Announcer: 0:00

The following programming is sponsored by Marc J Bernstein. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of this station, its management or Beasley Media Group. Entrepreneur, founder, author and financial advisor, Marc Bernstein helps high-performing business owners turn their visions into reality. Through his innovative work and the Forward Focus. Forums, Marc connects entrepreneurs to resources that fuel their success. Forums Marc connects entrepreneurs to resources that fuel their success. Founders Forum is a radio show and podcast where entrepreneurs share their journeys, revealing the lessons they've learned and the stories behind their success. Join Marc and his guests for a mix of inspiration, valuable insights and a little fun. Now let's dive in.

Marc Bernstein: 0:41

Good morning America. How are you? This is Marc Bernstein and you're here on Founders Forum listening with us, and it is a beautiful, sunny day in Philadelphia. We joke about it always being sunny in Philadelphia and from previous shows you know that's not the case. It's been a lot of cloudy, rainy spring. But today is gorgeous and I have a great guest in the studio with me today. We're going to get right into it. We have Virind is in the studio.

Marc Bernstein: 1:10

I'll officially introduce him in a moment, but for our thought of the day, I just want to mention that you know, this show to me, is a lot about lifelong learning. I've mentioned that in different ways. I for one, you know, I like to say I'm very immature for my age, but part of that has to do with the fact that I don't really think I know anything. I'm continuing to learn and always curious and always in discovery, and I find that's true of most of my guests. I think you almost have to be that way to a certain extent to be an entrepreneur.

Marc Bernstein: 1:42

So today we actually are going to record a second show today, which should be you should be hearing that soon after you hear this show with another. We're talking to two tech innovators today, and both of them are involved with AI in a big way, and this one in particular, Virind, is also very involved with robotics and technology in general. So I'm titling this little topic, which I think we'll do part one and part two. On the second show, the Learning Advantage how Founders Stay Ahead of the Curve and Virind, I'd just like to ask you obviously that's something you have to do what are your thoughts on that in terms of being a lifelong learner and staying ahead of the curve, particularly in the field that you're in?

Virind Gujral: 2:29

First of all, thank you very much for having me here, Marc. I appreciate it. It's my pleasure. Well, learning is very natural to me. I'm a Sikh, and Sikh means a person who likes to learn.

Marc Bernstein: 2:46

Who likes to Sikh, but I know that's not what it means.

Virind Gujral: 2:50

I am a Sikh, I like to learn and I continuously learn about different, different things.

Marc Bernstein: 2:56

You didn't get my English pun. Sikhs to learn, you know, oh, sikhs to learn. Oh yeah, there you go, anyway. Oh yeah, thank you, go ahead.

Virind Gujral: 3:02

No problem, there you go Anyway. Oh yeah, thank you.

Marc Bernstein: 3:03

Go ahead, no problem.

Virind Gujral: 3:05

Yes, and so I have. I'm a mechanical engineer. I came from India and always wanted to learn and learn about new things, new technologies, and in that process, I have learned a lot of new things about life, about people, about journeys, about challenges, and those are the things you know if you've been long enough in that journey, you say that, yes, you should be an entrepreneur now, and that's how I became an entrepreneur.

Marc Bernstein: 3:46

Well, and when you hear Varun's background and all the things that he's done, you'll understand that he's had to learn in a lot of different areas, but it sounds like. So how are you conscious of the fact that you're continually? What do you do consciously to continue learning?

Virind Gujral: 3:59

Well, the thing is, I think, a lot about future, what is coming ahead and how the problems will, what will be the problems anticipating them, what will be the solutions and always look at, you know, from a business perspective. I always look at, if there are problems, what can be the potential solutions that can benefit the stakeholders, all the different stakeholders. It is not about just one person or one company. It is how you can benefit and, in return, then create value for yourself while you are creating value for others.

Marc Bernstein: 4:37

Well, what you just said is why I was so excited almost a year ago when we first met to have you on the show. You've been a busy guy, but because my brand is called Forward Focus Forums and that's what I'm all about too, in my financial planning business as well Forward focus helping entrepreneurs think about their futures and what that looks like, and same for us on our own company. So we're like-minded. I'm very happy to have you here. So let me tell you a little bit about Varin. His name is Varin Gujra. He is a mechanical engineer with an MBA and 17 years of experience in fuel operations management for one of the largest truck leasing companies I can mention who that is right Penske and overseeing over a billion-dollar fuel portfolio. He holds a patent in his name and has been a featured speaker at numerous industry conferences. That's what he gave me, but I'm going to tell you a lot more than I learned about him.

