We were lucky to catch up with Laura Narpaul recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Laura thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

I think many people have a million dollar idea and do nothing about it. And I don’t necessarily blame them. We get so used to our comfort zone that we can’t imagine what life outside of that would look like. I can definitely say, being out of your comfort zone is taking a risk. We don’t know what to expect. But you can’t grow or reach your potential if you stay in a comfort zone. Consider that the comfort zone is a physical place not a mental place, where you take refuge at the end of the day.

I’m not afraid to take some risks…

Picture it. I was seven months pregnant and I woke up in a snuggly bed at 6:00 am. My husband wasn’t there, so I texted him, because, well, seven months pregnant I was NOT getting out of bed. He comes upstairs with a cup of coffee, highly caffeinated, and a notebook. He excitedly started to tell me about his idea for a roadside assistance app that would automatically connect a customer and service provider.

We both thought that would be an amazing and helpful business. So, we started researching the industry and found out it DIDN’T exist. We met with a patent attorney who was just as excited to hear about it, and so we filed for a patent. During this time, I had my youngest daughter. Maternity leave was spent breastfeeding and buying domain names. We started debating, would I go back to my marketing director position? Would he start this business? But with our separate skill sets, we pretty much knew we had to go all in right away.

I’ll never forget going with my husband, Rick, to my old employer to let them know our news. It was a warm sunny day, and Rick had a 1997 red Camaro with t-tops. I’ll never forget driving away from that meeting with the sun on our faces, wind in our hair, music cranked up, we were free falling, ready to take on the world. Seems counterintuitive. I had a three month old baby at home, not to mention a toddler. The responsibilities were endless. But I never really looked at it that way. We were excited because we knew the potential and for us, it was like, if not now, then when?!

Sometimes you just have to plug your nose and jump in the water. I don’t believe there is ever really a convenient time to start a business. You’re always going to have that comfort zone pulling at you, but if you don’t take the risk then you’ll NEVER know. Reality hit not long after we started the business in terms of how to make things work. We even had to sell that car to make a payroll, which wouldn’t be the last time selling a vehicle either. But, take the risk, commit to it, and see it through and good things will come. One of my favorite sayings is by Suzy Kassem, “Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.” We still have challenges, but the risk is so worth it. Especially when we can see what a difference our business makes in so many people’s lives.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I started my career in a call center taking orders and worked my way up into international business expansion and then sales management. I LOVED it! It was fun helping the company open new markets and learning the ins and outs from legal to culture in those places. But the biggest love that I had was in marketing. And so, I’ve spent most of my career in marketing in various roles and industries. I especially like digital marketing and building an online presence. I’m that friend friends go to when they need marketing advice or are launching a business. I’ve worked with some great design and development teams through the years, and all the different positions, industries and experiences got me prepared for launching my own company with my husband, Rick. Rick grew up in Guyana, South America and came to the U.S. when he was 12. He joined the Air Force at 17, was in law enforcement, and owned his own businesses. Together we had the foundation to start Mach1 Services. We always say, Mach1 is like Uber technology meets AAA roadside assistance.

I think we can all relate to the problems in the roadside assistance industry. Either we’ve had bad experiences ourselves or we know someone who has. Which is why we created Mach1, to help solve the industry pain points. In a nutshell: we built software that connects the customers directly to the closest service provider, eliminating the long dispatch and call center process. Customers and providers can see each other’s location on a map, and even contact each other using burner numbers so they don’t have to give out their personal information. Our provider network spans across the U.S. and is the backbone in making the industry work. Our providers are top-notch, having passed a six-point background check and are insurance verified.

In a traditional roadside assistance model, a customer will call a call center, who will then reach out to multiple providers asking for the lowest bid. This makes the industry cut-throat. Providers undercut each other and it really contributes to dragging the industry down. Another method is by asking for the fastest ETAs. My question is how do they know the true ETA without having the exact location of the customer and the exact location of the closest provider? Companies will say they’ll be there in 45-60 minutes, but then it actually takes 30 minutes just to dispatch or figure out who they are sending. With Mach1’s system, we cut all those corners and providers get a fair market rate. This all equates to faster help times, getting customers back on the road with a better overall experience.

