Seasoned Leadership in Action™ – An Interview with Will Chu, CEO at Vector!

Will Chu
Unchaining Change Leadership

At Supply Chain Game Changer we believe in sharing experiences and expertise from people in every industry and from across the globe.  As such we have introduced our “Seasoned Leadership in Action™” Interview series. This interview is with Will Chu, CEO and Co-Founder at Vector.

Tell our readers a little about your background and experience

I, along with my fellow co-founders, enjoy tackling problems at hand, and have been tackling them together since 2009. From 2009 to 2015, in the midst of a national recession, I served as Director, and later VP, of Engineering at Addepar, a wealth management platform. After growing it from an idea on a napkin to more than 300 employees, we decided it was time to take on a new challenge.

In 2015, we saw an opportunity to transform trucking and logistics by removing physical paperwork from the industry, and thus Vector, a contactless pick up and delivery solution for enterprise shippers, carriers, 3PLs and retailers, was born. Last year, when COVID-19 directly impacted the supply chain industry, we kicked our efforts into high gear, joining the Consumer Brands Association’s Contactless Delivery Task Force and building an open standard which, includes electronic bills of lading, driver workflow and mobile capture, in an attempt to keep drivers, dock workers and administration safe.

Our prior experience has taught us to answer to opportunities when industry-wide change is at the forefront.

What are some of your greatest achievements in Business?

When the market crashed in 2008, and millions of Americans lost their jobs, we saw a greater need for wealth management. When the pandemic ravished the nation, we saw a need to keep supply chain employees safe. I’m proud of Vector’s agility and our ability to react to market conditions quickly.

Our team continues to deliver products, shift marketing and sales, take on new customer onboarding challenges and much more while delivering a seamless experience for our customers. For close to 20 years, I have taken every opportunity to better industries where needed. I’m thankful for our employees, business partners, and friends, who have helped in the transformation we’ve all worked so hard to accomplish.

How has Business and Supply Chain changed over the course of your career?

When Vector was founded in 2014, we saw an opportunity to transform the transportation industry by removing physical paperwork from day-to-day driver operations. That vision grew into something bigger; how do we create a paperless supply chain? So now we are digitizing bills of lading as well as the pickup and delivery process.

And while Vector’s goal is still very much the same, the pandemic introduced a new goal: to keep our industry employees safe while maintaining efficiency, visibility, accuracy, timeliness and sustainability. While truck drivers, dock workers and administrative employees have always been an integral part of our industry, it became clear that their safety was now a priority as they loaded, checked-in and delivered loads of essential items to grocery stores and hospitals.

Companies and industry-leaders, who have long seen themselves as competitors, have come together over the last 12 months to create a stronger, more reliable supply chain.

What are some of the lessons you learned in your career that you would like to share for others to learn from?

  • Hire super talented people to fill in areas of expertise which you do not have. You can’t do it all so you need to have a reliable and accountable team that can take ownership, drive the initiative and analyze the results.
  • Create a culture that allows people to to work autonomously, be creative, take chances and even fail. 
  • If you’re solving a problem in which you are not an SME (Subject Matter Expert), talk to as many customers and prospects as possible, sell it before you build it. 

What challenges facing the world are important to you?

The simple goal of getting the things that people need to where they need to go is a vital component of our global economy. It is also a complex challenge that many people don’t think about until it stops working! It’s important to me to continue to try to improve this system, making the supply chain more resilient. 

What is the role of Business, Supply Chain, and Change Leadership in addressing these challenges?

Our role as leaders in the industry is to keep looking forward. We need to anticipate future needs and create processes and technology that are flexible and easily evolve overtime, making it easier for systems to adapt under pressure when unpredictable events occur. 

What are you working on these days?

Most recently, Vector has been working closely with the Consumer Brands Association as a member of the Contactless Delivery Task Force. As the pandemic swept the nation, Vector, CPG companies and some of the industry’s top supply chain partners, recognized a need for contactless pick-up and delivery protocols in the industry.

In the last year, we have been developing an end-to-end contactless pick-up and delivery pilot program to foster better understanding of the data and process standards needed to encourage industry-wide adoption at scale.

What advice would you give to people who have a career in, or who are considering joining, Business and/or Supply Chain?

The average person experiences 5-7 career changes in their lifetime. A lot of this can be avoided much earlier if people started with the end in mind. If you want to be a CFO of a technology company then speak with as many tech CFOs as possible to get a good sense of their career path.

If you want to be a VP of Supply Chain in a retail company, then speak with as many VPs of Supply Chain as possible. Once you have a good sense of what is involved in each career path then start getting experience in the industry which seems most appealing to you.

The more that you can figure out what you like vs. don’t like during internships in high school and college, will better prepare you for the real world as well as provide more meaning to the work you do in the classroom. 

How can people contact you at Vector?

Our team is always reachable via [email protected] or by calling (855) 442-5623. As for me, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn.

Originally published on April 13, 2021.