An Expert System that Replaces Engineers in Making Sales

We talked to Ran Oren of sourcingbot about the electronic component marketplace, and he had the following to say:-

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times? 

Ran Oren: We are fine, Berlin is doing pretty good, and the kindergartens were open for most of the time. So life kept going.

Tell us about you, your career, how you founded sourcingbot.

Ran Oren: I am the sole founder of this company; I came up with the idea around 6-7 years ago. We are now in the first stages of go to market with the exact same product. I managed a startup in this domain for a year. 

But initially, I was a data engineer for several years. I was dealing with complex data products for banks and financial institutes globally. 

How does sourcingbot innovate? 

Ran Oren: We are the first company to conduct in-depth research into cross-referencing of electronic products.  

In General, our data quality, due to the complex data analysis we are doing, can now compete with companies who collected this data for many years. 

How the coronavirus pandemic affects your business, and how are you coping?

Ran Oren: While Germany is a big manufacturing hub for complex electronics, some of our clients are selling electronics to the auto industry, which is not doing very well. Moreover, companies are less open to trying new things now, regardless of the cost. 

On the other hand, the Web and online got a lot of attention in the past few months, which is obviously good. Still, we are all trying to make it to the 2nd quarter and restart the business. 

Did you have to make difficult choices, and what are the lessons learned?

Ran Oren: Yes, we did; unfortunately, we had to let go of 2 people from the team. We are going back to our boot camp years, focusing on what’s important and what’s not.  

How do you deal with stress and anxiety?

 Ran Oren: I spend more time off, allow my team to work from home, come to the office, and take Fridays off. 

They really appreciate work now and see it as a contributing part of their lives. 

We are actually doing some interesting data science. In general, those are projects that taking a day off can only improve results and make the project more efficient.

Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?

 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IJM0EisnCQiohnl1YriMq26xEdwws3aj/view?usp=sharing

See slide 10, mapping competitor capabilities, talking to clients, and answering their long tail needs. This is how you find your niche. If you win the niche, you can spread to other places. 

Your final thoughts?

Ran Oren:  how many startups have you met in this industry? While it’s a huge industry that is lagging behind in the online world. 

Your website?

www.sourcingBot.com6