Our Employee Recognition SaaS Started on Google Sheets And Eventually Raised $500K From VCs

Vasily Malyshev

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Published: January 27th, 2024

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About
Business

Vasily Malyshev

Founder, Intelogos

$100K

revenue/mo

Founders

Employees

Intelogos

intelogos.com

from New York, NY, USA

started August 2022

$99,997

revenue/mo

Founders

Employees

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Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?

My name is Vasily Malyshev and I’m the CEO and founder of Intelogos, an employee wellbeing, recognition & performance management software.

A business is only as good as its people. But understanding your team and giving effective feedback is hard.

Intelogos solves this by automatically collecting detailed performance data and using AI suggestions to help your team improve.

What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?

Before diving into the world of Intelogos, I spent almost a decade at the helm of Messapps, a New York-based software development agency. Initially operating as a semi-remote agency, we later embraced a fully remote working model. Leading a team through challenges like staff turnover, varying work quality, and the complexities of effective feedback, I honed my leadership skills during this transformative period.

Despite the remarkable team at Messapps, a significant issue persisted – the absence of a streamlined method for gathering and comprehending crucial information about our dispersed team. Evaluating requests, such as a developer's salary raise, became a subjective task, relying on potentially biased information from those working closely with the individual.

This challenge was not unique to us; discussions with leaders of similarly sized companies and larger entities, including an online furniture store, an East Coast US bank, and a senior engineer from a major US company, revealed a shared struggle in collecting comprehensive reports and feedback from employees.

When you are working on a new idea you will likely hear that you should always talk to your users, launch fast, and adjust based on feedback even faster…listen to your users and proactively reach out to them and get feedback.

Even innovative attempts, like daily opening computer questions, proved ineffective, with some dismissing them as disconnected and trivial. Seeking a solution, I delved into a groundbreaking study by Gallup, confirming the suspicion that traditional performance management systems are broken, marked by inadequate metrics, infrequent reviews, and ineffective feedback, leaving employees underutilized and unmotivated.

In the midst of this exploration, I should note that I also pursued my education at New York Law School, adding a legal dimension to my skill set. This multidisciplinary background, combined with my experiences at Messapps, inspired the creation of Intelogos – an automated people analytics and performance management system designed to empower both companies and employees.

While remote work offers many benefits, including flexible hours, flexible location, saved commute times, and lower office costs, it also has some challenges. The main challenge is managing your team. It’s hard enough to do it when everyone is at the office, but it’s even harder when everyone might be sitting on different sides of the globe.

Take us through the process of building the first version of your product.

The first prototype was built inside of a spreadsheet. I had just set up APIs from different third-party sources to pull info into Google Sheets and then I set up some formulas to automatically parse info and transform it into stats for people inside our team. This helped me understand that the whole idea is feasible and that it provides some useful data.

The next step was to find out from other managers and executives of companies how useful such data would be for them, which my team and I created as a prototype. These were acquaintances, friends, and random people we could find on the Internet. The result was that while some of the statistics were useful, others were either inaccurate or simply not valuable. So adjustments had to be made. And we started making a BETA version of the product.

After feedback was gathered I started working with developers on actually moving this idea, which so far was just inside a spreadsheet, into a real product.

Talk to users. Talk to anyone who might be interested. Read the book Mom’s Test to get better at filtering fake praise with real feedback.

I assembled a team and found collaborators across platforms. Today the team works completely remotely and is located in different continents be it Europe, America, and even in Asia. I paid salaries from the sale of my previous company and then the first MVP was created. Unfortunately, I found the interface of the first MVP confusing.

It looked like a screen filled with numbers. So we knew we had to add some beautiful designs to make the data more digestible. The design upgrade was the last major change that we did before our first limited public launch.

Describe the process of launching the business.

Launching Intelogos was a thrilling and challenging journey that involved strategic planning, testing, and adapting to the evolving needs of our target market.

Before diving into full-scale development, we wanted to ensure there was genuine interest in our product. The decision to use Webflow for the initial website allowed us to quickly establish an online presence. By launching a waitlist sign-up without immediate access to the product, we aimed to filter out users and ensure our initial beta testers aligned with our target market description. This approach helped us gauge the demand for our solution and fine-tune our offering based on early feedback.

To create buzz and garner interest, we strategically placed ads on various startup and directory sites. Leveraging platforms like Product Hunt and Beta List proved effective in reaching our target audience. Simultaneously, we began collecting contact information for decision-makers in our specific market. This database became a valuable asset for targeted outreach, allowing us to engage with potential users directly and understand their pain points.

