April 30, 2025 • 31 mins
Who really succeeds in a changing freight market environment? Find out by listening to Harish Abbott’s journey in logistics!
Harish explains the impact of innovation and adaptability in the industry’s unpredictability, how AI tools transform operational efficiency and enable small businesses to scale without excessive headcount increases, and highlights persistence and learning from failures as crucial aspects of entrepreneurial success!
About Harish Abbott
Harish Abbott is the Co-Founder and CEO of Augment, an AI-driven logistics platform transforming freight operations. In 2025, Augment secured $25 million in seed funding led by 8VC to develop its flagship product.
Prior to launching Augment, Harish co-founded Deliverr, a fast-growing e-commerce fulfillment platform acquired by Shopify for $2.1 billion in 2022. His career includes pivotal roles at Amazon, where he contributed to building global fulfillment infrastructure.
Harish holds degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Connect with Harish
- Website: https://www.goaugment.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/habbott/
- X (Twitter): https://x.com/habbott
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Came back with a bank window down yelling now money Got the foot on the gas pedal to the metal when I'm getting to the back hey. Got the foot on the gas pedal to the metal when the lane moving fast hey Let them all cross if they hate then let them made them make a bigger balls hey.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
What is up ladies and gentlemen? We are back. We are live. It is the Freight Coach podcast, the top podcast in transportation coming to you guys every single weekday, 8:30am Pacific, 10:30 Central to break down some industry headlines. But most importantly, you guys provide some actual insight into what you can do with all of this information. If this is your first time tuning in, welcome. This is the real side of freight, ladies and gentlemen. And I say that before every single show. And what I mean by that is I only speak with transportation professionals because at the end of the day, you guys, I, I want to talk to the right individuals who have done what you're looking to do or who are currently doing what you're trying to achieve.
(00:59):
So you can take that information, apply it, utilize it, and see a meaningful difference in your business and your life. Happy Wednesday, everybody. I got a very special guest for you guys here today. I'm going to bring him up here in a second. But just another little reminder, you guys, we dropped our weekly newsletter today and as always, I don't sell out my contact list. So if you want to get in on it, I need you to go to my website, thefraycoach.com it will auto prompt you to register for it again. We only talk transportation inside of there, you guys. We talk diesel prices, rates, everything. It's inside of it@the freightcoach.com though, so check that one out. But you guys, my guest today.
(01:37):
I'm really looking forward to this conversation because I get to blend two worlds that I'm very passionate about entrepreneurship and technology. And it's one of those things where you need to balance out both. And this guy has built, he's been, he's built companies out there. He's building something very special out there right now. So I have the co founder of Augment, Mr. Harish Abbott, on the show today. Harish, thank you so much for joining me.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Hey, thank you for having me excited.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
No, I'm looking forward to it. Right? It's not every day you get a guy that comes on your show who's, you know, worked at, you know, one of the largest companies that's out there who's had a very successful public exit as well. And now you're on to your next thing here, man. So, Harish, just give a little background here. How'd you get your start in transportation? What brought you into the industry?
Speaker 3 (02:26):
You know, I'm an engineer by training and I was just very fortunate to join Amazon in early days when sort of Amazon mostly sold books and was like the tagline was its biggest bookstore. So kind of like dating myself here a little bit for most people of your, you know, at your show. And then I, you know, I just got stumbled into their logistics fulfillment division and just fell in love with it. Just the complexity and you know, of the physical word and you know, as like, hey, as an engineer, like, hey, we will go solve everything. And then you start to realize like, wow, this physical world is full of exceptions. There's so much complexity. It's almost like an unsolvable problem. You know, the thing I tell, you know, I was like, I'm like perpetually humbled by the complexity of logistics.
(03:15):
You know, I've been in it for 20 years, fortunately, because I started off at Amazon and I have built several businesses and you know, to this date, even today, like, you know, this is. The complexity humbles you know.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Yeah, no, it's true. Right. But like to me that's what I love about this industry. Harish, is, is there's no two days that are ever the same. And like my ADD brain can't do repetitive similar tasks day in and day out. Right. Like, I just, I'm just not wired like that. I need change and then side of my world and like open deck and heavy haul and stuff. Right. Every piece is different out there. Very rarely are you moving the exact same stuff day in and day out. And so it's like for me, it's just like I love it because it keeps me on my toes about a lot of things. And I, yeah, again, I, I couldn't do boring and repetitive mundane tasks every single day. More power to those people out there who can. I just, I'm not wired that way. Right.
(04:11):
Like, I need action day in and day out.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Yeah, well, freight has, is full of it though. I think you call yourself the right industry.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
No, Definitely. So, you know, what was it? This is just more of like an entrepreneur question. I always love asking people this. What was it that made you go out on your own and start your first business? Was it, you know, the, you thought you could do it better or you saw that there was an avenue that you wanted to explore? What was that?
Speaker 3 (04:39):
I mean, I think it was, I would say, identifying some problems, just feeling very passionate about those problems and you know, seeing that, you know, big companies with all their might are just not fast movers and there's an opportunity for, you know, entrepreneurs to like go and attack, you know, a problem and if you're more obsessed about it, you could solve it better and in that journey, like end up building something meaningful that will, you know, help lots of businesses, also create wealth for lots of people. I think that's sort of, I would say like the main thing is just getting falling in love with the problem and knowing that maybe you are more uniquely positioned to solve it than most other people.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
So kind of for where you are right now and you know, you founded multiple things at this point and you know, there's a lot of young founders that are out there and I'm going to include myself in that as well. What is something that you wish you would have focused on sooner in your journey? Is it like, hey, the problem, focus on the solution of that more than anything? Kind of like, has there been anything that has stood out to you where it's like, hey, if I could go back, this is what I would have done differently early in the early days of some of my early startups.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Yeah, I would say, I think the like, yeah, if I were to give advice to my 20 year old self, I would say stay obsessed with the problem and don't leave it until you solve the 10x better than status quo. Like 2x does not matter, 3x does not matter. Like 10x matters, which means you have to stay obsessed and staying with it. And I think the company building thing for young entrepreneurs, including myself, is very distracting. You know, you're hiring new people, you've sometimes never managed them, and then you start to spend a lot of your time managing people which may not be your core competency. Then you add investors, they add different kinds of pressure on you about like revenues and margins right away.
