Bootstrapping by Piggybacking: Evenica CEO Sadek Ali (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: If you tried to go into the Shopify marketplace with another e-commerce platform, that wouldn’t work. That was not an option. You were trying to build your own e-commerce platform.

Sadek Ali: Shopify is a long-tail play.

Sramana Mitra: Shopify, on many levels, is not the right marketplace for you.

Sadek Ali: Shopify and Shopify Plus are great products, but they’re not the best products for the mid-market.

Sramana Mitra: Right. The genesis of Shopify has been to cater to the smallest merchants. It’s the simplest way to start an e-commerce store.

Sadek Ali: It’s definitely there. In every discussion that we have with mid-market companies, they consider Shopify. They are a great company.

Sramana Mitra: In the Microsoft ecosystem, however, there was no dominant player.

Sadek Ali: There are some big platforms. Magento was definitely a big player outside of Microsoft. Because Adobe has open-source roots, it had a huge developer base too. Microsoft now has Dynamics 365 Commerce. You have these complicated ecosystems and products powering these huge companies. You have to have something that glues them all together. That’s where the difference came in.

Sramana Mitra: Your product is built on Microsoft and you tied to the Microsoft ecosystem. You piggybacked on the Microsoft ecosystem.

Sadek Ali: It’s an interesting way of putting it. I never thought of it like that.

Sramana Mitra: The beauty of marketplaces is that opportunity to be able to get the validation of the platform provider and their channel and lead generation. So many great companies have been built on Salesforce and Microsoft. The channel works for you.

Sadek Ali: I can’t reinforce your point enough. You end up having to put your money where your mouth is.

Sramana Mitra: From your three customers and then leveraging the Microsoft channel, how many customers did you get through them?

Sadek Ali: We didn’t open up that channel until this past year. It took us four years to get to customers with Microsoft. We were in the channel, but we still had a lot of other hurdles that you had to do. You have to get enough customers to be able to drive enough referenceable revenue. You have to have the right capabilities in your company.

Sramana Mitra: Before Microsoft is willing to give you leads and customer adoption, what do you have to do?

Sadek Ali: We were working with partners and we would sub with our existing partners. There’s Microsoft. Then you’ve got huge companies that you could still work through. You need to work through them because those companies help bring customers to you, but you have to prove yourself on every single deal.

Sramana Mitra: What kind of companies are these?

Sadek Ali: These are ERP implementation companies. They’d be implementing AX. They’d be developing for GP.

Sramana Mitra: You got your first few customers through your own relationships and then you’ve got a Microsoft VAR to work with you that implemented it in their customer bases. You got those two VAR’s before you directly worked with the Microsoft marketplace.

Sadek Ali: They’re more on the SI side. Ostensibly, that was our sales channel. One of the things that we were also doing is to not take on venture capital. Today, maybe.

Sramana Mitra: So far, you’re completely bootstrapped.

Sadek Ali: Absolutely.

Sramana Mitra: I’m very fond of bootstrapped companies. How many customers do you have today?

Sadek Ali: We’ve got 20 of them that are really active. You monetize other smaller stuff, but 20 of them are carrying the business today. Our expectation right now is we’re going to scale this up.

Sramana Mitra: You’re at about $5 million right now?

Sadek Ali: That’s correct.

Sramana Mitra: You said that, in the last year, the Microsoft channel has started producing for you. How many leads are coming from Microsoft now?

Sadek Ali: We went from two to three leads per month. Today, we’re looking at 20 to 30 leads a month.

Sramana Mitra: You’re going to experience a huge acceleration. We call it bootstrapping by piggybacking. There comes an inflection point where the marketplace starts to produce. You’re just at the cusp of that inflection point.

It was a real pleasure talking to you. Thank you for your time.

This segment is part 6 in the series : Bootstrapping by Piggybacking: Evenica CEO Sadek Ali
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