Never Been Promoted

How Do You Decide When to Pivot Your Startup? | Tarun Aleti

August 04, 2024 Thomas Helfrich Season 1 Episode 83

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Never Been Promoted Podcast with Thomas Helfrich

Tarun Aleti shares his journey from India to Boston and his experiences in building a successful startup. Known for his technical expertise and innovative approach, Tarun offers valuable insights into the challenges and triumphs of entrepreneurship in the logistics industry.


About Tarun Aleti:

Tarun Aleti is the co-founder and Chief Product Technology Officer at PartRunner, a company revolutionizing last-mile logistics with a focus on big and bulky items. Originally from Hyderabad, India, Tarun completed his undergrad at IIT Bombay and his master's at Northeastern University in Boston. With a background in civil engineering and construction management, Tarun transitioned from consulting to entrepreneurship, leveraging his technical skills to co-found PartRunner.


In this episode, Thomas and Tarun discuss:

  • The Journey to PartRunner: Tarun shares his background, from his education in India and the US to his work as a consultant. He explains how his passion for entrepreneurship led him to co-found PartRunner with his partner, whom he met at an entrepreneurship event at Northeastern University.
  • Challenges in the Logistics Industry: Tarun discusses the complexities of last-mile logistics, particularly for large, non-uniform items. He emphasizes the importance of adaptability and learning from customer feedback and investor input.
  • Transitioning to Entrepreneurship: Tarun explains the dynamics of working with a co-founder and the importance of complementary skills. He highlights the challenges of hiring the right people and the strategic planning required to grow a venture-backed business.


Key Takeaways:

  • Adaptability and Learning

The ability to pivot based on market needs and feedback is crucial for startup success. Tarun emphasizes the importance of being open to change and continuously learning.

  • Complementary Skills 

Having a co-founder with complementary skills can significantly enhance the startup's potential. Tarun's experience highlights the value of diverse strengths within the founding team.

  • Focus on Today

When hiring, focus on the current needs of the company while also considering the potential for growth and adaptability in the future.


"The faster you learn and adapt, the better your chances of success in a startup." — Tarun Aleti


CONNECT WITH TARUN ALETI:

Website:
https://www.partrunner.com/en/
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tarun-aleti/


CONNECT WITH THOMAS:

X (Twitter):
https://twitter.com/thelfrich | https://twitter.com/nevbeenpromoted Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hovienko | https://www.facebook.com/neverbeenpromoted
Website: https://www.neverbeenpromoted.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.co

