Quicklizard helps retailers make pricing decisions every day
Please introduce yourself and Quicklizard to our readers
My name is Pini Mandel. I’m a serial entrepreneur with a background in industrial engineering. The first company I started is still around and has about 150 employees. I launched a second company with Yossi Cohen, who later became my co-founder at Quicklizard. This company was sold to a larger company a few years ago.
Quicklizard is my third company. Quicklizard helps retailers make pricing decisions every day. We have other 200 customers located in 20 different countries, working with online, physical, and omnichannel retailers in a number of verticals.
How did you get the idea for Quicklizard?
I was working with a telecom services provider that was trying to optimize their pricing. The company had lots of different rates, especially with roaming services. There was a lot of complexity in their offering, and I worked with them to develop a way to make pricing decisions. I then realised the potential that this technology had far beyond the telecoms industry.
Why did you proceed to take it from the idea stage and turn it into a business?
As a serial entrepreneur, when I see challenges that companies are facing, I think about solutions. I think this is something I was born with, and something that is common among entrepreneurs. After working with the telecom service provider, I started looking around different verticals and I realized that this was an issue facing companies everywhere. As a guy who loves to solve problems and turn them into businesses, this looked like an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up.
What is the vision behind Quicklizard?
Quicklizard’s vision is to transform the world of pricing from a labor-intensive, repetitive activity done using rule-based Excel spreadsheets to one that is an automated and seamless AI process. We want to change the way pricing is perceived by organizations, and give them the tools that will enable pricing managers to focus on developing effective pricing strategies rather than constantly updating and reviewing spreadsheets. We see ourselves enabling digital transformation in pricing.
How difficult was the beginning of the business and what challenges have you had to overcome?
We definitely had some challenges as we started. When we first launched Quicklizard, it was more of a business intelligence tool, using competitive data as a rule-based solution, but we quickly realized that we were not on the right track.
We changed our focus into the decision-making area of pricing and built a platform that combined artificial intelligence with rules. Our platform uses different sources of information – the operational system, user journey attributes, and competitive data – to deliver pricing recommendations on billions of products every day. That change in focus took us out of a heavily competitive market, which we call the red ocean, and put us into the blue ocean with a unique solution.
Who is your target audience?
We work with a number of different verticals on the B2C side, including grocery stores, electronics companies, and DIY companies. We also work with brands and manufacturers for their direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales.
What is Quicklizard’s USP?
There are a few things that make Quicklizard stand out. Our AI technology is quite powerful, and we’ve opened up our platform for third-party developers. We also offer the fastest implementation on the market today for large and mid-size retailers. To sum it up, I would say it’s our platform’s flexibility and fast implementation that makes our solution unique in the dynamic pricing market.
What does a typical workday look like as CEO of Quicklizard?
My primary focus is on growth for the company, and that has my attention for about 60% of the time every day. I continually look for and push forward, looking for next-level development. The rest of my day is focused on the operational side of running a company, ensuring that there is control and balance across Quicklizard
Where do you see Quicklizard in five years?
I’d expect to see continued growth, where we lead the market with thousands of global customers and satellite offices around the world to support that level of growth. We want our customers to know that we are experts in pricing decision making.
I’d like to see us move into more verticals. Travel, hospitality, and B2B are three areas where we can help customers improve their profitability. Quicklizard is going public in the coming weeks. We believe we have a strong business model in place and aren’t looking to flip the company for a quick exit. Bottom line, I expect to see Quicklizard making pricing decisions for a long time to come.
What three pieces of advice would you share with people who are just starting a company?
There is a legend about a bunch of frogs that were trying to reach the top of the Eiffel tower. One by one the frogs slipped down, but in the end, one made it to the top. At the press conference, the frog was asked how she reached the top when so many others failed. She pointed to her ears and said “Can you speak up? I’m a little deaf.”
I think entrepreneurs need to have some of that deafness, as they listen to their internal voice.
Second, people starting a company need to do take their dream and grow it. It takes a lot of work, focus, and dedication.
Lastly, and I can’t overstate this enough. Find the right partner from day one.
Thank you Pini Mandel for the Interview
Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.
