Gaurav Saran is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur with a passion for leveraging disruptive and emerging technologies to provide innovative enterprise solutions. As founder and CEO of ReverseLogix, Gaurav brings deep industry expertise and is responsible for driving the overall company direction and product strategy. His ability to combine customer vision with methodical execution and thought leadership has positioned the company as a game-changer in its field. Previously, he was with Microsoft for over six years, leading enterprise sales for Fortune 500 companies and driving strategic executive relationships.
Prior to Microsoft, Gaurav has worked at Silicon Valley start-ups such as Zoho, executing strategy, business development, sales, and marketing, taking them from early stages to established growth companies. Gaurav holds a BS in e-commerce marketing and telecommunications and an MBA in global strategic management from California State University, Hayward.
Listen to the full discussion here:
- Listen on Stitcher
Connect with the Guest:
Gaurav Saran: LinkedIn
Some of the highlights from the podcast:
- [06:19] How reverse logistics is transforming supply chains globally – the end-to-end system for returns
- [15:01] Results? At least a 5% increase in profitability and a 15% to 25% increase in customer satisfaction.
- [18:00] How long does the implementation take?
- [21:33] ReverseLogix’s culture and hiring – the customer always comes first
- [29:27] How do you spend your time as the CEO?
Show notes:
- [01:06] It’s always good to set the scene and let our listeners know a bit more about your background. Let’s start with a small introduction and maybe some of the main milestones of your career so far.
- [03:34] What are some supply chain and reverse logistics trends you see, short-term and long-term?
- [05:41] Any company that we’ve come across which is a reasonable brand that has a significant volume of return, or at least a certain threshold of returns coming back have realized and recognized that to stay competitive, being able to have a returns solution, we’ll help them augment their supply chain capability in general and increase net profitability.
- [06:51] 2, 3, or 4 years from now, I think it’ll become very standard for any company that is looking at supply chain to include reverse logistics as part of their supply chain thought process and network and technology innovation.
- [08:04] If you were to pinpoint maybe the top three problems that you are trying to solve, what are those and how do you prioritize them?
- [13:36] The biggest value we’re offering is aligning these big brands, these really different personas, the ability to handle the end-to-end aspect of their returns versus injecting small point solutions.
- [14:42] Can you share a bit of numbers situation where a client came to you with a difficult situation then after applying your solution and your system, the situation improved by X amount and the customer satisfaction improved by x and so on?
- [15:18] As far as our customers that are leveraging our technology, they’re now seeing significant gains. On average, all of our customers are typically seeing at least a 5% increase in their profitability and a 15% to 25% increase in customer satisfaction.
- [16:00] If you look at your clients, how fast is the process of implementing your solution? How does the step-by-step process work?
- [18:00] On average anywhere from two to three weeks for some of the smaller implementations, to maybe six to 10 to 12 weeks at the most. But it generally doesn’t go beyond that.
- [18:53] What’s next for the company? As the CEO I’m sure you always look ahead and you always look at the next milestones, what excites you most?
- [21:24] How do you define good company culture? What are you most proud of when you look at ReverseLogix’s culture?
- [22:06] One of the things that are embedded in our DNA is giving our customers the best experience. Any engagement that is happening, customer-facing for us has to be with the same lens and making sure they’re getting significant value.
- [22:45] In terms of recruitment, how do you look for this skill, the capacity, and the ability to put customers first? How do you interview for that?
- [23:05] The biggest thing I look for from a pure personality and trade perspective is how customer-centric is the mindset of a person. Are they really looking to seriously and passionately solve the challenges for the customer, specific to what we do?
- [24:01] Diversity in thought process is a pretty big deal, diversity in background, they all don’t have to be cut from the same cloth. So that’s something I really look at when I’m looking at my surrounding team.
- [25:12] Our culture is very open, we try not to have a very layered organization, so as flat of a structure as possible. We let people run with things as much as they can on their own, so as much of individual leadership as we can.
- [26:05] Customer first means also to educate and be there as a partner to your customer and tell them what’s possible in a very indirect way and be honest with them. Do you see it in the same direction? Or how do you see this?
- [29:05] I imagine that if you have a round pie, you have a lot of slices and you have the recruitment, the clients, the funding, and the other stakeholders. If you would have like 100%, how would you split that pie into the main functions? I mean a CEO has to do everything, I’m just wondering how do you do it?
- [31:12] All of these main functional areas that we have, I try to spend at least 20% or 30% of my time on a weekly basis to get the pulse on what’s happening in each one of these silos of the organization.
- [31:57] If you would be able to give a piece of advice for somebody connected to a successful career and even maybe connected to starting your own business because that’s maybe even a more interesting perspective, what would you say?
About the Host:
The host, Andrei Palamariu is the founder of Supplify where he and his team works on building a platform to connect the supply chain tech ecosystem. His most interesting discussions with the clients are focused on implementing the best technology, digital transformation, company growth and expansion, turnarounds, and product and business development.
Alcott Global connects and upgrades the supply chain ecosystem by finding the right talent through executive search, developing talent through learning solutions, and meeting supply chain technology needs through a comprehensive crunch base marketplace.
The supply chain executive search has been our focus since the very beginning, offering recruitment services for top-tier supply chain roles at every level of the end-to-end supply chain: plan, source / procure, make, and deliver. Our consultants have years of experience in placing top talent, in North America, LATAM, Europe, the Middle East & Africa, and APAC, and besides speed, one of our biggest strengths is our network within the supply chain industry, and we capitalize on it to find the best solutions.
Through the years, we have grown as an organization and our offerings with it. One of our initiatives, the learning solutions- training and supply chain academy, is focused on transforming leadership- self-leadership, executive presence, influence capital, and business acumen. Through Supplify, we aim to match corporations with the top technology companies to solve their supply chain and logistics challenges with a focus on innovation and digital transformation.
We are in constant touch with the leaders in supply chain, inviting them to inspire the supply chain professionals in thought-provoking podcast episodes and events, and showcasing what is possible at the yearly Leaders in Supply Chain Awards.
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