Becoming an Entrepreneur (EP34)
During this episode, You Me and Your Top Three host and CEO, CGS Advisors, Gregg Garrett, speaks with Shiva Bhardwaj, CEO Pitstop – a cloud-based Prognostic Maintenance Platform that enables enterprises to leverage the wealth of information available from their vehicle fleets. Shiva hails from Toronto and is making a name for himself in the mobility and AI industries. He discusses how his company was born from bridging being raised by a mechanic in an automotive garage with his experiences working in Silicon valley-based tech giants. He explores what it is like being early to market and how he needs to shape the minds of customers. And he shares how he successfully cracked the code on attracting some of the most sought after secret weapons in competing in today’s businesses – data scientists. And, of course, Shiva speaks about his ‘top three’ ranging from his father who gave him space to create and experiment at a very young age to a thought partner in the data science space who pushes him to be intentional about how to monetize that data to a board member who encourages him to take risks to grow. And you have to hear what Shiva has to say about how to really assess someone’s net worth.
ITunes (Max 519 Characters): You Me and Your Top Three host, Gregg Garrett, speaks with Shiva Bhardwaj, CEO Pitstop. Shiva shares how his company was born from bridging his upbringing with his experiences working in Silicon valley tech giants and details what it is like being early to market. Shiva shares how he cracked the code on attracting some of the most sought after weapons in today’s businesses – data scientists. And, of course, Shiva speaks about his ‘top three’ and shares his thoughts on how to really assess someone’s net worth.
About Shiva Bhardwaj
Shiva Bhardwaj is the Founder and CEO at Pitstop. While earning a Degree in Electrical and Electrical Engineering, Shiva spent time working at NVIDIA and Blackberry QNX. Shiva started his entrepreneurship journey by inventing ShockLock (https://www.shocklock.ca) which brought a safe, simple and cost-effective hardware solution to the automotive world. The second innovation has been Pitstop (https://pitstopconnect.com). which was an inaugural participant in the Techstars Mobility Accelerator program securing investments from Verizon, Ripple, BDC to name a few(https://betakit.com/autotech-startup-pitstop-raises-1-5-million-partners-with-continental/). Shiva has been recognized as the Vaughan Entrepreneur of the Year, SEMA 35 Under 35 and the winner of the Sci-Innovation Competition in China from a field of 1,450 international contestants.
Show Highlights
Segment 1: Overview
1:17 What makes entrepreneurs different?
3:40 Shiva’s Background: From Toronto to Silicon Valley.
Segment 2: The “Top Three”
6: 43 Shiva’s “Top Three”: Paul Bhardwaj (his father) – hard work, controlling your own destiny, and allowing the space to learn.
13:24 Shiva’s “Top Three”: Christopher Mah – how to evaluate a problem and identify a solution and the power of data.
17:14 Shiva’s “Top Three”: Michael Garb – taking bold risks on spending capital.
18:56 A ‘being brave’ story – making the investment in people.
Segment 3: Industry Disruption & Transformation
21:40 Pitstop – predicting vehicle failures before they happen.
22:35 The future is based on information and data.
25:15 Having the change before the industry is ready for the change.
30:00 How auto markets around the world differ – focuses on electric, autonomous, and what comes next.
32:41 “Using your resources in a way that will get you to some step that helps you move forward, progress and prove yourself out. And then proving yourself on a larger scale.”
35:27 “That new pivot might not be meant for everyone you’re working with. And that’s probably the hardest part.”
37:41 Pitstop’s recent successes – Grants. Awards. Hundreds of thousands of vehicles. Investment.
39:58 Paying it forward through mentorship/networking.
42:43 Hint to be at the cutting edge of technology: High-tech people are motivated by the problems they are solving.
Segment 4: Leadership & Wrapping Up
45:20 “Leadership is all about your network and your network being your net worth.”
47:10 Hints to leaders: “Think about those three people around you and are those people helping align you with the biggest problem that you have on your to do list. If not, how do you bring additional people into your fold.”
48:19 Exciting Pitstop activities are in process!
49:21 Stay in touch: Email Shiva (shiva@pitstopconnect.com) and check out Pitstop’s website.
Additional Information
Contact Shiva Bhardwaj:
Contact Pitstop:
Contact Gregg Garrett:
Contact CGS Advisors:
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