The biggest achievement of any Magento developer is to convert his expertise into a full-fledged business. The process is all about growing from $50 an hour to a multi-millionaire entity. Max Ta is a great example of this transition.
Max began as a developer at MageStore. After three years, he finally decided to take the leap of faith and started SimiCart, a Magento dev agency.
Over to Max Ta.
Cloudways: What was the basic idea behind SimCart and how was it translated into reality?
Max: We founded SimiCart in 2014 with a single idea in mind – to revolutionize the way online shopping is done. At the time, we needed a foundation that we can reliably base on. Magento was big then (and still is), its popularity remains intact, and its flexibility is unparalleled even years after. It was the perfect choice for us.
To convert our ideas into reality, we focused on building a platform that specializes in building apps for merchants without having any coding knowledge.
Our first license was sold in 2015, a year after the inception of our company. The world soon caught on with our idea, and within only three years we have reached over 600 customers.
Cloudways: What challenges did you face initially and how did you tackle them?
Max: After getting our first customer, the word soon spread. But, it came at a cost; it was too quick of a process for us to handle. Back then, SimiCart was growing too fast and was unstable. We had to pay for it with the cost of our product quality and our relationship with clients. Things were unstable then, and we were not able to cater to all our clients’ needs. Luckily enough, and with the efforts of the whole company, we managed to turn things around. Our customer service and product quality since then have returned to its exemplary state.
Cloudways: New initiatives are always required for growth. However, some initiatives could fail. How do you deal with this scenario?
Max: Through trials and errors, we were able to find that to minimize the risks associated with new initiatives, we must create an open channel of solicited feedback; clear demonstrations and trainings, to reduce unnecessary complications. We’re a company that welcomes challenges as they’re always needed to enhance your capabilities.
Cloudways: What is the reason behind choosing Magento development as a service?
Max: Magento is huge on its flexibility and has seemingly limitless potential (due to its popularity and open community). There are many developers, bloggers, users, and other managers sharing their ideas, enriching Magento features in every possible aspect. At the time, we felt that we just couldn’t go wrong with Magento. Moreover, with the emergence of Magento 2, the possibilities and room for growth are endless.
Cloudways: You provide services for Magento users only. How will you elaborate the sales growth that you get via Magento?
Max: Well, because SimiCart specializes in the Magento platform, and our experience spans across a wide range of industries, we believe this positive aspect is helping us grow every quarter.
We also offer great customer service that satisfies even the most meticulous and fastidious customer. Further, each 5-star feedback on Magento Marketplace helps us gain trust, grow sales and keep us working hard to improve our services.
Cloudways: What is the recipe of your success? How do you measure your success?
Max: We believe that to be successful, SimiCart must have a team of quality employees and also be passionate about what we are doing. Success is setting a goal, planning the steps required to achieve it, and effectively implementing that plan. Once we think we’ve achieved that goal (or a lesson from failure), we’ve succeeded.
Cloudways: Name three things that matter the most in the success of any Magento agency?
Max: First, Magento agencies should be well aware of the latest development techniques and innovations for creating extensions and modules. The next crucial factor is to have a team of qualified developers. There isn’t any agency that can be successful without ambitious employees. Last, but not least, being realistic about expectations is very important for Magento Agencies. We usually have a ton of ideas but we should pick up only the best one from them.
Cloudways: What message you would like to give to startups?
Max: This is my message for startups:
- Be more than just a software company
- Put customers first to achieve business success
- Map your solutions to your customer’s goals
There are many things that we wish we had learned earlier. For startups wishing to start the same sort of business like ours, here are a few things that we’d recommend:
- Be more than just a software company
The ideal state for your company is to always have a pool of ideas. For ideas to thrive, you need something bigger to grip on, and the idea of a software company alone is not going to be sufficient. When we first started, we aimed high and wished to revolutionize the way online shopping works. Little by little, our dream started to become a reality. Our teams are highly motivated all the time. We have learned that by shooting for the moon, even if we fail, we would still land among the stars.
