In the company of...

Welcome to our spotlight profile feature where we chat with leaders and innovators in the supply chain, procurement and logistics industries. For our second In the company of… we sit down with Gregor Stühler

Co-Founder and CEO at Scoutbee.

A brief summary of your role and what your company does

My name is Gregor Stühler. I’m the CoFounder and CEO of Scoutbee, a company that drives better business outcomes by giving companies the actionable insights they need to perfect their supply base and advance strategic initiatives, such as risk management, ESG and innovation.

With the Scoutbee Intelligence Platform, my team and I are developing solutions that enable procurement teams to be proactive, to see where there are gaps in their supply base and to find the best suppliers to fulfil their needs. Our technology helps organisations to architect a supply base that is truly resilient and pivots fast in the face of risk events.

How did you start working in supply chain?

I was a project engineer for a multinational medical device company when the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami hit Japan (2011). We were working on developing a new MRI device design that would improve kids’ experiences during paediatric MRI procedures. The design would have made the scan very fast – the image would have been more accurate and we could have alleviated children’s anxiety.

The tsunami caused catastrophic supply chain disruption that wiped out my team’s work and, like many organisations, we were unprepared. Frustrated, I went back to school to earn my MBA. After graduation, I founded Scoutbee. The need for Scoutbee’s solutions was clear twelve years ago and has only grown since.

What has been the biggest highlight of your career to date?

Founding a company that is transforming an entire industry.

Which emerging trends do you think will be crucial in your industry in the next ten years?

Without a doubt, generative AI with Large Language Models (LLMs) – they’re changing the way people search for everything – which impacts our business, a large part of which is scouting for suppliers and mapping internal supplier ecosystems.

I’m happy to be guiding our customers towards using generative AI to remove knowledge bottlenecks and drive long-term supply chain improvements. At Scoutbee, we’ve been working with LLMs in the background as part of our AI toolkit for the last two years and are currently investing heavily in R&D to take advantage of the latest advances. Our data team runs generative AI models on our own infrastructure and can isolate our customers from one another, thus keeping their data safe AND connecting customers’ data to the Large Language Model.

AI training costs will also likely decrease, which will make it easier for companies to access and use it. This will open up possibilities for innovation and industry transformation.

You champion the idea of creating products that can truly change the world. Other than the Scoutbee Intelligence Platform, what has been the most transformative product or service that has positively impacted your personal life?

Open-source Large Language Models.

Outside work, what helps you feel like the best version of yourself?

Getting up at 5 a.m. for a workout and spending time with my family.