{"id":5550,"date":"2022-12-12T08:02:44","date_gmt":"2022-12-12T08:02:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/?p=5550"},"modified":"2022-12-12T08:03:05","modified_gmt":"2022-12-12T08:03:05","slug":"solving-eminent-problems-in-freight-transport-with-saas-entrepreneur-gwenael-malbec","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/solving-eminent-problems-in-freight-transport-with-saas-entrepreneur-gwenael-malbec\/","title":{"rendered":"Solving Eminent Problems in Freight Transport with SaaS Entrepreneur Gwena\u00ebl Malbec"},"content":{"rendered":"
For the majority of entrepreneurs, starting a business feels like the equivalent of jumping straight into the abyss. This is uncharted territory. But for the same individuals that end up sailing ahead further than they expected, major life changes happen that don\u2019t easily manifest through other outlets.<\/span><\/p>\n This was true for one entrepreneur who took a leap into one of the most complex industries without a hint of knowing what was going to be on the other side.<\/span><\/p>\n His journey ended up being transformative and he was able to observe with his own eyes a whole industry evolve and absorb the kind of technology he was building.<\/span><\/p>\n The trucking industry is not a new one. But it wasn\u2019t until recent years it started to employ technology in its long treks across hundreds and thousands of miles, carrying millions worth of goods and resources every day. When <\/span>Gwena\u00ebl Malbec<\/span><\/a>, first heard of the idea to build freight software technology from his now co-founder, something in his mind tinkered at this opportunity to create something for himself. Something bigger to him than working in one of the world’s most prestigious technology consulting companies.<\/span><\/p>\n Gwena\u00ebl, the co-founder of <\/span>FreightPath<\/span><\/a> shares with us his intentional tumble into entrepreneurship, the future of freight technology, and tackling a behemoth of a problem in the industry<\/span><\/p>\n Interviewer: You have quite an impressive career, including senior positions with companies like IBM. What inspired you to leave the comfort of having a secure position to pursue your own business? In what ways do you think having a corporate background helped you as a founder?<\/b><\/p>\n Gwenael:<\/b> The first thing has to do with who I am as an individual. I\u2019m someone who likes to take on opportunities. Throughout my career, I’ve received opportunities to start a business here, or to manage another business there. When I look at opportunities, there needs to be an element that\u2019s enticing to me and is going to help me grow.<\/span><\/p>\n There is always a risk, sometimes financial, and sometimes with yourself not knowing if you could meet the standards and the requirements of that job. In 2015, I was offered the opportunity to start my own business and get a 50% stake in a company, which was pretty much unheard of. I was always just an employee, but I was working as hard as possible, and the opportunity to gain some freedom and to be my own boss was really what I had in mind.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I knew nothing about transportation and little about technology, but it was definitely something that I felt was like a challenge I was due for. As far as how my past experience has helped me with this venture, I would say both yes and no. I would say yes, because obviously I’ve been exposed to a lot of technology, methodologies, ways to conduct business, sales and marketing, implementation, and customer support.<\/span><\/p>\n Back in 2010, I was one of the first ones in IBM, to learn and sell cloud-based technologies. This gave me an edge in terms of technical knowledge. I would say also no, because on the flip side if you come up with that experience and you try to apply the rigid methodology that you have with established consulting businesses like IBM, CGI, and Deloitte, onto your little startup, it doesn\u2019t necessarily work.<\/span><\/p>\n People at IBM are going to be paid nicely, but they\u2019re expected to produce a lot. You’re going to work 50-60 hours a week, consistently. At a startup, you pay someone $50,000, and guess what? You’re not entitled to tell them to work as hard or to be rigid with them in terms of what they need to produce in terms of work. You need to be taking your life, and work balance much more seriously. You need to understand who is it you are working with and to entice them with something else than just like, you’ll have some real reward one day. It needs to be a lifestyle, something that is embedded into their day to day. I would say technical exposure helped me but I would say some of the day-to-day activities and methodologies couldn’t be necessarily reapplied to the entrepreneurship world.<\/span><\/p>\n Interviewer: When your company is in a competitive industry (ie. SAP, Oracle) what do you think your main advantages are as a smaller company?<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Gwenael: <\/b>Just to be super clear, I’m not necessarily competing against those companies, but I’m competing against very similar companies that have most of the market share and have been there for decades. Oracle and SAP didn’t really manage on the supply chain side of things to be big, but the question is still very relevant because we have lots of competitors in the field. Once you are a big machine, you have a very complex back office and bureaucracy, and well-oiled processes to make things happen. When it comes to a startup, we don’t have all those admin layers. But that also means we don’t have all the paperwork that goes with that. This in turn allows us to be more flexible and to come up with solutions in a much faster and cheaper way than those big companies are.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n When a company like IBM advertises or communicates about something they\u2019ll do, they’re not going to change the direction two months later. Conversely, it\u2019s very easy for us to come out and say we\u2019re going to be the best at something, and five months later, reroute because we gathered better opportunities from the market.<\/span><\/p>\n