Welcome to another episode of Founder Focus with Steve Greenfield, founder of Automotive Ventures, where we dive into the inside stories behind some of the most impressive entrepreneurial journeys. In this segment, Greenfield is joined by Dennis McGinn, founder of Rapid Recon. Today, we find out what motivates McGinn, what he thinks about innovation, and how he built his business.
McGinn starts off the conversation by explaining what Rapid Recon is and why he thought there was a need in the market for it. At its core, Rapid Recon is a software application that allows car dealers and staff to communicate with each other in regard to operations and workflow accountability. Using his background at Hewlett-Packard, McGinn discovered what problems he could solve by managing his own workflow accountability.
McGinn says that he always had an entrepreneurial spirit but never fully realized it until later. Although he said his head was already in the retail space, he wanted to become focused and learn the processes, bringing his background and experiences from HP to solve new problems. One of those problems was a lack of workflow accountability. Everyone has the opportunity to contribute to the process. And now, everyone is a part of the continuous improvement. He also says, what’s important is you can’t manage what you don’t measure.
McGinn says that vAuto founder Dale Pollak has been one of the most influential people in his career because of what’s he accomplished and how much he has changed the industry. The way Pollak approaches, understands, and makes decisions about the industry, is why McGinn admires him so much.
McGinn says one of the hardest things he had to do as an entrepreneur was building a company without anyone else’s money. He had to learn how to make decisions on his own, and he didn’t want anyone else to manage his money.
McGinn ends the conversation by sharing a few pieces of advice. He says that founders should make sure they have someone to bounce ideas off of. Connecting with people in the industry can help you figure out the way forward.
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