Interview with Amit Sachdev, the founder of Stroll: Building Guam’s leading ride-hailing platform

Discover how Amit Sachdev built Stroll, Guam's top ride-hailing service, in this exclusive interview for opran.

A bit of background: Guam is a US island territory in Micronesia in the Western Pacific. Amit Sachdev founded a ride-hailing company Stroll that Triple J enterprises has recently acquired. In this company, Amit was responsible for hands-on management of daily company operations, digital marketing, and online branding, as well as managing day-to-day operations.

Interviewer: Could you please tell us a bit about your background, your experience, and the company you founded? Amit: Sure! I'm a tech entrepreneur with a background in the music industry, but it’s also been eight years for me in the mobility space.

Interviewer: How did you come up with the idea for Stroll? I came up with the idea of Stroll when I was an audio engineer in LA in the mid-2010s. As someone who used ride-hailing apps, I thought Uber was a crazy experience as a customer. And then I wopranred what it was like for drivers. So every time I took an Uber, I would ask drivers about their experience. From talking to the drivers, I got mixed reviews. So then I thought that the only way for me to truly find out is to become a driver. I went through the whole process, and drove for Uber for a couple of weeks.

And then I thought about where I'm from, Guam. Guam has a lot of mobility issues, the bus systems are not the best, and taxis have monopolized the market and created fees that don’t work for everybody and don’t make sense. And so one thing led to another, and I started Stroll.

Interviewer: Were you excited to work as a driver? Were you fascinated by the idea of Uber? Amit: I was fascinated by the idea that every person could become a driver and make money and not necessarily need a second job. In Guam, many people have vehicles. That’s a lot of vehicles for such a small island! Whenever somebody comes to Guam, that's what they say: “Wow, I didn't realize how many cars there are!”

So I thought this would be perfect for teachers, moms, students, or anybody who wants to make extra income. Tourism is also a big industry in Guam and has a huge military presence. So these people would be looking for rides, and taxis were never really an option for the local market. It was more of like a last resort if you're absolutely stranded. I also thought that a ride-hailing service could be perfect because we can lower driving under the influence numbers. And that's something that we actually did. We have proven data to show that Stroll did help with that to a degree.

Interviewer: How did your experience as a driver help you in founding Stroll? Amit: Because I got to see a lot for myself, I could say: I like these sorts of features, but maybe these sorts of things we could also tweak and improve. From the beginning, I thought: okay, let me see how this works. I didn’t start with a straightforward plan for how to do things. I was open to discovering new things and ideas.

I think because I took it one step at a time, it actually made more sense as opposed to deciding that you already know what you want to do and don't need to listen to the market because you already know what the market wants. I think that is a mistake entrepreneurs make and I've made that mistake in the past. You have to understand the market you're in. There could be even some commonalities to a different market, but most markets, and Guam specifically, are unique.

Interviewer: What did the start of your company look like? How was it at the very beginning? Amit: The first step when you're building a technology company is trying to figure out where you're getting the technology, right? And that's what people usually ask me. And I said, I attended Google University, YouTube University, and I started just putting dots together, reading some books, reaching out to my network of contacts, and one of my really good friends.

He recommended outsourcing development, and that's what I did. And from there, I understood how to work with user experience and user interface. I started building the app around October to November 2015. And from there, I started sourcing drivers locally in Guam. I came up with the commission rate for drivers. So we launched on July 2nd, 2016. So it took about like six to eight months to build out the app.

Interviewer: And we will get back to all the different technology points a bit later. Did you work with the government, was it difficult? Amit: It was an experience, I will say that. When something is difficult or perceived as difficult, I like to break it down into steps. And in this way, instead of looking at something and being so overwhelmed, I can focus on step one, then step two, step three, step four, and then eventually, in that sequence, I'm gonna end up at the finish line.

I had to understand how the law works, and who creates the laws - I had to create one for Stroll to work. Learning from my experience, I would advise other entrepreneurs to start engaging with industry leaders, innovators, and key stakeholders to build strong relationships and gather insights about the market and technology advancements.