Fact Sheet
Name of Product: Automizy
Interviewee: Gabor Koncz, CEO
Founder’s relevant nationality: Hungarian
Financing method: Bootstrapped from zero to $20K MMR, then raised 800K EUR from Hungarian VC fund
Fund raised by date: 2018. July
Current ARR approx.:about $300K
Website, Crunchbase link:
https://automizy.com/,
https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/automizy
Product
Can you please very briefly summarise your solution?
Ever heard of MailChimp or Constant Contact? Well, we’re like them only our software is more intuitive, our processes more ingenious and our insights more informative to help SMBs grow more profitably. Basically, we’re just... more thrust for your marketing engine.
Product-market evolution
What phase are you in currently with your product?
When did you found your company?
Automizy was found in 2014.
How long did it take you to reach your current state?
It took us 6 months from zero to MVP and 2 years from zero to first paying customer. However we did not raise external money before MVP, it took us 6 months from the initial investment to reach our current state.
What were the biggest lessons learned moments?
There is no silver bullet and shortcut when you build a global SaaS business. You have to iterate a lot.
How many times did you change direction (“pivoted”) / how similar is your product currently to the original idea?
We pivoted zero times. It is still the original concept. There were just minor changes when we fine-tuned the value proposition and target market.
Can you mention a memorable customer feedback about your product?
"Easiest drip campaign creator I have seen thus far. The process is very fluid and easy to navigate and flows seamlessly. Great feature integration here because my existing segment and existing email template pulled through for the drip campaign." - Sid Menon, Capterra
Founders, team
How many ideas, entrepreneurial attempts did you have before your actual project?
I have 10+ failed projects. :)
What was your (inner) motivation behind launching your first StartUp?
I wanted to be an entrepreneur all my life. I just could not imagine doing anything else.
How many co-founders are in the team and when did each of you join the company?
I have 3 co-founders. George and Dominik were my colleagues at my previous company and Viktor joined us 3 years ago at Automizy.
How do you govern your startup, what is your approach for decision making?
In terms of development and product management cycle, we use agile methodology. For managing the whole team we use EOS - Entrepreneurial Operating System. Personally, I'm process and productivity fetishist. We continuously optimizing our processes. On the other hand, it's not allowed for anybody in the company to work more than 8 hours a day on a monthly average (except the founders :) ) I'm also don't work more than 10 hours per day.
Did you have any particularly difficult decisions (as a team) - and of course, what and why?
Not yet or don't remember. :)
StartUp World
What do you find especially challenging as a Hungarian startup?
- Fundraising in the early stage. Now it's much better, but 3-4 years ago when we started Automizy, it was really hard.
Do you have a book-, website or any other information source recommendation for other startuppers?
There are a lot of good books worth reading but you will learn the most from doing your daily job, struggling to try to gain the early traction and get the shit done.
