Benjamin Schmidt, PhD began his career in bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh, but he eventually found his calling in the world of technology startups. After working as chief technology officer for an energy market forecasting and analytics business, he later joined the founding team that launched RoadBotics where he currently serves as president of the company. In this episode, Dr. Ben talks about the number one thing that all entrepreneurs must do early in their businesses, what it’s been like to raise capital for a venture-backed startup, and how solving practical problems in the “GovTech” market space motivates him and his team on a daily basis.
As co-founder and president of RoadBotics, Benjamin Schmidt, PhD leads a dynamic team in the rapidly growing “GovTech” space. RoadBotics offers artificial intelligence-based road infrastructure assessments for governments around the world. By leveraging standard smartphone camera and app technology, which is paired with cloud access, they are able to deliver their product in an accessible and easy-to-use format. Most governments struggle to maintain their road networks because the process is too cumbersome, time consuming, and subjective. The robust imagery, reporting tools, and data generated by RoadBotics allows for objective decision-making and planning by those responsible for infrastructure maintenance and management.
Dr. Ben began his career in bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh. Realizing he had a drive and passion for startups, he worked as a data scientist and chief technology officer for a venture-backed company that focused on energy market forecasting and analytics. He then joined the founding team that launched RoadBotics, which was started at, and later spun out of, Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute. In our conversation, Dr. Ben discusses the evolution of the company, the challenges of selling to and servicing the government market, and the importance of quickly testing a concept with a minimally viable product.
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YOU CAN REACH DR. BENJAMIN SCHMIDT AT:
Website: https://www.roadbotics.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidtbt
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roadbotics
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/roadbotics
Twitter: https://twitter.com/IamBenSchmidt