A Founder's greatest quality is to move forward from failure – because there will be many. Pierre Laguerre is an excellent example of "losing it all" and rebuilding an empire from scratch, on several occasions. Born in Haiti, Pierre struggled to adjust to life in East Flatbush, NYC when he moved to the US at age 14. These struggles empowered him to become a community leader and successful entrepreneur.

In this podcast, Pierre will share how his journey as a truck driver for over a decade enabled him to build a rapidly growing fleet management marketplace. He talks about how a life threatening carjacking inspired him to build a platform that supports underresourced and formerly incarcerated populations in gaining economic opportunities.

Founder Bio:

Pierre Laguerre is an entrepreneur in transportation logistics who has over 17 years of experience in the space. While generating more than $5M in revenue through his transportation ventures, Pierre has successfully mentored young men who have gone on to earn their commercial drivers licenses. He has also facilitated growth in his peers who now own their own trucking and dispatch operations.

As a Haitian-born migrant, Pierre found his entrepreneurial passion in trucking. He started his journey as a truck driver. Since then, he's earned the honor of becoming the first Black man to max out an SEC approved equity crowdfunding campaign. After excelling in the Quake Capital startup accelerator, Pierre has gone on to win pitch competitions with Harvard University, Chamillionaire, and Damon John, all while being a calm collected head-of-household for his three young children.

TimeStamps:

2:26 Born and raised in Haiti. Migrating to Brooklyn as a teenager

5:00 Every day life in Haiti

7:21 Arriving in New York City and overcoming bullying as a Haitian kid in East Flatbush

11:57 Leveraging street smarts to thrive in a life beyond the streets

16:15 How a desire to leave the hood inspired Pierre's early career as a truck driver

18:30 How Pierre moved from truck driver to entrepreneur with billion dollar aspirations

22:42 Losing everything | How Pierre rebuilt his business after a car accident destroyed it all

24:23 Coming up with business ideas to make money as an entrepreneur 31:23

31:31 How Pierre bootstrapped a business to $2.5mm in 18 months

38:00 Discovering tech as a tool to scale the management of a trucking fleet

41:30 How a special needs child and a life threatening car jacking inspired the start of Fleeting

48:41 Pitching Fleeting to investors with zero experience and straight out of the hospital

52:14 The Product | What is Fleeting?

55:08 The importance in listening to the market to determine best product approach

56:40 Solving truck drivers' biggest pain point

59:32 Closing a $500K seed round with Kyrie Irving of the New Jersey Nets and Lockstep Ventures

1:03:30 Find and support Pierre