EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH
Gowtham Prabakaran
Founder & Managing Partner
CompxZero

We as VictoryTales, with our long & arduous search for bringing more and more meaningful and inspiring stories from around the world, this time introducing Gowtham Prabakaran, Founder & Managing Partner at CompxZero.
Born & grown in a small Tamil Speaking family, Gowtham is providing an end-to-end Logistic service for its customers. Gowtham also believes that people often use logistics and distribution synonymously, but these two terms have considerable differences in the supply chain industry. While the two are both necessary for moving goods or products, they both provide different functions in the supply chain management process. For instance, logistics focuses on creating a strategic plan for moving goods, while distribution executes the transportation of such goods using thoughtful strategies.

Know more About
CompxZero
CompxZero Logistics and Distribution is a recently established fast-growing logistic company that is a one-stop hub for the smooth flow of logistics at reasonable rates. Founded by Gowtham P, a Thanjavur-born entrepreneur who did engineering in Mechanical and Post-Graduate Diploma in Management from Vanguard Business School. CompxZero is providing end-to-end logistic services with its objective to provide safe & secure Logistics for the supply chain.

Our exclusive interview with
Gowtham Prabakaran
Tell us a little about your organization and your organization’s journey so far;
CompxZero Logistics and Distribution, founded in 2022, is one of the fastest-growing end-to-end logistics companies. CompxZero provides customized logistics solutions for the entire supply chain. Our company has the capacity, skill sets, and manpower to keep your business moving forward. CompxZero is a one-stop hub for the smooth flow of logistics supply. Since its founding date, we are growing reasonably well and I’m confident with the strong team and aligned goals to achieve within a short span. We will progress onto the next stage from here with our planned strategies. We are also planning to expand our business to new geographies with new strategies.
Tell us a little bit about yourself (background) and your journey as an entrepreneur, please;
Born & brought up in a Tamil Speaking family of Thanjavur (Tamil Nadu). I did my schooling at Morning Star Matric School and completed a bachelor's in mechanical engineering. Also did Post- Graduate Diploma in Management from Vanguard Business School. From my school days onwards, I started dreaming about entrepreneurship and worked to establish my own company to fulfill my dream which I took since School days. The most motivating factor to me comes from the people who are around me and I feel they are the ones who encourage me to achieve my dream project.
What do you enjoy most about being an entrepreneur?
I feel the enjoyment of life entailed the ability to enjoy one's social life and included being sufficiently wealthy, learning new things, and participating in social groups. As an entrepreneur, we can enjoy every second and the most important thing is that, if you are an entrepreneur, you might be a role model for your friends, employees, and your vendors. Your success serves as a big motivation and inspiration for the people around you. I believe that It’s better to be a job giver than a job seeker in this current era. I feel I will achieve my dream project to establish myself at par with the industries operating in this field of Logistics & Distribution which will give me inner enjoyment in my life.
What do you find most challenging about being an entrepreneur?
The most challenging about being an entrepreneur is decision-making at right time and working for taking the company to next level. We must lead the team engaged in our company for its betterment. we must think out of the box and have to take the right decisions at the right time.
During this COVID-19 crisis, what are the measures you have undertaken to continue your business without disruption?
As a responsible citizens of India, we followed Covid 19 behaviors as laid down to safeguard from a most deadly disease, and during the covid-19 crisis, we were in the research & planning stage. So, we were researching and observing the market demands and problem statements that we thought to implement in our business and make as our USP (unique selling point) and strategies.
What have been your most significant failures, and what did you learn from them?
A few days back we were about to sign the Europe project, but unfortunately, we were not able to get that deal, so I personally consider that a big failure for us. We understand our mistakes and will keep working on them for betterment in the future. Definitely, we are hoping that the deal would be finalized in a month or less. Learning from failures must be the first step to success and I believe failures come in the way of successes and we should overcome all the obstacles which come in the way of success.
What makes an entrepreneur successful?
I personally feel that risk-taking abilities and a learning mindset make an entrepreneur successful. An entrepreneur should not blindly take risks. He should be able to take calculative risks and be cautious about the worst-case scenario also, as the decision will not only impact the business, but also the employees who are dependent on the business, brand, vendors, and many stakeholders.
In your opinion, what is the importance of a good team?
