To launch the first of our True Stories blogs we spoke to Graphic Designer turned tech industry CEO – Rasidin Amri. He is the co-founder of New York based communication platform – Treker, who are transforming the way we safely transport our children to and from school.

Can you please introduce yourself and your business?

My name is Rasidin Amri and I am a co-founder of Treker, a real-time communication platform for school administrators, bus drivers and parents. Treker was founded in late 2014. The idea came from a real problem that my co-founder and CEO of Treker, Thy is facing while waiting for his son's school bus in the morning. He lives in New Jersey, when the weather get really bad, especially in winter, the school bus is always not on time or could not turn up at all. Making your kids stand in bad weather with some uncertainties, or standing longer than needed in bad weather is horrible.

Taking the idea from Uber where you can see your ride move in real-time was the start of Treker. We start with parents app where they can see the bus moves in real time and options send in notification when the bus is near. We then expand it to driver app and school admin portal where the bus driver can see the listing of stops with passenger manifest and the school can track if their fleet is on time or not.

Was there a key tipping point in your success?

I have been fortunate to have an equally passionate co-founder. We each bring in different skills sets, and our skill sets collectively enough to create a product that genuinely helps improve the lives of people using it.

Who has been the biggest influence on your career to date?

Instead of who, I want to replace it with 'what'. Technology has been the biggest influence on my career to date. I started off as a graphic designer for print, and with the rise of the internet, switching to designing for web, with its limitation in the early days to rich-media capability, and now responsive with mobile first in a lot of instances.

What is the best piece of business advice you have ever received?

Learn something new every day.

What business tool can you not live without?

My mobile phone. Since I work in 3 different time zones, Asia where Treker development team is based, me in GMT and our business team in America, we are constantly in touch via our messaging on mobile.

What do you think will potentially disrupt your industry in the near future?

A few individuals that got together, with hard work, ingenuity and dedication, creating a better product, solves users problems, that cost less to purchase or use. With technological advancement, the barrier of entry is low. If the product is good, it will sell itself.

What is that one book you tell everyone to read?

Zero to One by Peter Thiel. It is a hybrid of a business book and philosophy. On why competition is bad and a monopoly is good.

What young business would you tip for a big future?

I've been involved with some very early stage of work for blockchain. A lot of resources and smart minds are working on making it work. It is like the internet in the early days, I used to remember when we're limited to 256 colours and we had to used dial-up. Once the limit of the speed of transactions for crypto can be close to the industry leader like Visa, I foresee a more widespread adoption to crypto for the masses for everyday purchase and transaction.

Who would you most like to see answer these questions next?

I would very much like to read your answers Darren :)