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Welcome back to another episode of Never Been Promoted. I'm joined today, with a special guest who who's going to be talking about, his startup here based out of Boston. But before we kinda get into that, first and foremost, thanks for for coming on the show. So our our mission here at Never Been Promoted is to help a 1000000 entrepreneurs get started, get unstuck, and just get better at entrepreneurship. And we're doing this through the, the stories of other entrepreneurs, their, you know, their wins, their their falls, everything how they think. And and if you can get one thing out of any one of our episodes, you you've really done what you need to in this idea of micromentoring. So So if this is your first time here, that's what I hope you expect. I hope you get one thing out of the show, one of the episode from our guests. And if you've been here before, I'm hoping I hope you've gotten a few along the way. Thank you, by the way. You know, here we are in March. We're we're approaching a 1000000 subscribers on YouTube, so everyone who listens and your support is super, super thanked, and and I'm overwhelmed by the the kind of attention behind this. If this is your first time or you're not subscribed, I my only call to action is please just check out the YouTube channel. It's at it's at never been promoted. So but let's meet our guests. Today, we are joined by, Tarun Aleti. He's a cofounder and chief product technology officer at Partrunner. I think you're in Boston, Tarun. Is that right?
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That's right, Thomas, and thanks for inviting me for your show. And, really congrats on approaching 1,000,000. Like, you know, it's really great some that you are doing. Yeah.
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I I appreciate that. It's, as an entrepreneur, you're I'm like, now what do I do with that? So so it kinda shifts your business model and thinking where, you know, it's so, you enough about me, but I appreciate that, as well. Tarun, could you wanna just do a, you know, do a little backstory on you and and and how you got to, you know, becoming the it's a lot of titles. I'm gonna play the CTO of Partrunner.
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Sure. So, Thomas, like you said, like, I'm originally from India. From southern part of India, Hyderabad. I did my undergrad from IIT Bombay. It's one of the premier institute in India. Mhmm. Then I came to US. This is like a decade back from my masters. I did in Northeastern University in Boston, and then I worked like a consultant for 5 to 6 years. And I then I wanted to do something by myself. That was a drive I think I had, and that kind of ventured me into this space. And I met I met my cofound founder and CEO, Yosh, at an entrepreneurship event, actually, at Northeastern University. And that kind of kick started and on this journey for partner. It's been 6 years. Lot like, no. Lot of ups and downs, learning lessons, mistakes. But finally, I think I feel like we are in a very good trajectory of growth. We have gone through the fundraising. We are currently doing operations in US and Mexico. So, yeah, a lot of exciting things.
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Yeah. And you're you're, I'll call it the American, you know, poster child kind of for startups. Right? Like, you you you grind through it. You're going through funding. Personally, I said that's too much work. I'm just gonna go pivot to a services business. That's more familiar to me. Yeah. And the big difference is that you have a, you know, you're a technical cofounder, which helps you do the SaaS pieces. But, talk me through this a little bit. So so first setup, what is what is Partrunner? Who do you serve? What's the industries? Just give me the, you know, the pitch on that a little bit.
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Sure. So PartRunner is disrupting basically the last mile logistics. We are mainly focusing on the big and bulky aspect. So you could see you could see us similar to, like, an Uber, but, we are like a platform where you can move, like, anything which is, like, nonuniform, palletized, heavy equipment based, or you need, like, larger vehicles. So we work with, like, retailers, suppliers, manufacturers, and then we connect them with our driver network.
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What was the driver? So so that's who the company serves today. Right? How did you guys oh, this is this is an often question from entrepreneurs. How did you get there? How did you decide on that?
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Yeah. To be honest, if you ask me, like, 6 years back, this is what we would be doing. I think the answer would have been a straight no. Like, no. We are an outsider. Right? I was I was I mean, I came from different country. I did my I was in consulting for a few years. I was in a consult civil engineering. I did my undergrad in civil. I did my masters in construction management. So I wanted to be something in that space where, like, you know, I could link the data science aspect that I was consulting on to the civil as no. Construction aspects. But initially, to be honest, we started almost like, you know, why can't we, let's say, move any home supplying material within same day? Like, you know, why it has to be scheduled, why it has to be planned a week ahead, things like that. And then we did multiple pivot. We were initially working with contractors then only with suppliers. Now we kind of expanded the scope of our problem we are trying to solve.