(06:44):
And in all of that, sometimes you start to look like, hey, the main thing is the main thing which is the problem. And are you solving for that problem 10x better so your customers are delighted, you know, and I would say like, just take all the noise away because the only thing that matters for a young company is are you finding the right problem? Are you solving it 10x better than status quo? And if you're doing that and you're obsessed by it, everything else follows. Investors follow great employees, want to join this mission, follow, you know, customers follow Revenues follow, margins for everything follows. But if you sort of didn't get that foundation right, then, you know, things start to fall apart a little bit, you know, and then you start to spend time on almost everything else.
(07:36):
Oh, let me just go fix my management style or let me go fix my, you know, maybe issues with my investors, maybe, you know, but the core of it is like, hey, the foundation is, are you solving for something better than anyone else? Are you solve, are you having customer delight? You know?
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
I think that clarity of mind is probably what I would tell my junior self and hopefully some young entrepreneurs who say, like, just, just keep it simple.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Yeah, I, you know, it is, I am in 100% agreement with you there. Right. And you know, I just crossed the five year mark of being self employed and I. One thing that I've come to realize is like it's not going to happen fast. And you know, it's like, because you like, you want all of this early success, you want everything to work out, but to your point there, focus on what problem you're solving and then, you know, focus on the value that you're adding to others and that everything else will come with that.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Right.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
And then for me, one thing that's been really profound here as of late is like, I just focus on my tasks of the day. Harish. Like, I am not concerned about Thursday or Friday. I am literally only concerned about what is on my plate today and that's it. And then that has been very freeing for me because like, I would always think like, oh, what about next week? What about next month? What about. And it's like, well, if you don't accomplish what you're setting out to accomplish today, everything else is irrelevant at that point.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Yeah. You know, and I think like, I also learned over time and I'm still learning this, you know, like, as entrepreneurs, you get so many problems thrown at you and there are problems in two buckets. You know, one bucket is like things you can control.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
And then there are things that you cannot control. Right. Or like maybe economy or you know, like some extenuating circumstance. Like, hey, one of my, some truck broke down. Okay, we can control it. We have to still deal with it. We can, I think, figuring out like, hey, let's obsess about the things that we control. Right. And deal with the things we don't control. But don't obsess about it. Don't spend too much time on it. You know, it's like to your point, like, let me focus on the Task for today, let's not spend any ounce of energy for like, oh, what's not. Because if you don't focus on what's today, there is no tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yeah. And that's, you know, for me, it's one of those things that I, you know, it helps me out a lot because, you know, bad things are going to happen and it's perceived bad in the moment. But, you know, I just put a post out there this morning about this. All of those lessons that I have learned, you know, like I've been sued, I've been hosed out of, you know, tens of thousands of dollars from in receivables, from customers in the moment. I never thought I was going to recover. But now, hindsight, looking back, I'm like, those were the best things to happen to me because it made me a better operator, it made me more aware of my surroundings and like, I got to protect this asset. Right.
(10:39):
Just like Augment is an asset for you, my business is an asset for me, and I got to protect it at all costs because nobody else is going to do that for me.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Yeah, that's right. Yeah. And I think taking, you know, that's an interesting point. Like taking, you know, learnings and failures in strike to get better. You know, like learning from it and saying, oh, okay, this failed. You can, we can obsess about it and lose lots of sleep over it, or we can learn and move on, you know, and I think over time I've learned, like, hey, learn and move on. Right.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
So no, I'm, I'm right there with you. And you know, and I think it's also comes with the realization that the longer you're in it, the more you realize that one thing is not going to be a fatal death blow to your business. It's usually death by a thousand cuts. You know, where it's like you just overlook everything and then you've eventually bled out. But very rarely is one issue to make you lose everything at that point.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Yeah, yeah. Like a friend of mine, you know, he always says, like, as entrepreneurs, the longer you are in it, the one thing you realize is that things are not as good and things are not as bad as they are made out to be.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah, very true. That, that's very true. And you know, so like, with that being said though, you know, your new venture here, Augment, you know, obviously AI there, it's all over everything right now. What made you, what was it about this service that you saw as an opportunity that you were like Hey, I want to go in there, I'm going to do this better than everybody else.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Yeah, I mean I think there's a few things. One is, you know, being intimately familiar with this industry, you know, having spent so much time, I mean one thing I've learned is that the operators in this industry, whether you are a rep on ARAP person or a demand side broker or a dispatcher, I mean you're overwhelmed with just the amount of emails and phone calls and texts and Telegram and WhatsApp that is on your table, right? You come in at nine and it's like jam packed, you know, with hundreds of emails. You're looking at it and you're never really getting time to like get your head above and saying, oh, like to do more creative work, right? And I think AI was this moment for me in saying how, huh, we can truly help these operators, you know, do what?
(12:55):
Like do some creative work, do work like relationship building, do work like negotiations really lean into extenuating circumstances when a truck breaks down or the scheduling appointment just got missed, you know, and provide better service to their customers and let AI do all the tedious work, you know, giving a status update to somebody, uploading a document, getting a bill of lading, getting an invoice, checking a proof of delivery, you know, running an ARAP cycle for one of my customers or carriers, right? Onboarding a carrier, taking all the bits, all the tedious work so that people can, all the operators can then now say, okay, I've now got time in my day, right? And I can now do creative work, I can do value added work, right?
(13:43):
And I think if you do that, we would not only make the lives of the operators really good, actually make the industry better, right? Like this industry is so crucial. Like you know, this like every day like America runs on freight. You know, there's three and a half million trucks running in America every single day. And if some of them stop, bad stuff happens, it's so crucial, it's so large, it's like a trillion dollar industry in America. But you know, the service levels, the I would say the nps, you know, NET promoter score in this industry is not very high because we are just overburdening. I think the operators with amount of tedious work.
(14:21):
And AI is sort of the first time like oh, we can give everybody a teammate, we can give everybody an AI assistant that wish they had like a intern or an assistant that they can hand over all this complex work. So now they can focus on value added work, you know, and I thought like, oh, that's an interesting work. If you do that, we can, like, not only help the operators, we can help the industry overall just get it to better service levels, better nps, low wastage, you know, all of that stuff.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Yeah, I, you know, as an operator, as somebody who cold calls shippers manufacturers every single day, as somebody who moves freight every single day, you, everything you're describing right now, Harish, is like one of my bigger hurdles throughout my day. Right. And then especially in the bootstrap startup world, contrary to what you see on the Internet, it's a very fragile stage early on because you need to do 10 times the work with less resources than everybody else. And you know, for me, it's like, how do I do more with less? That's what I am constantly thinking about. How do I reach out to more prospects every single day, how do I move freight every day?