Marc Bernstein: 5:37

He's over 30 years of diversified experience in automotive, transportation, e-commerce, chemical and steel industries. He's a futurist, as he just mentioned. He's inquisitive and he's an analytical leader who is passionate about autonomous vehicles and technology. I'm one of the first adopters of Tesla, which isn't popular with everybody today, but it's still a great car, regardless of what you think of the founder, and so I'm very interested in autonomous vehicles. In fact, I've just adopted again I turn it on and off, but full soft driving on the Tesla, which is really good now. So I know that this is coming, and he's acquired, deployed, managed state-of-the-art technologies, managed products with substantial improvements to the bottom line and supported the advancement of autonomous trucking with advising and funding efforts. So currently he is the CEO and co-founder of EVBots, that is developing robots, just like it sounds like, to autonomously charge electric vehicles, a mission that combines his expertise in AI and robotics with his passion for data and sustainability. I'm not an engineer, but all this stuff gets me very excited, so I'm very glad to have you here.

Virind Gujral: 6:54

Thank you, same here.

Marc Bernstein: 6:56

So let's start with your story, how you've come from India and tell us your humble beginnings we like to talk about, and how you came to talk about, and how you came to America and how you got to where you are in terms of starting this business.

Virind Gujral: 7:10

Sure.

Marc Bernstein: 7:10

Take us right up to about the break, and then we'll have lots to talk about after that what?

Virind Gujral: 7:16

in India itself, while doing engineering, my father said I was at home for the largest period of time and I wanted to leave home and explore the world. My father said I was at home for the largest period of time and I wanted to leave home and explore the world. So my dad said if you want to do something, go to America. That's the best country in the world for you. And I just prepared for it. I tried different avenues and finally I got a Rotary Scholarship to come to the United States.

Marc Bernstein: 7:44

Were you the oldest child in your family.

Virind Gujral: 7:46

Yes, I had a younger sibling and I had to stay back. Actually, I decided to stay back and not come to America immediately after my engineering, because in India you need to get your daughters married. And as the day she got married, I said to my father now I'm going away and no better place to go than United States.

Marc Bernstein: 8:08

So he sent you to America, not your sister, I imagine.

Virind Gujral: 8:12

She got married and that's the day I—she remains in India.

Marc Bernstein: 8:16

Right, she remains in India.

Virind Gujral: 8:17

And he didn't send me. I came to.

Marc Bernstein: 8:21

There you go. Well, he suggested you go to America. That's right, and you left the first day you could to go to America, absolutely, and thanks to Rotary International I got a scholarship, so that eased my pathway to come to University of Pittsburgh for an MBA. Right, so tell us about that your Pittsburgh, and then your journey to Philadelphia.

Virind Gujral: 8:40

Ultimately, yeah, it has been a great journey. I had a friend in Pittsburgh, because of which I landed there and was welcomed, but that time was Iraq, war was going on and I was wearing a turban and there was a lot of misconceptions about Sikhs. But hey, you know, I was.

Marc Bernstein: 9:02

As he still is.

Virind Gujral: 9:03

by the way, if you're not watching this on video, yeah, and I was derided sometimes but I took it in spirit. You know people don't understand because I came from to the US as ambassador of goodwill and peace, so I love people, so I understand, so I wanted to be part of, to not get afraid by what they are saying. I just said that I have to educate and do that.

Marc Bernstein: 9:29

You almost embraced it.

Virind Gujral: 9:30

it sounds like yeah and it has been a fun journey. After that I did a couple of jobs and then came to Philadelphia so I've been here since 2002, and I worked in a great company and acquired great skill sets for fleets and then saw some opportunities, and that's where I am.

Marc Bernstein: 9:52

So tell us about that. You were working with trucking fleets. Then saw some opportunities, and that's where I am, so tell us about that. You were working with trucking fleets, right, right, so, and you foresaw this need. I know there's an issue of efficiency in terms of fueling those vehicles, correct, so talk about how you kind of discovered that and started working on solutions to that problem.

