Hiren Hasmukh, Teqtivity

How a Vertical SaaS Grew to 7-Figure ARR on $2,500/Month

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Episode Summary

Hiren Hasmukh invested $400,000 of his own savings into a hardware company that he and his wife built by hand. When COVID killed demand for smart lockers, he pivoted the backend software into a vertical SaaS that now generates seven-figure ARR with a team of 22 people.

In this episode, Hiren reveals how Teqtivity competes against heavily funded competitors on just $2,500 a month in ad spend, why maintaining separate code bases for every customer became a competitive advantage, and how he rebuilt trust after a data breach that threatened to destroy everything he'd built.

Hiren Hasmukh is the founder and CEO of Teqtivity, an IT asset management solution that helps companies manage their laptops, tablets, phones, and other technology assets.

In 2018, Hiren launched a hardware company called TechCube, where he invested $400,000 of his own money to build smart lockers that would help engineering departments loan out test devices. For two years, he and his wife personally assembled these lockers, bootstrapping the business while developing the backend software they needed to manage the devices.

When the pandemic hit, companies stopped buying hardware solutions. Rather than give up, Hiren made the difficult decision to pivot and focus on the backend software they'd built, which he believed could become a standalone vertical SaaS product.

The pivot took six months with just two developers, but they quickly landed their first customer through an RFP bid, which helped them validate their new direction.

But competing as a bootstrapped vertical SaaS company against well-funded players in the IT asset management space wasn't easy. With just $2,500 a month for ads, they had to find creative ways to build trust and prove themselves worthy of enterprise customers.

Then came their biggest challenge - a data breach that affected one of their customers and put their entire business at risk. Instead of making excuses, Hiren focused on being transparent with customers and strengthening their security. The approach worked - they managed to keep their customers and continued growing.

Today, Teqtivity generates seven-figure ARR with a team of 22 people and remains a bootstrapped vertical SaaS, despite regular interest from VCs and PE firms.

Topics: Bootstrapping|Positioning & Differentiation

Key Insight

Hiren Hasmukh turned a failed $400,000 hardware investment into Teqtivity, a seven-figure vertical SaaS for IT asset management, by pivoting to the backend software in six months and competing against funded rivals with just $2,500/month in ad spend, bespoke code bases per customer, and word-of-mouth referrals as the primary growth engine.

Key Ideas

Pivoted from hardware (smart lockers) to a standalone vertical SaaS in six months with two developers after COVID killed hardware demand
Targets long-tail Google keywords at a fraction of the $60-70/click cost of the primary "IT asset management" keyword, keeping total ad spend at $2,500/month
Maintains separate code bases per customer, allowing bespoke features that larger one-size-fits-all competitors cannot match
Invested in multiple conference booths across several events and received zero follow-up demos from any prospect
Retained the customer affected by a data breach by moving them on-prem, completing SOC 2 certification, and sharing pen test results transparently

Key Lessons

🔄 A vertical SaaS can emerge from a failed hardware pivot: Hiren's $400,000 smart locker investment became Teqtivity's foundation when he recognized the backend software had standalone value for IT departments - pivoting took six months with just two developers.
💰 Vertical SaaS companies can win with long-tail keyword strategy: Teqtivity avoids the $60-70/click "IT asset management" keyword and targets question-based searches competitors ignore, keeping total ad spend at just $2,500/month across Google and LinkedIn.
🛠️ Separate code bases create a vertical SaaS moat against funded competitors: Teqtivity maintains bespoke versions for each customer, letting their 16-person dev team deliver custom features and integrations that one-size-fits-all competitors cannot match at any price.
🤝 Customer referrals outperform events for niche SaaS growth: Teqtivity's strongest growth channel is customers who move to new companies and bring the product with them - far more effective than conferences that produced zero follow-up demos across multiple events.
📉 Copying competitor messaging at events makes you invisible: Hiren spent thousands on conference booths using industry buzzwords his competitors also used, which made Teqtivity blend in rather than stand out among attendees who already had tools in place.
🎯 Transparency after a data breach can strengthen customer trust: Hiren notified all customers proactively, moved the affected customer on-prem, completed SOC 2 certification, and shared pen tests - the affected customer stayed and deepened their integration with Teqtivity.
🧠 Stay bootstrapped until you can meet investor expectations: Hiren takes VC and PE calls but will not raise until he is confident Teqtivity can perform at the level investors expect, preferring organic growth that preserves product flexibility.

Watch the Episode

Chapters

00:00Introduction

02:33What Teqtivity does and who it serves

04:23The TechCube hardware origin story and $400K investment

07:21The emotional difficulty of deciding to pivot

09:40Validating the software pivot with IT directors

11:11Building the SaaS in six months and landing the first customer

12:46Positioning against well-funded competitors

14:07Getting customers to sell on your behalf

16:07Early adopters and word-of-mouth growth

18:47Customizing the product with separate code bases

22:27Growing beyond the first 10 customers

23:17Long-tail keyword strategy for Google Ads on $2,500/month

27:31Why event marketing failed with zero ROI

31:33Avoiding competitor buzzwords in marketing

34:07Identifying the ICP - IT directors and managers

38:32Surviving the data breach and rebuilding trust

42:18Why Hiren chose to stay bootstrapped

44:42Lightning round

48:01Where to find Teqtivity and Hiren

Episode Q&A

How did Hiren Hasmukh pivot Teqtivity from a hardware company to a vertical SaaS?