Teams are formed when individuals with a common taste, preference, liking, and attitude come and work together for a common goal. Teams play an important role in organizations as well as in our personal lives. A good team helps in making the company grow strong. I feel that without a good team, there is no growth at all. The best team helps in winning the competition. I always hope that, if you have a good team, you can get success in any field. We always need the right people with us not the best one
How do you plan for your business's future?
Regarding future of Business, I would like to apprise that as of now we are running in five branches with 50+ employees. We are planning to expand our business to the country like Germany, U.S, Canada, the U.K..etc shortly.
What do you look for when building a team?
From clear expectations to appropriate methods for collaboration and communication, you can create a successful team. One of the first steps is to hire the highest-ranking member of the team first. You want this person to help you put together the right group of people and build an appropriate culture. We strongly believe that each human being is unique. So, we never see their Grades or qualification. The most expected thing is his willingness to put in his/her hard work.
How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
When I am stressed or under pressure, I start thinking about why I must do this and also about the people who support and trust us, then I get self-motivated. As an entrepreneur, I faced lots of challenges, stress, pressure, and worst situations every now and then. One thing that keeps me moving forward is an honest conversation with my employees. I shamelessly discuss the situation to find the right solution and work towards resolving the same. society keeps on demotivating and tells many things.
We should never listen to them. listen to your gut feeling and then implement actions rather than discussing with the people outside who are not well-wishers.
What do you consider non-negotiable in your business?
I would consider the hard work should be non-negotiable, because if one works hard and the other doesn’t work hard in a team, then there is no point in the first person who is working hard putting his 100% hard work into the work. So, I would say that hard work should be done by everyone in the team/company and the same is non-negotiable in every business.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
In order to succeed, there are several factors, such as luck, talent, failure, loss, hope, and most importantly, you should trust your process and remain loyal to it. From my point of view, anyone can succeed, it might take a small delay, but if you are persistent and consistent in working towards your goals, you will be successful and that is the key to success.
What is one strategy that you believe has helped you grow as a person/startup?
There are few, not one strategy that I believe has helped me grow as a start-up.
Being humble, punctuality, decision making, trust, and loyalty are the four pillars that I believe have helped. Besides this, one should trust your process and be loyal to the people who are around you. These are very important factors that helped me to achieve success.
Who do you look toward for advice?
Whenever decision-making is required, I would travel somewhere without a destination. During the travel, I think from all the corners then I take advice from myself. So I don’t look for advice from someone but I work for my internal conscious to give me the right path in the given situation.
How do you define success as an entrepreneur?
There is no specific definition of success. Treating success should not be as a destination. But it should rather be treated as a journey and try to update/ innovate from that success point. Otherwise, after the success, there are chances we might get obsolete. And treating failure as a learning.
What are the three most important lessons you have learned while building your start-up?
Building networks, treating failure as learning, and Punctuality are the three important lessons for building my start-up, I believe the most important is the importance of punctuality. In my opinion, if you follow punctuality and time management, you can easily surpass 50% of the people in the world. I heard people say that hard work beats talent. It is true for me. If you work hard, you will get success in that area, and later you will see how to do it smartly.
What goals are you still working towards achieving the desired goal?
We wanted to expand globally and would like to establish our company in each and every country, and I should create job opportunities for at least 0.1 % of the Indian population. These are some of our goals and we are working towards them which I am sure to achieve.
What advice would you give to someone starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur?
I always say to people that, if you have something in your mind start implementing it. We can’t learn cycling by imagining, it is always very difficult to keep the first step. Once you stepped into the field later everything will favor you if you are willing to do hard work. Self-talk will transform your entire life and be clear about where you want to go. Never take criticism to heart but take them to mind. If it’s genuine and constructive, rework your plan but if it’s not genuine and if they just criticize for the sake of it then just ignore it.
