Season 3 Finale - Episode 12: HazTrack's Approach to Big Data as a Small Firm

In our fourth episode of the Big Data for Small Companies series, and the finale of season 3, Tom McDonell of Haztrack Inc. is here. Tom is the CEO at HazTrack Inc., an industrial IoT startup based in Calgary and Saskatoon. HazTrack helps Oil & Gas and Waste Management companies run their operations more efficiently with best-in-class hardware and software. He’s here today and we’re looking forward to going deep on data.

Background Story

Tom is the CEO at HazTrack Inc., an industrial IoT startup based in Calgary and Saskatoon. HazTrack helps Oil & Gas and Waste Management companies run their operations more efficiently with best-in-class hardware and software. He was previously the head of operations at Wittaya Aqua, a Toronto and Singapore-based AgTech startup that helps the aquaculture industry solve its hardest data problems.  Tom holds a BComm from the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

Outline

Our conversations with guests don’t have a strict outline, but it does have a lot of learnings. See below!

Busted Myths

• Myth: I would say I see a lot of nonsense around startup TAM (total addressable market). It’s ok to focus on a small market to begin with and look to expand from there once you have a dominant position!

• Second myth: your data is valuable. It’s not inherently. It’s what you do with it that’s valuable.

Learnings

• Haztrack is a super niche but interesting product.

• Data itself isn’t the real driver of value. It’s what the data can allow you to do.

Summary

• Company that monitors oil, cooking oil, and chemicals via a remote device.

• Quiet, billion dollar industry. Very niche business.

• Hardware: way more complicated than software. Not easy to iterate like software.

• The data that they collect and give, which seems pretty simple, is hugely valuable to their customers. It’s important and they do it well.

• Looking to go upmarket over time. Start by doing something basic - tank “fullness” levels. Longer term, advanced analytics that prescribe what ought to be done by their customers to move the business forward.

• Customer feedback loops essential to improving both the software and hardware product.

• They are always very transparent with customers over the data, who owns it and how it’s being used.

• Data itself isn’t the real driver of value. It’s what the data can allow you to do.