Today we’d like to introduce you to Frank Pellitta.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was given the opportunity to purchase a small business based in Framingham in 2010. Having been in the technology field for the previous 25 years in Sales and Marketing, with a bit of encouragement from my wife, and the manufacturer for whom we would be selling their product (Geotab), I decided to take the leap into true entrepreneurship. Having been in the tech industry for so long prior, I wanted to take the best of what I had seen from my previous employers in terms of sales, marketing, customer support and engineering, and “re-organize” the priority of each in terms of how we would approach our business model. In less than 8 years in business, we have grown from negligible business to well over $10 million in sales and close to 600 customers.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Running a business is never a completely smooth road. Our industry (fleet telematics) is an extremely competitive industry, and we compete against companies that have billions of dollars in revenues and huge marketing budgets and sales teams, such as the cellular carriers. Enough to make any business owner feel overwhelmed and at times defeated. But we have stayed extremely focused on our mission of hiring the best people in the industry, making customer support number one (and engineering number two), and building strong relationships with third party companies…many of which have competitive aspects to them. I don’t believe any small business can make it alone, so we have built relationships with much larger companies such as IBM and Verizon.
Assured Telematics, Inc – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
My company, Assured Telematics, provides telematics (including tracking, safety and compliance) to commercial fleets across the country. Companies such as the Boston Globe, major utility companies, truck leasing companies, and many large and small fleets rely on our technology every day to better manage their fleets. Assured Telematics specializes in creating custom applications for our customers, due to a strong internal emphasis on engineering talent.
Most other companies in our industry rely heavily on significant sales and marketing budgets, and treat our type of product much more like a commodity, de-emphasizing customer support and creative engineering. I am most proud that our original team members are still with us after 8 years, and that we have grown so significantly with a relatively small team. We are 100% self-funded, and have zero debt. But I’m also incredibly proud of how our technology is being used by our customers. We recently produced a press release how our technology was used to to aid in the relief of hurricane IRMA: http://www.assuredtelematics.com/blog-details.php?id=1000#sthash.l49tcKRc.Td43rcZ3.dpbs
Where do you see your industry going over the next 5-10 years? Any big shifts, changes, trends, etc?
There has been some fairly significant consolidation in our industry over the last few years which will most likely continue. And our type of technology is being built into vehicles more and more, which is always a threat to an aftermarket product such as ours. So as with any company, large or small, our challenge is to remain extremely focused and expert on our current product, the one which is bringing us revenue, while making sure not to miss out on the seismic shifts in our industry. Like watching the stock market, we try to not focus on the day to day “undulations” of our industry, but study the industry closely enough to not be caught off guard when these larger shifts occur.
Contact Info:
- Address: 64 Windsor Road Milton MA 02186
- Website: www.assuredtelematics.com
- Phone: 617-470-3530
- Email: fpellitta@assuredtelematics.com
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