Hello Karim, could you introduce yourself in a few words?
My name is Karim Benchaaboun, I am co-founder and CTO of Flowlity, and I’m in charge of the product, research and development.
I have an engineering background in applied mathematics, and before I started this venture, I worked as a machine learning engineer at Criteo. We were doing about 3 to 4 billion personalized display ads every day. so I was working on big scaling and artificial intelligence issues.
If you had to describe your job in 3 words:
- Listening: that’s a big part of my job. I listen and try to understand the needs of customers to find innovative solutions to their challenges
- Innovation: we are fortunate to have very diverse profiles in our research team and this allows us to innovate and find the best possible solution for our customers.
- Diversity: we are a start-up, and I don’t focus on just one task. I get out of my comfort zone. I don’t just do one job, and I have to diversify to have a real impact.
What is your typical day like?
As I manage several teams, I always start my day with the various daily stand-ups: product, research, data, etc.
We talk about the previous day’s activities, what we are going to do that day, and we quickly coordinate ourselves as required.
Aside from these meetings, I always reserve 2 to 3 hours a day to code or review coding by other team members.
I also try to spend time with the project and product teams to improve the various workflows and the overall user experience.
As a co-founder, I also have the chance to work on OKR, finance and strategy, which I really enjoy!
What interaction do you have with customers?
I often do user interviews with end users to understand their needs and the tools they already have in place. Aslso, spend time showing them the application to understand how they will use it and introduce them to new features.
Further, I am involved in the sales cycle, and as CTO, I meet with IT managers to discuss all issues related to security standards, exchange protocols and data integration.
Personally, I find this customer interaction really motivating. It helps avoid any tunnel effect and reminds us who we are working for. Moreover, we can see our impact on a daily basis.
Why Flowlity?
After a few research-oriented experiences, I wanted a job with a more direct impact on the user.
I wanted to work in a sector with data and real challenges, and that’s what I found with the world of supply chain.
I saw it as a business opportunity but also a human opportunity to have a real impact. It’s a sector that hasn’t innovated much in terms of solutions and where interfaces are not yet very user-oriented. Furthermore, the ecological and financial waste and the possibilities for improvement are enormous.
At the very beginning, Jean-Baptiste and I spent 6 months interviewing supply chain professionals to understand their needs. We quickly understood that we had an opportunity to really add value.
