For those who don’t know, what is Hassl?
Hassl is a cloud-based project collaboration platform. It’s an all-in-one workflow tool that can store files and manage projects, eliminating the need for multiple apps and recurring subscription fees. Hassl enables teams to set up tasks for collaborating and holds staff accountable by letting users see how far along their colleagues are in completing their part of a project.
How did you get the idea?
When we started our own agency, Your Creative, we became frustrated by the constellation of tools it took to get things done. We thought there must be a better design solution for managing our internal workflow and collaborating with clients.
How has your experience been funding your startup?
We’ve self-funded through our agency, Your Creative Agency, plus government grants such as R&D Grant and the EMDG Export Grant have been extremely helpful.
What was your biggest mistake?
Our biggest mistake was not documenting our process. In our first year, we didn’t know about the R&D grant that we later became eligible for, therefore we didn’t document a lot of the research and experiments we were conducting to build Hassl. We now document everything through Hassl, using custom statuses to mark our R&D activities.
What’s the best advice you could give to someone starting out?
Even if you don’t code yourself, learn about the technology fuelling your business.
Even if you don’t code yourself, learn about the technology fuelling your business.
Have you had any challenges sourcing and growing your team?
Our stack is very progressive so we are always on the hunt for those developers in Australia who work in React and React Native. It’s not a commonly taught language in formal education at the moment so we seek out the people who’ve learnt the language in their own time.
What needs to improve/change for Australia to become a global leader in innovation and tech?
There’s a huge focus on building founder’s leadership skills but there needs to be a greater push towards technical skills. My co-founder and I always joke at conferences that everyone is there to look for a technical founder. Ultimately, if we want to thrive in innovation and tech we need to value and foster software and hardware engineering skills, as well as data analytics.
If we want to thrive in innovation and tech we need to value and foster software and hardware engineering skills, as well as data analytics.
Do you have any tips for scaling or growing your business?
The best marketing tactic is a great product fit. Focus on grilling and optimising the user-experience and then word of mouth will become an organic acquisition channel.
What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?
Building something else, potentially a hardware. Myself and my co-founders are three very different individuals with one thing in common – we’re here to build ideas into businesses.
The best marketing tactic is a great product fit.