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Transreport founder: Don’t overlook lived experience when hiring 

Transreport founder

Jay Shen is the founder and CEO of Transreport, which has created an app to assist disabled passengers on transport networks.

The company recently launched its flagship technology, called Passenger Assistance, which has been deployed by National Rail across the UK train network.

The smartphone app lets passengers request assistance and plan journeys. Shen founded Transreport while studying for his PhD at Warwick University in 2017 after seeing an opportunity for technology to create a better travel experience.

In this week’s Founder in Five Q&A, the Transreport boss explains why you should ensure your team is diverse from day one, why we need more purpose-driven businesses, and why startups shouldn’t overlook lived experience when hiring.

1. What advice would you give to a first-time founder?

Jay Shen: Ensure your team is diverse and inclusive from day one. As a founder, you wear many hats. From product innovation to marketing, finance to HR and everything in between. However, to scale effectively and impactfully, you need to build a solid foundation and hire quicker than may feel comfortable....