Meet Jack Williams, co-founder and CEO of Selazar

In this founder interview we caught up with Jack Williams, co-founder and CEO of Selazar, a one-stop fulfilment shop for eCommerce retailers wanting to set up business in the US, Europe, and beyond.

There’s always a lightbulb moment before the beginning of a new venture. What was that moment for you?

For me, the lightbulb moment came through developing another eCommerce business. At a point, we found ourselves with 100,000 different products and we held 10 per cent in stock. We were very reliant on an efficient fulfilment and supply chain operation. This presented real management and governance challenges. Additionally, we were paying a fortune for numerous pieces of technology that didn’t work very well together. This created inefficiencies, a lot of human error and required a lot of manual data input. 

At that point I came to the realisation that there must be a better way of organising and automating fulfilment and eCommerce operations. I started looking at how we could do things in a different way, via a unified single platform that could digitalise all aspects of eCommerce fulfilment. This was the genesis of the idea that grew into Salazar.

What are your responsibilities as a business owner?

I’ve found that my responsibilities change as the company grows, so it’s important to get better at delegating. In the beginning, I was a jack of all trades, and found myself involved in all aspects of the company’s operations, including sales and marketing, with some project management thrown in. As the company has evolved, my core responsibilities have become more CEO like, with a big focus on strategy and governance.

What are your thoughts on failure?

Failure happens and failure is good. It's how you respond to failure that's key. The quicker you pick yourself up and dust yourself off, learn from it and move on, the better.  Our motto internally is fail but fail fast. It’s important not to fear failure - It happens. What you learn from failure is more important than the fact something failed 

With all the success stories around entrepreneurship and how innovative people have to be to take the leap. How do you think you’ve innovated your sector and why?

I think we've taken an old-fashioned business and old-fashioned industry that was traditionally very email and spreadsheet driven and overburdened with manual processes and given it a shake-up.  We've grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and we're dragging it rapidly into the 21st century, with far greater levels of intelligence and automation. The trajectory we're on is to really revolutionise that by bringing previously unseen levels of technology to this sector, especially in that final mile fulfilment area.

What plans do you have for Selazar over the next two years?

Our major focus will be to continue to develop our technology and refine our offering. Making it even more customer centric. We’ll be doing this in the UK, Europe, the US, and South America. In doing so, we’ll build a truly global fulfilment service that will help our customers expand into new markets quickly, making cross-border inventory management seamless like never before. Delighting all their customers by offering the same service on across the globe.

How important is company culture and what is your top tip to get it right?

Company culture is interesting. We’ve observed that each of our offices have a slightly different, culture. The most important thing is trying to have a common goal and common mantra so that you're all working towards the same thing. Rather than trying to create culture, I think it's more important to create a common goal and a path that will let individual offices develop their own culture. That’s my top tip.

What’s the most important question entrepreneurs should be asking themselves?

Does my does my product make a difference?  I think it's the key question entrepreneurs should ask themselves. Taking that further, I think and second and equally important question should be what difference am I making to customers by delivering this product to the market?

Asking this second question will force you to focus and drive the direction of your product. If you look at every feature and every element of the product you're building, you must ask that question to ensure alignment with the goals and strategy of the business.

What are your thoughts on ‘no sleep’ culture as an entrepreneur?

No sleep culture is very hard, and I don't wholly agree with it because you need to be fresh in order to be able to think and make good decisions. It’s about getting the right balance. It's fine working on four or five hours a night sleep, but it’s not great doing all-nighters. It’s down to finding the right balance for you and making sure you get that you get downtime as well. Doing this will let you think about the decisions you've made in the day and consider how they affect the business. Time for reflection is really important. You can't do that if you're constantly on the go.

What would be your top three tips to fellow entrepreneurs to look after their mental health?

Surround yourself with people that are smarter than you and don't be scared to delegate and give responsibility away. If you surround yourself with good people, you are forced to relinquish tasks. It’s important to find the right people and then trust them to execute. 

Also, make sure you get downtime. Make sure you get time for yourself, for your family and friends. This is really important for overall mental health. Locking yourself away in the office seven days a week, 18 hours a day can impair your critical thinking, damaging your business alongside your mental health. A big part of this comes with celebrating the wins big and small.

How do you believe the evolution of tech will impact your industry over the next 10 years?

We’re already starting to see big advances in AI and robotics, which are making the supply chain smoother. This couldn’t come at a better time, with the sheer volume of global trade causing supply chains to buckle at the knees in certain areas. 

We’re going to see major improvement when there’s a more even distribution of advanced logistics technology. One key challenge that needs to be addressed is the complete connection of all parts of the supply chain via advanced technology. That’s what I think we’ll see over the next 10 years – all parts of the supply chain connected and integrated, with a lot of intelligence, AI and advanced robotics providing the consistent performance and reducing points of failure.

How have you seen the need for richer analytics and data evolve over the years?

The future of analytics is going to be key. Everything we do will be centred on intelligence, based on in-depth knowledge about sectors and industries. This will prevent waste, maximise returns and minimise operational issues. Analytics will be a real driver of change. 

Providing value add insights to customers based on operational history and our understanding of the market we use data to ensure customer success. The hardest part of this is interpreting the data stream in an actionable way – that’s where we see richer analytics evolving to – actionable insights.