This week’s guest on Exit Stories—hosted by Jurassic Capital’s Kevin Mosley and sponsored by Robinson Bradshaw—is Katy Jones. She is the former CEO of Durham-based FoodLogiQ, before it was acquired by the Riverside Company in early 2023.
Founded in 2006, the SaaS company provides food traceability and safety compliance software solutions to food retailers and restaurants. The company was later acquired as an add-on to the ESHA Research program to form Trustwell, the food industry’s only software program dedicated to ensuring regulated and compliant food development.
Despite the risks of leaving her stable full-time job, Jones made the pivot to the tech world and moved through various roles in FoodLogiQ before stepping into the CEO role in January 2022. From making the swift change from marketing to tech to the last CEO before the company’s major acquisition, Jones shares her stories about her FoodLogiQ journey and insights from being acquired into a global food network.
Here are three key takeaways from this week’s episode:
- Be proactive about your employee and customer concerns. Jones remarks on making sure to be on the front end of planning and support with all questions that naturally come with a company transition. (11:51)
- Invest and establish important relationships before making any sort of pivot for the company. Jones advises that before talking with anybody, establish trusting relationships and be willing to have open communication about where and how focused on the business/industry your companies are. (21:03)
- Be a transparent and “real” leader/CEO. No one suffers in silence, Jones says. In times of stress and confusion while in the middle of growing your company, Jones reminds herself and everyone to be honest and open about any struggles or difficulties. (32:30)
Check out the rest of Jones’s interview below, and be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Thanks again to this season’s sponsor, Robinson Bradshaw!
