On the TechTO stage ×1
First seen on the TechTO stage in 2021. Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Neil ↗
In their words
We never took on any outside financing. Everything was bootstrapped 100% within the company, which means today the owners of Geotab are the people that work at Geotab. There's not a single owner outside the company.
In hindsight I would say that we probably made the right decision, because taking on that outside capital would have changed the culture quite drastically.
We choose to say that it's going to be about other companies being successful on top of our platform. If they're not making money, we're not going to make money.
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Quick answers
Who is Neil Cawse?
The founder and CEO of Geotab, the Oakville, Ontario telematics company he started in 2000. He was born in South Africa, studied electrical engineering, and co-founded and ran a Johannesburg software firm, Vircom, before immigrating to Canada with his brothers.
Did Geotab raise venture capital?
No. Cawse told TechTO in June 2021 that Geotab never took outside financing and was bootstrapped entirely, so every shareholder works at the company — he held about 70%, each of his two brothers 9%, with roughly 150 to 200 other employee shareholders.
What did he say about growing slowly?
That his early metric — profit per person rather than profit — kept the company focused but held it back too long. He would keep the discipline and add shareholders sooner, since owning 90% of something much larger beats owning 100% of something small.