1534 – Adapting to New Opportunities with Async Labs’ Luka Klancir

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0:58with us right now it's luca cloncier luca you are the coo at async labs you are found on the web at async labs.co that's a it's a s y n c labs.co luca thank you so much for joining us Thank you, Josh, for having me. It's a pleasure to be here. Yeah, absolutely. And what is Async Labs? So Async Labs, it's a software development agency. We put a lot of our effort into developing software products. Mostly what we focus on are not only any more applications, but platforms. So let's say that we are quite heavily expertised in, let's say, enterprise products and platforms for business clients and business users.

2:03And this is, let's say, like our forte, basically software development in a span of one to two years through several milestones, through several phases of development of lifecycle of a product. And we work closely with the clients, with the customers on the other end to develop those applications and platforms. so highly specialized in in this kind of development so not so much in websites and you know small projects but more more larger enterprise uh development and so on yeah yeah so what would be what would be some examples of projects that you've worked on so examples uh one of our big uh two uh software suits that we are working at the moment at the moment are for example a software platform for oil and gas companies for inspecting pipelines.

3:07So a software that basically takes the data from various hardware devices that go through the pipelines, so oil and gas pipelines, and they collect data and give you the information about the status of this pipeline right how how heavily it is corroded what is the integrity how how long can be in commission when can you expect some integrity failures and so on so quite a critical part of the integrity infrastructure and and and uh and management of such uh on the other hand we have asset management systems for uh maintaining facilities maintaining uh different plants uh high industrialized facilities that keep a track of a lot of equipment, a lot of devices, a lot of people, maintenance gear and so on.

4:07So that would be like examples of some of our enterprise products that we developed. However, on the other hand, we also have the B2C, the products, the startups that come to us that develop some kind of mobile app or web app for various markets. Usually now, currently, we are mostly heavily focused on fintech and blockchains in that area. So that would be like an example of our product and development efforts that we do inside ASIC Labs. Yeah. And, you know, so the clients that you work with right now, are most of them using, trying to make maybe an off-the-shelf product, do what it's supposed to do?

5:01Or do you commonly see folks that just slap something together? They're relying on spreadsheets and Google Docs. I guess just other off-the-shelf products. Is that a pretty normal life cycle for you? Or do you find more of your clients already had custom software right from the beginning? Well, it's a great question. We have, let's say, both approaches from the client side. I must say that this comes from the startup world. So let's say projects and products that are backed by some kind of venture capital and so on, they come with an idea or a product that can be mimicked through maybe some kind of spreadsheet or some functionalities that then we take, we make a discovery, let's say period with them and we try to grow it into a functional multi-step plan how to push how to make from these spreadsheets some kind of app that will be used for by for example we have clients that have hundreds of thousands of users using our app that started really as a as just a single web page with a referral program, right?

6:31So this is the mantra of Async Labs is that we put all our efforts into our products so we can grow together. So the idea is that many clients, many end customers come with a grand idea, but we try to phase it out into steps that will gradually develop this product and push it to the market through several phases, right? So starting with maybe just a website with a referral program, then some kind of loyalty app, then some kind of, you know, upgrade to the core functionalities, which is, I don't know, subscription management payments and so on, then adding blockchain, then adding this, and then like expanding it through the years.

7:19And the idea is that this client will grow with us and we are expanding a dedicated team of software engineers, of designers, of quality assurance people, of product development roles that gradually grows into a full-fledged team of 10, 15 people that just works on that product. So we like to make a systematic approach to software development and to basically not only oh you give us a specification and we will do that exactly by the book, but we try to engage and build products together with the client. Because as you know the business climate, the markets are always shifting, there are always new parameters, factors that are impacting your directions, how you are going to maybe put some focus on one feature or another feature, or you see an opportunity in some aspect of the market you haven't noticed, you need to quickly adapt to it.

8:27So this is how we try to follow our customers and clients in the life cycle of the product development. I've hired developers for decades. And, you know, some experiences are a little frustrating. Some are great. I'm wondering if maybe you could provide some best practices. Let's say that, you know, I have a budget and I just don't want to make a mistake when it comes to hiring a development team or a development partner. What would be some really good questions or what would you recommend that a potential client put into their due diligence before they hire somebody? I would definitely suggest that anybody who ventures down this path should look for a discovery session.

9:25So how we see it is like this. Discovery phase of any project is what the name says. it helps you discover what are the actual requirements, functionalities, product market fit and everything. The brand, if you're developing some kind of design that is going through this application and so on. So you can spend really a fraction of the budget or something on this discovery session where you are not doing any particular coding or something, but you are just making wireframes. you are talking with the development team about how you're going to approach this. You also have to see what kind of questions are they asking you.

