116: The Need to Fail, Cars That See, and Defining Market Needs

CES never fails to be a revelatory experience, but this year marked a significant step closer to one of humanity's longest-held dreams (or at least, one of Drew's longest-held dreams): A Jetsons-style flying car! A key component of this tech-driven marvel is an astoundingly impressive "LiDAR" system—think radar detection, done with laser technology. In simpler terms, a new way for machines to see things. Granted, the implications are much broader than a flying car, but it provides an interesting way to demo this new system. On this episode of RTU, Drew speaks with Louay Eldada, CEO and co-founder of Quanergy, the company helping cars "see". They chat about the range of potential uses for such powerful tech, and the why to market it, they had to first understand the problems that people need solved. Don't miss this tech-heavy episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, recorded at CES 2019. Louay shares various ways Quanergy can creatively solve problems! You won’t want to miss this episode! Subscribe on Apple Podcasts- Stitcher - or Podsearch What You’ll Learn A virtual wall - an effective way of protecting the border Quanergy is proposing the creation of a virtual wall on the border of the United States and Mexico. Currently, a physical wall is being proposed to the country. Louay points out that this kind of barrier could disturb the environment. Quanergy has targeted the United States government as its audience to market their technology to, speaking with politicians on both sides of the border protection debate. Using LiDAR, Quanergy creates a dome of protection by setting its giving computers eyes to monitor the border area. LiDAR uses its “eyes” to see anything coming to the border and can allow authorities to be dispatched to the area. A virtual wall addresses the issue of protecting the border but does not create more problems as a physical wall could. Quanergy is a leader in effective technology marketing Quanergy tells and shows customers what they need. They allow customers to observe the product, so they know they want it. Quanergy provides a vision of what customers can do, and how they can solve problems. This creates new markets for its technology. Quanergy’s technology, LiDAR, is marketed to many different industries. Each market has its own experts, so Quanergy uses partners to improve solutions. For example, Quanergy partnered with 6-Watch to help create a virtual surveillance partner for Boston’s police vehicles. 6-Watch was an effective partner because the company is well connected in the law enforcement space, helping Quanergy break into that market with its technology. Creating a culture where it is ok to fail Louay says if your company doesn’t run into things that don’t work, then you are not trying hard enough. Everything is not feasible until someone does it. If a problem is worth addressing, try until you find a solution. Louay creates a company culture where failure and bad news are okay. This gives his employees the ability to take risks and be creative. In order to lead a company where there is the courage to take risks, Louay says he must have an open door policy to hear about issues and ask what can be done solve problems, what have the employees learned and what can be changed. This culture of risk being okay has helped propel Quanergy to the frontline in LiDAR technology as well as marketing technology. Timeline [1:13] Louay’s inspiration and Quanergy’s technological core [2:23] Technology for a flying car [6:08] Reasons and opportunities for attending CES [8:08] A virtual wall - an effective way of protecting the border [11:30] A CEO’s take on marketing [14:10] Quanergy’s most effective marketing [17:58] The importance partnerships [19:24] Biggest lessons to share with other entrepreneurs [20:53] It is ok to fail! Connect With Louay Eldada: Louay’s bioon Quanergy’s website Connect with Louay on LinkedIn Follow Louay on Twitter Resources & People Mentioned Video: Virtual Wall Using LiDAR CES Conference Connect with Drew http://renegade.com/ On LinkedIn On Twitter On Facebook On Instagram