Keeping Trucks Moving at WorkHound

WorkHound Co-Founder Andrew Kirpalani discusses simplifying driver retention through anonymous feedback to resolve issues within their companies.

Trucking Industry

With 95 percent annual turnover and a 50,000+ driver shortage, companies are spending millions of dollars on recruiting. The trucking industry touches everything in our economy. The opportunity for a new application to help with retainment was so welcome, Workhound, based in Greater Des Moines (DSM), Iowa, received its first investment prior to jumping in and creating their product. 

Keeping Yourself Moving as a Startup

Andrew discusses the thing that matters when starting a tech company: keep going when you hit road blocks.

Mentorship in Tech

In development, things move quickly. Peers who understand your startup can help. After entering into an accelerator, Workhound had their product and their first customer, setting the business up for their real raise.

Raising Money and Finding Customers

After meeting an investment company who shared the same vision, they were introduced to another angel investor and raised their first investment dollars. Those first investments allowed the startup to grow customers as well as number of employees.

Product-Market Fit

Product=market fit is when an average sales person can sell an average customer. Workhound has identified the opportunity to grow in this area by having more people in the business who can be trained and trusted to execute and close the sale.

Your Team

In startups, you’re a family. If you can’t connect with your team, the startup won’t do well. There are two reasons people work in startups. One is because they’re excited about the adventure and helping a business grow. The other reason is they’re focused on leadership and managing people. If a person is too focused on leadership, a lot of times they want to tell other people what to do instead of collaborate and empower. Being a servant leader is the type of leadership you need; whose focus is the adventure of working in the startup and they care about the mission. This creates a startup leadership win/win.

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