“I tell people all the time ‘Be a fellow student in the gate.”’ – Pierre Laguerre
Pierre Laguerre is the Founder and CEO of Fleeting, a marketplace that gives trucking companies access to vetted CDL drivers to operate their trucks. Born and raised in Haiti, he moved to the US with his family when he was 15 and entered the world of logistics and delivery as a college student. After attending Wagner College and New York City College of Technology, Pierre was among the top one percent out of the 4,000 teams that participated in Quake Capital’s Spring Cohort 2019 NYC. He is passionate about maximising opportunities in trucking through access to well-paid employment while creating a path to upwards mobility and career progression.
“Allowing a founder to own a truck where they can make passive income while they’re building their businesses is ideal because we know how tough it is to be an entrepreneur and keep a job” – Pierre Laguerre
In this episode of Breaking Barriers, Building a Hire Ground, Pierre shares his entrepreneurial journey, which began when he saved enough money to buy his own truck and, in turn, bankroll his own staffing agency. He speaks with hosts Cloe-Guidry Reed and Adam Moore about the precarious nature of being a teenage immigrant in a ghetto community, his ambitions to escape, and his idea of trucking as an employment opportunity for members of marginalized communities.
“Allowing a founder to own a truck where they can make passive income while they’re building their businesses is ideal because we know how tough it is to be an entrepreneur and keep a job.” – Pierre Laguerre
Pierre reveals the shame he felt about working as a food delivery driver in his early college days, and how a professor helped him see his graft in a respectable light. He also discusses his vision for Fleeting to be the leader in creating a new ecosystem in the transportation space.
“Which company is going to make the ecosystem a lot more efficient, a lot more friendly, to attract the new talent? I think Fleeting is on track to doing that.” – Pierre Laguerre
Topics discussed in this episode of Breaking Barriers, Building a Hire Ground:
- How Pierre pivoted his medical ambitions to become a logistics expert
- The significant differences between being a truck owner and a truck operator
- How his experience in food delivery provided Pierre with his early business knowledge
- Why it took a professor to help Pierre see the value in his part-time college job
- How personal challenges at home strengthened Pierre’s resolve to make Fleeting a success
- Why starting from the ground up has instilled in Pierre a moral obligation to help his fellow new majority members succeed
- How Fleeting has grown 20% month over month since July 2019
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