, you just learn to carry it differently and let it fuel the work instead of stop it.
And honestly, being in Memphis itself is a challenge. The tech ecosystem here isn’t Silicon Valley. There’s no built-in network handing you warm introductions to VCs or enterprise clients. You have to create your own gravity. But that’s also what makes it worth it, because when you build something real from here, nobody can say you had it handed to you.
The struggle is the credential. Every obstacle taught me something that no classroom could.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I run two companies and one organization, all built from Memphis.
The Private Firm (ThePrivateFirm.com) is a cybersecurity and investigations firm. We specialize in penetration testing, threat assessments, digital forensics, network security auditing, and IT consulting. When a business needs to know where their vulnerabilities are, or needs an incident investigated, that’s us. We work with companies of all sizes, from startups to enterprises with 500+ employees, providing security auditing, disaster recovery planning, and ongoing compliance monitoring.
SynEVOL R&D (SynEVOL.org) is my biotech research company. We focus on emerging technologies including 3D bioprinting, photobiomodulation, and AI-driven research applications. I’m a published researcher with work indexed on Zenodo, and we’re actively collaborating with international researchers on security and human-layer verification frameworks.
What sets us apart is that both companies operate with a security-first philosophy. In cybersecurity, we don’t just run scans and hand you a PDF, we often embed ourselves in your infrastructure and think like attackers. In biotech, we approach R&D with the same rigor, publishing peer-reviewed work rather than chasing hype.
What I’m most proud of is that everything was built from scratch. No investors. No corporate backing. Bootstrapped from South Memphis with certifications from IBM, Oxford, UPenn, and two decades of hands-on experience. I didn’t wait for permission to build, I just did it.
House of SYN is the organization over it all. Founded in 1994 when I was nine years old, it started as a circle of friends and evolved into the foundation that connects everything I do today.
What I want people to know is simple: world-class cybersecurity and cutting-edge biotech research exist right here in Memphis. You don’t have to look to Silicon Valley or the East Coast. We’re here, we’re building, and we’re not going anywhere.
What are your plans for the future?
The future is about scaling what’s already working and building what doesn’t exist yet.
For The Private Firm, the goal is expanding into enterprise-level security contracts, ongoing retainers with mid-to-large companies for penetration testing, threat monitoring, and incident response. Cybersecurity isn’t slowing down. Every business is a target now, and most of them don’t realize it until it’s too late. I want TPF to be the firm they call before the breach, not after.
For SynEVOL R&D, we’re pushing deeper into published research and international collaboration. I’m currently working with researchers on human-layer security frameworks and exploring how AI can accelerate biotech innovation. The long-term vision is to build SynEVOL into a recognized research institution, not just a company, but a contributor to real scientific progress. We already have published work with DOIs, and that library is only going to grow.
On a bigger level, I want to prove that Memphis can produce world-class tech. Not just music, not just logistics, but cybersecurity firms, biotech labs, and AI research. I want the next kid growing up in South Memphis to see that path exists because someone walked it first.
I’m also exploring new platforms and tools, building custom AI systems, developing interactive applications, and finding ways to make advanced technology accessible to people who don’t have a Silicon Valley zip code. The work never stops. It just evolves.
Pricing:
- The Private Firm — Security consultations starting at $150/hr
- The Private Firm — Monthly cybersecurity retainers available for small businesses
- SynEVOL R&D — Published research available free via open access
- Custom security audits and penetration testing — pricing based on scope
- Free initial consultation available for Memphis-area businesses
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ThePrivateFirm.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blackgroup
- Twitter: https://x.com/vmprsec
- Other: https://SynEVOL.org
