Vortex’s racing simulation machines are built by Cruden, a Netherlands-based company whose main clients are Formula One racers themselves.
David Soued says his “sociology background gives the context needed to properly market to the world around you.”
Soued believes the education he received in Concordia’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology is partially responsible for his keen sense of what people want. “The things that you learn pursuing a sociology degree underpin a lot of different elements of business,” he says.
“You can find popular theories and practices in human resources and business development, especially in sales and marketing, that started off as academic research in sociology and then were put into practical application in business.”
Soued nonetheless felt that it was important to earn an MBA to complement his undergraduate arts degree.
“It gives you a reasonably broad exposure to a significant number of areas of business,” he says. “It allows you to properly interact with people from different departments and silos in their own language, which allows you to build rapport in a much easier fashion.”
In between completing his MBA in 2011 and starting Vortex in 2016, Soued did digital marketing for a Montreal law firm and worked as a small business consultant.
He still uses his Concordia education every day. “The sociology background gives the context needed to properly market to the world around you,” Soued says. “Who are the people am I trying to reach? What kind of behaviour am I trying to elicit from them?”
The high degree of realism in Vortex’s racing simulation is rare — maybe unique — in North America. That would ensure that Vortex has a following anywhere on the continent, yet it is important to Soued that his business is based in Montreal.
“I was born and raised in Montreal. I have a deep love of Montreal,” he says. “And obviously, we have the F1 race here every year, so there is a certain racing culture in town. There are tourists who come to Montreal with the idea in mind that this the Formula One city in Canada.”
