Date: 08.10.2020
About Chris Lambert –
Founder & CEO at Kudosee I CTO at Payload I Passionate Leader I Tech
Champion I Problem Solver I Growth Culture Enabler I Die Hard Fan of the
Classic Mustang
Chris Lambert on How to be a Successful
Tech Entrepreneur, a Passionate Team Player and most importantly a Better
Leader.
If you are a
Computer Geek, a Software Professional or an aspiring Tech Entrepreneur, you
are in here for a treat. Check out this power-packed session with Chris Lambert
who is among the most knowledgeable and generous Tech Entrepreneurs in Alberta,
the man who has immersed himself into learning Computer & Software
Technology and is dedicated to building and promoting an effective Organization
Leadership.
Chris’ love
for computers came naturally to him in his childhood days and he started
programming and writing gaming software at the age of 10. During his career
spanning over 2 decades, Chris has served the Tech industry in the capacity of a
Software Developer, a Chief Engineering Architect & Consultant, a VP, and
now the CTO and CEO & Founder of Computer Software Firms. As an
entrepreneur, Chris is on a mission to lead by example and help corporate
leadership develop the culture of growth and transparency in their
organizations thereby fostering healthy employee engagement and fun at the workplace.
Chris is using Technology as a tool for growth, empowering people and companies
create better Leaders, have a shared vision and achieve
great outcomes through building a strong culture, enabling processes and
effective software architectures. Chris loves working with companies and
individuals that strive for intelligent, efficient and pragmatic solutions to
challenging problems and helping them achieve their dreams and be
successful.
Highlights –
1.
On Calgary Software Tech Ecosystem
2.
Need of Investment and Training in Tech Industry
3.
Software Tech in Calgary at the nascent stage
but huge potential.
4.
The Birth of Kudosee
5.
How Kudosee is different from its competitors
6.
Building Technology at Payload
7.
Problem within Tech organizations and its
Solutions
8.
Engaged & Productive Team with Servant
Leadership
9.
Overcoming Challenges
10.
Hiring Strategy
11.
Recommended Low Cost and High Value Tech Stacks
& Tools
12.
Business challenges with launching Kudosee
13.
On attracting top-notch tech talent in Calgary
14.
Ask from government for increased support and
funding in Computer Technology
15.
On Job losses due to COVID-19 pandemic and
Strategies to re-enter the workforce
16.
Job vs Entrepreneurship
17.
My Mentors & Coaches
18.
Interests & Hobbies
19.
Community Impact
1. On Calgary Software Tech Ecosystem
Chris talks about Calgary’s Software Industry being
in the nascent stage but if nurtured well, has a huge potential for growth and
sustenance. Having the latent skilled workforce like game developers with a
strong knack for software technology and product development, Calgary’s Tech
industry has a long way to go. But, Chris is optimistic about the future of
Tech Calgary and says the prospects for software tech industry is looking
bright. The local economy is under transition with the crash of the oil
industry. On a brighter note Gamification, Digitization, AI/ ML and Data
Analytics are catching the steam. For the success of Calgary’s and Alberta’s Tech
industry, Chris demands additional support systems to be put in place for the Startup
Ecosystem to thrive in these challenging times.
2. Need of Investment and Training in Tech
Industry
Chris foresees tremendous opportunity for the growth of
local economy with increased attention on the Software Industry. There is still
a large room for exploration in the ITS sector and according to Chris, tech
conglomerates and government bodies coming forward and investing in the
training and development of Alberta’s Non-Oil & Gas Industries will be a
boon for the economy amidst the current pandemic.
Through his journey of over 2 decades in the software
industry, Chris has noticed few key problems with the workplace culture and
organization leadership leading to the inefficiency and loss in productivity.
Two big issues were goals not being sincerely accounted for; backstabbing,
blaming and discrediting others due to insecurities arising from poor
leadership. Seeing it as an opportunity to solve these problems and have a
larger impact on the community by being more than a software engineer, Chris
decided to transition his career from software developer to a leader. As a
result, Chris stepped into the shoes of an entrepreneur and founded Kudosee
with the vision of creating transparency & accountability within
organizations. Kudosee was born out of the passion to bring the same level of
automation, consistency, transparency, accountability into the workplace and in
a fun way that actually improves engagement across the organization as opposed
to the conventional rigid top down hierarchical approach.
A bit about Kudosee - The strategic success platform to help companies stay aligned, transparent and accountable at all levels. Kudosee is a SaaS platform to build and monitor goals in real time, communicate status across teams, collect important details on capabilities of employees and provide a gamification system that ties success, fun and results together. Kudosee uses AI/ML to learn patterns on a company's strengths and weaknesses and connect people to enable success across the organization. Unlike its couterparts, kudosee offers a cultural strategic & planning tool rather than a solution tool primarily focused on traditional project management heavy top down approach.
4. CTO at Payload
Alongside his entrepreneurial journey
at Kudosee, Chris is heading the technology division at another Software
company called Payload. At Payload, he is building technology for revolutionizing
the way companies manage logistics through the power of automation and data
driven decisions. Payload is an easy to use web and mobile based application
for logistics and supply chain management. We work with you to deliver simple,
accountable logistics tracking and reporting. Companies look to Payload when
seeking to save money and create efficiencies
5. Engaged & Productive Team with Servant
Leadership
Chris is a true believer of Leading By Serving. It
is becoming increasingly difficult for companies to find the right people and
keeping them engaged for a prolonged period. Chris implores organization
leadership to discard micromanagement practices & short term performance
metrics and to establish a culture where people work passionately with a shared
goal, feel free to express their opinion in a healthy team environment and
without the fear of being judged. Clearly sharing your Why and maintaining
transparency is the way to go.
