Published on August 3, 2020
Marcin Kulawik Founder and CEO @ SolveQ Agile Software House
Welcome to the next chapter of our series of short interviews with global decision-makers, strategists, founders, where we are asking them about the global situation, perspectives, and advice for the future. Thanks to this we would like to get a better insight into what we could expect for life after the pandemic and how we should prepare for upcoming months and years.
About us
Since 2018, we at SolveQ, help companies, spanning from startups to global enterprises, stay ahead of the competition. They chose us because of our technical skills, expertise and ability to quickly and effectively lead projects to completion.
Our expertise covers:
- Internet of Things – we design and implement IoT device firmware, along with the entire ecosystem they require to provide a real gain to the end-user
- Digital Transformation – We help companies move from legacy systems to modern software solution and cloud infrastructure;
- New Digital Products – we build new applications based on modern software frameworks and languages
Our Guest
Our next guest is Patrick Bertagna
Patrick Bertagna is a serial entrepreneur, inventor, and thought leader in the wearable technology and IoMT industry with 35+ years in creating, building, and selling technology and consumer product companies. Since 2002 Mr. Bertagna has been the founder, Chairman, and CEO of GTX Corp, a pioneer in the wearable technology and IoMT industry, and the inventor of over a dozen and co-inventor of over 2 dozen GPS, footwear technology and communication protocol patents currently held in the GTX IP portfolio. Mr. Bertagna has been responsible for overseeing all aspects of GTX Corp from its startup vision to product commercialization, funding to go to market strategies, distribution, M&A, military contract negotiations, IP licensing, and taking the Company public in 2008 adding corporate governance of a public entity to his responsibilities.
The interview
1. What are your thoughts on the impact of COVID -19 on the future of your business?
The COVID situation is very fluid and changes weekly, however so far as best we can see, the future impact may be positive. We expect to see a greater demand for telehealth, location-based services, and overall technology enhancements in the medical space. More people and assets will need to be tracked, traced, and monitored which is a key part of our business. In addition, we expect to see continued demand for personal protective equipment, which is also a big part of our business.
2. What are the new global challenges? How should we, as leaders, prepare for them?
There are going to be many challenges moving forward and preparing will be an evolving process, but just to touch on a few:
- Making sure you have the proper protective equipment on hand and policies in place to keep all your employees, customers, and visitors safe.
- Managing your resources especially if you deal in inventory that has a short shelve life
- Learning how to convert face to face interactions with remote interactions while not significantly impacting your business. For example sales presentations, hiring or firing staff, brainstorming sessions that require people working closely together, traveling or not being able to travel, managing timelines because many things may take longer than expected due to all the delays in the supply chain or ordinances to suddenly shut down or facilities closing because staff members got sick. Overall general operations, cash flow, and productivity will be much harder to manage.
3. What would be your advice for young entrepreneurs in order to flourish in these times of crisis, both with COVID and a general economic slowdown?
This is the one thing COVID has not changed it’s the same formula since the beginning of time – identify a problem and come up with the best solution. In today’s world, there are so many problems the global community is facing which makes it a great time in history for smart, entrepreneurial minds to find their opportunity and thrive. Everyone will need to recreate, reinvent, and retool everything they do, this lays the path for the opportunity.
4. Would you like to add anything else?
Since early dawn, the strong have survived and the less fortunate have struggled, COVID spotlights this on a global scale like nothing else has in our lifetime and it will push many to their limits. So now more than ever take inventory of your strengths and weaknesses and don’t let them sit idle, work hard to shore up your strengths, and improve on your weaknesses. Also realize how important it is to be healthy physically, emotionally, and financially because during extremely hard situations you need all three workings in harmony to give you the strength to survive. Lastly, appreciate everyone close to you and don’t just tell them you appreciate them, show them with actions.
Would you want to share your thought, or be our next guest, give us a comment on write to us (https://solveq.io)
Marcin Kulawik
CEO at SolveQ