Interview with Ugochi Owo - CEO of Flindel

Ugochi Owo talks about the importance of building friendships instead of transactional business relationships.

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Guest - Ugochi Owo
Host - Carl Grant
Producer - Seth Grant

Transcript

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Carl Grant: 0:00

Welcome to Rainmakers. I'm here with Ugochi Owo, CEO of Flindel, welcome Ugochi

Ugochi Owo: 0:15

Hi, it's good to meet you.

Carl Grant: 0:16

Yeah, well, you're not just meeting me we met last week. And boy, did you make an impression on me. So Ugochi is not your typical guest. Most of our guests are, you know, professional services, business development, people rainmakers, but the Ugochi is an entrepreneur, a young entrepreneur, who's, what are your three years int o this business? Ugochi.

Ugochi Owo: 0:39

Yeah,

Carl Grant: 0:40

Yeah. Alright, so first, I want to, I want you to talk a little bit about your startup, and then I'm going to talk about why we're featuring you on rainmakers. So if you could tell us what it is that Flindel does,

Ugochi Owo: 0:53

for sure, Flinto were a prop tech startup focused on automating commerce returns. Basically what that means is that we make it possible for you to return anything from any store, whether it's a brick and mortar store, like a Walmart or Target or an online store hosted by Shopify, right from your home, free of charge and get your money back within 24 hours.

Carl Grant: 1:12

All right, alright, something I definitely want here where I live. So hopefully, I'll be on your shortlist. So, so the reason Ugochi is on here is we met last Wednesday. And to be honest with you, I had I had a phone call with her put on my calendar, I didn't really know how it got on my calendar, who got GE, and I'm coming back from a lunch late, I've got too many things scheduled as usual. And, and so I'm like, I'll just call in, and I'll do an audio zoom call and, and you came prepared. I mean, you, you you, you made an impression. And you had me hurrying back to my like computer screen to get online with you to see who this person was who was impressing me on the phone. So it gottschee comes off very impressive, obviously knows what she wants to get done, knows who she wants to get it done with and then you don't take no for an answer. So you started talking to me about people from Uber and Facebook that you had involved with your company. And I hope you'll share with us about how you go about getting these, these prominent people involved with your company.

Ugochi Owo: 2:21

For sure, I think like for every entrepreneur, or even human, like you just shouldn't be scared to reach out to people. Because you never know, like, everyone's looking to share their stories. And everyone's open to talk assuming that you're human, and you're normal, and you're not a transactional person. So for me, growing up, you know, my family was really, really big on developing friendships versus, you know, developing these like odd transactional, you do this for me and expect something in return type of thing. And when I was building Flindel, like in the very, very, very beginning, when it was just like a little bit of any idea, I wrote down the skills that I like we're going to I was going to develop along the journey, but I didn't exactly have in the capacity that I wanted to have at that time. And I wrote down the different companies that I'd like want those people to come from. So for example, with logistics, I'd written down Uber with, you know, like marketing and e commerce space, I've written down Facebook, and so on and so forth. So I really just reached out to these people and kind of like ping them until they responded. And they did and then we chatted and it works. But I think like a really big thing is that a lot of people now are generally just hesitant about like just reaching out to people because you never know everyone's doors open. And you'll never know until you actually knock and try. I mean, there's haven't been a situation where I've asked somebody to you know, whether it's to have a coffee or to just like chats, learn about their experiences, I've been turned down to learn about someone else's experience. So I think it's helpful for people to just be super shameless in the way that they approach people.

Carl Grant: 4:02

Alright, but I gotta get you to talk about some of your shamelessness. Because your average entrepreneur, I don't think we do this, they send an email, the email doesn't get replied to you say, Oh, well, he must not be interested or she must not be interested. And then you go, you move on, right? Is that what you do?