Hiren took the backend management portal he'd built for his TechCube smart locker product and spent six months with two developers turning it into a standalone IT asset management platform. Conversations with IT directors validated the software had standalone value before he committed to the pivot.

How much did Hiren Hasmukh invest in TechCube before pivoting to Teqtivity?

Hiren invested approximately $400,000 of his own personal savings into TechCube, his smart locker hardware company. He and his wife personally assembled the lockers over two years before COVID forced the pivot to software.

How does Teqtivity compete against well-funded IT asset management competitors as a vertical SaaS?

Teqtivity focuses on long-tail Google keywords that cost far less than the $60-70 per click "IT asset management" keyword, spends only $2,500/month on ads, and relies heavily on word-of-mouth referrals from customers who follow the product to new companies.

Why does Teqtivity maintain separate code bases for each customer?

Each customer's IT department works differently with unique processes, reporting needs, and security requirements. Maintaining separate code bases lets Teqtivity's 16-person dev team build bespoke features and integrations that larger, one-size-fits-all competitors struggle to offer.

How did Teqtivity land its first customer after the vertical SaaS pivot?

Their first customer came through a connection made at a conference during the TechCube hardware days. When that contact moved to a new company, they put out an RFP for an IT asset management solution. Teqtivity won the bid and that customer has stayed with them ever since.

How did Hiren Hasmukh rebuild trust after Teqtivity's data breach?

Hiren moved the affected customer's deployment on-prem to their own server, completed SOC 2 certification, shared pen test results, and proactively notified all other customers. The affected customer stayed because they were deeply integrated with Teqtivity across multiple departments.

Why did Teqtivity's event marketing strategy fail for this vertical SaaS?

After investing in booths at multiple conferences, Hiren got zero follow-up demos from any event. Many attendees were not decision-makers, already had tools in place, or treated conferences as social events. Copying competitors' booth messaging made Teqtivity blend in instead of stand out.

What long-tail keyword strategy does Teqtivity use for Google Ads on a small budget?

Instead of bidding on the expensive "IT asset management" keyword at $60-70 per click, Teqtivity targets question-based and informational keywords like "what is IT asset management" that competitors ignore. This drives traffic for brand awareness at a fraction of the cost, then retargeting keeps Teqtivity visible.

Why does Hiren Hasmukh choose to keep Teqtivity bootstrapped despite VC interest?

Hiren values the flexibility to build bespoke features for customers without answering to investors. He also carries the financial memory of losing $400K on the hardware business and fears taking outside money before he is confident the company can perform at the level investors would expect.

Book Recommendations

Zero to Sold

by Arvid Kahl

Links

Teqtivity: Website | LinkedIn | X
Hiren Hasmukh: LinkedIn
Omer Khan: LinkedIn | X

Full Transcript

Omer Khan [00:00:00]:
Welcome to another episode of the SaaS podcast. I'm your host Omer Khan and this is a show where I interview proven founders and industry experts who share their stories, strategies and insights to help you build, launch and grow your SaaS business. In this episode, I took to Hiren Hasmukh, the founder and CEO of Techtivity, an IT asset management solution that helps companies manage their laptops, tablets, phones and other technology assets.

Omer Khan [00:00:36]:
In 2018, Hiran launched a hardware company called TechCube, where he invested $400,000 of his own money to build smart lockers that would help engineering departments loan out test devices for two years. He and his wife personally assembled these lockers, bootstrapping the business while developing the back end software they needed to manage the devices. When the pandemic hit, companies stopped buying hardware solutions. Rather than give up, Hiran made the difficult decision to pivot and focus on the back end software he'd built, which he believed could become a standalone product.

Omer Khan [00:01:11]:
The Pivot took six months with just two developers, but they quickly landed their first customer through an RFP bid, which helped them validate their new direction. But competing as a bootstrap company against well funded players in the IT asset management space wasn't easy, which meant they had to work harder to build trust and prove themselves worthy of enterprise customers. Then came one of their biggest challenges yet, a data breach that affected one of their customers and put their entire business at risk.

Omer Khan [00:01:39]:
Instead of making excuses, Hiran focused on being transparent with customers and strengthening their security. And the approach worked. They managed to keep that customer and continued growing. Today, Techtivity generates seven figures in ARR with a team of 22 people and remains bootstrapped. In this episode you'll learn how Hiran made the tough call to Pivot away from hardware despite investing $400,000 of his personal savings. Why? Maintaining separate code bases for different customers became their secret weapon against bigger competitors. How they compete against well funded competitors by being creative with their marketing budget and Google Ad spends.

Omer Khan [00:02:17]:
What specific strategies help them rebuild trust and and keep customers after experiencing that serious data breach. And why Hiren chose to stay bootstrapped even when he had opportunities to raise venture capital. So I hope you enjoy it. Hiren, welcome to the show.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:02:33]:
Hey Omer, thanks for having me.

Omer Khan [00:02:35]:
My pleasure. Do you have a favorite quote? Something that inspires or motivates you that you can share with us?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:02:41]:
Yeah, for sure. The quote that comes to mind is mind over matter. It's something that my brother used to say a lot and might not be business Related, but something that's always stuck with me when going through the ups and downs of whether it's business or life.

Omer Khan [00:02:58]:
Love it. So tell us about Techivity. What does the product do, who's IT for, and what's the main problem you're helping to solve?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:03:07]:
Yeah, Techtivity is an IT asset management solution primarily focused on helping IT departments manage all of their assets. Your laptops, tablets, phones, et cetera, that are either in storage, they're given out to employees, or installed within various rooms around the company. So with IT being our primary user of the product, what we're also focused on is helping companies not be silos and actually work together as a full organization.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:03:42]:
So we have features and benefits for other departments such as hr, security, procurement, finance, et cetera, so they can all work together, save the company money, be compliant, be secure, and just work together cohesively.

