Slackers hate it. Go-getters love it. And store owners and managers? Well, so far they seem to be buying it. I’m talking about Objective Logistics, a New Bedford, MA-based software startup that’s looking to transform work environments, starting with restaurants and retail stores.
“It’s polarizing as hell,” says CEO and co-founder Phil Beauregard.
If you believe controversial companies are good, you’ve come to the right place. Objective Logistics has created a Facebook-like interface that accesses the point-of-sale database of a given store, ranks the performance of waiters and salespeople compared to their peers, and rewards high achievers with perks like getting to choose their own work schedules. In certain establishments, that can mean an extra $1,000 in tips for working a busy Saturday instead of a slow weekday, for instance.
“We’re kind of ‘gamifying’ the labor market,” Beauregard says. “The real vision is, if I can rank productivity through technology, I can reward you and compel you to perform better.” He adds that his company is about “objective transparency through technology.”
And despite its clunky name, Objective Logistics has been attracting lots of buzz among venture capitalists—and customers—this year. The five-person company’s software was first deployed last month at Not Your Average Joe’s (it’s slated to go live in 15 of those restaurants), with several other local stores and major chains also at various stages of adoption. Objective Logistics has raised $750,000 in seed-stage funding from angel investors including Richard Darer, Greg Pesik, Serguei Netessine, Nigel Machin, and other Boston-area investors. The company might look to close a VC round in the next few months, Beauregard says.
Beauregard, who turns 30 next week, is a former investment banker who started Objective Logistics in early 2009. His partners in crime include co-founder Matt Grace, who was reputed to be the youngest product management director in Oracle’s history, and engineering vice president Dan Velcea, a 3Com and Credit Suisse veteran and a Romanian native who, in 1986, dropped his army-duty AK-47
