Startup Interview with Shachar Tal, Loginno Co-Founder

HackerNoon Reporter: Please tell us briefly about your background.

My background is in maritime shipping and marketing. My first job was as a strategic marketing consultant in Israel’s first management consulting firm, and when I felt I wanted to do rather than give advice, I moved to Zim lines. I fell in love with those huge boxes and ships and still to this day I am very poetic about the huge impact that these simple-looking boxes have on our lives.

What's your startup called? And in a sentence or two, what does it do?

Loginno, short for Logistic Innovation, is an industrial IoT pioneer, providing innovative solutions for the logistics industry. Our mission is to enable shipping companies to become digital with a 100% smart container fleet. Using standard installation, our patented device permanently converts a regular shipping container into a data mining powerhouse. Loginno is creating Contopia, a global internet-of-shipping container infrastructure utopia, the values of which go well beyond RoI for the shipping company, but an actual digital transformation of the container industry, with a potentially disruptive effect.

What is the origin story?

It all began when I was working at Zim Lines as a global business development manager and experienced a severe lack of data in shipping containers. I tried to issue a tender for existing solutions, but none fit the requirements. After a while, a Zim co-worker who knew Amit Aflalo (my business partner) came to me and told me: “if there is one person in the whole world that I know of, who has even a remote chance to answer your crazy requirements, it’s me.”. At first, Amit offered a partnership to Zim lines but when Zim was not interested, I left the company to pursue the idea. That’s when Loginno was formed.

What do you love about your team, and why are you the ones to solve this problem?

The team behind this project used to develop electronic “spies” for Israeli defense giant IAI. We are global experts at security applications, with decades of hands-on experience with big-scale cutting-edge technology projects.

What’s great about our team is that it is very diverse. Even as a relatively small team, we have representations of all ages, genders, and global locations. A bunch of seemingly different people scattered around the world but united with a common goal. Shows you how powerful mission statements can be.

If you weren’t building your startup, what would you be doing?

Another startup… probably in the education or VR space. The tech is not as relevant as the mission. If it’s a big enough and hard enough goal - I’m there.

At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your core metrics?

We’re still focusing on the soft metrics. “Will this thing work?”, “How well will this feature be perceived?”. We’re at the point where all of the soft metrics are aligned, and it’s time to deliver on the hard metrics: i.e. growth.

What’s most exciting about your traction to date?

The fact that we are building the world’s first digital shipping company with a 100% smart container fleet. Never achieved on any scale, big or small, and this really unlocks the values of Contopia, which we have been talking about for years.

What technologies are you currently most excited about, and most worried about? And why?

Basically, any technology can be used for good and otherwise. It’s the people that make tech great and not the other way around. So I’m not worried or excited about any technology, to be honest, we just have to make sure that it’s in the people’s best intentions to grow as a global community and not fight each other.

What drew you to get published on HackerNoon? What do you like most about our platform?

Your email seemed inviting enough. Have to say that I did not get into the details. If it’s a chance to talk about what we do and show the world what we achieved - we’re taking every opportunity with both hands.

What advice would you give to the 21-year-old version of yourself?

No advice. Who knows what I would have missed by altering my past self. Better play it safe and let the kid figure out stuff on his own. Did I understand from the question that you have a time machine to borrow?

What is something surprising you've learned this year that your contemporaries would benefit from knowing?

Yes. If you find out through trial and error that you are an annoying guy who is usually right and has many occasions of saying “I told you so”, then you’re probably just one of those people who are able to analyze situations better than most and make good decisions. If that is the case - just go with your feeling and don’t let anything sway you from your path. You will succeed.