Virind Gujral: 10:11

So I was fortunate working for Penske Truck Leasing, as you mentioned, and they have 13,000 fleet customers and 300,000 plus vehicles in their fleet. So I got a lot of understanding of fleet. But when the transition of electric vehicles was coming, we all knew that the problem will be of charging infrastructure. For fleets and fleets it becomes very important. Every cost matters. So there were two options for the fleets to adopt electric vehicles.

Virind Gujral: 10:46

Either they send their drivers to charging stations and let them charge for hour and a half standard the charging stations and you can see that when they are paid $100,000 a year it becomes very expensive for fleets and then or the other option was to spend a lot of capital expenditure and install those charging stations on their sites, and that takes a lot of the grid may not have the capacities. The landlord may say I don't want you to install this here. So there were a lot of challenges and that's where we came up with a solution.

Marc Bernstein: 11:21

But by the way, presumably I mean if you drive these trucks cross-country they have to stop and charge overnight anyway, or during the day.

Virind Gujral: 11:31

Yeah, absolutely correct. So what is happening is we are not trying to solve the problem all for everybody. We are trying to solve the problem for the fleets, like delivery vans, and all when they deliver their products and short last mile and short range and they come back to the base.

Virind Gujral: 11:47

So we are talking about setting up our robot and system at customer site where the vehicles are parked and all we want is our robot and our battery system to have whatever electrical connection they have that we will charge, slow charge the battery and fast charge the vehicle in the night when those vehicles are not being used.

Marc Bernstein: 12:12

So tell me how that works. I'm a truck driver, I'm bringing this truck in, I park it for the night, and then what happens?

Virind Gujral: 12:20

Well, the truck driver comes in parks in the night. So there are two options. He can, through our app, say, hey, charge my electric vehicle and go home, or we can link up our systems to their dispatch center, and dispatch center can tell us that this truck is parked here whenever. This is the way you charge it. So the instruction will come either from the driver, through the app, or from the dispatch center, and our robot will get that direction. It will then pick up a battery and it knows where to go. We have back-end systems through which we know that what is the charge level of the vehicle right now, how much we have to charge. We have all that information and with the AI and our robots, and with the AI and our robots, we navigate that robot to that vehicle and then our robot has a robotic arm that it uses to pick up the charging plug from the battery and connect it.

Marc Bernstein: 13:27

And in the night when nobody's there and then so it charges the truck, it doesn't replace the battery because, you mentioned before, it picks up a battery.

Virind Gujral: 13:33

Yeah, yeah, that's right. You're absolutely correct. We are not swapping any batteries. We are connecting the battery to the electric vehicle, so it's battery to battery, charging and just like and it is no different than so.

Marc Bernstein: 13:46

It's not a plug-in charger, it's a battery that recharges the vehicle, correct.

Virind Gujral: 13:51

And it is the same system, like a human being connecting the charging port.

Marc Bernstein: 13:55

Right that piece of it, except that it's also bringing the battery over. Right right, right. Interesting Now is this operating today?

Virind Gujral: 14:02

Yes, I would say we have demos lined up, we are finally testing it and it is ready to be deployed. We have a lot of next month onwards. We will be deploying it as demos first and then paid pilots in Q4.

Marc Bernstein: 14:19

Once that's operating I'd love to come see that. Are you doing that locally in the Philadelphia area?

Virind Gujral: 14:24

Yes, and not the demo part. For the testing part we are doing locally, we have rented an electric vehicle on which we will demonstrate it, and then we have customers in Pennsylvania at their factory. We will be demonstrating at their site and then later on we have multiple other customers in Chattanooga who would like us to demonstrate their product.

Marc Bernstein: 14:51

So you have customers pretty much lined up ready to go.

Virind Gujral: 14:54

Yes, that is true, the reason being the charging infrastructure is lacking and the grants that were there, they are disappearing. So our solution is charging as a service solution. So the capex is not there for the businesses. They don't have to invest a lot of money in there. It is per vehicle charging. So what happens is when that happens, they get efficiency and as well as they get the benefit of not spending capital expense, and that is very attractive to them and we are getting a lot of inquiries because of that.

Marc Bernstein: 15:32

I got a lot more questions, but first we're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back.

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Marc Bernstein: 16:37

We are back on Founders Forum. I'm Marc Bernstein and we're with our guest, Virind Gujral and Virind this is very exciting to me what you're presenting, so it sounds like. So when do you feel like you'll be fully operational, where you'll have customers that have this in place? Is this six months from now? Is it a year from now?