(15:29):
How do I just do more with my time to where I can maximize these eight hours that, you know, that we have eight, 10 hours, whatever you want to say. And that's where it's like, I think from my perspective, this is where tools like yours are very beneficial for, you know, businesses of any sizes. But like, I look out at like the smaller companies because that's where I'm at right now. And I see this and I'm like, man, this is going to help us because it's like it's only a matter of time before we land that shipper that's moving 20, 25 loads a day. And it's just that one shipper who's doing it.
(16:00):
And then we have all of our other customers that we're working with that still need to be serviced and we're not in a position to turn away revenue and we might not be able to turn on a new employee within the next 30 days. And we have to capture this stuff. Right? So it's like for me, this is that kind of that great separator that is now at your disposal where businesses of any sizes can now pack a larger punch that's out there. But then most importantly though, improve accuracy. Right? And, and that's where it's like for me, because I, as a broker, I need to deliver consistency to my customers, consistent pricing, consistent communication to my carriers. Same thing. Consistent communication, consistent pricing. I need to deliver that every single time without fail.
(16:44):
And then in a market that is competitive as it is out there right now, you can't miss, like, you cannot miss one thing right now. Otherwise there is 50 other people calling your customer literally this second, waiting for you to not be able to do that.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Exactly, exactly. I mean, I think the thing you raised is this accuracy piece. I call it service. Like, you want to deliver this exceptional service, you know, and then you want to be available if there was an extenuating circumstance, right? Like if a truck broke down or somebody had, you know, an issue on the road or an appointment was missed. Like, those are the times where you really shine for your customer. Like, okay, I now have cycles to lean into that. And when I lean into that, I'm not worried that my emails are not getting answered, my phone's not getting answered, I'm still not booking fit. Well, that's still happening because you've got like an AI assistant or a teammate that's doing that for you. But listen, like, your judgment is what's unique, right?
(17:47):
No AI is going to lean in and to say, like, oh, let me resolve this truck breakdown issue, you know, I know how can. No, that's where you're so uniquely positioned. But listen, is sending somebody a bill of lading, collecting a proof of delivery, taking the first bid. Yes. Yeah, I can do that. You know, so. So I think almost allows us to, like, lean into our special powers as humans to say, like, what are we special with? And I think we are special with judgment. Like, we have this unique ability to make a decision when. When outcomes are uncertain or inputs are unclear. There's a put and take. Like, oh, this is a really important customer. The potential here is 50 loads. Listen, something happened on this shipment. Let me lean in, how I handle it.
(18:38):
There's just so many factors that are going on in your head, and those are all judgment factors. Right? Giving humans the time that they can exercise their judgment is so important. And I think if we do that, we make for a better word.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Yeah, no, I'm right there with you. And, you know, I literally was going through a situation the other week where, you know, I've said this before, but, you know, I'll say it again here. 95% of the time in transportation, everything goes the way it should, right? Picks up on time, delivers on time, everything's perfect. But that 5%, when stuff does go wrong, it will consume 95% of your day. And that is literally what just happened to me, you know, so it's like, as a small business, like, we, like we are. When that happens, it literally halts our operations at the end of the day, right? Like, and we're looking back and we're like, weren't able to make more sales calls that day.
(19:29):
Like, it was a fail, you know, it was a fail for the overall objective, but like, in the moment, it takes all of my attention. And then especially if it's a situation where you know what, you maybe have never been through that before and you're formulating that SOP as you go, because again, back in the real world, there is no playbook, ladies and gentlemen. You're going to have to figure some stuff out on your own. And so it's like those are the situations that I've experienced here as of recent, where I'm like, man, we need something.
(19:57):
Like, we need something that's going to help because it's like we might have been able to manage now, but I'm like, if we had higher volume customers that were working with, Harish, it would have been, I don't want to call it a death blow, but it would have been a stain on our reputation with our customer, potentially.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Yeah, yeah. So interesting that like, you know, the 5% consumes the 95% of the time or even like attention. Right.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
And yeah, because it's the human emotion effect, Harish, is really what it boils down to. It's like when that situation happens, it stops you in your tracks because you're like, I've never done this before. Am I going to lose everything? What's, what's going to go wrong? Is this customer going to go find another provider? Am I out? Like, that's the way that I think. And I don't think I'm anomaly here. I'm a human being. Right. So it's like, that's the part. And then it's like, eventually you got to snap back in and be like, all right, action. Get out there and do it. But again, that's one singular event when you might have 15, 20 shipments moving that day.
(20:58):
And now all of a sudden all of your focus is one area of your business and everything else falls to the wayside in that moment because it is critical to your business that you get out there and kind of find that out.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Yeah. So I think so. True. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
So, Harish, what should more people be aware of with where things are kind of trending in technology? Do you think people should set themselves up for where their business is, you know, trending? Or do you think more people need to assess technology as like, hey, you need to look at it like in a real time situation?
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Yeah, listen, I think as with AI, my assessment is that you have to lean in. It's the most transformative change that has happened to us, I would say, technology wise, even including Internet, and it will shape the way we work. And I think companies have two choices. One is you can watch and then maybe react in 12 to 18 months, or you can lean in. Today, my belief is that you have to lean in because the change is so transformative that if you don't and your competitors do, your cost to serve your service levels are going to look radically different than your competitors. And, you know, the space is competitive. And so if you're not, and so if your cost to serve your service levels are not competitive, you're going to lose some business, you know.
(22:38):
Now leaning in means not, you know, and I think it's like, it's across the board, just like the way you work, you know, like, everybody should be leaning into, in my view, like just these applications like Chat GPT or, you know, Perplexity or others like to say, like, oh, I'm writing a proposal, maybe I can get some help writing the proposal. I mean, you still own it, you still need to read it, you still need to edit it. You don't want to just have ChatGPT write it and then spit it out. Everybody would know, but at least it will give you a head start. So instead of spending four hours on it, maybe you only spend an hour on it, you know, or like, hey, there's a new situation. Like, I never seen it.
