I'm Cornel Rautenbach

CEO & Co-Founder at Shiplogic

Building scalable products that move the world forward.

Scroll

I lead by doing. Most days I'm hands-on with code and design, mentoring teams and shaping culture. What drives me is bringing solutions to life that are both technically sound and commercially viable.

19+Years experience

8+Startups built

15+Products shipped

Experience

2025 – Present

CEO & Co-Founder

Shiplogic

Leading an end-to-end courier SaaS platform that powers some of South Africa's most trusted courier brands. Overseeing product direction, engineering strategy, commercial partnerships and operational delivery. The platform provides real-time tracking, dynamic rate engines, automated routing, driver apps and intelligent optimisation tools.

2021 – 2025

Chief Technology Officer

Bob Group

Led the infrastructure and software development function across multiple products: Bob Pay (online payments), Bob Shop (marketplace), Bob Go (order management and smart shipping), Bob Box (courier-agnostic parcel lockers), and Ship Logic. Built and mentored a cross-functional engineering team focused on stability, scalability and high impact.

2019 – 2021

Head of Development

uAfrica.com

Led the development of Ship Logic, a courier SaaS platform built on React, React Native and Go. Deployed on a fully serverless AWS architecture with PostgreSQL, optimised for speed, scalability and seamless user experience. Grew the platform to serve thousands of merchants.

2017 – 2019

Head of Mobile

ITSI Holdings

Managed a team of Android, iOS and Windows app developers. Provided technical guidance, shaped mobile strategy and collaborated across departments to deliver educational technology products used by schools throughout South Africa.

2014 – 2017

iOS Developer

ITSI Holdings

Implemented a feature-rich iOS e-reader application involving complex user interfaces, encryption, compression and server communication. The app served as the primary reading platform for digital textbooks across multiple publishers.

2011 – 2013

Technical Consultant

EPI-USE America

Worked as a technical consultant delivering full stack and integration-focused solutions for clients including MIT, Starwood Hotels in New York, and Genentech/Roche in California. Built rich mobile web applications integrated with SAP backends and created Java tools to automate large-scale content migration.

Education

2015 – 2017

MBA
(Distinction)

Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University

Covered key management disciplines including economics, marketing, accounting, finance, strategic planning, organisational behaviour and project management.

2009 – 2009

BSc Hons Computer Science
(Distinction)

University of Pretoria

Focused on advanced topics including artificial intelligence, computer graphics, network security and algorithm design.

2006 – 2008

BIS Multimedia
(Distinction)

University of Pretoria

Combined computer science and information science with a focus on software development, UI/UX design and digital media.

My startups where I learnt how to fail

Over the years, I've built many startups and side projects. From Betlabs (sports betting algorithms) to PICK a PET! (pet adoption), Hey Happy (mental wellness), Ticket Office (event ticketing), and VistaPath (medical automation) — each one taught me something new about product, people, and persistence. None became billion-dollar companies. But every failure taught me so much, deepened my focus on users, and reminded me that the best lessons come from doing, not planning.

Visit my free utilities library