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That's, I mean, in your did you have any conscious decision? So I just let me link back up. That often is the case where you're like, where you start isn't where you're gonna end up. And I think it's one of the hallmarks of a successful entrepreneur is they see they're not so married to their idea. They forget they forget to kind of, you know it's probably the wrong analogy. They're not so stuck on their destination. They don't, you know, forget to get gas, take a take a side tour, see some things, learn, like, avoid collisions on the road, things like that. And you're like, oh, I I think we wanted to go here, but we ended up over here and, like, that's where we're supposed to be. Yeah. But when you were doing that, were you considering data like market size trends, or did it just kinda happen based on feedback from investors or something? Tell me how it actually comes together.
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I think both both do have play. Like, at the end of the day, we were we had an option. Right? We had an option to build, like, a small company and grow it year over year, things like that, or do we want to be, like, a venture backed business? And when you want to be a venture backed business, it's very important that you have enough market. Right? Market market size, how how close how fast you can grow, things like that. They do play a factor. So I think in our journey, like, initially, like, I would say it was not a problem that I personally face. Right? Like, it's about moving material. It was very, like, different user. So so we had to learn. We had to understand, like, what space we are and things like that. If it was something personal problem, like, you know, maybe I think the journey would be a little bit different. But because it is it's like, hey. Why can't it be done certain way? Right? It came from that thought. And then we we had we had a lot of I think almost 2 years went into learning. You know, building building connections, listening to users, trying to understand what is the space about, who are the players involved, how do they move material, things like that. And also at the same time, when we are trying to raise funds, trying to build, like, you know, initial family and friends, seed rounds, just getting feedback just seeing feedback from investors also helped in making sure that, you know, we are solving a bigger problem.
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Yeah. And I and I think that's what you do. So, like, you don't change. And I think that sometimes is where people get stressed out a little. They don't know when to pivot. It becomes very obvious if you're, of the right mindset. So, you know, you you may listen to an investor who you don't like because they're just been jerks. But if they sometimes they're just not nice people. Sometimes they're just very direct and you don't like it. But if you don't listen to them because of it, you miss an opportunity of somebody who's talked to a 1,000 people like you and they're saying, hey. And they're frustrated probably as well because they probably told 995 of them the exact same thing, and no one listens because that because, you know so the point is you're not trying to be the smartest guys in the room. You're trying to grow the the best business possible so you can exit one day and and do it. From maybe the, the business and tactical side, you're working with a partner, which isn't always the case. A lot of times people just get going by themselves, and they bring someone in later, you're you know, to run the business or so they can focus on technical or or or they're nontechnical and they bring on the technical person. But you guys did this together. So talk to me about that dynamic, why you thought it would work, maybe go through some examples of when it didn't and you had to work through it. Like, you know, I'm not trying to be a marriage counselor here between your you and your your business partner, but but that's a real piece that that accelerates you if you can make it work because I know I don't have a partner. I I would have I would have troubles bringing in somebody, to do stuff sometimes.
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To be honest, like, before I did partner, actually, I was building something else. At that point of time, we we were like a team of 3, and I felt like we all we were not we didn't have complementary skills. We all had, like, similar backgrounds, similar skill sets. Right? So thought was very similar, and that didn't work. Like, you know, it was apparent after, like, few months of iteration. Right? It's like, you know, you all have same strengths and you have same weakness, which doesn't make sense. Right? Mhmm. When you're trying to build it together. I think when I met my other the other team members of partner, the 2 2 other people. 1 is the founder, another is another cofounder. I think those are genuine I could see it. I could see, like, there's a natural, like, the sense and weakness of it contrasting. Right? So something that I was not good at, they were good at. Right? You know? Something that they felt like they they had lacking. I felt like I could supplement it or compliment it. I think that's how it is. Like, obviously, it's a jump of trust and things like that.
