An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
‘Don’t trust all the advice’. When we started to pivot into retail from the restaurant industry, everyone advised us not to. Had we listened to people, we would not be where we are today. Some other best words are: take risks, trust your instincts, It’s your journey so take ownership and don’t share too much!
As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Olivier Roy.
Olivier Roy is Co-Founder and CEO of Leav. After working with a number of organizations in Canada and abroad, he combined his passion for technology with his experience in marketing, and created Leav, a solution to a problem faced by most in-person shoppers: long retail lineups.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
My entrepreneurial journey began at age 16 when I was started a video production company with a friend. We spent three years traveling across the globe directing commercials and building our client roster. I then went on to work with a Montreal-based technology firm, and that is where I developed a passion for tech. Just before starting Leav, I had the opportunity to work in video production once again, this time for the Quebec government and foreign nations, with my high school friend Evgeny Grachev.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
We created Leav, a revolutionary tech solution that offers a comprehensive mobile shopping platform giving customers the ability to manage their purchases in-store by simply scanning a QR code. It takes five seconds to checkout with Leav as compared to an average of five minutes with the traditional method, making the experience 10x faster.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Making mistakes and learning from them is a part of any and every entrepreneurial journey, especially in the initial phase. An example of a funny story was when we opened our first store in Montreal. We ordered very expensive tech products from a vendor without researching them. We realized that all of the products were extremely overpriced after having committed to buying them. While we saw the light side of our mistake, it came a huge cost and had we done more research, we could have saved a lot of money!
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
We have had many mentors who have helped us in some way or another along the journey but there are two that stand out: Charles Sylvestre — He was our first advisor and has been guiding us from the get-go. We discuss every critical decision with him, from plan of action, how to maximize cashflow and minimize expenses, how to raise funds etc. In fact, we still have a weekly call with him to seek his advice as to where we should focus our energy and next steps. The other mentor that deserves a special shoutout is Carl Boutet. He is a retail expert who was really amazed by the Leav technology we developed. He gave us great insights into the retail industry, connected us with more retailers, and informed us about the existing technology in the market and a great deal of other support.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
Disrupting an industry with a revolutionary idea which opens doors for a conversation is always good but we need to be thoughtful about the impact it will have on the said industry. Sometimes it might not be in lines with our expectations and the specific industry we are targeting might not be ready for it. We always need to think what we are doing, if we are taking the right approach towards it and if it is solving a current need. In our case, we are working towards a very critical pain point of in-store shoppers today — checkout lines. But had we done this 7–8 years back, it would have been too soon for this kind of technology and at that time, it would not have been relevant and ‘positive’.
Can you share five of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
‘Don’t trust all the advice’. When we started to pivot into retail from the restaurant industry, everyone advised us not to. Had we listened to people, we would not be where we are today. Some other best words are: take risks, trust your instincts, It’s your journey so take ownership and don’t share too much!
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
Leav will revolutionize the landscape of in-store shopping by providing an extremely smooth Phygital experience!
Do you have a book, podcast, or talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us? Can you explain why it was so resonant with you?
I mostly listen to retail podcasts. Feel free to reach out if you want my top list! For books, I would recommend Zero to One by Peter Thiel. Other than that, I simply follow investors and industry influencers on LinkedIn and Twitter!
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Just do it — Nike
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
From personal experience, I never went to school. So, if you’re someone who feels that you want to do something of your own, do it! Create your own job and make sure to put your heart and soul into it. Even if you want to be a good student, do it part-time. It’s the best way to learn in life.You are going to fail multiple times but when you succeed, you’ll be a better version of yourself.
How can our readers follow you online?
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivieraroy/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisIsOlivierR
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Meet The Disruptors: Olivier Roy Of Leav On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
