Paul Hendriks, CEO, Gamgee and Startup Entrepreneur
I am a highly experienced and respected technology leader, innovator, and executive with twenty-five years of experience in the telecommunications, media, information technology, and high-tech sector.
Podcast
Overview
With the increasing importance of broadband in today’s digitized world, and considering the future utility of broadband, it’s important to make sure people get the most out of it.
Paul Hendriks, the CEO of Gamgee comes with this vision and a solution to the problems faced with broadband in homes about which he talks in the episode. So, dive in and see how his product is helping people and get some guidance around building a startup yourself.
About Paul Gamgee
Paul Hendriks is the CEO of Gamgee, a startup entrepreneur, an angel investor, a mentor, and a supervisor. He is an experienced and respected technology leader.
Discussion
What is Gamgee?
As the importance of broadband is increasing in the current world of digitization, and considering the future utility of broadband, it’s important to make sure people get the maximum out of it. However, people struggle with a good quality broadband connection which is a major challenge as more and more people are working since the pandemic. Most customers are being underserved by the internet service providers and they struggle with wi-fi and digital life.
Gamgee, says Paul helps overcome this problem.
“We believe with gamgee, we can create a solution, a service, an experience for people in the home and enhance their digital life to unlock the potential of the digital home.”
“We can control your wi-fi and smart home devices from the palm of your hands.” Can you explain this? How does this technology work and what is its advantage?
The router, a digital machine, is the gate of the internet to our home. Gamgee is software that can sit on any router and make the router much smarter which can then be connected to a mobile application. Gamgee also provides all kinds of tools to its customers to manage the router and digital life at home in a user-friendly way.
“Our goal is to make complicated technologies very simple so that everybody can be IT managers of their home.”
Giving an example of how it is used, Paul says that it can allow users to get more private and secure connections and separate environments on the router to have the best connection for important things like a zoom meeting.
What have been some of your challenges in building such a high-tech product?
Paul talks about three challenges he faced. One, finding the right talent. The next challenge was creating mass awareness with the audience given that they were a small company with a limited marketing budget. However, they are now partnering with larger businesses and collaborating with big companies to overcome this and it is surely working. And the third biggest challenge that Paul talks about is the pandemic situation which created a hindrance in person-to-person meetings and large conferences.
Which is more advantageous-having a partner or going solo in building a startup?
In going solo, there’s no need of convincing others and you are free to go your own way. But according to Paul, although this might look appealing, it isn’t in reality. He believes in the power of the collective and says that being surrounded by people of different thoughts, perceptions and different ways of doing things helps.
“Only by challenging and collaborating with each other, you can grow as a person and a business.”
Paul says that is the reason he always looks to team up with people.
Profile
I am a highly experienced and respected technology leader, innovator, and executive with twenty-five years of experience in the telecommunications, media, information technology, and high-tech sector. I have a passion for dynamic technologies with high relevance for society and people. I combine creativity, pragmatism, and decisiveness to achieve the best results. I drive change and believe in the power of people and teams. I am inspired by the international context of my professional activities. During my corporate career, I have been employed as a senior executive at technology companies with a need to transform their business, technology, and/or organization. For several years, I am actively participating in startup companies as a co-founder, executive, shareholder, mentor, and/or supervisor. ATTRIBUTES AND BELIEVES I am open-minded and inquisitive, constantly looking for lasting results and driving change, with a high level of passion, ambition, conviction, commitment, and perseverance. The main theme of my career is performance-driven transformation. I strongly believe that lasting value can only be created with a long-term orientation and strategic focus, diversified single-minded teams with individuals focusing on excelling through continuous improvement of their talents, and a company-wide mentality to only strive for the best.