Omer Khan [00:03:58]:
Cool. And give us a sense of the size of the business. Where are you in terms of revenue, customers, size of team?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:04:06]:
Yeah, in terms of revenue, we're in the low seven figure range in AR, we're a small team. We have around 22 members, most of them being in the product and technology department. And then a mighty team. Small but mighty growth team. Good.

Omer Khan [00:04:23]:
So the business was founded in 2018. Why don't we go back to around that time in terms of what were you doing at the time, where did the idea come from? Sort of before you launched the business?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:04:37]:
The idea actually started out as a hardware company. We developed a product called the TechCube, which is a smart locker solution. We saw a need for mainly engineering departments where an engineer needed a phone to loan out to do some software testing and then they just drop it back off. The issue that we saw was engineers would go to help desk. They'll probably wait, put in a ticket, and they just have to wait until somebody can help them and give them that device.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:05:07]:
The locker would make it easy for them to go to the locker, enter in their email address, select which phone they wanted and take it out and go and complete their project. We started out as the hardware company TechCube and as we were building the actual tool, there was a backend part of it where IT management could see who's taking what devices out, when they've taken it out, and what they need to return. So slowly over time we saw a need for additional features, reports, integrations for the backend portion of it.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:05:43]:
And as we were growing the company, we realized that the hardware portion is getting very expensive to manage the cost of R and D Manufacturing, marketing was expensive. Then Covid hit companies just didn't want to look into a locker solution at that point. So we kind of pivoted into just focusing more on the software side. As we saw, there's also a need for a more affordable and agile system in the space. So we pivoted into more of a software company and have been focusing on that ever since.

Omer Khan [00:06:22]:
Did you have a background in hardware before you decided to build that first business?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:06:27]:
I did not. So had a friend of mine that came in, helped us out, kind of gave us some advice on what to do, put us in touch with some manufacturers locally, and we were literally building these lockers by ourselves. My wife helped me out a lot. We're a bootstrap company, so together we were putting these lockers together. It was a lot of work, but we learned a lot from doing it.

Omer Khan [00:06:53]:
And how long did you work on that hardware product before you eventually decided to pivot?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:06:59]:
It was around two years.

Omer Khan [00:07:01]:
And do you recall how much money you put into that business?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:07:04]:
Oh, into TechCube when we're starting that one? Around 400,000.

Omer Khan [00:07:09]:
Of your own money.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:07:10]:
Yes.

Omer Khan [00:07:11]:
And so you launched this hardware business without a background in hardware. And I know it's a hard thing to do. Sorry the pun.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:07:21]:
Right.

Omer Khan [00:07:21]:
But it's a hard thing to do anyway. And you're bootstrapping, you're investing your own money into this thing and then about two years later you decide we need to pivot. And you said you shifted to kind of the software focused business. But I think that's an incredibly difficult thing for any founder to do. You might know deep down that you need to pivot, but this other voice in your head is saying maybe you can keep going. Maybe that big breakthrough is just around the corner.

Omer Khan [00:08:01]:
Maybe that big deal is just, you know, going to close tomorrow. And I've invested so much of my own personal money, my savings into this and. And I'm basically end up throwing a lot of that away if I have to pivot and in many ways restart. So can just share a little bit about what was going through your mind, because I'm sure it wasn't an easy decision to make to pivot.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:08:25]:
Yeah, it definitely wasn't easy. I mean, I still think about it, you know, what we were doing back then, how much we were spending on the R and D and the marketing and doing events. The number is still here in the back of my mind. But as we started growing the software, we started talking to more people, even some of our prospects.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:08:49]:
It helped with that loss in terms of the financial loss that we had and the time and the effort that we put into it by getting the good feedback of what we were building and our vision of the software from prospects and people in the industry. So that did definitely help. We still have the Locker as one of our products. We still market it a little bit. We're actually coming out with a V3 this month, so there is some movement around it. The focus has definitely been on that software.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:09:26]:
And yeah, it was a tough pivot for us, but it was necessary and something we had to do after really thinking about IT and seeing what we could do with the software, having that software background versus doing the hardware side of things.

Omer Khan [00:09:40]:
So how did you figure out what that pivot was going to be like? You talked about the, okay, we want to move to kind of a software business, a SaaS business, but having kind of gone through these two years, invested all of this money, and how did you get a certain level of confidence that what you were going to pivot to was going to be the right move? Like, did you go out and talk to more customers? Did you try and pre sell the product? What did you do to get more confidence in this pivot?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:10:19]:
Yeah, for sure. So as part of the locker, we had the backend portal that had the management capabilities. So I had the base of like an IT asset management solution. So naturally, just talking to prospects, talking to some other IT directors, heads of IT procurement supply chain, just showing them a brief overview of the portal and what we had that could manage the locker, that gave us the confidence to say, okay, let's take the software and run with IT and just make that pivot and make it work. Right.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:10:56]:
And as we started adding more features and integrations to it, that really helped us grow the, grow the product and then show some customers and get some RFP bids out there and kind of get that confidence going in terms of growing it.

Omer Khan [00:11:11]:
Okay, and how long did it take to build this software? Like you said, was it like, okay, we've kind of already got the bones of IT and it's not going to take too long to kind of repackage this as a standalone product. And beyond that, how long did it take to land that first customer?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:11:27]:
Yeah, it took, I would say, once we had the base software that was connected to the locker, turning that into the IT asset management platform, it was around six months and two developers that were working full time at that moment.