Virind Gujral: 16:58

Q4 is our target, where we will be starting to deploy our product and our objective is we want to crawl, walk and then run. Makes sense. Objective is we want to crawl, walk and then run. Makes sense. We have. You know, there are so many companies Amazon, fedex, ups, usps they are all having some electric vehicles, delivery vans. That is our sweet spot. But if you go to them right now, if they say I want 100 of these, I cannot.

Virind Gujral: 17:30

So we are planning already ahead of it, but we are first deploying it to show and prove our concept that it works.

Marc Bernstein: 17:41

And you have a patent connected to this, I assume.

Virind Gujral: 17:44

In fact funny that you said that Our patent was published just now, on May 29th. But one thing I forgot to tell that we are targeting the fleets and we are not just talking about charging the vehicles, but we are also looking forward to doing the tire pressure management or maintenance.

Marc Bernstein: 18:09

So what we will do is, you had mentioned that to me before.

Virind Gujral: 18:12

Yeah, we will have. Our robot will remove the cap. One tool will remove the cap, the other tool will put the tire pressure in, and then we will be adding a third tool to measure the tread depth. That way we know that the tire is how.

Marc Bernstein: 18:29

These are three robots to do this.

Virind Gujral: 18:31

No one robot with three tools.

Marc Bernstein: 18:33

Three tools got it and to add to it.

Virind Gujral: 18:37

There will be one more feature we will be providing, because our robot has cameras. We will take multiple pictures of that vehicle before it goes out of the customer's facility and that will be kind of a pre-external inspection. And when it comes back it will take the pictures and then it will tell to our customers in the form of reports that what has been damaged, what is there, what should be fixed. Those are additional features apart from what we are doing, and it will be with one robot and the services will depend.

Virind Gujral: 19:18

So it's doing diagnostics as well, it is, I would say, diagnostics. We leave it to the vehicle itself. They are good at doing it. We are providing the information for them to do better diagnostics Interesting.

Marc Bernstein: 19:33

So this goes way beyond doing delivery van fleets at some point.

Virind Gujral: 19:38

Yes, yes, we are. The reason we are starting with delivery vans is their batteries are smaller 100 watts, and then that is one, so that we don't have to and they're shorter range. Shorter ranges and so we don't have to tow a very big battery. But as technology battery technology improves, we will go for bigger batteries and take care of bigger, larger vehicles or vehicles with larger batteries.

Marc Bernstein: 20:09

I mean, I'm thinking you know Amazon, with all the what are those vans called? The name of the size vans?

Virind Gujral: 20:17

Rivian and oh. Class A tractors you're talking about.

Marc Bernstein: 20:23

No, the size van that they are the tall, thin ones which probably require bigger batteries, but basically they're driving from the distribution center to deliveries all around town. Yeah, and I would think that would be another great use for them.

Virind Gujral: 20:36

That is perfect target market for us, Right? But we are not going there to crawl, walk and run, Of course of course, of course, of course.

Marc Bernstein: 20:44

Well, remember Amazon itself. They used to sell books, you know? That's all they did. So you, so everybody starts somewhere, so pretty interesting. So what's your? Well, I'll ask you this anyway. We always ask about your future vision. You've chosen your three-year vision, so tell me your vision for the company and if there's anything you want to talk about personally that you see for yourself in the next three years, what does that look like that you see for yourself in the next three years?

Virind Gujral: 21:12

what does that look like? See, for next three years, I would like a proven concept so that I can create I is a wrong word. We, as a company, can create value to our customers by giving them a technology that makes their operations efficient and less expensive. That is one we would like to do a proven technology for them. Secondly, we would like to have a solid basis where all the other stakeholders our investors, our associates they are comfortable with and believe in this concept and are committed to its growth for next 10 years or more. So I want to have, in next three years, a proper base so that everybody gets benefited, and one of the things that's most important is it makes more sense to us because it will increase the adoption of electric vehicles and that is important for climate change. So I think we are aligned in the right way for the right cause and we want to just prove ourselves. That gives us a base to get started on.

Marc Bernstein: 22:39

I mean, you're doing great business, but you're also doing great for the world, I believe as an early adapter myself. How about capitalization of the company? Have you not fully self-funded? I take it.