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But initially, you will know. It did not be a perfect fit, but you know whether the, you know, the puzzle is coming together or not in terms of skill sets. Well, exactly. You you said, hey. And it's division of labor, so to speak, of focus. Yeah. And it's also the the trusting that you're doing it right. It doesn't mean you don't give input or influence. But, hey, if you're, you know, CEO, you're you're really leading you're the founder led sales. You're also leading the investment fundraising, and you're the public face brand, or we, you know, or or not, or we're both gonna equally go do that. You're gonna do podcast, I'm gonna do pod, but we're both. And then I'm all about technical problem solving, managing the features and functions to what you're learning to what we see from customers. Being very clear on that, was that something you guys like? You do actively you know, clearly, you probably have it, but do you actively revisit it? Do we have the right roles? Do we need to find a third person to take on? Because we both suck at this. Or what how do you kinda go through because, I mean, usually what happens, right, like, somebody's missing something. Like, they're missing marketing or they're missing operations process. So there's there's something that you both are terrible at and you're both ignoring that you shouldn't. Right? And so, tell me about that dynamic a little and how you actually formalize it.
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Yeah. So it's a interesting thing. Right? Like, we were all, like, 1st time founders. We are 3 of us. We're all 1st time founders. Actually, couple of my founders haven't really stepped into the professional world. They they were straight out of grad. Like, you know, they, like, graduated and they wanted to get into, like, you know, startup. Right? So for us, it was clear at least in the beginning what each one rose would be, but also it was clear that we have to put our own effort in growing to those roles. Right? Just because you took a title doesn't mean, like, you can't do it. You need to you need to put a lot of effort to become that, like, you know, and to do that, you need to learn, you need to talk to other people, like, you know, read books. There are many ways. Right? So that is kind of critical. And at some and if anything was missing, like, for example, we felt like we had some weakness on the sales side, we tried to bring in supplement that with either with another partner sometimes or with an employee, like, no other skilled people. Right? And that's how it kind of evolves. You try to grow to a point where you can. Right? And then based upon the resources you have, you try to supplement this with more team members.
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What do you do when you, may and maybe this hasn't happened to you, but or have you had this situation where you've made the commitment to bring a new team member on? Supercritical, you think, but then your revenue's lagging, and you're facing that runway pinch, and you don't have investment lined up. What are you doing in those moments? Because that because those are the stressful ones. Those are that's when you're like, I gotta get rid of these people. We might shut down, but I can't get rid of them because they're so integrated. Yeah. Possible situations. How are how are you handling them?
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Yeah. I think, you know you know, at least they're a start up. This happens a lot more. Like, you know, you are literally surviving by months. Right? Or sometimes by weeks. Like, you know? And you always need to either find new way to fund your company if you are making losses. Like, you know, the money will run out eventually. Right? And, also, sometimes, at the end of the day, I think emotions aside, like, you know, you're building a company. Right? You always need to have that as your highest priority and think, like, what is good for us. Right? If be it in short term or be it in long run, like, you know. And if you think, like maybe because we always make wrong decision. Like, you know, hiring is one of the toughest thing for an early sales start. Like, you know, you cannot guarantee you go with all your best positive, like, intention, like, oh, I'll bring this person and everything will fall in place, but it doesn't happen. Right? Most of the startups feel right in the hiring phases. Right? Because you bring in people that are not right fit. You do not know how to hire things like that. Right? But you should also be ready to part ways, like, you know? Yeah. I think that's what I would say. Like, being being aware of what was the goal, like, you know, having those KPIs metrics in place, being aware about the strategy or what is the outcome.
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But end of the day, if you need to pull the plug, you have to pull the plug. Yeah. And you talk about hiring. So I think this is a thing to take away, anyone listening here. You gotta hire deeply, at least is my opinion, and and you can, you know, you can refute it or say, no. You don't need that. But but I I believe you when you you haven't any company should always hire deeply, not to the point of paralysis, but you gotta make sure the person is there to fit in your stage, right, fit the right role and have the propensity to do a little bit more because of where you are in your phase. And that person's role likely is going to shift as you get bigger where they may not be the right fit any longer in that role because you need someone a 100% dedicated to something else. And so are you guys thinking of that way when you're hiring somebody? You're really hiring them deeply to get something done with a specific, maybe short term strategic thing in mind, but the person's also could be a good fit for other things maybe down the road. Or how are you approaching
