Today's Entrepreneur: Leo Sigal

Inventing and dreaming big keeps the team focused and happy

Today's entrepreneur is Leo Sigal, co-founder and CEO of Driveroo, an automotive network that uses Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to examine millions of data points to determine the likelihood of maintenance issues, based on the type of car and its particular history.

Sigal is a successful entrepreneur and a seasoned technologist, with two decades of experience building innovative technology products. He currently serves as Founder and CEO of Driveroo, a proactive auto care service platform that provides predictive analysis on potential maintenance issues, specific to each vehicle.

Prior to Driveroo, Sigal served as CTO for Model N and Selectica and held senior engineering and technology positions at Software AG and eVite. He is committed to advancing the thought leadership around utilizing AI and machine learning to improve safety and convenience, and believes that AI will bring the next wave of opportunity for the auto repair and fleet management industries.

Driveroo recently raised $3.1 million in seed funding. 

I am a(n):

Entrepreneur

Companies I've founded or co-founded:

Driveroo

Companies I work or worked for:

Evite, softwareAG, webMethods, Selectica, Model N

Achievements (products built, personal awards won):

I've built many enterprise products including the first distributed CPQ app on Salesforce.com.

If you are an entrepreneur, why?

I want to change the world.

My favorite startups:

Udelv, AirBnB, AEye,Carmera, RideOS

Why did you start your current company?

Driveroo was started because I saw the world move toward "digital everything" at a staggering pace while everything automotive was decades behind. I spent a long time building software systems which allowed companies to sell complex products and strike complex deals and I saw that the connection between different players in automotive are similarly complex.

What's most frustrating and rewarding about entrepreneurship/innovation?

Bringing something new to the world and to people and businesses around you has huge ups and downs. When your ideas and their resulting products work as you envisioned it, its a feeling unparalleled. When things do not work its a challenge to see where you went wrong. Frustration sets in where we fail to understand the world around us and realize where we went wrong. Its hard to fix or address things you dont understand.

What's the No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs make?

Moving too slowly. Decisions are key. Making decisions is difficult especially with so much on the line, but not making decisions can slow down progress.

What are the top three lessons you've learned as an entrepreneur?

1. Failure happens. Its a natural part of trying new things. At Driveroo we set out to change the way an industry works - that's a big undertaking. Making adjustments along the way is key.

2. Continue to innovate. It easy to say "we have a groundbreaking product...done". In a dynamic environment innovation cannot stop. Inventing and dreaming big keeps the team focused and happy while also often providing avenues of development for the business.

3. Hire passionate, committed people. Starting something small and growing it requires more than professional skills. It requires grit and perseverance. It requires passion and a desire to succeed. Founders cannot be the only ones that take success personally.