(23:18):
Let me see what has ChatGPT, has AI seen this situation before? What do they recommend to do it? Like, it can be a tutor, it can be a coach, it can be a critic. So, like, lean into that. And I think then, and then I think there's like, applications like, you know, Augment and Augie, where you're like, hey, I've got a teammate. It's going to do all the tedious work for me, will free me up and it requires some change in the, like, the way you run the business, right? It requires like, oh, if this is going to do this, what will I do? I have to rethink my day. I could rethink my task. And I think it's important for businesses to do that because this is so such a big leverage, right? Like, we have this limitation.
(23:59):
We stop working at 5 or 6 o'clock. You know, maybe as an entrepreneur you go into like seven or eight, but at some point we do get tired and we all need sleep. But guess what? These Auggies of the world don't. They can work 247 for you. Okay. What does that mean for me? What can they do for me in the nighttime? So that when I come in the morning, my day is very productive, you know, so it's like really leaning in. And I think it's not just for like business size, like large business. I think it's like most technologies, I tend to believe they're more equalizers than not. Right.
(24:30):
So it's also a unique moment for small businesses, in my view to really, you know, I would say punch above their weight class by really embracing and leaning into these tech so they can like handle more loads with less number of people. Right. If you are, if you're in brokerages, they can offer much superior customer service levels. They can offer like super polished reports. They can, they can do mbrs that look like, you know, a top five consulting firm created mbrs, but it's actually sort of done by AI very simply. You still want to make sure the numbers are right and it lines up with your story, but you can have AI do a bunch of that work for you.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Yeah. And that's where, you know, like, I utilize it in my business. Right. Because you know, again, there's situations that I come about where I've never seen it before. And it's great to jump onto Chat GPT and then obviously, and you might not even use the feedback that it gives you, but it can stoke your creative juices to solve the problem because it gives you a different framework and a different way of thinking about things. And that's what I love, you know, personally about utilizing Chat GPT, especially on like the media side of stuff that I've done. When I'm asked for certain proposals and slide decks that, I mean, I'm a dude, I don't know what any of this stuff is, but Chat GPT knows what it is.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
And you know, there's other tools that are out there. But again, it makes me more efficient. It keeps me on task too. And that's another thing. And you know, you brought up about punching above your weight class. I don't know of any sales rep out there that doesn't want to move more freight with less of an overhead. You know that everybody wants to do that. Right. And I look at it as is. Like now I'm going to be able to hire the right amount of people, you know, because it's like, and I say this often, and I'm going to say it again, I will never have cap commissions for my sales reps inside of my organization. I want My sales reps motivated to sell.
(26:22):
And this is now we're at, we're kind of at a cool time, Harish, like you mentioned, where it's like, man, we might be able to move like 50 loads a day per rep with the right technology helping out behind the scenes there. Right. And it's like I'm looking at that as a business owner, not as like, oh my gosh, I'm going to make so much money. I'm looking at it as like, man, I'm going to be able to arm my team with some serious technology where they're going to make more money.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Yeah, I mean, that's the way to think about it, right? Like, that's, I think it's super cool that you do like, no cap codas. And I think AI is only going to accentuate it because the people who lean in with it, like, hey, I can help AI, like, do some research on this prospect. I'm reaching out. Yeah, I will give you that very quickly. Oh, what would be a good email to draft it? Then you go edit it, you know, or what would be a good call to make? Give me a transcript and let me edit it. And so there are folks who lean into that will make their days a lot more productive.
(27:21):
They make a lot more money, they move a lot more loads, you know, and, and so it accentuates, like, these people who are embracing it versus people who are a little bit fearful for it, you know?
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Yeah, no, I'm right there with you. I think that there's going to be two large camps of people. It's going to be the high performers who adopt it, who are going to always be relevant because winners are going to find a way to win no matter what. And then there are, you know. Yes, there are going to be some people out there who are affected by it, and those are the people who have been, in my opinion, just skating by and showing up and punching a clock every single day. You might work yourself out of a job with that. I, I, I don't hope technology replaces anything, but this is a time where it's like, if you're a high performer, this is like gonna give you steroids of the 90s in the MLB. You know what I mean?
(28:09):
Like, this is gonna make that happen. But again, like, if you're out there and you're kind of, you know, you're slacking because everybody knows when they're slacking off, right? And this is, yeah, this could be a Legitimate threat to you moving forward if you're not willing to. To look at it as a way for you to get better. And that's just the way that I approach it.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
I'm like, yeah, you know, it was not. I was. I think Nvidia CEO said it. I believe that he's the one. But he's like, hey, AI is not going to take your job. But somebody using AI, Bill.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Yeah, I've heard that.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
And yeah, it's like, that's so true. Like, it is like those people, the people who are leaning into AI, they're just so productive. There will be more productive and they are the ones. But listen, like, AI is not bringing judgment. They are not bringing judgment. You have judgment, you know, you have relationships, you have empathy, you know, and it's not replacing any of that. So how do we lean into these things that are so uniquely human and use AI as this superpower that does take all the busy work actually creates a better lifestyle for us too, you know, Like, I expect that, you know, in this world there are lots of, like, agents that tie connect themselves to large brokerages sometimes, and they're really good at, like, relationships and really good at, like, leaning in.
(29:26):
And some of those guys will become even more productive because, you know, it accentuates and gives them more time to lean into these uniquely human superpowers, you know.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
Yeah. And I look at it as, you know, I may. I might be one of the only people who admits that I have weaknesses, but I have weaknesses in my game. And this is where AI can kind of help elevate that and kind of patch that up to make me an even stronger operator out there.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
But Harish, I appreciate we all have lots of weaknesses.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
I was.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
I want to be mindful of your time. I really appreciate you joining me here today, man. How does anybody reach out to you to find out more about Augment and what you guys have going on?