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your hiring practice to get it right? Yeah. I think that that's almost like the chicken and egg of the hiring. Like, you hire for today or you hire for tomorrow. Right? Right. I think for me for me, I think from the experience I had, I think you always need to hire for today. Right? You you need to hire for the need that you have today. Right? I feel like if that person can also grow because, like, with the experience, like, some people naturally grow. Like, some of some people just have this affinity to grow and expand their thought process and things like that. Right? But, again, just because you hired someone at that point of time, as a company grows, they may not be a right fit anymore. Like, you know, they just do not know how to mend to the new ways. And at that point of time, leadership is very important to know again when to pull the plug. He even he could be a best performing or highest performing, but he could be a blocker to your new vision. Right? And I think identifying those gaps and always continuously maneuvering or, you know, resources around or giving at the end of the day, giving responsibilities of people who are aligned with the vision is more important.
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What and and so let's move this forward a little bit. So, what are your current, let me say differently. If you and where you are currently learned a lot in the last 6 years, back up 5, 6 years. What would you tell yourself? What would you have done differently?
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I think
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so, like, 5 years back, like, if I look back, what are the different things? If you could, like, travel back in time and you're allowed to tell yourself one thing related well, I mean, it's not related to work even. What what are you what are you gonna tell yourself?
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I think, like, it's easy to say, but, like, we need to learn faster. Like, you know, in startups, it's very important, like, learning as a company, learning as a customer, or learning in your individual roles. I think sometimes, like, you know, you go into this like, sometimes you learn and then you go into these phases of, like, plateau. Right? And then suddenly you learn. The faster you do that, I think the better it is. And looking back, I I do feel like no. Sometimes, like, you just go into this zone, like, you know, where you feel like you're doing things, but are you learning? Like, you know, maybe you don't. I think that is something I want to fix it. Yeah.
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How do you do that, though? How do you learn faster when you don't know you should?
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And and that's the like, you know, it's always easy to look back and, oh, shit. I should have done those 3 weeks or 3 months that way. Right? I think it it's tough. It's tough. I think it's just continuously questioning, like, you know, just being more self aware of what is happening. Right? Like, you know, sometimes that you build a process and, you know, you just go with it. You are implementing it for an year literally not realizing that we should haven't tested anything else, like, you know. I think having that mindset and pushing yourself always to, like, you know, places where you're not fully certain. Right? Even if something is working, are you testing little bit? Right? Few like that. Like, you know, I think that it's a mindset. I think it doesn't come naturally. Right? Even I would I would not say today, like, I'm learning every day. I still feel like, you know, there are again, I still go through those moments, like, there are weeks where I'm, like, I'm learning new things and there are weeks, like, I might be, like, going a little bit slow.
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Well, I I and I think if you look back, you know, the ones that are easy is to identify in your mind, you know, you're wasting time on something that doesn't matter. And just to be like, hey. You know, you know, the analogy I often give is you're trying to build a house. You're finishing the bathroom before you finish framing the whole rest of the home. So it's like don't just just put the plumbing in for now and leave it. Know that's where the bathroom's probably gonna go. Know that you gotta come back down here to fix it. And I think I think that's probably one. The other is how actively you seek out feedback from somebody you know is gonna be critical. So it's like, gee, I don't wanna do this because it's painful and it's uncomfortable. And and I'm I'm one who doesn't do it very well either, but would that would those be 2 things that would definitely speed you up if you're, like, quicker to go get criticized and quicker to not waste time, you know, polishing things you shouldn't polish?
