Attify: "You Never Know What Your Startup Can Do"

Describe Attify in 50 words or less.

Attify is a startup helping organizations secure their digital assets from getting hacked. We hack the organization’s app/website just like the “actual” hackers, but then work with the organization to fix those holes and secure them.

Why did you decide to pursue your own dreams rather than someone else’s?

I always wanted to work for a company like Google or Facebook, but then after thinking more about it, I decided why not build a company as big as Google or Facebook, instead of working for one. You never know, what your startup can do and how big it can be, unless you start building one.

7 years from now: How did your startup change the world?

I have a mission of securing as many companies as possible and make the web a much more safer place for the users. One of the most unpaid aspect of the present day startups and even big organizations is the ‘security’ and I believe Attify will be able to change that completely in the next 5-7 years. The more attention companies pay to the security and safety of their users, the more we are closer to our mission being achieved.

In what ways do you measure your success and how do you make sure you don’t lose track?

I measure success in two ways : 1. How happy are our customers with the results and how many of them turn into regular clients? 2. How is the company’s growth – in terms of culture, workplace and financial.

And to be really honest, I am quite blown away with the results of just the past 12 months. The clients we work with are extremely happy with the results and 90+% of them have signed annual contracts with us now. On the growth aspect – we have surpassed our own forecasts of the revenue front and the team is really loving the culture here.

Describe your typical working day from coming to the office to leaving it.

I wish my typical work day had the office part in it. I am travelling for most part of the month and only get to interact personally with my team 4-5 days in a month. The rest of the communication is all through Slack, Emails and Video meetings.

Whenever I’m in office I usually use the time to work with the team and discuss about the strategies and make overall plans. Also, things like working on the research and making things move forward.

Already pivoted? Did customers use the services like you imagined it in the beginning?

Oh yes, I think that was a turning point in the company’s life. The customers absolutely didn’t use the services as we expected in the very early days. Attify infact started with a BYOD solution for enterprises, turning to a shopping application, pivoting to a Automated Mobile Security Scanner to finally providing security offerings to enterprises – which finally worked out.

Bootstrapped or financed: What fuels your startup now and what will in the future?

Bootstrapped – for the most part of it. Even though, when we were starting out we received a small amount by one of my close friends. However, we started generating really good revenue from around a year back. In the past couple of months, we have been able to secure enough cash in the bank to have the company last for the next 3-4 years with 0 revenue coming in (I am sure we will be doing better than that 🙂 ).

What were the biggest challenges you faced building your startup?

I believe finding the right set of people to work with is the biggest challenge we had in the early days. For example, I initially hired a co-founder which didn’t turn out to be a good decision as we were quite different in the vision of the company. Apart from the team, I think getting the first bunch of customers who trust your startup is the other hardest part.

Once these two things are in place – team and the initial customers, everything else is just about taking the right decisions and growing exponentially.

With ferocious competition and a booming trend to build new companies: How do you make sure you don’t get lost in the shuffle?

It’s quite easy to get demotivated with so many companies coming up and the growing competition. But I believe ignoring the competition and focusing on what you as a founder want, brings the startup to achieve a difference. Just in the past 3 years, we had a number of competing companies starting up and then shutting down just because they were not able to survive.

For me, as a founder and for our team, the vision of the company is something which everyone is absolutely clear about.

What do you look for in team members?

I look for people who are self-driven and can take initiatives and face challenges. Finding the right team members is quite tough – but given enough time and network it slowly starts happening. I made a number of bad hiring decisions early on, and was quick enough to fire them once I realized that they are not a good fit.

So I think, for me it’s still an experiment when it comes to finding the perfect team members – mostly it works out, sometimes it doesn’t.

Why would a talent join your team?

People join Attify because they are really passionate about the security industry and want to make a difference by helping secure organizations. Apart from that, it’s the added perks we usually provide to our team members – research time to work on new and innovative projects, a flexible work environment, passes to conferences, free training sessions and so on.

What was your most memorable moment so far?

For me, the most memorable moment was when I got the first client for Attify. It was a LOT of hard work to get the first client. That is when I realized this thing can work out and has the potential to become big. It was just a couple hundred dollars for the first project we did. But from there, to the current seven figures, I believe things have come a long way.

What advice would you give fellow founders for their startup?

I would definitely want to say this to any other founder who is currently in the starting phases is to hustle hard and never give up. Things are going to work out sooner or later. But have an open mind to pivot from what your original ideas might have been, till the point you find people paying for your product/service and it’s a good market fit.