10:15And these are the steps where you will identify how well does the development company understand your business and how well will they be able to make this a reality? So what happens if you go into a discovery phase and you are not satisfied with the results, still you can take these documents, you already have something and go to someone else. You spent maybe a fraction of the project, but a fraction of the budget that was the bigger cost coming the actual development design phase. You spent maybe one or two weeks working with them and you get a sense if it's a good thing or not. And if it's not, then you can take this information and go to someone else and you already have a starting point from which you can build on.

11:12So it really helps you to identify also the developer and also So it's really about conveying and understanding yourself with the development team. And I know where your frustrations came from. Something in your business or in your idea how to develop something was pretty much logical and you understand how it should work and how it should be. But then maybe someone that should have developed this didn't even understand your mindset mentality, the framework in which you operate and just along the way it started to get chunky. But this shouldn't have done like this, oh I didn't understand you in that part.

12:02So those two first weeks that we work with the clients give us a lot of this client developer fit and we don't even start any project without a discovery phase. It is a very small investment of time from both sides that helps to identify the key points that we need to develop, that identifies the language, how are we going to speak, are we talking about the same things when you say, I don't know, a red brick is the same thing in your mind, how it is in my mind. And when we get this going together in most of our cases, if a discovery phase is good, then the rest of the project shows a really, really good result.

12:47So that will be my suggestion to many, you know, business owners that are, you know, there's a sea of development agencies. It's confusing. It's really frustrating. Where do most of your clients find out? Like, where does that relationship begin for most of your clients? I must admit that at the moment, we are pretty much working on a recommendation basis. We don't even do that much of advertisement outside. One good project brings another, because most of the clients and people that we work with are in very good connections and networks. And if they're satisfied, I mean, that's good word of mouth.

13:37was always the golden rule in business. So if you make a really good impression on the project, talk with the clients, ask them, hey, I'm open for new collaborations, for some new projects, do you have some connections and so on. In 95 % they have some network or have someone that needs to do something. And this is how we usually get most of our business. On the second end, we like to make our portfolio public on the projects that we can and we try to showcase all the highlights that we work with and this is more helping the clients, the customers that are trying to research us a little bit, right?

14:29What type of technologies, what type of design and and what type of software architecture we are using in our products and projects. So I would say that for us, the reference part is the biggest driver of sales and leads in the future. Yeah. How is ChatGPT and other AI technologies, is that impacting your work? Well, I must say that we still don't feel it yet in terms of

15:15collaboration with the clients that they are finding solutions just through chat GPT. But in terms of internal organization, I see a lot of colleagues and a lot of employees here using it in a daily basis to help them their work. So it is growing from the inside, so to say, helping validate some parts of the code, helping write some kind of summaries and so on. I really see chat GPT in a browser tab on mostly every computer in the company, being in the background and helping with some kind of questions. So if this is happening on our end, And it is really a big boom in the last three months with chat GPT.

16:02And I think it still has to manifest now in this year, how exactly will people be started to utilize in their businesses. For now, like I said, our projects are a little bit complicated. that they require a lot of big development team and a lot of things to be moving parts. And at the moment, we still don't have clients that can completely offset a solution with ShareGPT because our systems are quite heavily complex. However, like I said, the internal tasks from the people that are working on this project can be a little bit trickled down and chat gpt is helping them in day-to-day you know things to to to speed up maybe some task or so something something like that so i believe it will be like a second hand to to every person at least in it industry and in this domain yeah uh luca your website is asynclabs.co.

17:18And when somebody goes there, let's say someone's listening to our podcast, you know, kind of part of their, you know, they're, they just, they're learning about you right now. And what is the next step? And like, what is the, I guess, kind of the beginning of the, the next step in the discovery process? Like what happens maybe on a call? Like what, what's kind of the, the, the, the syllabus? I understand. Yeah. So the next, the next step I would definitely suggest to click on the work section of the website to check a little bit our portfolio of work and what kind of platforms and projects we have done.

18:03And then there is a button where you can contact us. you send an email and someone from our account department will reach out to you and we usually organize a set of introductory calls where we can talk a little bit more about the project where we can talk a little bit more about the ideas that you want to make the time frames you know the rough and general stuff that you might have in your mind And then we take it a step further. If those things are suitable for all of us, then we can go into this discovery phase. And from the discovery phase, we move on to probably design, then development, then some kind of marketing analytics and so on.

18:52So this is the life cycle. But for anybody listening, if you're in some need of such services, feel free to visit our website and contact us via the form. And soon after someone will reach out and move you, guide you through the next steps. Yeah. Again, Luca Clancyer, Chief Operating Officer at Async Labs. About six and a half years you've been at the helm there. And again, your website is asynclabs.co. Luca, thank you so much for joining us. thank you josh thank you thank you for having me i love the podcast since we discovered it here in the in the company was uh listening to some of your uh podcasts it was it's amazing amazing guests very kind of you thank you so much luke have a wonderful day

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