For this week of our Founder Spotlight, I met with CEO Aayush Thakur and Business Development Manager Deme Yuan to talk about their company Truckish. Aayush and Deme are trying to level the playing field for small to mid-sized carrier fleets by creating a blockchain and AI based SaaS platform for the trucking logistics industry. Truckish is divided into two components, an Online Freight Brokerage for matching shippers with carriers and a Fleet Management Solution for small to medium size trucking companies. Aayush’s background features previous work doing data analytics on carrier trucks as well as having worked for the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
Q: What inspired you to become entrepreneurs and start your company?
Aayush: I’ve been trying to sell stuff to people since I was little. I would make these simple handheld flashlights consisting of a battery, wire, and bulb that I would sell for around 5 rupees (less than 10 cents). Then in school I would make various games like spin the wheel for the events they would have. In college I took the initiative to make and sell school apparel like t-shirts because the school didn’t offer those types of things. So I would handle all of the funding, resource gathering, design, and selling of these clothes and would make a profit on it. When I came to the U.S., I was doing some consulting work and analytics on trucks and truck data and saw there was a problem with the idle time trucks were experiencing. I went and worked with the Tennessee Department of Transportation so I could further research the problem and get in contact with some trucking companies. After talking with many people in the trucking industry, I decided it was time to fully jump in and start this company.
Deme: I am not an entrepreneur by spirit like Aayush; I really like to solve problems, but my first thought isn’t “business”. Before Truckish, I was working with really small, under resourced non-profits. From this, I realized I have a lot of transferable skills to a startup company. Aayush came to me with his idea and what ultimately sold me on joining to help build Truckish was the social aspect in improving the lives of truck drivers and leveling the playing field for small to mid-sized carrier companies.
Q: How do you feel that growing up in India has shaped your company?
Aayush: I grew up in a very poor family and village in India. Our family didn’t have a tv until I was maybe fifteen years old; I had never been on a plane until I was 23. Noticing the vast income disparities in India, I became very resourceful and quickly learned the best and cheapest way to get things done, which helped me both in my professional career and in starting this company. I’ve learned to be very resourceful with things like investment money and time just from understanding that these things run out and they need to be maximized as much as possible.
Q: If you could do it all over again, what is one thing you would change and one thing you would keep the same?
Aayush: One of the things I would do differently is be very careful of the people I choose to bring on and integrate into our company. We ended up wasting almost a year on people and companies that didn’t really give us the kind of effort and dedication we were expecting. I would be more diligent in the screening and deciding of who to bring on, because a company as a startup is a very fragile idea that you need to build up, and a small mistake can destroy a lot.
One thing that I would do again is the team that we have now. This is a team that I would like to end up with every time. Trust is a big component of the logistics industry, and that is a standard that we want to continue to have here in our company culture as we keep moving forward.
Q: What do you expect to achieve by the end of the program and what has been your biggest accomplishment so far?
Deme: For the end of the program, we have three main goals we’re working on now. We are in the midst of a deep customer discovery with carrier companies of small to mid-sized trucking fleets. Our MVP of our software is scheduled to be ready to pilot by the end of June, so we are recruiting pilot partners and plan on piloting with some trucks late this summer. Lastly, we are setting ourselves up to get our business development plan into place so we can be ready to pitch to investors by the end.
We’ve made great progress in starting to build relationships in the Memphis area with the people who are integral to the logistics scene, which has been important in helping us work to achieve those first two goals.
Q: What excites you most about being here in Memphis?
Deme: With all the people that we’re meeting and the organizations and businesses that we’re learning about, Memphis seems like it’s such a great place for innovative ideas and new ways of thinking. It just feels like a great place to start a business with such a receptive community.
Aayush: People always say, “location, location, location”, and it’s especially true for us being in the logistics sector. Memphis has all the six major railroads, and with FedEx and other international companies, they have huge amounts of trucks flowing through here, Nashville, and Little Rock. It’s kind of the holy land for us with these three major spots, and it’s where we plan to build out our company. It was really my motive from the start; when I moved to Nashville to work for the DOT (department of transportation), I wanted to be close to the actual people involved in the trucking industry as opposed to going to Silicon Valley and just pushing software. So for us, Memphis is the perfect place to grow our company.
Q: If you were given a billion dollars and never had to work again, what would you spend the rest of your lives doing?
Deme: I would take a break to do some travel, but I’m not the kind of person to not be pursuing anything. I find it hard to see the needs around us and not want to take the opportunity to address it and make some sort of impact in the world.
Aayush: If I never had to work anymore, I would spend all that time and money setting up opportunities for people around the world who don’t have that, especially in the community where I grew up in India. I would like to go back and build up these centers for those that are under served in terms of learning and technology, because technology really excites me. So I would like to focus on making people independent and able to earn their own living by teaching them usable skills.
Q: If you were stranded on an island and could only have three things each, what would your three items be?
Deme: Well I’m a creative person and I like to use my hands, so one of my items would be painting supplies or a knife to whittle; something to make art with. My second item would be really protective sunscreen because I have very sensitive skin. My last item would be music to listen to.
Aayush: I’m not outdoorsy, so I would probably want to have my laptop to be able to do some coding. I would also want to have some of my favorite comic books from India to read. Lastly, I would want a fridge to keep things cold…with cold water in it…sparkling water.
Aayush was born in India, came to US 8 years ago to do his Master’s in Transportation Engineering. He has spent the last 7 years consulting on how to improve operational efficiency for transportation companies and agencies both in public and private sector. He started working on Truckish in 2016.
Deme is from Colorado, and has Masters in Leadership for Community and Organizational Practice. She has over ten years experience in the nonprofit sector leading teams, fundraising and managing day to day operations. Deme’s focus at Truckish is on operations.
Aayush Thakur aayush@truckish.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/aayush-thakur-a3951719/
Deme Yuan deme@truckish.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/demeyuan/
By Zach Cornelison