Securing the first customer is a pivotal moment for any startup. In our case, the initial customer came through a combination of our outreach efforts and the waitlist sign-ups. Engaging in direct conversations with potential users enabled us to showcase the value of Intelogos and address their specific needs. This hands-on approach played a crucial role in building trust and securing that critical first customer.

Making the first dollar is a significant milestone, and our journey towards monetization was a gradual process. Initially, the focus was on building a user base and refining the product based on user feedback. As we iterated on the platform, we introduced a pricing model that resonated with our customers. The transition from a free trial model to a subscription-based approach took thoughtful consideration, balancing user value with sustainable revenue.

Our initial ads served as a valuable tool to generate awareness and attract early adopters. However, the conversion from ad views to paying customers underwent several iterations. Analyzing the data and user behavior allowed us to refine our advertising strategy, targeting the channels that resonated most with our audience. This iterative process proved instrumental in optimizing our ad spend and increasing conversion rates over time.

From day one to the present, our business model has undergone strategic evolution. The initial focus was on establishing a robust user base and gathering insights into user behavior. As we progressed, we fine-tuned our offerings based on user feedback and market demands. The transition from a beta phase to a fully realized product involved aligning our business model with the evolving needs of our customers, ultimately ensuring sustained growth and value delivery.

Launching Intelogos was not without its challenges, but the lessons learned during this pivotal phase have shaped the trajectory of our success. It underscores the importance of adaptability, customer engagement, and a relentless pursuit of delivering value in the dynamic landscape of launching a new venture.

Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?

Surprisingly, one of our most significant triumphs unfolded through Product Hunt. Against all expectations, our startup soared to the top 5 startups of the day. This unexpected surge translated into a flood of hundreds of leads overnight, many of which aligned perfectly with our target market.

The aftermath was nothing short of exhilarating – our story was featured in several newsletters catering to SaaS and AI products, resonating with decision-makers across various industries. Social networks buzzed with quotes and commendations for our innovative venture.

The plot thickened when not one, but two venture funds reached out to us. The initial one deemed us too early for investment but remained committed to advising us on strategic matters. The real game-changer came with the second venture fund, which not only appreciated our potential but invested a substantial $500,000 in our early-stage startup.

The fact that venture capital funds expressed interest post our Product Hunt success was a revelation that surpassed our wildest expectations. The unexpected turn of events has not only bolstered our financial standing but opened doors to valuable partnerships and guidance, promising a future brimming with possibilities.

SEO is a great long-term strategy but it’s hard to get immediate results from it. So that’s something we are working on to achieve long-term success but not expecting much right away.

We are looking to start PPC ads in the near future when our next update is ready for launch.

How are you doing today and what does the future look like?

Today we are learning more and more about our user base and adjusting based on their feedback. We’ve learned more in the last few weeks since we launched than in the entire last year.

Our costs are relatively small as we have a fully remote team. However, because our product works with a lot of data one of our struggles is keeping the server costs down. So a lot of the work we are doing right now is around cutting server costs.

As we get more and more feedback we are also working on some new features. We’ve revamped our entire product architecture to make it modular so that we can work on different feature sets as separate modules.

So any of those modules can be not only worked on independently but we can price them separately for users as well. This gives us more flexibility to try different pricing plans.

Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?

When you are working on a new idea you will likely hear that you should always talk to your users, launch fast, and adjust based on feedback even faster. I’ve heard all of it.

But, like many, I’ve ignored most of it. This led to a ton of mistakes when we were doing a product that we thought was helpful but a product that our customers didn’t care about.

So first and foremost, listen to your users and proactively reach out to them and get feedback.

Another thing we should’ve done is create a landing page with a waitlist even before we launched the product. This gets you a measurement of the initial interest and also a list of potential customers with whom you can talk.

What platform/tools do you use for your business?

Webflow to quickly build a website.

Figma for design.

Slack for communication.

Initially, Notion was a task manager, but it’s lacking in that respect so soon we switched to Wrike.

What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.

Getting things done by David Allen.

Deep Work by Cal Newport.

Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?

Talk to users. Talk to anyone who might be interested. Read the book Mom’s Test to get better at filtering fake praise with real feedback.

Try to sell as soon as possible. Maybe not to your dream clients but at least to smaller clients so that you can test their commitment and see if there is real interest.

Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?

We are currently looking to grow our team in all departments: design, frontend, and backend.

Where can we go to learn more?

If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!