Permabit CTO Jerod Floyd has been getting a little bit more attention than most tech leaders at this week's Storage Networking World in Orlando. And he has his barber to thank for it. Or his own steady hand.

Floyd has an impressive set of mutton chops -- a set that's caught the attention of more than a few people at the show.

This feedback isn't tied to any sort of informal survey I did. It came up in more than a few conversations I had and, ye, well, overhead.

"It's pretty courageous to wear those," one attendee told me, noting mutton chops were in fullforce long before Floyd, a 29-year-old, was likely even a twinkle in his mother's or father's eye.

Another attendee, male I might add, told me he's guessing Floyd doesn't have any children. "Otherwise he wouldn't have the time to keep them so sharp looking or so aligned."

I have to admit I agreed with that. I don't even get in my own bathroom before 8 am these days with one daughter in high school, another in middle school.

Floyd, the founder of Permabit, didn't just grow the facial hair for the fun of it. Or even the attention gained. He believes it helps get him a bit more respect as he tends to look quite a bit younger without them.

To prove his point, he pulled up a shot of himself on his smartphone. A photo of him at 21. Yes he surely did look young, but to be honest, the mohawk he wore at the time drew my attention away from his face.