WOVN Technologies is turning 4 today, March 5th 2018. Takaharu, Jeffrey, Shoji and Antoine have seen the company grow since the start. We’ve asked them to share with us what the past year was like, what has changed and what they are looking forward to, in exchange for burritos and salad 😜
Left to right: Takaharu (CEO), Jeffrey (CTO), Shoji (CS) and Antoine (Developer)
Looking back on this past year
Every year for a startup feels like a big achievement, but this last one was particularly big.
When asked what has changed, “the company’s members doubled and the office, which seemed large at the beginning of last year, now feels a bit too cozy. At one point, we couldn’t even fit everybody, so we had to give up the break area to put additional tables and chairs!” says Jeffrey, to which Takaharu adds “I am the CEO, but I am almost sitting in the entrance!”.
Shoji mentions he could finally go on his holiday since he is not the only one dealing with Customer Support anymore. “The one-member teams became actual teams, and we have created new ones, too”.
Antoine, on the other hand, doesn’t seem too concerned about the space, but rather about how to make the team more efficient. “We made some changes in the Development Team, too. We will have two teams: Features and System, to let everyone focus on their strength”. It’s also been more than a year since they adopted Scrum and are getting proficient at it.
Jeffrey adds that WOVN.io is also gaining in speed, with better UI, thanks to Naoya, our designer, developing his own style.
The company has become bigger but, for Takaharu, the focus is still on the big three: team organization, sales, and product. “One of the biggest achievements was releasing WOVN.io Free and PRIME last December”. PRIME could have been released earlier perhaps, but they are all glad it’s done.
Antoine adds: “Going free has, in a way, disrupted the market; we are not focusing on our competitors as much as we used to”.
What about them, how have they changed?
After 5 full minutes discussing who has lost more hair and gained weight, Takaharu tells us how his job as a manager has evolved throughout the years. “I started as a developer, and now I am more focused on managing the teams; I enjoy it, though. I also stopped smoking.” 🎉
Jeffrey talked about how he no longer spends time as a member of the development team, but “I still get to work with them on a daily basis. My job continually moved towards management and delegation. I don’t spend time writing code anymore”.
What now?
We are moving to a new, larger office in Mita at the beginning of April. What are the perks of the move?
Shoji jumps in: “there are great places to have lunch nearby”. Jeffrey is looking forward to the new office layout: “We are hiring an office manager, and the office has a break space separating Development and Sales sides, where we can also have a chat while having lunch and seminars. And quiet spaces!”
From Minimal Technologies to Wovn Technologies: we are also changing names!
We started as Minimal Technologies, as we didn’t want to limit what we would be doing.
“Now, we know what we want our main product to be and we will focus on that.” Takaharu says. “Also, saying “Hi, I am Takaharu, from Minimal Technologies, we created WOVN.io” is too confusing. Now, I can say “Hi, I am Takaharu, from Wovn”.
As for what they will be putting their focus on this coming year, Shoji is looking to increase the number of contracts to create a larger CS Team. “The team currently has 2 members, and I am looking to grow to 8”. Antoine, more focused on the product, would like to make mobile application localization available to our users. “It’s been on our minds for quite some time, and, this year, we would like to make the room for it”.
As for Jeffrey, he could think of many ways to improve our product, “from its UI and how to make it work smoothly with larger and complex websites, to reaching a global audience, there is still a lot I would like to work on”. Last, but not least, Takaharu is looking to work on focusing further on WOVN’s business development strategy, “I am aiming at multiplying by 5 our current MRR and the number of our free users”.
The company keeps growing and we are looking forward to all those changes coming up. We will do our best!
Wovn Technologies is currently recruiting. Contact us at recruit@wovn.io.