Omer Khan [00:11:43]:
And then the first customer, how long did it take to learn them?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:11:46]:
Right, after the six months we had our first customer.

Omer Khan [00:11:49]:
So how did that happen? Were you basically like selling while you were building the product?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:11:53]:
We were selling. So that customer actually we had met at a conference. They knew we were working on the Locker and we did a demo at their previous company that they were working at. Did a demo at the Locker. When they shifted to their new position, they had an RFP out for an ITS imaging solution and luckily we ended up winning the bid on that and have been a customer of ours ever since.

Omer Khan [00:12:15]:
Okay, now I'm guessing that you weren't the only IT asset management solution out there in the market. Right? Like, I don't know this area deeply, but I do know that it's pretty competitive. There are some big, well funded players in this space. So figuring out what you're going to go and build is, is one thing. The second thing is figuring out

Hiren Hasmukh [00:12:45]:
where

Omer Khan [00:12:46]:
you position yourself in the market and why customers should choose you instead of all these other options that they have. How did you figure that out? Like where best to position yourselves and how you could have a kind of a clear story on how you were going to be differentiated or better or different than what was already out there?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:13:08]:
Yeah, we definitely had to build a lot of trust with our prospects and our customers. There's a lot of big players in the IT asset management industry, a lot of them being heavily funded. And then you have a new player in the game that's like us, who's bootstrapped, we're new. It's hard for larger organizations to just move forward with a new SaaS provider. Right. So we took a slow approach in terms of building the company and, and building that trust by making sure we have good support, we have an excellent product.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:13:48]:
When our prospects reach out to us, if they're feeling a little uneasy, we'll actually connect them with a current customer and they can get a review of us outside of communicating with us. And that's helped a lot in terms of closing some deals where we'll just get our prospects and customers together in a room or in a meeting.

Omer Khan [00:14:07]:
So I think it's great being able to get a customer onto the phone with a prospect and do the selling for you. Why would they do that? Like, what's in it for them? How did you kind of figure this out? It's hard enough to go to a customer for many companies and get a testimonial. Right. But then to say, oh, can you get on the phone with the prospect and basically sell the product for me? That's kind of quite an ask.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:14:36]:
Yeah. I mean, to be honest, we really take pride in our customer support and our development processes. So with our system, it's an agile tool to where every customer gets their own version of techvity and we build onto it for them and their processes. So with that part of our business, we've built a lot of trust with our current customers and we have relationships with them where we'll message each other on slack. Part of that is we want to help our customers. We're not just a SaaS provider, we're not just a solution.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:15:13]:
We really want to help our customers and that relationship and that trust we've built with them has helped us get to a point where we can call them and ask them for these meetings with prospects and they're happy to do it.

Omer Khan [00:15:26]:
I know one of the other things that really helped you get that. Yeah, initial momentum was going out there and targeting early adopters and, you know, companies who are more, you know, more willing to take risks, try new things, innovate, that sort of stuff. And in many ways, for many, many early stage startups, that's, that's a smart thing to do. The challenge always is figuring out, you know, who those early adopters are, how to reach them. So how did you go about figuring that out and who these people were and how to reach them?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:16:07]:
Yeah, with a lot of people, they actually came to us, we have a lot of referrals, a lot of word of mouth. And then people who are leaving their position, they move to another company, they actually contact us and basically follow techtivity and implement it into their current solution or their current company.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:16:29]:
And what we're seeing a lot is there's a lot of people who leave the larger organizations and they're going into smaller startups that are, you know, our earlier adopters, companies that are growing very quickly, that need a tool in place, you know, quickly and efficiently. So that's how we're really able to get some of those smaller companies on board as well.

Omer Khan [00:16:50]:
So do you think it's, I mean, your customers obviously love the product, otherwise, you know, they wouldn't be selling it for you and wanting to move on somewhere else and kind of recommending it, their new companies and so on. What do you think it is about the product that you've. Well, is it the product or is it the support? Because you said, oh, you know, support is kind of a big priority for us. So is it like, hey, the product?

Omer Khan [00:17:17]:
We've really, you know, we, we kind of really figured out how to build the right thing or solve the right problems in the right way or it's like we really kind of, you know, over optimize for support and make sure that we're, we're helping them do a great job. Like, what is it that makes, you know, the customers that love your product? What, what is it that that gets them to that point?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:17:44]:
I feel it's a balance of both. We have a great product. I'm going to be biased here, but I think we have one of the best products out there. And to get to where we are, we had to provide that customer support to build that trust. So we really tried to find a balance in both. Our engineering team has done a really great job in terms of building our product. The integrations, the workflows, everything that IT departments in various organizations, sizes, industries need.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:18:15]:
And then our support team, our growth team, they do a fantastic job in working with our customers and our prospects, making sure that they're happy. I think we found a really good balance between the two.

