Today we’d like to introduce you to Gabriel Gunsberg.
Gabriel, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
It has been an interesting journey with lots of twists and turns. After growing up in Michigan and completing my Master’s degree in music at NYU, I moved to Boston to do a second graduate degree in opera performance at the New England Conservatory. One day while travelling with a string quartet to sing at a wedding ceremony, I noticed that the string quartet’s instrument cases offered very little protection against temperature, humidity and theft – all of which pose significant threats to valuable musical instruments. As a former guitar teacher, I knew that instruments can be very valuable, but I didn’t realize that orchestral instruments are often worth tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Their cases seemed inadequate for such valuable items, I had an idea for a case that would offer 21st century protection for musical instruments.
While performing opera in Boston and around the country, I worked with expert engineers and designers on the side for several years to bring my idea for a temperature and humidity-controlled violin case with integrated GPS tracking to life. I eventually launched Tempo Cases. In addition to the high-tech violin cases, we also developed small, camouflaged GPS tracking devices that you can attach inside musical instrument cases, luggage, vehicles or anything else to track them in real time from almost anywhere in the world. Public interest in the products was phenomenal, and I focused my attention on running Tempo Cases full-time.
Musicians and music businesses kept asking us if we could make small “chips” that they could attach inside the instruments and cases to identify and discreetly track them. In response to the growing demand we developed our first line of TouchTags – small, camouflaged stickers embedded with tiny RFID chips that you can scan with your mobile device or with our TrackTablets. We developed the MusicLife app to help musicians and music businesses easily identify, locate, organize and keep track of their instruments and other property. We were very excited when the MusicLife system won Best in Show at the NAMM Show, which is the largest music industry trade show in North America.
I soon realized that we had only just scratched the surface of what we could do with RFID and barcode scanning technologies. I also realized that our system would be valuable in many other industries besides music. We partnered with a high-tech tablet manufacturer to develop our TrackTablet – an extremely durable touchscreen tablet with an unparalleled long-range RFID scanner, high-speed laser barcode scanner, NFC scanner and many other features. And we launched the SmartPart app, which is fully integrated with our TrackTablets, to help business of all kinds easily locate, organize, and manage their inventories of products, parts, equipment, documents and other assets. SmartPart helps businesses save money by improving efficiency, reducing waste and improving supply chain management.
Since our focus had expanded well beyond cases, we eventually rebranded as Tempo Technologies. We went on to develop a full line of high-tech TrackTags, including long-range RFID tags that help you quickly locate any item from up to 100 feet away in warehouses, factories, stores and anywhere else. We even developed a feature that lets you use our TrackTablets as homing devices to lead you right to the items that you need to locate with unparalleled accuracy and efficiency. We now work with companies of all sizes across a variety of industries, as well as governments, schools, insurance companies and other organizations. I’m also very excited about our new SmartPart Enterprise platform, which will completely revolutionize the way that companies manage their inventory. We will be launching the SmartPart Enterprise platform this fall. So it’s definitely a busy and exciting time!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Any challenges that we may have encountered in sales are often the result of two things: Customers who fear change and customers who fear new technology. For example, some musicians borrow their instruments from wealthy patrons who actually own the instruments. When we launched our high tech violin case, we found that even when musicians desperately wanted to use the case, their patrons were sometimes too fearful and skeptical of the new technology to allow the musicians to use them with their instruments – even though our cases offered far better protection than their traditional cases. This was particularly the case with older patrons.
With our inventory management systems, occasionally we come across potential customers that have been using the same inefficient processes and workflows for decades. It’s often painfully clear that our system would benefit these companies financially and in many other ways. But managers are sometimes so afraid of change that they don’t see the world – and the competition – rushing past them. Our most successful customers are those who embrace technology and change, and those who can admit when they have a problem.
Tempo Technologies – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Tempo Technologies is the leader in advanced inventory management and supply chain tracking solutions using the Internet of Things (IoT). Our systems help businesses reduce costs and increase efficiency by allowing them to easily locate, organize, track, manage and prevent loss of products, parts, equipment and other assets.
What really sets us apart is our focus on user-friendly products and ease of adoption. SmartPart is a complete plug-and-play system. We can provide all of the software, advanced readers and high-tech tags that you need to implement a complete inventory tracking system.
Most companies only offer one part of a solution – for example, they sell tags but they don’t sell readers or software that works with those tags. It’s usually up to the customer to try to figure out which readers and software to use, and which products are the best for their specific application. After all of that work, they often have to spend more time and money integrating the different parts together to actually make them work. This can be a long, complicated and expensive process.
Our unique TrackTablet readers are fully-integrated with our SmartPart software, and they work with almost any type of RFID tag, barcode, NFC tag or other high-tech ID tag or sensor. We can also provide our customers with almost any type of tag, and we have expert knowledge of all of the different technologies available. So our customers don’t have to worry about researching or shopping around for different suppliers and technologies. We can handle all of that for them at no extra cost.
Also, most inventory systems require an expensive, time-consuming installation process. Our software is cloud-based, so there is no software to install locally, no IT or labor costs, and no long-term commitments. There are also no licensing fees, user fees, upgrade fees or any other “standard” fees. After your free trial you only pay for the number of items in your account each month, and you can scale up or down as needed each month. You can also cancel the service at any time, so there is no risk.
Risk is often the biggest deterrent to change and improvement in organizations, and the SmartPart system essentially eliminates it. We also provide world-class support for installation and planning, and we can develop custom features for our customers.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
My proudest moment so far was when our system was awarded Best in Show at the largest music industry trade show in North America. The NAMM Show is the second largest music trade show in the world with more than 100,000 attendees and thousands of exhibitors. The competition was overseen by secret judges, so we didn’t even know that we were being considered until after we had won. It was a huge honor!
Pricing:
- Free trial period.
- No licencing fees, installation fees, upgrade fees or user fees.
- No commitments or contracts. Cancel any time.
- Pricing starts at $19 / mo.
- Cloud-based software. No software to install or maintain locally.
- Free data storage and backup.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.tempotech.com
- Phone: 888-94-TEMPO (888-948-3676)
- Email: info@tempotech.com
- Facebook: facebook.com/TempoTech
- Twitter: twitter.com/Tempo_Tech
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