Fast growth comes with its own unique challenges, says Fusebill CEO Tyler Eyamie.
The chief executive of the Ottawa firm that develops cloud-based billing software says sometimes his hiring efforts just can’t keep up with the pace at which his enterprise is expanding.
Over the past year, Fusebill’s head count has grown by more than 40 per cent to a total of 33. Now, Mr. Eyamie says the company wants to double that number over the next six months. In fact, Fusebill is already advertising for 12 of those positions.
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Zaahra Mehsen was three years into a biology degree at a local university when she realized she wanted to take a different path. “I realized that it’s not my thing,”
It’s the only way to keep up with what Mr. Eyamie calls “explosive growth.”
“We’ve truly found what we call product-market fit and have really found a way to win against several of the competitors that are out in the space today and are capitalizing on that,” he says.
But getting to this point took a lot of patience, Mr. Eyamie adds. Fusebill isn’t the only tech startup to see strong growth after years of trying to make it work.
“You think of a lot of the names out there like Shopify, Halogen, companies like that where people think they are overnight successes. Those companies have been around for eight, 10 years plus,” he says.
As the company grows, Mr. Eyamie says he’s been able to take a bit of a step back.
“I’ve allowed myself as CEO to take a look at what the next 12, 24, 36 months are going to look like for the company, as opposed to being head down in the trenches every day,” he says.
Fusebill
Year founded
2011
Local head count
33
Key markets or customers
Software-as-a-service companies, e-commerce providers, other internet businesses
Product or service
Billing software-as-a-service
Three-year growth percentage
328.57 per cent
Eyamie credits much of his company’s growth to its staff. He often refers to the members of the team and the people he wants to hire as “A-plus talent” – skilled, entrepreneurial employees who want to help build a company.
It’s a buy-in he gets by being clear about his company’s goals.
“The biggest thing for us, from the executive level, is providing as much transparency as we possibly can for the team,” he says.
That means “ensuring that the team’s not only focused on short-term achievable goals but they know the long-term vision for the company and getting everybody in the boat.”
Getting everyone on board is essential given that Mr. Eyamie’s plans to keep growing his business are really just beginning.
“For us the goal is to scale as quickly as possible,” he says. “It’s about being thoughtful, it’s about following the data and the analytics with respect to our marketing and sales plan.”
