Part 2 - Behind the scene at a SA startup
After our initial field test, our work was cut out for us. We immediately jumped in with a great sense of urgency to fix the “bugs”, we approached professionals to assist with our Fluss packaging, we spent a great deal of time to ensure we added the features our end users requested while ensuring a seamless user experience. And we did all of this diligently, focused and driven for the next four months.
There are a few differences I noticed between software developers and salespeople, the most prominent difference for me being the time to execution. I experienced this time lapse as tech dudes taking time, where salespeople don’t. I felt like tech dudes take even more time, where salespeople don’t!
It took a while for me to understand this, but now I know that our daily operational landscapes differ vastly, and that tech dudes don’t ‘just take time’ – it is the development process that takes time IF you truly want a superior product and ensure a fantastic user experience.
Fluss Technologies was officially launched in October 2021 as a team of two and two halves. Tom and I both dedicated full time to our vision of moving the world towards smart access control; and Tim and Brilliant assisting part time. I am convinced our diligence on the A-Z of business (powered by Chase Growth) we followed earlier in the year built a firm foundation which allowed our strategy to work amazingly well.
Our first security resellers were @Stafix, which has a national footprint of 28 branches. Thereafter our partnership with @Ideco Biometrics as our primary distributor commenced. Both of these companies are established and well known, have wonderful reputations and it is an honour for Fluss Technologies to partner with them. Along with Stafix and Ideco Biometrics, there are also many privately owned security resellers onboard all-over South Africa.
Attending the 2022 @Securex was a phenomenal experience and afforded us precious facetime with many decision makers in key sectors.
Looking at our input to get to this point, here are some statistics:
I have been on 24 flights this year,
I’ve seen 100’s of clients face-to-face,
Have driven 1000’s of kilometres,
Followed up 100’s of times,
I have slept in hotels and in the office more than 70 nights this year
and we are only starting to generate momentum now!
I’m sharing these facts to leave you with this thought: The money and the time you think that will need to build a successful business you should multiply by at least 10!
Fluss Technologies is continuing to expand; we are currently a team of 7 permanent employees with many exciting things happening behind the scenes!
Watch this space because there are big things to come!