Speaker 3 (30:06):
Yeah, listen, our website is go augment.com g o a u g m e n t dot com. But you can reach out to me on LinkedIn if you just search for my name or on X at, you know, H Abbott, my initial and like last name. Yeah, reach out. Happy to chat anytime. You know, I love talking to sort of entrepreneurs. I get a lot of energy from entrepreneurs no matter which field you are from, you know, so always happy to build a community around that.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Perfect. Harish, thank you so much for joining me. That is going to be it for today, ladies and gentlemen. If you got value out of this show and you're not subscribed, subscribe to the show. You guys, if you're feeling ambitious after this one, which you should be, rank the show on itunes and Spotify, because if you saw value, that's how your network's gonna see value as well. I appreciate you guys. I love you guys, and we'll be talking to you soon. We don't have any cool outros, Harish.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
We just.
Came back with a bank window down yelling now money Got the foot on the gas pedal to the metal when I'm getting to the back hey. Got the foot on the gas pedal to the metal when the lane moving fast hey Let them all cross if they hate then let them made them make a bigger balls hey.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
What is up ladies and gentlemen? We are back. We are live. It is the Freight Coach podcast, the top podcast in transportation coming to you guys every single weekday, 8:30am Pacific, 10:30 Central to break down some industry headlines. But most importantly, you guys provide some actual insight into what you can do with all of this information. If this is your first time tuning in, welcome. This is the real side of freight, ladies and gentlemen. And I say that before every single show. And what I mean by that is I only speak with transportation professionals because at the end of the day, you guys, I, I want to talk to the right individuals who have done what you're looking to do or who are currently doing what you're trying to achieve.
(00:59):
So you can take that information, apply it, utilize it, and see a meaningful difference in your business and your life. Happy Wednesday, everybody. I got a very special guest for you guys here today. I'm going to bring him up here in a second. But just another little reminder, you guys, we dropped our weekly newsletter today and as always, I don't sell out my contact list. So if you want to get in on it, I need you to go to my website, thefraycoach.com it will auto prompt you to register for it again. We only talk transportation inside of there, you guys. We talk diesel prices, rates, everything. It's inside of it@the freightcoach.com though, so check that one out. But you guys, my guest today.
(01:37):
I'm really looking forward to this conversation because I get to blend two worlds that I'm very passionate about entrepreneurship and technology. And it's one of those things where you need to balance out both. And this guy has built, he's been, he's built companies out there. He's building something very special out there right now. So I have the co founder of Augment, Mr. Harish Abbott, on the show today. Harish, thank you so much for joining me.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Hey, thank you for having me excited.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
No, I'm looking forward to it. Right? It's not every day you get a guy that comes on your show who's, you know, worked at, you know, one of the largest companies that's out there who's had a very successful public exit as well. And now you're on to your next thing here, man. So, Harish, just give a little background here. How'd you get your start in transportation? What brought you into the industry?
Speaker 3 (02:26):
You know, I'm an engineer by training and I was just very fortunate to join Amazon in early days when sort of Amazon mostly sold books and was like the tagline was its biggest bookstore. So kind of like dating myself here a little bit for most people of your, you know, at your show. And then I, you know, I just got stumbled into their logistics fulfillment division and just fell in love with it. Just the complexity and you know, of the physical word and you know, as like, hey, as an engineer, like, hey, we will go solve everything. And then you start to realize like, wow, this physical world is full of exceptions. There's so much complexity. It's almost like an unsolvable problem. You know, the thing I tell, you know, I was like, I'm like perpetually humbled by the complexity of logistics.
(03:15):
You know, I've been in it for 20 years, fortunately, because I started off at Amazon and I have built several businesses and you know, to this date, even today, like, you know, this is. The complexity humbles you know.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Yeah, no, it's true. Right. But like to me that's what I love about this industry. Harish, is, is there's no two days that are ever the same. And like my ADD brain can't do repetitive similar tasks day in and day out. Right. Like, I just, I'm just not wired like that. I need change and then side of my world and like open deck and heavy haul and stuff. Right. Every piece is different out there. Very rarely are you moving the exact same stuff day in and day out. And so it's like for me, it's just like I love it because it keeps me on my toes about a lot of things. And I, yeah, again, I, I couldn't do boring and repetitive mundane tasks every single day. More power to those people out there who can. I just, I'm not wired that way. Right.
(04:11):
Like, I need action day in and day out.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Yeah, well, freight has, is full of it though. I think you call yourself the right industry.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
No, Definitely. So, you know, what was it? This is just more of like an entrepreneur question. I always love asking people this. What was it that made you go out on your own and start your first business? Was it, you know, the, you thought you could do it better or you saw that there was an avenue that you wanted to explore? What was that?
Speaker 3 (04:39):
I mean, I think it was, I would say, identifying some problems, just feeling very passionate about those problems and you know, seeing that, you know, big companies with all their might are just not fast movers and there's an opportunity for, you know, entrepreneurs to like go and attack, you know, a problem and if you're more obsessed about it, you could solve it better and in that journey, like end up building something meaningful that will, you know, help lots of businesses, also create wealth for lots of people. I think that's sort of, I would say like the main thing is just getting falling in love with the problem and knowing that maybe you are more uniquely positioned to solve it than most other people.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
So kind of for where you are right now and you know, you founded multiple things at this point and you know, there's a lot of young founders that are out there and I'm going to include myself in that as well. What is something that you wish you would have focused on sooner in your journey? Is it like, hey, the problem, focus on the solution of that more than anything? Kind of like, has there been anything that has stood out to you where it's like, hey, if I could go back, this is what I would have done differently early in the early days of some of my early startups.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Yeah, I would say, I think the like, yeah, if I were to give advice to my 20 year old self, I would say stay obsessed with the problem and don't leave it until you solve the 10x better than status quo. Like 2x does not matter, 3x does not matter. Like 10x matters, which means you have to stay obsessed and staying with it. And I think the company building thing for young entrepreneurs, including myself, is very distracting. You know, you're hiring new people, you've sometimes never managed them, and then you start to spend a lot of your time managing people which may not be your core competency. Then you add investors, they add different kinds of pressure on you about like revenues and margins right away.
(06:44):
And in all of that, sometimes you start to look like, hey, the main thing is the main thing which is the problem. And are you solving for that problem 10x better so your customers are delighted, you know, and I would say like, just take all the noise away because the only thing that matters for a young company is are you finding the right problem? Are you solving it 10x better than status quo? And if you're doing that and you're obsessed by it, everything else follows. Investors follow great employees, want to join this mission, follow, you know, customers follow Revenues follow, margins for everything follows. But if you sort of didn't get that foundation right, then, you know, things start to fall apart a little bit, you know, and then you start to spend time on almost everything else.