Omer Khan [00:18:29]:
You mentioned something earlier about how you customize the product for each customer. Talk a little bit more about that because on the one hand, yeah, customization is great, on the other hand, it sounds like a nightmare. So I'm just trying to figure out how you deliver that in a way that you can still continue to grow and scale.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:18:47]:
Yeah, so we have our base product of Techtivity, which has all of the basic functions and functionalities that you need to manage your IT assets. And then what we noticed as we were growing is that every IT department works, they work differently. They have their own processes, their managers have their own philosophies on how they should do things, what they should do. And then when you throw in other departments like hr, Security Compliance, they also have their own ideas.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:19:12]:
So instead of a one size fits all type of product, the vision that I had was let's have this one based product that has a great set of features and then allow our customer to give us feedback on how they work on a day to day basis, what type of reporting that they need for management teams, operation teams, procurement teams, et cetera. And we'll kind of build that in.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:19:35]:
And then as organizations grow, for example, if you're working with a startup that you know all of a sudden gets funding, they add a couple thousand new employees, you know, they're going to have new tools, they're going to have new workflows, new managers. We want to also adapt our software to fit their growing needs as well. So instead of now, here's the software, take it and you know you're stuck with the features that we give you.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:20:01]:
The idea was to allow them to request new features, new integrations, and that's really helped with the growth of the company because they love that. And we're very quick at what we build and we have a quick turnaround time in terms of requests and features that our customers need.

Omer Khan [00:20:19]:
Right. But when you build these features, are you building them for all customers or are you building this kind of multi tenant, kind of Frankenstein?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:20:30]:
Yeah, it's kind of bespoke for our customers. Some of our larger enterprise level customers have very specific needs in terms of security features that we want. Another, smaller customer probably would not need that feature or workflow. And that's why that was one of the reasons of having a system that's completely separate for every single customer. That way we have customer A over here, we can build a completely different version of tactivity and customer B can have their own workflows and processes.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:21:03]:
There are integrations and workflows that will launch to everybody, but most of the time when it's something that's a very specific request, it'll only be for that one customer.

Omer Khan [00:21:13]:
So are you managing multiple code bases for different customers?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:21:17]:
Yeah. Wow.

Omer Khan [00:21:20]:
And how big is your dev team?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:21:21]:
Our dev team right now is 16 people.

Omer Khan [00:21:26]:
Wow. So how do you think that's going to play out as you start to move towards an eight figure business? A lot more customers, a lot more requirements. Is this manageable, Is this scalable?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:21:43]:
Yeah, we're talking internally about being able to modularize the tool to where we can still have the base product and then have plugins that we can add in to make things a lot quicker and easier when we're building new features. So there are plans on our roadmap for this year to help with that.

Omer Khan [00:22:01]:
Let's talk a little bit about growth. Right, so you talked about how you got the first customer you met at an event. What about the first 10? Where did they come from? I know you mentioned word of mouth referrals as a, as a big driver and it still is today. But you know, in those early days you didn't have any customers, so how were you finding them? How did you get the first 10?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:22:27]:
Yeah, so like I mentioned, word of mouth referrals was and still is a heavy driver of traffic to us. And now on the other side, we did use, or we still do Google Adwords to drive traffic to our website to generate leads and prospects. And what we ended up doing was focusing on some of the lower level keywords, the Ones that don't cost as much versus the IT asset management keyword is like 60 to $70 per click, which as a bootstrap company is not affordable for us.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:23:00]:
But we found all of the long tail keywords, the low volume ones where people are still searching for them and our competitors are actually not going after those keywords. So we found a niche in Google AdWords to where we can still get some, drive some traffic, not spend too much money and bring in some leads.

Omer Khan [00:23:17]:
Give me an example of that. Without giving away too much of what you're targeting and stuff like that, but just give me an example of a long tail keyword that a customer might be searching for and come across your ad.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:23:29]:
Yeah, it might be more related to a question they're asking what is it asset management or the benefits of IT asset management, things like that versus just that specific IT asset management keyword.

Omer Khan [00:23:42]:
So I'm guessing the, when you go after those long tail keywords, the cost per click is a lot less than going after words like IT Asset Management and 60, $80 a click is kind of crazy. But probably you're also going to get a lot of clicks for people where there's no buying intent perhaps maybe at that point. Right. So how are you dealing with that?

Omer Khan [00:24:15]:
Do you get a lot of people kind of just, they just want to know what IT ISO management is, but they're not actually looking for a solution or ready to buy yet. And typically like in this space, how long does it take to for someone to kind of get to a point where they're looking to the point where they make a decision and buy a product?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:24:36]:
Yeah. So for the folks that they're not the buyer at the moment, we run our typical retargeting campaigns to make sure that our brand is still in their eyes to help with our brand awareness. And then for the ones that do end up contacting us, it's usually a couple of months sales process to get them from filling out the form to actually implementing.

Omer Khan [00:25:02]:
Yeah, so I'm still trying to figure out like how do you manage that situation with Google AdWords? Because those type of long tail keywords, if there's not buying intent, it feels like you could just be wasting a lot of money on just clicks that aren't ever going to go anywhere, right?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:25:24]:
Yeah, you could say that. But at the end of the day, what we gain from that is a visitor to our website and then they're retargeting at that point. So part of what we want to do is increase our brand awareness we're competing against these big companies that have heavy funding. If we talk about IT asset management and Silicon Valley, for example, there'll be two or three names that everybody knows about. So for somebody to type in, what is it? Asset management for us, that means, okay, it is somebody who is in that field.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:26:02]:
They're looking at least for that topic. Even if they don't fill out our form and contact us as a buyer, at least they see our brand, they see our name, and then later on they'll see our ads. They're retargeting. So we kind of get that benefit of the, the brand awareness at the same time, for a lower cost of a click versus, you know, putting out, you know, really heavy ads and spending a lot on ad spend.

Omer Khan [00:26:26]:
Yeah, yeah. So, so roughly, like, how much, how much money are you spending? What's, what kind of budget do you do? You can allocate for AdWords right now

Hiren Hasmukh [00:26:35]:
in terms of ad spend between Google Ads, we're doing some LinkedIn now. It's 2,500amonth.

