We sat down with Christian Fehr, founder of c.technology, to talk about the journey to date and plans for the future of the business.
How did you come up with the idea for the business?
Our founding team is the same founding team that started the first Swiss boat sharing (Airbnb for boats) platform. This was just a leisure activity, but we quickly started to realise that there was a serious lack of intelligence on the boats. This was the starting point to develop the cloud to enable boat manufacturers to build intelligent boats themselves.
Why does the industry need the solution you're providing?
The boating industry is great! But since the main focus is rightly on great drives, beautiful designs and a super efficient supply chain, there is a lack of both knowledge and capacity for complex and sophisticated data processing and cloud services. This is where we step in and enable our customers to own their own software as a service (SaaS), leveraging a cloud infrastructure to provide predictive maintenance functions and insights on all models.
What have you enjoyed most about starting your own company?
The opportunity to make a difference and work in an industry that is filled with so much passion and emotion.
What challenges did you have to overcome at the beginning of your journey?
In Switzerland, where we are located and founded, the stakeholders partly lack a nautical understanding as well as a big picture view of the attractiveness and size of the marine market. It was clear to us that we had to expand abroad very quickly.
Any bits of advice for entrepreneurs getting started in this space?
Don't be afraid to fail. Trial and error is totally fine. Also, never let it get you down because classic industries - like the boating industry - are a bit more cumbersome and will take longer than you (as an agile, lean company) to adapt. And be loud: if it's not you, it's the competition.
What's the plan for the future of the business? Where do you see the company in 3-5 years?
We see ourselves as a holistic cloud that provides boat manufacturers with the services they need. In just a few clicks, boats can be connected to our cloud and benefit from a wealth of services. The product is simple and intuitive, like the Google Cloud - just for power sport vehicles and boats.
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