(07:36):
Oh, let me just go fix my management style or let me go fix my, you know, maybe issues with my investors, maybe, you know, but the core of it is like, hey, the foundation is, are you solving for something better than anyone else? Are you solve, are you having customer delight? You know?
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
I think that clarity of mind is probably what I would tell my junior self and hopefully some young entrepreneurs who say, like, just, just keep it simple.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Yeah, I, you know, it is, I am in 100% agreement with you there. Right. And you know, I just crossed the five year mark of being self employed and I. One thing that I've come to realize is like it's not going to happen fast. And you know, it's like, because you like, you want all of this early success, you want everything to work out, but to your point there, focus on what problem you're solving and then, you know, focus on the value that you're adding to others and that everything else will come with that.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Right.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
And then for me, one thing that's been really profound here as of late is like, I just focus on my tasks of the day. Harish. Like, I am not concerned about Thursday or Friday. I am literally only concerned about what is on my plate today and that's it. And then that has been very freeing for me because like, I would always think like, oh, what about next week? What about next month? What about. And it's like, well, if you don't accomplish what you're setting out to accomplish today, everything else is irrelevant at that point.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Yeah. You know, and I think like, I also learned over time and I'm still learning this, you know, like, as entrepreneurs, you get so many problems thrown at you and there are problems in two buckets. You know, one bucket is like things you can control.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
And then there are things that you cannot control. Right. Or like maybe economy or you know, like some extenuating circumstance. Like, hey, one of my, some truck broke down. Okay, we can control it. We have to still deal with it. We can, I think, figuring out like, hey, let's obsess about the things that we control. Right. And deal with the things we don't control. But don't obsess about it. Don't spend too much time on it. You know, it's like to your point, like, let me focus on the Task for today, let's not spend any ounce of energy for like, oh, what's not. Because if you don't focus on what's today, there is no tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yeah. And that's, you know, for me, it's one of those things that I, you know, it helps me out a lot because, you know, bad things are going to happen and it's perceived bad in the moment. But, you know, I just put a post out there this morning about this. All of those lessons that I have learned, you know, like I've been sued, I've been hosed out of, you know, tens of thousands of dollars from in receivables, from customers in the moment. I never thought I was going to recover. But now, hindsight, looking back, I'm like, those were the best things to happen to me because it made me a better operator, it made me more aware of my surroundings and like, I got to protect this asset. Right.
(10:39):
Just like Augment is an asset for you, my business is an asset for me, and I got to protect it at all costs because nobody else is going to do that for me.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Yeah, that's right. Yeah. And I think taking, you know, that's an interesting point. Like taking, you know, learnings and failures in strike to get better. You know, like learning from it and saying, oh, okay, this failed. You can, we can obsess about it and lose lots of sleep over it, or we can learn and move on, you know, and I think over time I've learned, like, hey, learn and move on. Right.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
So no, I'm, I'm right there with you. And you know, and I think it's also comes with the realization that the longer you're in it, the more you realize that one thing is not going to be a fatal death blow to your business. It's usually death by a thousand cuts. You know, where it's like you just overlook everything and then you've eventually bled out. But very rarely is one issue to make you lose everything at that point.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Yeah, yeah. Like a friend of mine, you know, he always says, like, as entrepreneurs, the longer you are in it, the one thing you realize is that things are not as good and things are not as bad as they are made out to be.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah, very true. That, that's very true. And you know, so like, with that being said though, you know, your new venture here, Augment, you know, obviously AI there, it's all over everything right now. What made you, what was it about this service that you saw as an opportunity that you were like Hey, I want to go in there, I'm going to do this better than everybody else.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Yeah, I mean I think there's a few things. One is, you know, being intimately familiar with this industry, you know, having spent so much time, I mean one thing I've learned is that the operators in this industry, whether you are a rep on ARAP person or a demand side broker or a dispatcher, I mean you're overwhelmed with just the amount of emails and phone calls and texts and Telegram and WhatsApp that is on your table, right? You come in at nine and it's like jam packed, you know, with hundreds of emails. You're looking at it and you're never really getting time to like get your head above and saying, oh, like to do more creative work, right? And I think AI was this moment for me in saying how, huh, we can truly help these operators, you know, do what?
(12:55):
Like do some creative work, do work like relationship building, do work like negotiations really lean into extenuating circumstances when a truck breaks down or the scheduling appointment just got missed, you know, and provide better service to their customers and let AI do all the tedious work, you know, giving a status update to somebody, uploading a document, getting a bill of lading, getting an invoice, checking a proof of delivery, you know, running an ARAP cycle for one of my customers or carriers, right? Onboarding a carrier, taking all the bits, all the tedious work so that people can, all the operators can then now say, okay, I've now got time in my day, right? And I can now do creative work, I can do value added work, right?
(13:43):
And I think if you do that, we would not only make the lives of the operators really good, actually make the industry better, right? Like this industry is so crucial. Like you know, this like every day like America runs on freight. You know, there's three and a half million trucks running in America every single day. And if some of them stop, bad stuff happens, it's so crucial, it's so large, it's like a trillion dollar industry in America. But you know, the service levels, the I would say the nps, you know, NET promoter score in this industry is not very high because we are just overburdening. I think the operators with amount of tedious work.
(14:21):
And AI is sort of the first time like oh, we can give everybody a teammate, we can give everybody an AI assistant that wish they had like a intern or an assistant that they can hand over all this complex work. So now they can focus on value added work, you know, and I thought like, oh, that's an interesting work. If you do that, we can, like, not only help the operators, we can help the industry overall just get it to better service levels, better nps, low wastage, you know, all of that stuff.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Yeah, I, you know, as an operator, as somebody who cold calls shippers manufacturers every single day, as somebody who moves freight every single day, you, everything you're describing right now, Harish, is like one of my bigger hurdles throughout my day. Right. And then especially in the bootstrap startup world, contrary to what you see on the Internet, it's a very fragile stage early on because you need to do 10 times the work with less resources than everybody else. And you know, for me, it's like, how do I do more with less? That's what I am constantly thinking about. How do I reach out to more prospects every single day, how do I move freight every day?
