681 Ashleigh Wilson:

Do you ask for help when you need it? Or is there something that stops you from reaching out to someone who has already accomplished something you are trying to achieve?

All too often founders can make the mistake of thinking they have to do it all themselves, talking themselves out of the big ask because they think the most successful people won’t be interested.

Here’s a hint: The very best ‘A Players’ always want to give forward and tend to reward those with the hustle to simply each out.

Ashleigh Wilson set out to build a technology business with no coding or technology background. Did that stop her? No. She reached out cold to the perfect person who could help her, and invaluable help is what she got.

Ashleigh is now disrupting the elevator and escalator business with a transformational innovation in that space. She’s the CEO and Founder of AuditMate, the first-ever elevator and escalator auditing and management software.

She saw her opportunity for disruption in the space by making it her mission to prove that putting people first is profitable. Ashleigh shares the power of vulnerability, why you should never be afraid to ask dumb questions, and why mentoring in business is the secret to your success. We also talk about how to be values-based and human-centric in your approach to success.

Melinda Wittstock:

Ashleigh, welcome to Wings.

Ashleigh Wilson:

Thank you for having me.

Melinda Wittstock:

I am so intrigued by your story. You’re a serial entrepreneur. You’ve done all sorts of businesses, but now you’re in the elevator and escalator business. How did that come to be?

Ashleigh Wilson:

I was raised in the industry, actually. I guess good old nepotism, which honestly is the whole elevator and escalator industry. I think if you’re a woman in the elevator industry, they’ll ask you who your dad is, even if they don’t know anything about you, because there’s a really strong likelihood that either your dad or your uncle is in the business.

Melinda Wittstock:

So there’s a family trend going on in that particular business?

Ashleigh Wilson:

Absolutely. Yeah. It’s super niche, even though it’s massive, it’s niche.

Melinda Wittstock:

And so tell me about AuditMate because this is an auditing and management software. What makes it different that an elevator or escalator company needs a different type of auditing and management software from any other business?

Ashleigh Wilson:

Yeah, I think it goes back to the niche nature, actually. So elevator owners, so building owners, property managers, are only receiving about 50% of the elevator services that they’re paying for and have the most expensive traits. So, the hourly rates are generally $550 an hour during standard time, or $1,100 an hour during after-hours calls.

I found that really elevator contracts are vague and confusing, intentionally. And building owners and managers don’t have the time or the tools to properly manage these contracts because they are so vague and deceiving. So what AuditMate is here to do is to provide honesty and transparency to building owners and managers, so that they can easily manage their elevator and escalator contracts and vendors.

So the end result is we are reducing the time that property managers spend on their elevator contracts by about 75%. And we decrease costs for the building owner by 25%, was last year’s numbers.

Melinda Wittstock:

That’s very, very persuasive. And so how fast have you been able to scale?

Ashleigh Wilson:

We’ve been around for just over two years now. We funded in November of 2019 and started building right away. We were supposed to have a pilot out in March of 2020. I think the whole world knows what happened in March of 2020. To launch a prop tech beta, when everyone evacuated buildings, was a very interesting time for us.

But it actually worked in our favor a little bit because for the first time ever property managers had the time to talk to us. And they were scouring for cost savings, because tenants were not in their buildings. And so we were able to launch beta. By about June, we had our first few beta clients. We did, 2020 we onboarded a few clients, and then we increased those numbers in 2021 by about 900%.

Melinda Wittstock:

I imagine when the pandemic first hit, though, and you’re in this funding round and you have all these exciting plans and then it’s “Oh, oh my God.” I mean, that must have been very scary for you.

Ashleigh Wilson:

Absolutely.

Melinda Wittstock:

It’s one thing to look back with 2020 hindsight and say, “Well, actually it was kind lucky,” but at the time, what was it like going through that?

Ashleigh Wilson:

Terrifying. Absolutely terrifying. Additionally, I’m not a technical founder. And so I’m trying to build a tech product in a global pandemic where customers are gone and I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to build a technology software with no tech background. It was a very trying time, yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

How did you manage that, actually, because there are so many female founders in the tech space that didn’t come up the traditional route of inventing something in their garage, eating ramen noodles, wearing a hoodie, dropping out of Stanford, whatever, you know what I mean?

Ashleigh Wilson:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

And it’s a pattern that a lot of venture capitalists look for when they’re investing. And so I know so many female founders in tech, including myself, that came up a different way but are really good at applying technology, understanding technology, even if we’re not coding ourselves. And managing great tech teams, doing really disruptive things in various industries.

But what was that like for you to say, “Okay, I’m not a tech entrepreneur per se, but I’m going to become one? And there you are in San Francisco, what was that like? And how did you go about it?

Ashleigh Wilson:

Yeah. This is one of my favorite stories, honestly, about the origination of AuditMate. I had done a friends and family round pitch in a golf course in Boise, Idaho. I had multiple investors, who wanted to invest, many of which were retired elevator folks. They were “Okay, Ashleigh, we get it. We see the vision. We’re on board. How are you going to do this?”

