Today we have selected Norbert Strappler to take his interview. He is the CEO of Syncspider.
First of all, how are you and your team doing in these COVID-19 times?
Well, to be honest, it’s not the easiest time for anyone. We are all used to traveling a lot and being surrounded by other people. Especially if we add that we know the power of face-to-face communication, it’s evident that at the beginning, it was challenging, at first, to get used to a different working environment and change the working process.
But we managed to overcome these obstacles somehow and keep our heads clear. Even though we replaced most of the meetings with the zoom and slack calls, and our homes became offices, it all functions so far. After all, we’re a SaaS company, and if anyone should be able to adapt to these new circumstances fast, it’s probably us.
Tell us about you, your career, how you founded or joined this company?
I’m not too fond of talking about myself. I think I’m just an ordinary guy with a strong will to change things for the better. And the only way you can do that is to change existing patterns and find new methods for solving problems. That’s how my story began. And it started in 2005 when Natalie and I founded the N! N agency. It was an advertising agency, which will grow to MONOBUNT thirteen years later, in 2018. In the meantime, I founded atipso GmbH in 2014, DragDropr in 2017, and SyncSpider in 2019.
These are all companies that supplement the need of the average eCommerce business globally. And it all boils up to the automation of the business. We help them become visible and offer tools that save time and money. And when you solve these two things, cut down costs, and get rid of time-consuming tasks, you improve the quality of your life. That’s the bottom line of eCommerce automation; it advances business, and as a result, you have improved work-life balance.
How does your company innovate?
Whenever we see some unsolved issue that many people stumble on, we try to find a solution. And that’s the source of innovation, an urge to find solutions using unconventional methods. eCommerce is a relatively new area where things change constantly. Therefore, you always need to feel the puls of the market, spot the changes as they happen, and sometimes even be one step forward.
If you miss that moment, you risk failure because time plays an integral part in the online market. You know, yesterday’s news is old news; no one reads them. So, if you want to innovate, whatever segment, you need to look in the future and foresee the consequences that might occur due to some trend or change at this moment.
How the Coronavirus pandemic affects your business, and how are you coping?
I have been in an eCommerce business for the past 16 years, and you all know that eCommerce is related to online selling and buying. That’s probably the reason why business is not affected so much by the pandemic, but it is evident that at one point, it will have a global effect on all businesses, just like it had on individuals. At this moment, we can even say that the eCommerce industry had bloomed under these new circumstances because the traditional market shifted to the online sphere.
Even those who have never bought one thing online have started using eCommerce platforms for shopping over the past two years. And as a result, we have an expansion of eCommerce businesses. They go where the market is, where the buyers are, and currently, they are online. More eCommerce businesses mean more fierce competition, and therefore people are looking for solutions, which will make their online shop visible and accessible to buyers. And that’s where we come into the game.
Did you have to make difficult choices, and the lessons learned?
We all have to deal with difficult choices from time to time. But I know that these tough choices are the ones that make you grow. My biggest challenge in life is to find time to realize all my ideas. Of course, distinguishing good ideas from bad ones goes hand in hand with this. And I’ve learned that the best way to solve this enigma is to talk to your team. Whatever you do in life, you need a team. You need skilled people who know exactly how your brain functions, understand you, and are not afraid to tell you if you are wrong.
What specific tools, software, and management skills are you using to navigate this crisis?
We use many tools, and during the pandemic, some of them were crucial for sustaining businesses. Like most companies, we use Slack as a virtual office, Zoom for meetings, VPN, and various clouds to keep our business going. We use ClickUp as a management tool, where employees can track their progress on specific tasks, making it easy to follow productivity.
As our software solutions, we use and provide SyncSpider for synchronization of various platforms and apps, DragDropr for creating new websites stress-free, and FreshWorks as one of the best CMR systems.
Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?
There are several segments in which we have competitors since we have several ventures. For example, for SyncSpider, as our software solution, it would probably be Zapier, Integrated, and Appy Pie. For DragDropr, I guess Shogun, BrizyCloud, and page fly would be our most challenging competitors. And Monobunt as an agency has numerous competitors, but since we have that fortune that we have our software solutions, we manage to stay on the very top of the leader.
The key is in innovations. No matter how good you are, there is always room for improvement. Listen to your customers, and wherever they have some issue, that’s your chance for improvement.
Your final thoughts
Dreams are like fire. They can help immensely, but only if you keep them under control. If you let them spread uncontrollably, you might find it challenging to focus and progress toward realizing your goals. That’s why we all need to have big visions, but our goals need to be focused on small steps. That’s how we grow. The 21st century brought us challenges, especially these two years behind us, but at the same time, offered abundant growth opportunities.
And we need to open our minds, broaden our horizons and accept a new way of doing business. Ten years from now, you won’t compete in the market without automation. And the sooner you realize that, the higher your chances to reach success are.
- Spokesperson: Norbert Strappler
- Company: syncspider.com
- Website link: https://syncspider.com/