Vanguard Magazine

44 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2018 www.vanguardcanada.com game ChanGER See the full interview online Q What is your role in your organization today? As CEO, my role is to develop and vali- date innovative business models, utiliz- ing artificial intelligence and sensors to offer new services for smart buildings. Q What was your most challenging moment? Learning from failure and keeping moving towards achieving my company's vision. Q What was your aha moment or epiphany that you think will resonate most with our reader, tell us that story? My first "aha" moment came after my first patent while working at BlackBerry. I was capable of coming up with an in- novative solution! All I had to do was to think about anything and ask: "Why this way?" I learned how to break a problem into subsystems and come up with pat- entable solutions. That year, I ended up collecting over a dozen patents. After a while, I wondered if it was possible to think of better products or services and bring it to market. This is how VSETA was incorporated. Our first product was a sensor to pre- vent distracted driving. It could detect if the phone is inside the driver or pas- senger area in real-time and disable the phone automatically if the car was mov- ing and the phone was in the driver area. We thought it could save many lives and billions of dollars in annual damages by preventing distracted driving. Ultimately, the real "aha" moment was when I learned how to validate and ex- ecute ideas to market effectively. Q What is the one thing that has you most fired up today? Sharing my experiences with Vanguard readers. This is an excellent publication for connecting and educating people in the industry. Q What is the best advice you received? Be the best you can be. And it starts with knowing what you want. It takes passion and hard work to achieve your goals, but you grow and develop yourself in the ways you never expected on your way to success. Q What are some of the biggest impediments to innovation in your industry sector? The biggest impediment to innovation is the fear of change, which is a predomi- nant characteristic of a human being. The resentment of new processes and technology slows down the progress. It takes patience and market engage- ment to introduce a better way of doing things. Q What people or organizations do you believe best embody the innova- tion mindset? Humans survive by adjusting their en- vironment with innovation for comfort and security. The people or organiza- tions who best embody the innovation mindset realize the need for these in- novations and reflect the society's needs with their well-timed, designed and ex- ecuted products and services. Q What is your motto? My motto has always been being able to say "this makes sense" about everything I do. Often the best solution is the simple solution. Intuitive products make their in- tegration into the market easy, and result in customer satisfaction and real tangible business results. Q What factors do you consider im- portant when designing a strategy? When designing a business strategy, the most important factors are market tim- ing, identifying your customer segment, articulating value proposition, and using available resources effectively. Q How has innovation become engrained in your organization's culture, and how is it being optimized? Having creative people on the team and enabling open communication is an essen- tial part of the organization culture that enables us to continuously foster innova- tion and to think outside of the box. Q What technologies, business models, and trends will drive the biggest changes in your industry over the next two years? The biggest change over the next few years, in my opinion, will be driven by the further development of communication technologies, artificial intelligence and inter-connectivity of devices. These tech- nologies will continue being incorporated into a more diverse range of applications while reshaping many different industries. Q What is your parting piece of advice? Challenge yourself. Pushing yourself out of your comfort zone takes courage and determination in the face of criticism and failure. FarhouD shirzaDi Chief exeCutive OffiCer VseTa

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