Virind Gujral: 22:54

Yeah, no, we have raised some funds through angel rounds and then we are in process of raising. We have raised 50% of the money that we wanted to raise and then we are getting more angels invested, interested in investing. I'm taking it a little bit slow on that because you've got to give a lot of equity ahead of time. Once our demos and pilots are successful and we have paid pilots in Q4, we will be going for a very big round and VCs are already interested in us. I'm part of an accelerator program called the CoLab, the company lab in Chattanooga, and they only select five countries all over the world and we are one of the fortunate companies, so they have invested in us. They are in Tennessee, which is the logistics hub of Tennessee, of our country. Our customers will be there introducing to customers, introducing to funding.

Marc Bernstein: 24:03

So we are excited about it, and hence that's why you're ready to go and chat Nuga live at some point.

Virind Gujral: 24:09

Yes, we are Very interesting.

Marc Bernstein: 24:10

So that's exciting. So you don't have. You don't sound really concerned about getting funding, like many of our guests are. It sounds like that's pretty not a done deal, but you have to prove it. But it sounds like you know who to go to and how that's going to happen.

Virind Gujral: 24:29

And there are things in the pipeline right, so there are state fundings coming and we are talking to them. So until the time it's not done, it's not done.

Marc Bernstein: 24:37

Right, right, but it will be there. I imagine the state of Tennessee invests heavily in that sort of thing. Yes, they are looking at us because we are setting up.

Virind Gujral: 24:48

we are planning to set up an assembly operations there, so that will give great jobs and bring in technical. We are moving our three technical engineers from here to Chattanooga.

Marc Bernstein: 25:02

I haven't asked you much about personally at all. We haven't talked, so I'm just going to are you married? Do you have children? Do you have a family?

Virind Gujral: 25:09

I have a beautiful and wonderful one, and only one wife.

Marc Bernstein: 25:13

Yeah.

Virind Gujral: 25:14

Married for last 32 years 32 years Wow. And very happy to be it. She's my friend, my partner. Oh, you're lucky. And then I have.

Marc Bernstein: 25:25

I have one of those too. I do that's good.

Virind Gujral: 25:30

Hopefully one and only one. Almost 36 years yeah, I do too. That's good. Hopefully one and only one.

Marc Bernstein: 25:32

Almost 36 years. Yeah, I do too.

Virind Gujral: 25:36

And then we have a wonderful 22-year-old son 23 now, I'm sorry studying computer engineering and helping me in this project, and the funny part is I started this idea based on his creation. His idea, really, what happened was he was doing VEX robotics in high school and because I was doing diesel and fuel, I told him one day dude, why don't you make me a robot that'll pull gasoline in my car, lexus and guess what? He made a robot. And then, to this day, that is the best thing that happens to us.

Marc Bernstein: 26:19

So you've given equity in the company, I assume.

Virind Gujral: 26:22

Haven't given him, but he has invested.

Marc Bernstein: 26:25

Let's put it this way, I'm getting in trouble here, but very good. So we only have about two minutes left, but that's a perfect opportunity to ask you a question, and if we have time, I'll ask you another one. But tell me about your legacy, being that you have a 22-year-old son. Sounds like he could be interested in your company at some point, if that's something you would desire. What does that look like? Maybe your succession plan and or your legacy?

Virind Gujral: 26:54

As far as legacy is concerned, I believe in trying to work with people and trying to get the best out of them and reward them accordingly. So it's about son is he has to find his own path, his own passion, his own things. And if he's interested, is he has to find his own path, his own passion, his own things. And if he's interested, he has to prove and show the passion and do like everybody else who's around us. Because if you're not passionate about something, Did he study robotics in college?

Virind Gujral: 27:25

Yeah, he is a computer engineer and becoming a computer engineer. Yes, he will be, I'll leave it to him. But most importantly, from legacy and succession perspective, I have great team members and I like to build it from within and especially I am a long-term player. Whosoever works with me from all kinds of partnerships and everything I work with, and the associates who are with me now, who have put in their sweat and thing without you know getting much, that's what I want.

Marc Bernstein: 27:57

Well, you can, as you can hear from the music. That's all we have time for Vrind Gujral. It was a pleasure to have you here, really a fun interview, and thanks for all of you for listening, and we'll see you next week on Founders Forum. Thank you.

Announcer: 28:11

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