Calgary Herald

Find Oil Services fills gap by syncing energy operations

Matching up industry need with provider saves time and money

- LLOYED LOBO Lloyed Lobo covers technology startups in Alberta. He is a partner at Boast Capital and co-founder of Traction Conf. If you’d like to be featured, please e-mail llobo@boastcapit­al.com.

Find Oil Services is an operations management system for the oil and gas industry that brings project managers and service providers together. It combines a Geographic Informatio­n System with direct relevant Industry needs and the ability to generate useful results in real time.

Service providers use Find Oil Services to share asset location and details with their team and customers. Project managers use the company to send out service requests and find the closest service providers that offer it. As a result, service providers find more customers and project managers save time and money.

For example, a project manager who was working on a tight timeline was informed that their drilling company’s arrival on-site would be delayed by 48 to 72 hours. Using Find Oil Services he was able to locate two idle rigs within 10 kilometres of the subject well locations and was able to negotiate a good rate as both rigs were idle. Ten hours later the first loads arrived on site and the well was drilled on time.

Here’s more from Find Oil Services founder and CEO W. George Conroy:

Q How did you come up with the idea for your startup? Was there an “ah-ha” moment?

A Having worked as a producer and a service provider, and having spent years designing GIS-based solutions, I’m quite entrenched in the oil and gas industry. I was watching a presentati­on on water conservati­on at a hydraulic fracturing conference in Texas in February 2014 when the idea came to me. The original idea was to share water via a GIS based data management system. I spent two days outlining the system and then I realized the idea could span far beyond just water. I thought to myself what about all of the services and projects in the Oil and Gas Industry.

Q What has been the biggest challenge so far? What have you done to solve it?

A Building software has lots of challenges and we simply work through them.

Q What made you choose to go down the path of entreprene­urship?

A The best part is getting to work on a great idea that will make the world more effective and perhaps will provide a profit so I can do all of the other good things I want to. I spent two-and-a half years learning how to turn garbage into oil. I worked for no wages and had four other jobs to support that “habit.” With Find Oil Services’ success, I plan to return to this arena and use my own money to make the world a better place.

Q What are your thoughts on our startup ecosystem?

A Finding capital for a tech business in Alberta is very difficult. I think banks should be forced by the law to take risks on Entreprene­urs. Entreprene­urs work twice as hard for half as much as most people. A lot of lip service is paid to the power and value of small business but there is very little support in comparison.

Q What do you and your startup need help with?

A Early adopters and customers. We have built something that is free to use for project managers and is a great sales and marketing tool for service providers. Visit www.findoilser­vices.com and give it a try. You can also drop me a line at wgc@findoilser­vices. com.

 ??  ?? W. George Conroy, the founder and chief executive of Find Oil Services, is flanked by chief informatio­n officer Jim Teetzel, left, and sales manager Brad Gathercole.
W. George Conroy, the founder and chief executive of Find Oil Services, is flanked by chief informatio­n officer Jim Teetzel, left, and sales manager Brad Gathercole.

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