Ugochi Owo: 4:18

No, heck, no, heck, no, I will. I will email you again. If you didn't respond, because like even with me now as the company's grown to this like point, you know, if someone emails me, I might see it in my inbox. But then by the time you know, the whole day has happened. I just forget about it. And if you email me again, I'll for sure see it again and I feel bad, and then I'll respond or if it happens a third time, I'll feel bad and I'll do the call. So like, having that understanding and understanding that. You know, like in the beginning of my sort of journey, I yeah, I used to take a lot of things personally so meaning because I I'm younger in my 20s. And then at that time, I was even younger. And I, I take everything personally because I think like, oh, man, this was thinking because they think I'm like, you know, uncool or I'm lame, or I'm this or that, but really the person might just mister email, and they might just be busy. And there's no harm in asking you again or saying like, Hey, I sent you this note 10 times, what do you think? And you know, as long as you're not being annoying, I was never annoying, but I was pretty persistent. So if I wanted someone and they were on my hit list, not like not that kind of hit list, but to target and so hopefully be able to spend some time with us. And I will be really persistent around it. Because, you know, again, you have to, there's a place in the Bible talks about like, ask and you'll receive, but it literally says, keep asking, and then you'll receive because if somebody is coming to your house, and then they knock on the door and say, hey, you're like, Hey, can you can I borrow a cup of sugar? At like two o'clock in the morning? I'm gonna answer the door. But then if they keep knocking, you'll just you'll open the door and be like, Dude, what do you want? Like, how do I make you go away? And it just kind of goes on from there. So that's what I was really big on was just, you know, like, if I really, really want to get to know someone, I would make sure that at least I had the opportunity to be turned down versus never, there's never been a circle back.

Carl Grant: 6:22

What what are some of the things you might say, to get that meeting as you get to the third email?

Ugochi Owo: 6:29

I'm just like, I It depends, because for me, it never really got to a scenario of super, super, super, like persistence wasn't getting to like the 10th email. But if it got to a third email, and I didn't get a single response, I mean, I might send it at different points in the day. Because I mean, there's periods I know like on Mondays, for example, my inbox gets crazy. And people email me all these random weird things. And then the real emails that are there may just get lost in the inbound. So I might email them on a Saturday, I might email them on a Sunday, because he's going to email you on Sunday, no one where may email them, I get up really, really early in the morning. So I might email them in the morning so that it's like what they see in their inbox. Because I've also noticed that other people get up around not the same time because they get up around three, but they other people get up around like six or so. So they will see it and also just not being not writing an essay, I find it was helpful. So for me with myself now if someone writes me like their whole life story, I probably read like the first two three sentences to see what they're saying. And then if nothing has been made, then I might just say, Okay, I'm gonna catalog this into my brain for later and I'll respond back like weeks or months later. For me, like I usually keep my emails down to like five or four or three sentences, so that when I do the follow up, it's easy for you to skim through the email understand exactly what this person is reaching out for. So it's not like the life story of like, Yes, I was born and raised in Houston. And and this happened and that happened all all leading me down the road. So talking to you know,

Carl Grant: 8:12

Well, I know you do wake up at 3am I tested it the day after I met you. I texted you 3:30 and he texted me right back. I'm like, oh my gosh. So look, you didn't tell me this, but somebody else you talked to you told me that that your upbringing played a big part in who you are today and how you do things. So how were you challenged growing up and tell me a little bit I know nothing about your upbringing. Except that you I think you said you your family's originally from Nigeria and then you move to Canada, I then you move to Houston. But other than that, I don't know anything about what you learned. But I know you're doing something right. So tell me

