🎧 Episode Highlights
- [00:00] Podcast Begins
- [03:26] Chai One at the Apple Store: Early hustle & bootstrapping as an app creator
- [05:04] Aptitude Over Resume: Hiring learners & leaders to create developers
- [07:56] User Experience Beyond Apps: Solving the right problems with your technology
- [11:01] Itch for Logistics: Leaving Chai One to start Velostics
- [14:13] The Difference of a VC: Building a backed business after bootstrapping
- [21:01] Intrapreneurs in Entrepreneur Spaces: Networking & business events as an opportunity for growth
🔑 Key Takeaways
- Hire for Aptitude, Not Experience: As Chai One grew from a small bootstrapping startup to a successful company, Gaurav encountered a lack of talent in Houston. Instead of focusing on the resumes of who he was hiring, Gaurav focused on learning and leadership skills, hiring musicians and math majors instead of trained developers.
- Are You Managing Change, or Making It? A breakthrough realization early on in Gaurav’s career was realizing that so many apps and programs deliver suboptimal results and a poor user experience. “Instead of a 15-step process, I can build a solution in 3 steps.”
- Recognizing the Role of Intrapreneurs: Gaurav gives a lot of credit and advice to intrapreneurs, championing them as risk takers and change makers within their large companies. “I think for those people, I would encourage them to come out to events.”
👤 Guest Spotlight
Gaurav Khandelwal:
Gaurav Khandelwal is the CEO of Velostics, a leading logistics Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company based in Houston, Texas. Since June 2019, he has been driving innovation to streamline logistics operations by reducing wait times and increasing throughput through data-driven insights.
In addition to his role at Velostics, Gaurav also serves as Chairman of ChaiOne since June 2008. ChaiOne is a digital innovation company, reimagining processes in the plant, field, and supply chain sectors through design thinking.