Growing a business is not an easy task. It takes hard work, determination, and time. But take a quick look around and you’ll find entrepreneurs and their successful startups all over the place—especially if you’re looking around Ottawa.
AccelerateOTT 2017 is all about growth hacking. We want to help you find the most effective and efficient ways to grow a business, so we’re bringing in top experts to tell you how. Not only does our lineup include national and international talent who can’t wait to share their tips, but it’s also packed with local Ottawa success stories (because who better to learn from than someone who has been exactly where you are now?). Allan has been in your shoes, and his insight can help you get a pair like his—meet Allan Wille!
Allan is the co-founder and CEO of Klipfolio, a SaaS dashboard company with over 7,500 customers—including Jet.com, Zendesk, Aviva, and IKEA—dedicated to helping small to mid-size organizations grow their business by making it easy and affordable to continuously monitor the health and performance of their organization. Klipfolio is ranked third overall on GetApp’s ranking of the top Business Intelligence Category Leaders for Q2 2017. They raised $12-million for their latest round of venture funding entirely from existing investors. Quickly out growing their office space in downtown Ottawa, Klipfolio plans to expand from 70 employees to over 110 employees this year.
We had a chat with Allan to learn more about his successful journey.
How did you “pay your dues” to get to where you are today?
Keeping in mind that we started Klipfolio in 2001, I’d say the first 10 years were all about paying my dues. In the early days, salary was close to non-existent. We took all kinds of unrelated jobs; I negotiated with all of our suppliers to get services for close to free; my co-founder sold his car to put food on the table. It was hard. But worth it.
The busy life of an entrepreneur cannot be an easy one. What is your favourite “life hack” to help manage it all?
When I started this I did not own a house, I was not married, and I didn’t have kids. Today family time is a priority, so my hacks have more to do with protecting that as opposed to getting more “work” out of my day. As an entrepreneur, the truth is you never really stop thinking about the business; however, I’m a true believer in balance and family time. I don’t leave the office late. I say no to tons of evening events—that time is protected.
What is one staple growth hack every start-up should know about?
Test, measure, and improve every important customer journey.
What business have you noticed has been doing growth hacking well?
I admire companies who take a data driven approach to growing their companies. These companies have a strong “research culture” that allows questioning things.
Why are you excited to speak at AccelerateOTT?
I think Klipfolio is at a great stage to share meaningful successes and challenges with other Ottawa tech companies. We’re not too big and we’ve crossed enough of the early growth stages to have some experience to share. I’m also a big believer of “floating all ships” and there’s no better place to do that than Ottawa.
What is something most people don’t know about you?
I cycle to work every day, rain or shine, accumulating over 4,000km each year. It is a great way to hack physical and mental health into your day.
Check Allan out at AccelerateOTT 2017: Growth Hacking on May 11! Get your tickets here.
For more information and a full list of speakers head to accelerateott.ca.