Ugochi Owo: 8:51

for sure. I was wondering for Houston, and a town called Sugarland. I did live in Canada for a couple of years on Toronto, before coming back to Texas. But growing up my dad was pretty senior a shell. So he did all like their HR for Shell, Nigeria. And my mom was a pharmacist. And you know, they had a really, really strong work ethic because it came from literally nothing. So for them, they had like strong drive that enabled them to be able to live the lives that they live today. And when raising us, you know, I have four younger siblings, and we're like a family of seven and total five kids, and sold and I'm the oldest and raising all of us. My parents were really really really big on creating something for yourself. So meeting my dad would say like, if we've given you a silver spoon, you need to turn it into gold like this. You guys this house all this, this is my dream. You are living my dream by virtue of being my kids, but you need to create your own path and find your own selves. So as a kid, my dad would drag me to his meetings, and I hated it because when nine year old wants to sit with a bunch of frumpy adults and take notes And it taught me a lot because I got to see him like negotiate in real life and see kind of like that be exposed to that business or from a really early age. But then like growing up, the way that my parents ran, our family was very similar, very unconventional, and super, I'm probably gonna replicate this in the future when I have kids, but my family and my dad would like hold annual New Year's meetings. So my mom and my dad, every New Year's, as long as I can remember, on, you know, January 1 off of the Happy New Year's like in the evening, we all have to get together and put down our plans and our goals, like our resolutions for the year. But the difference between my family and other families is that my dad will hold quarterly quarterly meetings to see how far we were with our goals. So if your goal, for example, was to get like, I don't know, straight A's, but he says this, and you'd say be specific, you'd have to say what percentage you want to get. And then you know, quarter one comes, what are your grades? Like, oh, it's not there, why aren't they there? How are we going to be better for next quarters, that's how my dad would run the family. And my mom will make a sign like contracts, you know, around getting things. So for example, if we wanted to get like a new laptop, or a new TV or anything, we're never really denied of any opportunities growing up, because our parents expose us to so much, but they make us pitch like we'd have to put together like, a presentation around why we want this laptop, or why we want this like new phone or blackberry at the time, or you know, and then we'd have to sign a thing that's like, I'm going to clean my room, I'm going to do this, and my grades aren't going to suck, in order to be able to sustain that. So growing up, I did not get it. But as I got older, I did understand you know why they did that I'm super, super thankful for and thankful for the exposure at such a young age, because it led me to being super disciplined with the way that I live my life. And from getting up in the morning, people think that I just randomly happen to get up at three. But really, my mom woke us up at five every single morning, growing up, so to be able to have family devotions. And so just kind of spend some time together before school and everything and touch base. So our family and the upbringing that I had, and the exposure that I had, from an early age definitely did help to instill in me, a confidence that I find is missing in a lot of entrepreneurs, because you have to be confident about yourself and about your business and knowing who you are, but then also helps you. It helps to put life in perspective for me at an early age. So for me, growing up having been exposed to those environments, I know that I don't get intimidated by people, like ever. And then I also know that, like, even if things seem sticky, or like they're not going to work out, I remember my parents story and how they literally came from nothing. And they knew what it took to be able to have that determination in life that says I'm going to get out of this situation, I'm going to do better for myself, I'm going to do better for my like future generation and everything. And for me, they did all of those things to be able to give me the opportunities and access and everything that I have at this particular point in my life. So why not? You know, why not be greater? So that's kind of how I see it,

Carl Grant: 13:12

You exude confidence. And I knew from the moment I heard you, and then I saw you that you would be successful. And I spotted you, you know, I and you never know, is it? Is it this particular startup, I hope. But if not this, I know you have something right? Like you are somebody that's on my list of rising stars. And I want to be not only do I want to be your friend, I want to be in business with you. I want to be associated with you, because I know you're going places. And so that's exciting. And I don't say that about everybody. I mean, I meet 1000s of people, right? And you know, so it's funny that you tell me the stories about your upbringing. I wasn't quite as regimented as your dad. And maybe I've slacked off as I've gotten five kids as well, you know, but the first one, when he wanted to buy, he wanted to buy a truck. I wasn't really down with the truck. But but but I he needed to borrow some money to do it. So I wrote out a loan document for him and he had to work and make payments. And he started this at a very young age. He started working at the age of 12 at a job, you know, so and then then he he was a hunter and he wanted to own guns, you know, well, if he could own guns, his rules, right. I was an army officer. So we had a standard operating procedure that was based upon what they do in the military. And I'm sure that stuff drove him crazy. But I look at him today. And he is somebody who would do those same things in more probably with his with his kids. So, look, you know, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. And well, I didn't do five in the morning. I didn't do five in the morning. devotionals I did do do my devotionals at dinnertime. So yeah, yeah. Well look, what 15 minutes is flown by with you for a young person who maybe doesn't have all of the you know, not everybody comes from a two parent family that needs it. Five somebody hears this and they say, Well, I want what she has, what advice you have to get, give them, you know, starting from where they are now.

Ugochi Owo: 15:08

Um, what I would tell people is just to believe in yourself, like literally just you have to believe in yourself and you have to believe in something like you need to be confident in what you're doing. And I'm confident in your ability because in this industry, especially people will try to, you know, put you down and make and make you second guess yourself and everything, but if you know who you are, and if you have the confidence and believe in faith that everything will ultimately end up working out even during the sucky moments, like you'll be okay. And if you believe in yourself, because confidence is really the key to everything. And discipline is also really, really important because then you start to send that email and you won't be nervous for that meeting. Because you know, that even if it's not this meeting, that'll work out there's a meeting down the line that'll end up working out so that's what I would tell people just be confident. And you know, email people.

Carl Grant: 16:03

Ugochi Owo, CEO at Flindel, you're an inspiration marker named down, she's going places. Thank you for joining us and Rainmakers. Like what you hear please subscribe. Please rate us and please share us with your friends. Thank you.