6. Turning problems into growth strategy
Chris shares with us an interesting story of a time when the company he used to work for decided to let go two of their prized resources in order to effectively balance the budget. As the project manager, Chris understood the challenge imposed on him and instead of doing what most would have done in this situation, he demonstrated grit and leadership using creative approach of saving the jobs of these two people without disturbing the organization’s budget. Chris was well aware of the intelligence, experience and commitment these two individuals bring on the table and did not want to lose them at any cost. To start with, Chris had an open discussion with his colleagues and formulated the course of action. By finishing an important integration that resulted in the cost cutting of the displacement of an enterprise license (reduced cost from $250k to $40k a year) that his organization have been using, Chris was able to save 2 jobs, which turned out to be pivotal when those two individuals turned out to be the key contributors in transitioning entire tech infra further leading to significant optimization of time and cost by $400k a year. The lesson here is to understand that today’s rapid changing world demands mutual understanding, creative & smart approach and use of tech tools that’s not too convoluted.
7. Hiring Strategy
Kudosee was started couple of years ago as a pet
project of Chris and his two other partners, who are currently also involved in
their full-time jobs to get the wheels rolling. Being bootstrapped and having
loads of tech expertise in-house, Kudosee has been mindful on balancing the
P&L and growth of the company. Instead going on a hiring spree, a mistake
done by many startups in their early days, Kudosee understands the game and
have therefore, added 3 full-time staff in their team - 2 developers + 1 sales
woman + 1 intern (plan to make permanent).
8. Recommended Tech Stacks & Tools for
Startups
This section contains useful tips for entrepreneurs running a Tech Startup. As a CTO and former VP of Product, Chris has acquired the rare tech acumen and vision that helped him kick off his Startup journey in a rather smooth manner. Here are his nuggets of tech wisdom:
9. Challenges with launching Kudosee
Being technology as its strength, not so much from the Tech
standpoint. However from a business and marketing perspective, Kudosee had
faced early challenges with getting word out to its potential audience, getting
to know about webinars, Startup meets, business conferences and entrepreneurial
groups.
10. On attracting top-notch tech talent in
Calgary
Chris says that in general, the attributes of the local talent pool is still latent and synonymous with the traditional IT centric mindset. This needs to be shifted to the modern though process of a software developer. According to Chris, a software professional must be passionate about coding and gamification and should pursue this filed more as a hobby rather than just a job.
11. Ask from the community
Chris implores local government and large tech
companies for increased support and investment in Calgary’s Software industry
so that it can fulfil its potential of becoming the next Silicon Valley of
Canada.
12. On Job losses due to COVID-19 pandemic and Strategies to re-entering the workforce
It’s more than re-training & up-skilling. Calgary has an extremely talented and capable pool of resourceful individuals who must utilize this time of economic downturn as an opportunity to become an entrepreneur. Chris suggests that working tech professionals must leverage on government sponsorship programs and start giving consulting services to local businesses in this gig economy. In Chris’ experience, Calgary’s business community is very generous and helpful.
13. Job vs Entrepreneurship
Chris does not hold a bias against either but says it is
more of a personal choice as both comes with their own advantages and demerits.
Whereas in Job, there is a better chance
of enjoying good performance, consistent secure income, and team support, an
Entrepreneur experiences visceral fulfilment and enjoys extreme ownership and
accountability.
14. My Mentors & Coaches
Chris considers himself fortunate to have had the
opportunity to work with some of the great leaders who later influenced his
vision and became his mentors. Chris’ mentors have taught him the art of leadership
and of having a sense of complete ownership. Moreover, Chris understood the
importance of building the rapport, developing a social conscience, and looking at a bigger picture.
Furthermore, he understood the facets of building the
business from ground up, business model canvas, the importance of being
resourceful and having a strong network. He has formed very good relationships
with a few other entrepreneurs who have been very generous in his own
entrepreneurial journey.
15. Community Impact
Chris loves to engage in community development
avenues and Startup leadership programs. Over the years, he has become more cognizant
about community impact and leaving the legacy behind. Acquiring all the
knowledge and experience over the years, Chris now wants to help those around
him achieve their dream and becoming successful. Through guest talks, public
speaking and webinars, Chris is helping students and interns succeed in their job
and business. He continues to talk about level 5 leadership, which is being the
servant leader outside ones organization and indulge in giving back to their
community. For Chris, Kudosee is the starting point to help promote tech in
Calgary area and create better organization culture.
16. Personal Interests/ Hobbies
Chris enjoys coding, developing gaming products and having fun with technology in his free time. His love for the Classic Mustangs is extreme, he used to drive the ’66 mustang when young, ’68 mustang in varsity days and owns one now.
P.S. Hope you enjoyed reading this and grabbed key insights
on Technology and Leadership. We wish Chris and Kudosee the very best in keeping
up the amazing work and in fulfilling their goals.
Be Passionate!