- Learn to put customers first for business success
By creating a customer-oriented culture within the company, you’re essentially creating an environment that focuses on promoting growth, reducing business competition and keeping employees and customers loyal. The market, or to be more specific, your customer’s needs are ever-changing and so must your customer service. Otherwise, your competitors will take your place.
- Map your solution to customer’s goals
You must dedicate yourself to creating a personalized customer experience since it’s the key to business success. We put a special emphasis on putting the customer’s priorities ahead of anything else.
Cloudways: What is your message for those who are looking to build their online store on Magento?
Max: Choosing the right solution provider is critical for your business growth. Make sure you choose a trusted provider with an experienced team and can rely on their products and services. Forward-thinking businesses always make sure they have reliable technical support in hand in case they run into problems.
Here is what one customer of SimiCart has said:
“One of the best results was using a solution by SimiCart to adapt my Magento website into an app. We previously spent 10’s of thousands of dollars developing an app, which quickly became outdated. The SimiCart app we purchased provided a much better solution at a fraction of the price.”
Cloudways: Please share one experience when you made the most profit. What was the reason for that?
Max: For large profits to be made, we figured that we just needed to be at the right place at the right time. In September 2017, when PWA Studio was first introduced by Magento and was becoming the new sensation at the time, we too were starting to release PWA for Magento. More and more merchants caught on and thus we were able to make tons of profits simply because we were ahead of the market.
Cloudways: Please share one story where your business decreased tremendously, what was the reason for that?
Max: It was in December 2018, when our service quality deteriorated excessively. There was a lot going on at the time and we were too focused on PWA, leaving our native app with too little attention. Complaints from our customers started coming in. Almost all of the complaints were about our native apps being buggy and outdated. We had to completely overhaul the allocation of our resources to fix the problem. Fortunately, we were able to fix the problem soon enough and our credibility wasn’t too severely damaged.
Cloudways: Where do you see your company in the next five years?
Max: We are proud of ourselves that we have an abundance of ideas, which is why we aren’t short of plans for the future. For the next five years, our aim is that our company would be the go-to place when it comes to mobile commerce. We’re already on our way with specific steps to make this happen. And although we build our foundation on the flexibility and popularity of Magento stores, we don’t wish to limit ourselves just to that. SimiCart of the future will be multi-platforms.
Cloudways: Have you attended any Magento event? Please share your experience.
Max: Obviously, we’re big on Magento events since they offer a great networking opportunity. And our recent experience of MagentoLive in Barcelona, Spain is nothing short of enlightening.
MagentoLive was attended by over 1800 ecommerce professionals. Throughout the whole event, we learned a great deal about the new functionalities and improvements in Magento 2.3. Most notable of these new functionalities and improvements was the new PWA Studio that seemed to be of great use to us in the future. The whole experience of the event for us was lively, albeit tiring at times since there are lots of talks that we needed to attend and take notes. Now that we’re looking back at it, it was quite the best event that we’ve been to and we wish to be able to participate in more events like MagentoLive.
Cloudways: Please share a picture of your team.
Max: Here you go:
Cloudways: Any additional comment(s) you will like to add?
Max: Realizing the huge potential of mobile commerce in this digital era, the SimiCart team is confident to have an excellent understanding of the demands and needs of various industries worldwide. Our success at present is built on a deep understanding of our clients’ needs and requirements and the ability to provide innovative mobile shopping solutions.
Liked what you read? Get in touch with Max Ta on LinkedIn and find out in which direction he is taking SimiCart.
Abdur Rahman
Abdur Rahman is the Magento whizz at Cloudways. He is growth ambitious, and aims to learn & share information about Ecommerce & Magento Development through practice and experimentation. He loves to travel and explore new ideas whenever he finds time. Get in touch with him at [email protected]