(15:29):
How do I just do more with my time to where I can maximize these eight hours that, you know, that we have eight, 10 hours, whatever you want to say. And that's where it's like, I think from my perspective, this is where tools like yours are very beneficial for, you know, businesses of any sizes. But like, I look out at like the smaller companies because that's where I'm at right now. And I see this and I'm like, man, this is going to help us because it's like it's only a matter of time before we land that shipper that's moving 20, 25 loads a day. And it's just that one shipper who's doing it.
(16:00):
And then we have all of our other customers that we're working with that still need to be serviced and we're not in a position to turn away revenue and we might not be able to turn on a new employee within the next 30 days. And we have to capture this stuff. Right? So it's like for me, this is that kind of that great separator that is now at your disposal where businesses of any sizes can now pack a larger punch that's out there. But then most importantly though, improve accuracy. Right? And, and that's where it's like for me, because I, as a broker, I need to deliver consistency to my customers, consistent pricing, consistent communication to my carriers. Same thing. Consistent communication, consistent pricing. I need to deliver that every single time without fail.
(16:44):
And then in a market that is competitive as it is out there right now, you can't miss, like, you cannot miss one thing right now. Otherwise there is 50 other people calling your customer literally this second, waiting for you to not be able to do that.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Exactly, exactly. I mean, I think the thing you raised is this accuracy piece. I call it service. Like, you want to deliver this exceptional service, you know, and then you want to be available if there was an extenuating circumstance, right? Like if a truck broke down or somebody had, you know, an issue on the road or an appointment was missed. Like, those are the times where you really shine for your customer. Like, okay, I now have cycles to lean into that. And when I lean into that, I'm not worried that my emails are not getting answered, my phone's not getting answered, I'm still not booking fit. Well, that's still happening because you've got like an AI assistant or a teammate that's doing that for you. But listen, like, your judgment is what's unique, right?
(17:47):
No AI is going to lean in and to say, like, oh, let me resolve this truck breakdown issue, you know, I know how can. No, that's where you're so uniquely positioned. But listen, is sending somebody a bill of lading, collecting a proof of delivery, taking the first bid. Yes. Yeah, I can do that. You know, so. So I think almost allows us to, like, lean into our special powers as humans to say, like, what are we special with? And I think we are special with judgment. Like, we have this unique ability to make a decision when. When outcomes are uncertain or inputs are unclear. There's a put and take. Like, oh, this is a really important customer. The potential here is 50 loads. Listen, something happened on this shipment. Let me lean in, how I handle it.
(18:38):
There's just so many factors that are going on in your head, and those are all judgment factors. Right? Giving humans the time that they can exercise their judgment is so important. And I think if we do that, we make for a better word.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Yeah, no, I'm right there with you. And, you know, I literally was going through a situation the other week where, you know, I've said this before, but, you know, I'll say it again here. 95% of the time in transportation, everything goes the way it should, right? Picks up on time, delivers on time, everything's perfect. But that 5%, when stuff does go wrong, it will consume 95% of your day. And that is literally what just happened to me, you know, so it's like, as a small business, like, we, like we are. When that happens, it literally halts our operations at the end of the day, right? Like, and we're looking back and we're like, weren't able to make more sales calls that day.
(19:29):
Like, it was a fail, you know, it was a fail for the overall objective, but like, in the moment, it takes all of my attention. And then especially if it's a situation where you know what, you maybe have never been through that before and you're formulating that SOP as you go, because again, back in the real world, there is no playbook, ladies and gentlemen. You're going to have to figure some stuff out on your own. And so it's like those are the situations that I've experienced here as of recent, where I'm like, man, we need something.
(19:57):
Like, we need something that's going to help because it's like we might have been able to manage now, but I'm like, if we had higher volume customers that were working with, Harish, it would have been, I don't want to call it a death blow, but it would have been a stain on our reputation with our customer, potentially.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Yeah, yeah. So interesting that like, you know, the 5% consumes the 95% of the time or even like attention. Right.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
And yeah, because it's the human emotion effect, Harish, is really what it boils down to. It's like when that situation happens, it stops you in your tracks because you're like, I've never done this before. Am I going to lose everything? What's, what's going to go wrong? Is this customer going to go find another provider? Am I out? Like, that's the way that I think. And I don't think I'm anomaly here. I'm a human being. Right. So it's like, that's the part. And then it's like, eventually you got to snap back in and be like, all right, action. Get out there and do it. But again, that's one singular event when you might have 15, 20 shipments moving that day.
(20:58):
And now all of a sudden all of your focus is one area of your business and everything else falls to the wayside in that moment because it is critical to your business that you get out there and kind of find that out.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Yeah. So I think so. True. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
So, Harish, what should more people be aware of with where things are kind of trending in technology? Do you think people should set themselves up for where their business is, you know, trending? Or do you think more people need to assess technology as like, hey, you need to look at it like in a real time situation?
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Yeah, listen, I think as with AI, my assessment is that you have to lean in. It's the most transformative change that has happened to us, I would say, technology wise, even including Internet, and it will shape the way we work. And I think companies have two choices. One is you can watch and then maybe react in 12 to 18 months, or you can lean in. Today, my belief is that you have to lean in because the change is so transformative that if you don't and your competitors do, your cost to serve your service levels are going to look radically different than your competitors. And, you know, the space is competitive. And so if you're not, and so if your cost to serve your service levels are not competitive, you're going to lose some business, you know.
(22:38):
Now leaning in means not, you know, and I think it's like, it's across the board, just like the way you work, you know, like, everybody should be leaning into, in my view, like just these applications like Chat GPT or, you know, Perplexity or others like to say, like, oh, I'm writing a proposal, maybe I can get some help writing the proposal. I mean, you still own it, you still need to read it, you still need to edit it. You don't want to just have ChatGPT write it and then spit it out. Everybody would know, but at least it will give you a head start. So instead of spending four hours on it, maybe you only spend an hour on it, you know, or like, hey, there's a new situation. Like, I never seen it.
(23:18):
Let me see what has ChatGPT, has AI seen this situation before? What do they recommend to do it? Like, it can be a tutor, it can be a coach, it can be a critic. So, like, lean into that. And I think then, and then I think there's like, applications like, you know, Augment and Augie, where you're like, hey, I've got a teammate. It's going to do all the tedious work for me, will free me up and it requires some change in the, like, the way you run the business, right? It requires like, oh, if this is going to do this, what will I do? I have to rethink my day. I could rethink my task. And I think it's important for businesses to do that because this is so such a big leverage, right? Like, we have this limitation.
