Former CIO of Ryder Logistics and a founder of Logtech, a logistics startup. John Traendly is now a consultant. Being a CIO is hard work. Founding your own company is hard work plus. There’s the added bonus of a lot of risk—and no safety net. When I started LogTech in 1997, it was dotcom time. It was euphoric. We jumped right in, never considering failure as an option. It goes without saying that we didn’t become the next Google. At Ryder, my job was primarily development. We built optimization models and operations systems that we would offer as part of our logistics service. As part of the sales process, I’d end up meeting with customers about 40 to 50 times a year. When I started my own company, I thought that this experience would help me. But I learned there’s a big difference between meeting customers as CIO of a company and meeting customers when it’s your business. As a CIO, you have a captive customer base. Even when I was presenting to potential customers, sales executives had already made the introductions and done the work to get us in front of the right people. At LogTech, we were starting from scratch. It really made me appreciate sales and marketing people. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe RELATED LINKS See more “What It’s Like To…” storiesThey say if you build a better mousetrap, people will beat a path to your door. Not true. You need to get your message out, and that’s hard to do when there are many early-stage companies with the same objective. The other thing you realize when you start your own company is the importance of cash. When you’re a CIO, most of your costs are known in advance, and funding is provided through the budget process. When you’re at a startup, the availability of cash drives your strategy. And if you run out of cash, everyone goes home. LogTech lasted three years. In the end, we sold the technology. Now I have a benchmarking practice for logistics and supply chain operations. We’ve been able to partner with other companies, which is great because they handle a lot of the sales and marketing for us. Overall, I’d say I’ve found a comfortable niche.—As told to Ben Worthen Related content opinion The changing face of cybersecurity threats in 2023 Cybersecurity has always been a cat-and-mouse game, but the mice keep getting bigger and are becoming increasingly harder to hunt. By Dipti Parmar Sep 29, 2023 8 mins Cybercrime Security brandpost Should finance organizations bank on Generative AI? Finance and banking organizations are looking at generative AI to support employees and customers across a range of text and numerically-based use cases. By Jay Limbasiya, Global AI, Analytics, & Data Management Business Development, Unstructured Data Solutions, Dell Technologies Sep 29, 2023 5 mins Artificial Intelligence brandpost Embrace the Generative AI revolution: a guide to integrating Generative AI into your operations The CTO of SAP shares his experiences and learnings to provide actionable insights on navigating the GenAI revolution. By Juergen Mueller Sep 29, 2023 4 mins Artificial Intelligence feature 10 most in-demand generative AI skills Gen AI is booming, and companies are scrambling to fill skills gaps by hiring freelancers to make the most of the technology. These are the 10 most sought-after generative AI skills on the market right now. By Sarah K. White Sep 29, 2023 8 mins Hiring Generative AI IT Skills Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe