Today we’d like to introduce you to John Harlan.
Thanks for sharing your story with us John. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
CrateBind was started because the other co-founder and I had a skillset that was helpful to other companies. At the time, we were winding down our previous venture, a grocery delivery business, and we were looking for the next thing to jump into. A friend of ours reached out with a technology problem that we were able to solve, so we did. The business snowballed from there. We went from 2 to 20 people in about 2 years, simply by helping people solve their technology problems and create new platforms.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has been a fairly smooth road. Finding the right people is definitely the biggest challenge. You hear a lot of entrepreneurs talk about the importance of “getting the right people on the bus.” I would agree with that and add that once they are on the bus, you have to learn to let go and share the responsibility of the business in order to grow. That has been difficult.
CrateBind, LLC – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We build people’s ideas. More specifically, we build custom software/apps for companies. We have worked with numerous startups to help them define and build their MVP, but have also worked with publicly-traded companies to build mobile apps and automation software. We care a lot about our clients and about the products that we build. We truly consult with our clients, take their products on as our own and do everything we can to help make the right decisions to be successful.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
To me, success is defined by accomplishing a goal. Obviously, first you have to set goals and setting goals can be hard. If you really sit down and try to define personal goals, it is difficult. We have things we want, but most of us don’t clearly define a goal. Many entrepreneurs, myself included, have a hard time setting goals for their businesses. From a business perspective, most of the time I feel like I am trying to hit a moving target, meaning the goal is constantly changing. All that being said, I have some firmly rooted goals that I do stick to which are: to love and serve our employees and make CrateBind a great place for them to be and grow, to serve our clients well and to try and have fun as a team.
Contact Info:
- Address: 10440 N Central Expy #1520
Dallas, TX 75231 - Website: cratebind.com
- Email: info@cratebind.com
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6ZXk164KjY
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