The Future Is Now: Justin Zealand Of Uproad On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up The Tech Scene
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Don’t expect everyone to agree your idea is great. We are a small, agile part of a larger company. There were voices from within the organization that expressed why we might fail. It is healthy to consider these concerns and just as healthy to use these challenges as motivation to overcome them. It’s best to respond with results.
As a part of our series about cutting edge technological breakthroughs, I had the pleasure of interviewing Justin Zealand.
Justin Zealand is the head of technology at Uproad, a tech company focused on transportation solutions. He has more than two decades of experience in programming and architecture, spanning a variety of native mobile apps, Web products, and Internet/SOA services. Justin has served in project management in various industries, including transportation, retail, e-commerce and lifestyle apps at companies ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies. At Uproad, he manages engineering teams in the development and operations of the company’s native iOS, Android, CRM and native AWS cloud-based API platforms.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I am one of those curious programmer types who came to engineering through a classical education in Music. Who could pass up the opportunity to attend college with an out-of-state scholarship to play drums? However, with a master’s degree in hand, it made sense to pivot to a career path in my other passion, technology. It meant, however, an intensive catch-up of self-study and the hands-on opportunities that thankfully the dotcom revolution provided. I also had many mentors to map my way, which proved invaluable. Likewise, it was vital to be in an environment conducive to such hands-on experiences and mentorship that Silicon Valley provided.
Another curious element in my development was related to my parents, who ran a psychology practice. I credit them for instilling in me the benefits of emotional intelligence necessary in effective people management. These soft skills are often lacking in the more formal educational and vocational paths. This diverse background ultimately made the transition to management/leadership a natural evolution of my talents in programming. I was used to creative problem solving and the benefits of teamwork. I strongly believe that hard work pays off, that to be successful, you must be fueled by passion and value lifelong learning.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
Of the more interesting challenges I have faced in my career is the opportunity to manage overseas teams. While the march toward globalization has arguably changed the expectations of a career in technology management, it was a bit surreal to pack a bag for the climates of both Buenos Aires and Belarus on the same trip. I always loved travel but came to appreciate that business travel is a unique type of travel. It’s an opportunity to create many memories and indulge in the exciting stories of people, places and cuisine. Furthermore, international travel is great for innovative thinking as it provides the opportunity to step out of your comfort zone and gives time for contemplation. And an added bonus is that speaking regularly with people whose native language isn’t English helps me to refine my communication skills overall.
Can you tell us about the cutting edge technological breakthroughs that you are working on? How do you think that will help people?
As a mobile-first application for tolling management, Uproad is fundamentally ahead of its time, both with consumers and the tolling agencies we partner with. It is a significant piece of the digital disruption and transformation in our industry. Much education is needed on all fronts, thanks to this being a newer product offering in the tolling space.
We help people by meeting the expectations of a mobile world in experiences from toll account management to customer service. We also built a state-of-the-art back office to support our app development. It allows us to provide real-time notifications of toll activity nationwide. Taking a note from Apple, it’s good to control as much of the stack as possible if you need to innovate quickly.
How do you think this might change the world?
While Uproad is revolutionary to our industry, it is part of a larger evolutionary process of digital technology transforming the world. Uproad has moved quickly to be a market leader in our sector and to be out in front of these trends. The biggest challenge we face is the expectations and agility of the industry, which is as much mindset as it is execution.
Keeping “Black Mirror” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?
Hopefully, we are a long way away from a storyline for a Black Mirror episode, but one area to be sensitive to is location tracking. While it’s optional to give Uproad permission to location, we provide the best customer experience when users trust us with this sensitive information. We have worked hard to ensure that location information is kept on the device and only tracked when close to a toll gantry location, etc. Still, there is naturally a significant population of users for whom such requests are a quick “no’’ across the board. We have to win our users’ trust, and that is definitely in society’s best interest.
Was there a “tipping point” that led you to this breakthrough? Can you tell us that story?
The biggest tipping point in Uproad’s technology platform was during the innovation of real-time tolling notifications. There were many reasons to suggest why this wouldn’t work initially. The tipping point came after many months of development, at a point in time where our results were less than satisfactory. I brought our engineering leads together in Vienna for a summit. I asked the team to identify why the technology we were building was not going to work. We filled up two sides of a whiteboard! After a lengthy break, I brought the team back to challenge each item. By allowing the engineers room to offload their concerns surrounding challenges, I refocused the team on solutions. After much-spirited debate, we crossed off most concerns. Of the remaining challenges, we identified mitigation strategies. The entire process reset the expectations of what success looked like and aligned both engineering and leadership around this vision. Just weeks later, we had a market-ready product.
What do you need to lead this technology to widespread adoption?
Uproad brings value to both consumers and tolling agencies. Like anything new to the market, there is a substantial amount of education that must take place. We’ve worked hard for our product to “just work,” keeping it as simple as possible to use. It is important, however, to understand certain aspects due to the nature of tolling. For example, although we can alert a user in real-time that they passed a toll, it can be confusing that payment might settle with the toll agencies a few days out. And for the agencies we want to partner with, we need to bring them up to speed on the cost savings our solution provides so they’ll give us the green light and prioritize our integration.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why. (Please share a story or example for each.)
- Don’t expect everyone to agree your idea is great. We are a small, agile part of a larger company. There were voices from within the organization that expressed why we might fail. It is healthy to consider these concerns and just as healthy to use these challenges as motivation to overcome them. It’s best to respond with results.
- The startups I have worked with that did not succeed did not fail because of technology. While engineering is vital to get right, so much of the success of a product comes from areas of execution outside of technology. Because a product needs to be built before being marketed, it’s natural to obsess on just the tech stack. But engineers should also consider market fit and product marketing strategies as input to how to build.
- Don’t be afraid to change your mind when the data suggests you got it wrong. Innovation is a balance between vision and execution. The startup “pivot” is a typical experience, but pivoting is costly and complex, no matter when it happens. Seek to evolve your product rather than reinvent it.
- Strive to be a servant leader. Company culture starts top-down but works best when focused on bottom-up. Treat your team with the same respect you expect from them.
- Always commit to adding value. It’s easy to come unhinged from this mooring, especially after a product is launched and the team to operate and support it grows. When making decisions based on time, energy, and budget, it’s never a bad idea to consider the options through the basic lens of what adds the most value.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Going back away, the senior yearbook quote I chose was “Everything in moderation, including moderation” (attributed variously to Oscar Wilde, Horace Porter, and Petronius). Back then, it was probably a clever excuse to go to a party. However, it has stuck with me. These days, I pay more attention to the first part of the quote, as it speaks to a life in balance. Meanwhile, the second phrase speaks to the value of occasionally taking risks. Everything meaningful in my life had an element of risk to overcome.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
https://www.facebook.com/UproadApp/
https://www.instagram.com/uproadapp/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/uproad-app
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
The Future Is Now: Justin Zealand Of Uproad On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up The… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
