Alan Fairless of Transportant
An exclusive Tech Tribune Q&A with Alan Fairless (co-founder and CTO) of Transportant, which was honored in our:
Tell us the origin story of Transportant – what problem were you trying to solve and why?
I had retired from my previous startup, then went stir crazy for something new to build and started exploring many ideas. I was on the board for a KC-based ed-tech accelerator, Leanlab Education. The founder, Katie Boody, told me that every school superintendant she knew was frustrated with student transportation.
We elaborately applied the Lean Startup methodology of market validation to the concept for Transportant. After about 100 interviews with principals, teachers, parents, students, bus drivers, mechanics, and transportation directors across the U.S. and Canada, it was clear the entire sector was suffering from chronic problems that tech would be great at solving – getting the right information to the right people at the right time.
What was the biggest hurdle you encountered in your journey?
There’s a saying that, in a software company, you can do everything wrong and still succeed but, in a hardware company, you can do everything right and still fail. We survived three black swan events:
- COVID-19 closed schools. We survived by pivoting sales to the few rural school systems that were still open and because our investors recognized the situation and came together to keep the company alive.
- My original co-founder, John Styers, tragically died of a rare brain disease. I recruited Martin Staples, an investor and board member with an extensive operations and manufacturing background, to join the company.
- The COVID supply chain crisis made many electronic components we used difficult to find. At a time when every electrical engineer in the U.S. was fully booked redesigning products to use whatever few components were available, we survived because a friend and local KC entrepreneur prioritized our work. We had to change camera CPUs three different times!
What does the future hold for Transportant?
I don’t like to announce things before they’re live, but 2025 is going to be an exciting year for Transportant customers.
What are your thoughts on the local tech startup scene in Kansas?
I think UMKC’s Technology Venture Studio and Leanlab Education are great. And, being in the community, I have several close Kansas City founder friends and there’s a group for hardware founders.
What’s your best advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?
When you deeply understand your customer, you are able to create the most value from the least code.