(23:59):
We stop working at 5 or 6 o'clock. You know, maybe as an entrepreneur you go into like seven or eight, but at some point we do get tired and we all need sleep. But guess what? These Auggies of the world don't. They can work 247 for you. Okay. What does that mean for me? What can they do for me in the nighttime? So that when I come in the morning, my day is very productive, you know, so it's like really leaning in. And I think it's not just for like business size, like large business. I think it's like most technologies, I tend to believe they're more equalizers than not. Right.
(24:30):
So it's also a unique moment for small businesses, in my view to really, you know, I would say punch above their weight class by really embracing and leaning into these tech so they can like handle more loads with less number of people. Right. If you are, if you're in brokerages, they can offer much superior customer service levels. They can offer like super polished reports. They can, they can do mbrs that look like, you know, a top five consulting firm created mbrs, but it's actually sort of done by AI very simply. You still want to make sure the numbers are right and it lines up with your story, but you can have AI do a bunch of that work for you.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Yeah. And that's where, you know, like, I utilize it in my business. Right. Because you know, again, there's situations that I come about where I've never seen it before. And it's great to jump onto Chat GPT and then obviously, and you might not even use the feedback that it gives you, but it can stoke your creative juices to solve the problem because it gives you a different framework and a different way of thinking about things. And that's what I love, you know, personally about utilizing Chat GPT, especially on like the media side of stuff that I've done. When I'm asked for certain proposals and slide decks that, I mean, I'm a dude, I don't know what any of this stuff is, but Chat GPT knows what it is.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
And you know, there's other tools that are out there. But again, it makes me more efficient. It keeps me on task too. And that's another thing. And you know, you brought up about punching above your weight class. I don't know of any sales rep out there that doesn't want to move more freight with less of an overhead. You know that everybody wants to do that. Right. And I look at it as is. Like now I'm going to be able to hire the right amount of people, you know, because it's like, and I say this often, and I'm going to say it again, I will never have cap commissions for my sales reps inside of my organization. I want My sales reps motivated to sell.
(26:22):
And this is now we're at, we're kind of at a cool time, Harish, like you mentioned, where it's like, man, we might be able to move like 50 loads a day per rep with the right technology helping out behind the scenes there. Right. And it's like I'm looking at that as a business owner, not as like, oh my gosh, I'm going to make so much money. I'm looking at it as like, man, I'm going to be able to arm my team with some serious technology where they're going to make more money.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Yeah, I mean, that's the way to think about it, right? Like, that's, I think it's super cool that you do like, no cap codas. And I think AI is only going to accentuate it because the people who lean in with it, like, hey, I can help AI, like, do some research on this prospect. I'm reaching out. Yeah, I will give you that very quickly. Oh, what would be a good email to draft it? Then you go edit it, you know, or what would be a good call to make? Give me a transcript and let me edit it. And so there are folks who lean into that will make their days a lot more productive.
(27:21):
They make a lot more money, they move a lot more loads, you know, and, and so it accentuates, like, these people who are embracing it versus people who are a little bit fearful for it, you know?
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Yeah, no, I'm right there with you. I think that there's going to be two large camps of people. It's going to be the high performers who adopt it, who are going to always be relevant because winners are going to find a way to win no matter what. And then there are, you know. Yes, there are going to be some people out there who are affected by it, and those are the people who have been, in my opinion, just skating by and showing up and punching a clock every single day. You might work yourself out of a job with that. I, I, I don't hope technology replaces anything, but this is a time where it's like, if you're a high performer, this is like gonna give you steroids of the 90s in the MLB. You know what I mean?
(28:09):
Like, this is gonna make that happen. But again, like, if you're out there and you're kind of, you know, you're slacking because everybody knows when they're slacking off, right? And this is, yeah, this could be a Legitimate threat to you moving forward if you're not willing to. To look at it as a way for you to get better. And that's just the way that I approach it.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
I'm like, yeah, you know, it was not. I was. I think Nvidia CEO said it. I believe that he's the one. But he's like, hey, AI is not going to take your job. But somebody using AI, Bill.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Yeah, I've heard that.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
And yeah, it's like, that's so true. Like, it is like those people, the people who are leaning into AI, they're just so productive. There will be more productive and they are the ones. But listen, like, AI is not bringing judgment. They are not bringing judgment. You have judgment, you know, you have relationships, you have empathy, you know, and it's not replacing any of that. So how do we lean into these things that are so uniquely human and use AI as this superpower that does take all the busy work actually creates a better lifestyle for us too, you know, Like, I expect that, you know, in this world there are lots of, like, agents that tie connect themselves to large brokerages sometimes, and they're really good at, like, relationships and really good at, like, leaning in.
(29:26):
And some of those guys will become even more productive because, you know, it accentuates and gives them more time to lean into these uniquely human superpowers, you know.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
Yeah. And I look at it as, you know, I may. I might be one of the only people who admits that I have weaknesses, but I have weaknesses in my game. And this is where AI can kind of help elevate that and kind of patch that up to make me an even stronger operator out there.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
But Harish, I appreciate we all have lots of weaknesses.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
I was.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
I want to be mindful of your time. I really appreciate you joining me here today, man. How does anybody reach out to you to find out more about Augment and what you guys have going on?
Speaker 3 (30:06):
Yeah, listen, our website is go augment.com g o a u g m e n t dot com. But you can reach out to me on LinkedIn if you just search for my name or on X at, you know, H Abbott, my initial and like last name. Yeah, reach out. Happy to chat anytime. You know, I love talking to sort of entrepreneurs. I get a lot of energy from entrepreneurs no matter which field you are from, you know, so always happy to build a community around that.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Perfect. Harish, thank you so much for joining me. That is going to be it for today, ladies and gentlemen. If you got value out of this show and you're not subscribed, subscribe to the show. You guys, if you're feeling ambitious after this one, which you should be, rank the show on itunes and Spotify, because if you saw value, that's how your network's gonna see value as well. I appreciate you guys. I love you guys, and we'll be talking to you soon. We don't have any cool outros, Harish.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
We just.
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