We want to congratulate, Juan Camilo Meisel, Class of 2013, and founder of Grip, on being named one of the young vanguards shaping the entrepreneurial landscape in Miami in Forbes magazine’s “30 under 30”. Grip is a shipping company for direct-to-consumer perishable items and has processed more than 5 million nationwide shipments through its platform. Grip leverages real-time data on network conditions, weather, and carrier status so businesses can hold orders, notify customers of delays, and find patterns for improvement. The company has processed more than 5 million nationwide shipments through its platform. Meisel first got the idea when he was previously on the founding team at ButcherBox, a meat delivery subscription service, and raised $2 million from Soma Capital and others.
Juan Camilo shared with us some of his best memories of KCP and shared some of his insights with the KCP family:
How has your KCP experience impacted your life and the choices you have made in your career?
At KCP, we learn to be ourselves, build relationships, and be part of a community, all of which are essential for a successful personal and professional journey. Throughout my career, I’ve always taken the unconventional path of asking questions and finding solutions, which requires being yourself and having strong relationships to be able to count on your team and partners.
What was the inspiration behind your company, Grip?
Grip is a solution to a problem I dealt with while running the logistics department at Butcherbox, one of the most revolutionary direct-to-consumer companies of the last decade in the US.
I realized that we were spending millions of dollars to try to solve a problem internally that was an industry-wide problem that needed someone with the proper experience to solve it.
At Grip, one of our core values is relentless improvement, which means always working to make tomorrow better than today. And that’s what we are doing: building a platform that will improve the direct-to-consumer industry with better technology, systems, and processes.
What advice would you give KCP students, especially those who would like to take a career path similar to yours and start their own company?
I would highly suggest working for an early-stage startup with a founder that you admire, learning from him/her, and then building your own company. Experience is an unfair advantage, so use it. Also, when you are young, just say yes and do A+ work. You don’t know which yes is your winning lottery ticket.
What are some of your best memories or experiences at KCP?
When I look back, it’s hard to pick one. I wouldn’t change a single second of it. Binationals are definitely high on the list.
What makes you proud to be a member of the KCP family?
Community. At KCP, you learn how to build relationships and be part of a community. That’s an invaluable skill that can take you far.
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