Omer Khan [00:26:42]:
Okay, all right, so it's a modest amount. You're not going crazy here.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:26:47]:
Yeah, it's a small amount compared to what our competitors are doing. It's not much, but we're getting some good leads out of it.

Omer Khan [00:26:58]:
The other kind of growth channel you tried and put a fair amount of investment into or try to get right was like event marketing. That didn't work out as well as you thought it would. So I want to talk a little bit about that because I think there's some useful lessons there. So maybe just start at the top and just say, like, what. What was the hypothesis around events and what did you decide to go and do?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:27:31]:
Yeah, so we, we've, we've attended several events with, in the IT space, you know, having a booth sponsoring event, you know, having our team out there. The idea was, you know, we're, we're in the room with our target audience. They're all IT people. They're in IT asset management. They're in some kind of, you know, that space. So the idea is, you know, it's a room full of prospects at the end of the day, right?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:27:58]:
It's the great place to talk to people and try to sell our product, but ultimately really work out for us in the long term. Honestly, to me, it was a lot of wasteful spending. And we saw our competitors also attending these events, so we thought, okay, if they're there, we should be there too. But then we think, okay, well, they have the big budgets, they can spend it and not worry about it later on down the line.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:28:29]:
And that's ultimately ended up for us not wanting to do events again in the future because there was really no ROI for us at the end of the day.

Omer Khan [00:28:38]:
So were you just like, attending events and kind of handing out swag and stuff like that, or were you paying for a booth and kind of going all in as kind of on kind of the floor in terms of trying to talk to customers and do demos? And what kind of approach did you take?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:28:55]:
Yeah, I mean, we were going all in. We've had booths set up, we're giving out swag, got presentations on our booth. You know, we're trying to get people to sign up for demos. We've had people come up to us, they get really excited about getting a demo, you know, after we get back. And I would say we've had zero follow up from anybody who's ever said that they wanted to have a demo and that they need a tool. And it's really discouraging when that happens, not just in one conference, but multiple.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:29:29]:
So at the end of the day, it's like, do we really want to keep doing these? Are we wasting time? We could spend those four days and that money doing something else.

Omer Khan [00:29:39]:
How many events did you take a crack at before you decided to pull the plug?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:29:43]:
So we did the first few years, we did one a year, and then last year we did four different events. We are doing one this year. We know this one will work out. It's a very specific niche and industry. We're already working well with some of the leaders at the organization, and we've actually had some prospects come in through it. But other than that, some of the bigger conferences we're just going to pass this year.

Omer Khan [00:30:12]:
One of the things we talked about earlier, before we started recording, was this idea that, you know, you said we were doing events, but then you noticed that all your competitors were talking about kind of, you know, using similar buzzwords and by taking a similar approach to them, you were just blending in instead of standing out. And I thought that was an insightful observation.

Omer Khan [00:30:42]:
Just talk a little bit more about that because I think there's some useful lessons here because it's very easy to look at what's happening in the market and say, well, that's what we should be doing, because they're doing that.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:30:50]:
Yeah, we're getting into this mindset of, okay, the competitor is aligning themselves this way. This is their messaging on their branding and their booth and table. So in our mind, it's like, okay, it must work for them if they're doing it right. So we kind of follow the same train of thought and do something similar instead of doing things our way, where we want to be disruptive and get a different message out there so we can get those eyes and grab that attention.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:31:17]:
So that did hurt us where we were kind of blending in like you said. And yeah, it wasn't the approach we should have taken at the time. So it was a learning lesson for us when it came to doing these events and setting up the booths and the marketing material.

Omer Khan [00:31:33]:
Has that also influenced the way you do your. Your general marketing and your messaging and the way you talk about the product or kind of buzzwords you try to avoid?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:31:47]:
Yeah, we have a rule with our marketing team not to use buzzwords. We actually have a blog post and a LinkedIn post about how as a company we don't want to use buzzwords and just it jargon that every other competitor talks about. Because a lot of the time in our eyes, it's just fluff. We want to help our customers. We don't want to just sell them on some fantasy. Right. So there's actually a role within our company and our marketing team to stay off all buzzwords and jargon is in even our.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:32:22]:
If you look at our socials, we're trying to be different with our graphics and our messaging around what we're doing, just trying to get that attention out there.

Omer Khan [00:32:30]:
I think the other thing you mentioned was like, hey, you know, one of the lessons from events was it's better to be talking to more prospects who are ready to buy than ones. You know, you just kind of come across at sort of these events that, you know, are kind of interested, but it's not really a serious decision that they're considering right now. Why do you think that was kind of an issue at events?

Omer Khan [00:33:00]:
I mean, I'm sure there are people who are going to these events for the reason to kind of consider alternative solutions or maybe their IT asset management is kind of a mess right now and they're trying to figure out how to solve that or do a better job at it.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:33:14]:
Yeah, I feel that there's a few things around it. Sometimes they might not be the decision maker. They're just sent to this conference to go learn about new products and tools and then they don't really follow up after that point. Some of the conferences, especially the larger ones, are more of a social event. So you'll get excited, you'll meet a new vendor, you'll say hey, we'll connect afterwards. But it's just really not a serious conversation in their minds at the end of the day. And then we're also.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:33:44]:
When it comes to IT asset management in this industry, a lot of companies already have a tool in place. So even if we do talk to a prospect at an event, we realize they have something in place. They don't want to move it, they don't want to shift things around, it's expensive for them to do that, or they're just stuck with what they have and they don't have any decision making authority on even making a switch to a new provider.