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Yes. I think I I I think those are very good points. Definitely, like, you know, like, I think one of the art is, like, saying a no. Right? Say like, you know? Yeah. It's, like, all in terms of product and technology, like, you always feel like you can do it. Right? But it's about, like, don't do it now. You can do it later. Like, you know, always knowing, like, what is the thing that you need to focus on. And in the beginning, it's like you wanna do everything in the world, but it doesn't work like that. You really need to focus on the right ones. And sometimes, like like you said, with the experience, you get to that point, like, you know when to say yes or no. And even I agree with the second point that you mentioned. I think that also helps a lot in, speeding that up. Like, you know, listening to people who are not are a little bit critical. Right? But, again, they're not critical because they wanna be critical. It is just their opinion. Right? But trying to just understand that, again, it's tough. Right? Because, again, you need to look into the bias they are coming from and also what is the real truth behind it. But it's important. I think in a company, like I said, like, there there's an there's a contrast of skill set, but there's also contrast of styles of leadership. Right? If everyone has similar style, then actually feedback doesn't happen. There's a lot of contrasting styles in the leadership. And it does special skills. Like, someone could be operationally great, someone could be technology great, someone could be strategy was great, but you also need, complementary skill sets in terms of style. That also helps in providing feedback. Yeah.
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I think and I think having systems in place that force regardless of style. So no matter who's leader where you are, like, we're we're going through this regardless of what you think or I I love it or hate it. Like, we all go through it. And sometimes those, I think, in the early stage startups get dropped because it's just not a top priority to build a process for something. But at some point, you need to do that. That way you're not building a culture that doesn't have that cycle because that becomes a massive problem later when you take in big series a money or b, and and now you're like, oh, we don't we now no longer have time for that at all because we're you know, the Silicon Valley Bank is now breathing down my well, they're gone. But, you know, they're they're
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Yeah. I think I do understand. Yeah. That's the journey we are in right now. We are trying to standardize all of this. Like, you know, it's no longer it's because the the whole idea of, like, all these venture backed startups is, like, you should be in a position where you can bring a person and they can fit into your company. And it's not depend upon the people, but it's depending upon your process. Right? You have build this enough, whatever, the culture, the system, the processes with the customers and internally that just if you if you're able to bring in more people, you're able to grow. Exactly. So, yeah, that will kind of get to that stage. Yeah.
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So it's it's time 0 today. Right? And you're looking forward, and and we discussed some things you're doing. What are you doing about stuff right now? Just maybe just as a personal cofounder, what are you doing to kind of get yourself ready for the next, you know, year, 2, 3, 4 years?
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So as a company, like, we have our goals right now that we wanna achieve for the c today's our next series a. Like, you know, the whole idea is to communicate with all our investors. We we go with the promise that, hey. We are gonna achieve this. Would you be interested? Right? So that it's not like you're going into silo of 6 months building something and currently going for funders. You kind of take people along in the journey. So we have certain goals that we have put for ourselves. Personally, some of the goals are from product and technology. So it's like how break it breaking it down by timeline and just continuously iterating on it. Yeah.
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Well and and and, Nel, I wanna get in your company a little bit. So I I I like to hear the journey there before we kinda set up what you're doing. What is the main problem PartRunner is really I mean, like, you know, I know you mentioned, but but 10 seconds. What's the main problem you guys solve?
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The main problem is really for our customers who are, like, retailers or manufacturers and suppliers. Right? They work with multiple, multiple providers on a day to day basis. Right? They work with, like, a fleet operator with 5 vehicles or they work with, like, some contractor who just comes in to replace a driver who's sick for a day. Right? So it's basically we are we are removing all that hassle of logistics for them, and we are through partner. They get access to all this in a quick way, and that makes it easy for them to move their, logistics. Yeah.
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Alright. So so okay. Problem is fine. Right? Give me talk talk about a use case of one of your customers. Like, they used to, like, be, you know, specific. That way, it kinda shapes like a a in a I love imagery. Right? That will help me picture it. Great.
