Interview with Ivan Petrović, the Founder of Workpuls

Managing a business remotely has been a challenge for many business owners lately. Keeping track of employees’ activities while also ensuring that all projects run smoothly has indeed been a challenge for business owners. Thankfully, several new applications are being created to tackle such issues and allow businesses to have a better overview and control over their projects.

Workpuls is one such application that has been gaining traction with business owners due to its innovative employee and work tracking features. We are fortunate to have interviewed Mr. Ivan Petrovic, the Founder of Workpuls, and gained insights on his and his organization’s journey.

Please share your professional journey with us. How has your work experience and learnings shaped your vision?

I’m a self-taught programmer. From the moment I was introduced to technology, it became my passion. I was obsessed with how it worked and the near-limitless possibilities it held.

It sounds almost cliched, but my coding days started with me hacking away on a computer in my bedroom as a teenager. I was fascinated by how software could improve everyday life.

Over time, my focus zeroed in on security and cloud-based software. By age 22, after a few failed attempts, I had my first fully functioning product: Workpuls.

I was fortunate to gain initial funding for Workpuls soon after. This meant I had to make the quick shift from coder to founder. I had to learn how to build a team and a company around the product — a reality many first-time technical founders face.

Still, today, my vision for Workpuls is driven by how software can make everyday life easier, better and more efficient. With Workpuls, this translates specifically into the workplace.

What was the idea behind the inception of Workpuls?

Before launching Workpuls, I spent time as a software developer within big companies. It surprised me how much time was wasted, poorly tracked, or not measured at all. And the companies that did monitor time often took a “spying” approach that was ineffective and counterproductive.

I thought these are multinational companies, losing so much money and productivity by not maximizing their employees’ time. I believed that a) they needed a better way to do this; and b) that this data should be transparent and shared with employees to make them part of the process — not the subject of it.

The ultimate goal with Workpuls is to boost productivity, remove tedious parts of workflows (e.g., manual time tracking), and create new opportunities that can benefit employees and employers alike, like the freedom of remote work.

Did you always plan to make a mark in the IT industry specifically?

I’m not sure there was a specific point in time where I said to myself “I’m going to make a mark”. It was more a natural evolution of me following my passion for software development, IT and security concepts.

At heart, I’ve always been a problem solver, and I believe? there are very few problems software can’t solve. I think I was also fortunate to be at the right age to grow up during the digital revolution and shift was hitting top speed.

When all’s said and done, I hope I can look back and say I made a mark on the industry.

Where do you see Workpuls 10 years down the lane?

Our long-term vision is to be a leader in workforce analytics and productivity with an evolving suite of products that aims to improve workflows within businesses and streamline their processes and operations.

We’re growing rapidly at the moment, and the goal is to continue on this trajectory in terms of company size, revenues, and client base.

How do you plan to differentiate your product in the highly competitive software industry?

We split our differentiation into two parts: product and market focus.

In terms of product, we aim to win in three areas: usability, automation, and customer support.

We’ve built Workpuls to be incredibly simple to use for both its employers and employees. And just about everything that can be automated has been — and will continue to be as we add new features.

Customer support might seem obvious, but you’d be amazed how often we hear our customers say they left another solution because there was no one on the other end to help.

When it comes to market focus, we made a conscious decision to focus on sections of the market that are less penetrated so we can provide a best in the class, industry-tailored solution for them, rather than trying to be everything to everyone.

Can we get a sneak peek at the work culture at Workpuls?

Two words sum it up: Be awesome. This goes for the product we build, how we interact with our customers, right down to how our staff’s day-to-day approach.

We have an incredible desire to win, which we define by the number of customers we help and the results they achieve with our product.

We’re also humble. We’re always learning, never satisfied with what we know. A big part of this is keeping an open dialogue with our customers so we continually improve our product to best support them.

Like any good tech company, our Slack channels are also filled with a healthy dose of memes.

Can you please share your interest areas apart from the obvious computers and IT?

It’s a rare event that my mind stops thinking about software! But I’m an avid swimmer and do as much of this as possible every week. Though now’s not a great time for it due to COVID, I also love traveling and exploring the world.

What are your metrics for your success? What, according to you, is the key to achieving customer satisfaction?

Internally, building an excellent culture where people enjoy coming to work each day, which will be reflected in staff happiness and retention.

Externally, growth, and customer retention are our topline markers of success. As much as any others, these two indicators tell us if our product is achieving our goal of improving workforce performance.

Customer satisfaction is built around product scalability and nurturing meaningful relationships with our customers. We do this by listening to them, including them in the product roadmap, and being fast and responsive.

What is your advice to young aspiring entrepreneurs trying to make a mark in the swiftly changing IT industry?

Another cliche here, but never give up. This is an inescapable part of being an entrepreneur. You’re going to have setbacks. There will be self-doubt. There will be days where it feels like you’re going backward. But this is all a normal part of life as an entrepreneur.

It’s about how you respond and finding the resilience to push through these ups and downs. Over time by making smart, informed decisions, and through sheer persistence, you will find success. It won’t be easy, but it will be worthwhile.