Omer Khan [00:34:07]:
Yeah. So who is your icp? Is there a particular Persona or somebody in the organization that you think is that now you know, okay, this is the person I should be talking to?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:34:22]:
Yeah, it's typically like you're head of IT IT manager. Depending on the size of the company, we might even get to that CTO level. Some of the smaller companies, our CTO will make some of those decisions as well, but usually that IT director head of IT IT manager is our main target.

Omer Khan [00:34:41]:
And then so is that when you were at events, you would, most of the time those were not necessarily the people you were talking to?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:34:48]:
Yeah, sometimes actually. I mean, there were some where they were the IT asset manager. Really? Yeah. Like, okay, this is exciting. We've got like six different IT asset managers wanting to schedule a demo after we get back. And after that they just ghost us and go silent.

Omer Khan [00:35:05]:
And it turned out that they weren't the decision makers. Is that what you say?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:35:10]:
I guess not. I mean, I don't know, they just never responded. Wow.

Omer Khan [00:35:16]:
Okay, all right, cool. So I think some good, good, good lessons there about events. You know, it, it's, you know, I think in many ways, like when, when you, you kind of described the event piece and, and you know, we were chatting earlier, it was like, hey, it sounds like a good plan, right? Like you're, you're getting out there, you're going where your custom potential customers are, you're spreading the word about techtivity, you're there be the face of the company, do the demos. What sounds like a great way to reach customers.

Omer Khan [00:35:49]:
But it's interesting that it turned out to be completely the opposite in terms of a growth driver.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:35:56]:
Yeah, that helped also with just learning about how we could budget things out a little better. So if we know, okay, we're spending $10,000 on a particular event, what could we do with that 10,000 somewhere else? Whether it's LinkedIn, ads, Google, ads or even bringing on an additional resource to help with our marketing efforts or a salesperson, an sdr.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:36:26]:
So now, whenever an opportunity comes our way, whether it's an event or sponsoring something or you know, paid publications, for example, we'll look at things in more detail and put together our pros and cons and opportunity cost and everything before we even pull the trigger on anything. So we did learn a lot from all of these different methods that we've tried in the past.

Omer Khan [00:36:50]:
So if events were such a failure, why are you doing another event this year?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:36:57]:
There's one event, our growth manager really wants to do it, but he's also made a lot of good contacts there. We've actually had several prospects, we're doing multiple demos and we're doing a pilot program for a particular industry, education. So we're looking to see how we can get our solution into a lot of schools. And we already have some on board that we're working with. When it comes to high schools, middle schools, you know, they give out tablets, they give out Chromebooks to the students. They're not tracking anything. There's a lot that goes missing.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:37:33]:
There's damaged equipment out there, there's lost equipment. So we're working on a plan to where we can help a lot of schools with their IT asset management. So that one I'm okay with. And the cost of. We're actually not setting up a booth. There were actually speaking at the event

Omer Khan [00:37:54]:
we talked about, you know, you kind of figuring out how to build a great product support. You obviously have been doing the right things where you, you've got customers willing to get on the phone and talk to prospects and, and tell them, you know, how much they love using techvity. Building, building trust and a brand is super important. And especially if you're bootstrapped and in a market dominated by some very big, well funded players, that reputation and credibility is so important.

Omer Khan [00:38:32]:
And then I think it was like two years ago you had a data breach which affected one of your customers. Tell me about what happened there and how much of an issue it was.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:38:45]:
Yeah, a couple years ago we did have a data breach where information from one of our customers was leaked. To be honest, that was probably one of the worst times of my life going through that. We lost a lot of trust with that current customer, but we had to notify our other customers that know something did happen. All of their data was safe. But at the end of the day, you know, everybody's still questioning our company. We're a small company, we're Bootstrapped and, you know, why should they keep trusting us?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:39:25]:
But, you know, we really learned a lot in terms of our security posture, how to, you know, navigate through situations like that, and then also building that trust back up with that particular customer and some of the others that were questioning us at that point.

Omer Khan [00:39:42]:
Did you lose that customer?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:39:43]:
We still had them.

Omer Khan [00:39:44]:
Nice, nice. So kind of looking back at that experience now, you obviously looked at the security issues and what, you know, you guys needed to do a better job with. But what do you think helped you to keep that customer, to rebuild the trust? Like, if someone's like, in that situation today, what are some of the lessons they can take away from your experience there?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:40:12]:
Yeah, so the first thing that we did was they actually moved the software on prem to their own server, so that way less risk of their data being loose again and then just working with them on clearing things up. And to be honest, they're so integrated with our product internally with multiple departments, it would have been very difficult for them to even get rid of the tool.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:40:43]:
But over time, since then, we've worked closely with them on building new features, adding more to it, more value to it, but at the same time showing them that our servers are also secure by going through sod 2 approval, showing them pen tests, showing them more reporting around what we're doing on our security side of things.

Omer Khan [00:41:05]:
Do you find that you have to jump through a lot of, like, those kinds of security hoops when you're bringing on new customers? I mean, I know just in the IT space, there's got to be like, you know, you got to be SOC compliant, you got to do this, you

Hiren Hasmukh [00:41:19]:
got to do that.