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I would say, like, let's take a one of the common is, like, the peak season. Like, you know, in any industry, there's always this high and low. Right? Especially during peak season, which happens, like, twice every 6 months, like, 2 months and every 6 months. Right? During peak season, like, you can easily tap into partner network and you get, let's say, you need 5 vehicle for one day, you can easily request within our network. Right? And we cannot match the driver and we make sure that everything is, like, you know, you don't need to worry about it. You don't need to train the driver. You don't need to worry if the deliveries would be done. We make sure that everyone is every checks and balances are there in the place. Right? So that is one example. 2nd is, like, your vehicle could be broken. Your drivers could be safe. Like, no things like that. When you need that, the quick one week need, 2 weeks need, they're always there. And last thing, people mess up logistics. I know. There is never a perfect plan when it comes to scheduling and all. Right? There's always this day to day fluctuation. Oh, you thought you need, like, a, let's say, let's say, 7 foot van, but you end up needing a 9 foot van. Right? So we are able to supplement those changes. So having this one place where all these different needs are being taken care helps build that ecosystem for us, and that makes customers reach out to partner, not just for needs, but just for the regular logistics. It's like you take care of the pain, then they do everything with you. Like, you know, that's kind of essential.
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Were were you guys in the funding cycle revenue if you can share?
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So US and Mexico combined, we we are doing around 600 k per month, in terms of revenue. That is in USD. Yeah. And you guys we have Yeah. Down 4,000,000 so far.
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$4,000,000 so far. Nice. You guys are killing it. Yeah.
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CEMEX Ventures is our lead in risk so far. Yeah. So when you when you when you exit
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when you exit, we'll do a second interview, but on your yacht. Okay? I don't care if you rent it or buy it, but I I I'm gonna we're gonna be on your yacht. You say, hey. I'm flying to the guy with a cut tie. He's gonna come talk to us again. It's gonna be great. So so, you know, predict the future. You know, who who are you 3 years from now?
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No. 3 years from now, we we definitely want to dominate the LatAm market. We found we are finding very rapid, product market fit in Mexico, to be honest, compared to US. So we would be throughout Mexico. We would also be in couple of Latin American countries. And we also want to explore couple other revenue streams based upon, the users that we have in our platform.
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That's great. Listen. I I think if if you know well, this kind of part of the show, I always ask kinda like, you know, you know, who should get ahold of you and how should they get ahold of you?
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I think any customer out there who needs help with the logistics, right, be it last mile, middle mile, first mile, like, you know, just reach out via partner.com. Right? Personally, like, I'm also kind of currently, exploring mentorship and advisorship. So any early sales startups looking marketplaces, right, or in a 0 to 1 phase, reach out to me in LinkedIn. I'm I can get back to you guys. Yeah.
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That's great. Alright. So I always ask this I'm I know I always ask this question, but I wanna hear from you kinda like, what have you personally done? Do do you listen to podcast? Do you listen to certain books? Or or, like, you know, from the technical standpoint, how how are you staying sharp? Like, give you know, if someone's listeners, they're a technical founder, Give them some advice that of what they should be doing along their journey.
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Yeah. I think, like I said, learning is very, very critical in a start up. Like, you learn many especially if you're a cofounder, founder. Right? You also need to learn the art of business, you know, the various things that come with it. Putting that aside, like, business is one part, but you're always playing certain role. Right? And within your role, like you said, like, if you're playing a technical role, you really need to be clear on your strengths and weaknesses and try to learn as much as possible. I think books are good ways. Having mentors, like, you know, advisers specifically focusing on your stream is also another good way. Podcast is, again, a great way of resource to, like, you know, listen to people who have done it. Right? Yeah. I can do that 3 good ways for me.
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Are you, what do you do? I I'm gonna come back to this kind of relationship styles of units here. What how do you how do you handle I I can't imagine this scenario hasn't happened yet. You're saying we, you know, we need to go this technical route and do x, y, or z. And there's and the and the CEO, your cofounder is also saying, yeah. But we can't because we need to go fulfill this, this, and this. And you go, we can't because our architecture or that's a whole rebuild. We don't have the money. What how are you handling the well, the product needs to go this way, and you're telling me the technology gonna need to go that way, and I'm not aligned with that. So what do you what do you how do you handle those kinda So conversation.