We didn’t want to just stop at offering our services to consumers directly with no membership and download fees, we wanted to change the industry. We also work with insurance companies and motor clubs to improve their end consumers’ experience. Companies can customize our software with their brand and the services they would like to offer. From there, we connect them to our automated dispatching system that locates the closest service provider to help. On average, our customers are back on the road in 30 minutes. If you’d like a free membership, all you have to do is go to https://www.mach1services.com/ or search for Mach1 Roadside Assistance in the app store.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

Putting together capital to start a business is never easy. Especially if you are an underrepresented founder. I’ll never forget that moment when our good friends, who are also business owners, wrote us our first check. We had no clue what we would face but jumped in head first, not understanding just how hard it might be. 95% of start-ups fail and one of the main reasons is running out of money. So, if you’re serious about starting a business you need to be resilient, creative, and gritty. You’ll face many times when other people would easily quit, but don’t quit. Just keep going and finding the next right step, no matter how many no’s you hear. We raised small amounts of money along the way. In most cases it was just enough to keep us going. We made connections from connections and never left a stone unturned. We also explored grants and pitch contests. This brought in equity free money and publicity. We’ve raised over $2 million dollars now, and none of that was from VC’s or PE firms. So I would tell you, it’s doable. Even if you don’t have “friends and family,” yourself. You can get connected to those that do. Early investors are looking for great business ideas, but mostly they invest in the founders, so if you can show traction and your resiliency you can garner interest. Also, don’t be afraid to ask. You have to put pride aside sometimes to do the right thing for your business.

I would also say, try to plan for the long haul. If you get a check you may want to take a break, but unless that check gives you a significant runway, you’ll need to keep moving quickly. You never want to ask for money when you don’t have money. Another piece of advice we got was if you want money ask for advice, if you want advice, ask for money. But if you genuinely want advice and are coachable, investors will be interested.

We’ve come a long way in our funding journey. We are happy to say that Mach1 was chosen for the Newchip accelerator, in which we expect to gain tons of insight and look to raise $1MM through the program. Newchip is awesome because they don’t work on equity. Other accelerators I’ve seen will want anywhere from 6-8% of your company to participate. If you’re starting from 100% equity stake this may not seem like a big number, but the more equity you can hold on to for your company, the better position you will be in when you start raising big checks.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

The most important question as a start-up business owner is, “What is the fastest path to revenue growth?” At least that’s what I asked myself. Our business model is different than most in that we have a consumer facing side, but also a business-to-Business side. We really needed to prove out our software and have a nationwide provider presence for larger companies to look at our software and also our services. So, the fastest path to revenue was the B2C model for us.

Within that model we have two target audiences, I call them the planners and the non-planners. The planners are the type of people that have some sort of roadside assistance membership already in place. The non-planners however, are the ones who are stuck on the side of the road and need help now. Then the question becomes, “How do I reach this group?” Well, that’s a fairly easy question to answer. Most people that don’t have a plan pull up Google on their phone and start searching for keywords, like “ran out of gas” or “locked my keys in my car.” Then it becomes a strategy game. We identified the most important and high volume key words and started doing search engine optimization work. This has been KEY to our business. Whatever your business is, you may hit financial rough patches. If you don’t have an advertising budget the work you do upfront/throughout with SEO will help carry your business through.

That’s just the glimpse into B2C marketing, as our software is just starting to disrupt the motor club and insurance company space. Most consumers know roadside assistance has many pain points, but they don’t really understand why. Well, just because an insurance company or motor club offers RA protection, that doesn’t mean they are the actual company servicing the customers. In-fact, there’s really only a handful of third party options for all roadside assistance companies to use. And NONE of these have the digital customization or customer experience that Mach1 can provide. So, our sales pipeline is quickly growing. Many companies will inquire through our website and ask for a demo but we will soon be launching an outreach campaign letting other insurance companies and motor clubs know about our programs.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mach1services.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mach1_services/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mach1services
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-narpaul/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Mach1Services
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFrkLDiBO1D6BvtFYCTEXAw