Omer Khan [00:41:20]:
And I've talked to founders who are like, you know, yeah, we were kind of like doing really well with this potential customer. And then they give us like this 200 page document that we've got to kind of go through. Right. It's. Is that something that you have to deal with?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:41:33]:
Yeah, it's normal. The larger the company, the more chance of them doing a security audit. Security questionnaire. Some of the smaller companies have, they've been okay just signing vendors, but as part of like SOC or ISO, you're supposed to vet your vendors. So we know that it's part of the process. So now we're prepared for it every time, whether it's an Excel file or a portal that we have to answer questions in. But we have our pentest, we have our SOC 2 report that we could always provide.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:42:06]:
So we're confident now that our prospects won't really question us in terms of our security. There's a lot of evidence that we could show that we are secure and maintaining that over time.

Omer Khan [00:42:18]:
Great. So you've gone from the hardware business to software business. You've hit the first million in arrival. You're a seven figure ARR business today. Still bootstrapped. Have you thought about raising money? Has that been something that you've considered?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:42:39]:
I've considered it. I think about it sometimes. I actually do take on calls whenever VCs or PEs come out and they want to learn more about the product or invest in it. At this moment, I'm happy with where we're at with bootstrapping. Like I mentioned, how we build our product based on our customers needs being bootstrapped gives us that flexibility and agility to do whatever we want. If we have investors or other people that we have to answer to, essentially then we lose some of that, I feel.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:43:22]:
So I'd rather stay bootstrapped at this moment and just grow naturally and organically.

Omer Khan [00:43:28]:
Do you feel like you would be able to grow faster if you had funding?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:43:32]:
I'm sure we could, yeah.

Omer Khan [00:43:34]:
But you're happy with what you're growing?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:43:37]:
I'm happy with it. Plus there's also, I would say, like fear in the back of my mind. Right. I've gone through multiple businesses in the past as well with other partners, other people that haven't taken off where I've done most of the work and hasn't gone anywhere or they've just failed. The fear would be. And then with the locker situation we put so much money into was a big financial hit. The fear is that we take money from somebody and it just doesn't work out. And I still have that feeling as well all the time.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:44:10]:
So yes, we could get funding. There's a lot of people that reach out to us all the time. But then it's like, okay, we have to make sure that we perform at that level. And I feel like we're not at a place yet to where I know that we can take a bunch of money and then get to where we want to be. Right. So once I know we hit that, the point that I want to be at, I think we could. I just don't want to end up taking money and then risking it. Right.

Omer Khan [00:44:42]:
Yeah, that's very pragmatic. It's good. All right, we should wrap up. Let's get on to the lightning round. I've got seven quick fire questions for you. Ready?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:44:53]:
Sounds good.

Omer Khan [00:44:54]:
Okay. What's one of the Best pieces of business advice you've received?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:44:58]:
Yeah, I would say just stay focused and patient. The success doesn't come overnight, but at the same time, be prepared to pivot if you need to make some changes.

Omer Khan [00:45:10]:
What book would you recommend to our audience and why?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:45:13]:
One of my favorites has been Zero to Sold. Arvid. Arvid. Kal. That book really helped me kind of validate the direction when we were building the company and the product in terms of, you know, are we doing things the right way when we're growing?

Omer Khan [00:45:29]:
Yeah. Arvid's a great guy. What's one attribute or characteristic in your mind of a successful founder?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:45:36]:
Just be passionate about what you're doing. You want to wake up in the morning feeling good about the company the direction is going, and the challenges that you're going to be facing.

Omer Khan [00:45:45]:
What's your favorite personal productivity tool or habit?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:45:49]:
I think I'm old school. I love my notepad. My notepad that I fill out every day with everything that I need to do. So, yeah, that's really it for me.

Omer Khan [00:46:00]:
What's a new or crazy business idea you'd love to pursue if you had the time?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:46:03]:
Yeah, if I had time, I would love to help kids in India, in smaller villages with education and it. That's something that in the future, I would love to get involved with.

Omer Khan [00:46:14]:
Cool. What's an interesting or fun fact about you that most people don't know?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:46:19]:
So one thing I can say is there's a lot of memes you'll see about people who run and they like to talk about. I just ran a marathon. I love to run, and I'm actually planning out my 2025 run schedule, so. So should have some runs on the book soon.

Omer Khan [00:46:35]:
Nice. And finally, what's one of your most important passions outside of your work?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:46:40]:
Yeah, outside of work, I spend a lot of time volunteering for the Huntington's Disease Society of America. They're a national nonprofit that helps families that are affected by H.D. huntington's disease. So my brother passed away with the disease in 2012. Been involved with them since 2011, helping with fundraising, raising awareness, and helping our local families in the LA area with support. Great.

Omer Khan [00:47:08]:
Love that. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for joining me. It's been a pleasure talking about the business. I love the kind of the journey from building this hardware business, the. The pivot, how you've gone and made that transition after having put in a lot of your own personal money into the business and then also getting some traction in a pretty competitive space where you've got some players who are extremely well funded and kind of sort of carving out a niche for yourself as a bootstrap business in that space is pretty impressive.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:47:58]:
Thank you for having me on. I really appreciate it.

Omer Khan [00:48:01]:
Yeah, yeah, certainly my pleasure. So if people want to check out Techtivity, they can go to techtivity.com and that's tech with a T E Q tivity.com and if folks want to get in touch with you, what's the best way for them to do that?

Hiren Hasmukh [00:48:17]:
Yeah, they can email me. I'm my open book for contacting. So it's heerenactivity.com awesome.

Omer Khan [00:48:25]:
Thanks man. It's been a pleasure and I wish you and the team the best of success.

Hiren Hasmukh [00:48:29]:
Awesome. Thank you.

Omer Khan [00:48:30]:
Cheers.

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