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The reality is, like, these things should happen out of the blue. Right? So what we do is we make sure, like, we always discuss at least once in a quarter or once in 6 months. Hey. What is your 3 year vision? Right? Are we what is the vision we have right now for next 3 years? And then we always try to be on top of our 1 year game plan. So that kind of removes a lot of noise that makes people very clear on, like, you know, where we really want to be, right, which is very far. We are not but at least we are mentally there, mentally see it, and what is the 1 year game plan. And then what we are trying to do this quarter and all. So when when you have that level of clarity, then things like this don't come in. There's always something that comes in the last minute the sales team brings in, like, hey. There's this new contract. They're gonna give you $1,000,000 if you do this. Right? But there's always, like, this juggle between, like, pros and cons that you need to go through. So it's like an art and science for business. There's nothing right or wrong. You just need to, you know, keep doing it. Keep doing it and make it happen. Yeah.
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What's one question I should have asked you? I haven't asked you yet.
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I don't know. I think, I I don't know. Maybe the journey of start up is not easy. Like, you know, it's a long process. I think people don't realize when they get in. If you're looking for 1 to 2 years, not you're gonna be very, very one of the very, like, 0.01 person who can do it in 1 to 2 years. Right? Many take 2 to 4 and some take 4 to 6. So, yeah, I think, people just need to be aware that, have much more stronger motivation than, oh, I just wanna do something. Like, you know, something is much more stronger conviction behind doing things.
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The, yeah, I mean, that that's that's that's probably the question. It's like, what's the trait that you need? Right? It's sounds like resilience and reality. And and you said 2 to 4. I would say 2 to 4, 4 to 6 is when people just quit. To actually be successful, I think a lot of startups take Yeah. 6 to 10 plus. That's fine. Because in the 1st few years, like you said, you weren't even on the track to to be where you were today, which means you gotta get on track to where you are now to have 600 k a month revenue coming in and more coming. So, yeah, 22 to 4 to 4 to 6 is if you give up, just to be clear. I think that's still in the 1%, 1 a half percent to exit properly. Maybe if you've done it before, you got the right network. You you just you know, it's it's all there. Sure. Your first run? No way. Like, it like, you you just count count on 10 years of your life is gonna be hard. And if you do it ahead of time, awesome.
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That's not cool. Like, you know, I I just tried to be, like, little softer in terms of the timeline. No. No. Let's be harsh. Let's
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listen. I've never been promoted. I've been asked to leave. I'm gonna tell you right now. It's okay to get let go. So let yourself go. Thank you, by the way, for showing up today. Any one more time. How do you want people to get ahold of you? Just so we can, yeah, I can make sure people have a clear, way to get ahold of you. I think LinkedIn
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LinkedIn is the best way to reach out, personally to me. My my username is tarunhash dashlat. And anything related to logistics, like, you know, just go to partner.com. You can submit a request, so my team will catch hold of you.
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Awesome. Partrunner.com is another way to get ahold of you. Yeah. If you wanna buy the stuff, get in there. Right? Thank you, by the way, for for coming on today. Thanks so much, and all of us, and I hope you get to 1,000,000 faster than even you think. Listen. You know what? We we, we may have gotten there while we're just talking right now. We never know. For anyone who's made it this far in the podcast, thank you by the way for getting here. And if this was your first time, I hope you got at least one good nugget of information away from a successful founder. And if you're making excuses why you can't make it, well, you know what? He's a smart guy. So just start with that. You know, he went to, I think, IIT. Right? So you're you're you're coming to, like, you know, the MIT of of, India. So if you're smart, you you know, and you're motivated, it doesn't matter where you're from. You you can make it. You just gotta clear out all the roadblocks that are gonna get you there. And I and I think he's certainly done that in his in his company. Appears we don't know who the CFO is. We don't know how they're managing money, people. It could be it could be bad behind the scenes, but no. It sounds like they're doing great, so thanks again. But if you did make it this far, I hope you found a nugget. If you wanna reach out to him, please, you know, hit him up on LinkedIn. If you've been here before, thank you for coming back. But until we meet again and everybody who was listening, thank you for listening to the Never Been Promoted podcast. Get out there. Go unleash your entrepreneur.

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