Octane: Philip Beauregard - CEO, Objective Logistics

Tuesday Jun 7, 2011 by Keith Cline - Founder, VentureFizz

We are excited to have Philip Beauregard as our guest on Octane!  Philip is the CEO & Co-Founder of Objective Logistics in New Bedford, MA.  Objective Logistics is an angel backed software company that provides an on-demand (SaaS) platform for the retail / restaurant verticals focused on labor optimization, big data warehousing, and data analytics.

VentureFizz:  Can you provide an overview as to your background and professional history?

Philip Beauregard: I am a typical mathlete with a twist I guess. Grew up secretly studying things that make most people cringe (heuristics, applied mathematics, statistics, etc…) and working my way to college in retail and restaurants like many kids of that age. Graduated from Wharton, did the investment banking thing and struck out to found Objective Logistics in 2009 with my co-founder and fellow uber-nerd Matt Grace, an optimization pro from Oracle.

VF:  What does Objective Logistics do?

PB: Simply speaking, we add competition, transparency and game layers to workplace environments. It’s all powered by vast seas of data. We find what motivates employees in any given setting and try to reward them for outperformance in their jobs. We’ve stumbled upon, and I do mean stumbled, something extremely powerful. It’s been an amazing ride thus far.

VF:  How did you come up with the idea behind the company?

PB:  I think I told Microsoft this story a little while back, and it’s 100% true. I worked in retail and restaurants as previously mentioned. Then I went off to Capitalist U. (Wharton) and took a serious liking to microeconomics and Nash’s work. One night I was staring at my ceiling at 1am or so and had a delusionary epiphany. I took my sometimes frustrating experience in retail and 30 years of economic theory and started writing some simple algorithms that I thought would govern performance in the workplace via rewards and game dynamics. Then our team took my crayoned, rough draft mess of an idea and turned it into fine art over the last 2+ years. I’m humbled and always in awe of the people that surround me.

VF:  What lessons have you learned along the way, since starting Objective Logistics?

PB:  I think it’ll be hard to say something unique here. We’ve learned so much. But I suppose the one thing I would say is we’ve re-learned what the Goonies taught us so long ago: Never say die. All you entrepreneurs out there - DO. NOT. STOP. Please. Chins up, heads down, and march forward. You’re going to kill it.

VF:  You previously spent some time as an investment banker, how did you make the transition into being a tech entrepreneur?

PB:  Roughly. I went from eating bagels in S1 drafting sessions and M&A negotiations to being at the head of the table questioning as to why these powerful, accomplished people were listening to me.

VF:  It looks like you worked with a syndicate of angel investors for your initial $750K in funding.  Raising the initial round of funding that helps the company get off the ground is a major challenge for entrepreneurs.  How did you go about identifying and building relationships with potential investors? 

PB:  Simple, tried-and-tested method: friends and family first, then their network and more professional investors. Then “super angels.” Showing milestones, progress and a continual refresh of irons in the fire are vital under any circumstances. Hold their hands along the way. I think it’s important to know that your first investments will be based on essentially a lark and implicit trust, no matter how good your idea. Then you move on to people investing based on general progress. Then it becomes traction and march towards world domination. It’s a full-time job this world domination stuff. No wonder Marvin the Martian always seemed so damn busy and stressed out. The glorious, earth-shattering kaboom! will be worth it though.

VF:  Startups typically need to pivot and evolve their business model over time, especially as customers start to use the product.  Can you provide some advice or lessons learned to entrepreneurs on pivoting while keeping your business moving forward at the same time?

PB:  The much ballyhooed “pivot” eh? In any startup you’re a bit like a running back. You grab the ball, run as fast as you can straight into the breadbasket of a 6-7, 400-lb gorilla of a lineman, becoming severely concussed, and crying/whimpering a little while facing a crossroads: play dead and wait until they cart you off the field or pull a sweet spin move and deke your way into the end zone, whereupon you do the worm and the crowd rejoices. Your choice. Be agile and resolute or be dead. Oh, and don’t forget the linebackers and safeties that come after the lineman. They hit just as hard.

VF:  What professional accomplishments are you the most proud of?

PB:  The people we work with and the team around me. Hands down. They’ve made me a better person, and less of an idiot.

VF:  Any suggestions around managing your time while building a company & product that you can pass along?

PB:  Time you say? Get bitten by a vampire or something. It’ll help with the whole staying up all night stuff. You won’t need to go outside any way. That and use Outlook calendar alerts for everything. Don’t put off entering them in for follow-ups and the like. They’ll become your life blood. A good CRM goes a long way as well. These things may seem trivial, but the devil is in the details.

VF:  Any other points of advice or inspiration for entrepreneurs?

PB:  A thousand “no’s” can easily be erased by one “yes.” Stay the course. Be the ball, Danny.

VF:  If you weren't focused on building Objective Logistics, what are some other underserved markets or emerging technologies where you could build a business?

PB:  I’ve got some ideas, but we’re building a billion dollar company in Objective Logistics. The opportunity is larger than us at the moment. I hope we do it justice.

VF:  Personal question - what are the 3 most played CDs on your iPod?

PB:  Recently I’ve been listening a lot to Kid Cudi, Man on the Moon II; Some Devil, Dave Matthews; and Go, Jonsi. I live for good music, so there’s too much to mention, but it’s a start.

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