I was “Hmm, great question.” I actually cold emailed an executive for a technology company of the software that I wanted to build AuditMate on. I sent her a message on LinkedIn, and I was “Hey, I saw that last year you ran a seminar for non-technical founders starting into technology. I know this is out of the blue, but I’m a queer non-technical founder. Do you have time to chat?”

And she wrote me back within 15 minutes and we have had an hour conversation. And at the end of it, she said, “I really appreciate your hustle. I really appreciate your vision. I am going to lend you a little credibility.” And she built me a data architecture. She got on my investor calls. She pitched the data architecture, and when we were done, she was “Good luck, kid. Call me if you need me.”

Melinda Wittstock:

I love this story for so many reasons. I mean, first of all, kudos to you for just asking for what you wanted, and what she called your hustle. A lot of people fail right there because they don’t ask Right? So much the theme of this podcast, lift as we climb, give back, help other women up.

Ashleigh Wilson:

That’s exactly right. That’s exactly right. And I will do that for other founders as well, right? This idea of sharing community and sharing resources and lending credibility, so other people can get a shot. Like, gosh, isn’t that the whole point of this game we call life and business and entrepreneurship.

Melinda Wittstock:

It’s so true. I mean, it’s funny in U.S. culture there’s such this idea of rugged individualism or the entrepreneur who somehow done it all themselves. And no one has. I mean, there’s, there’s some luck, certainly in terms of timing, there’s the ability to create our own luck, just like you did, reaching out to this particular individual who helped you at exactly the right time.

But then there’s all the people along the way that you’re learning from, your team, everything. I think women are hardwired to be able to really create those communities really well, but often don’t. I don’t do it for some reason, even that we’re naturally good at it. What do you think that’s about?

Ashleigh Wilson:

I think it’s about vulnerability and bravery, honestly. In order to be brave, I think we must first be vulnerable and admitting we don’t know something, or admitting we need help, is really hard. And in my opinion the vulnerability and the bravery is key to the connection. That’s really what fosters the connection first, and then ultimately the community afterward. I think there’s this general feeling that many women have that we don’t want to be seen as extra vulnerable because we are seen as vulnerable [crosstalk 00:09:33].

Melinda Wittstock:

Yes, exactly.

Ashleigh Wilson:

… That we’re supposed be. It’s like tough exterior and the old boys club. And that whole general notion is not fostered around being vulnerable and being brave.

Melinda Wittstock:

Exactly. Because when men are vulnerable, they get so much applause for that. Do you know what I mean? But I think you’re right. I think women are afraid of it because we’re trying so hard to prove our competence. We’re like over delivering sometimes, underpricing, and I think at the root of that is a subconscious thing that we don’t value ourselves enough.

Ashleigh Wilson:

Totally. Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

So not only are you, now, a woman in tech, but you’re a queer woman in tech. What’s that like? What are some of the obstacles that have been in your way that you’ve had to figure out a way of getting around, getting over, under, et cetera, to get where you are now?

Ashleigh Wilson:

Yeah, I think that there probably would’ve been more around that if I would’ve known how it felt to be male in this experience, but I really only know mine. And immediately what I did is I reached out to an organization called StartOut, which is the largest LGBTQ startup networking organization. I did an incubator program called Growth Lab. And finding my community within tech, to be able to ask those, I’m going to use air quotes here that you can’t see, dumb questions.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right.

Ashleigh Wilson:

Or the subject matters that make you feel like you don’t know, or you’re not enough. Having space in a community to be able to express those things and to learn in a safe place, made my experience so much better. And second to that, I really had to practice and own my differences.

Like I know that these things are different about me and they make me unique. And so I can either feel shame about them or feel othered or really fully embrace them. And if I want my team to embrace and to be authentic and to practice heart centered leadership and to practice people over profit, I have to model that.

And so I own my queerness. I own being an underrepresented founder, an underfunded, in a population of people that is underfunded. And so I also have a lot of privilege in that. I also have community. I also had access to capital, not personally, but I found it. And so I believe it’s my duty to really stand out and own, “Hey, I’m a queer woman founder. It’s possible. We can do this.” Let’s become the models that we needed when we were younger and when we started our careers.

Melinda Wittstock:

I love that. I think, there are two words here that are standing out, vulnerability and authenticity. Of just daring to be you, because like when everybody else is taken. And so like be yourself and there’s an honesty to that and there’s an ease.

I find the more that I’ve stepped into that, in my own life and my own entrepreneurial journey, the more that I just attract the right people that I need at the right time as if by magic. It’s not really a striving anymore, because just by being who you are and putting it out in the world and being willing to ask dumb questions or whatever, then suddenly the right people are on your team or advising you or you’re getting the type of investors that are actually aligned with your vision because you are daring to be who you are.

Melinda Wittstock:

I almost think the same thing happens in dating and relationships as well. Don’t worry we are [crosstalk 00:14:02].

Ashleigh Wilson:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

[crosstalk 00:14:04] Then we attract the right people.

Ashleigh Wilson:

Absolutely. And it comes full circle back [inaudible 00:14:12] we were discussing earlier of feeling like we deserve those things. And once we own them of “This is who I am and this is how I want to live my life. And these are the sort of people I want to be around. And these are the sort of values that are nonnegotiable for me.”

And when we stand firm in that, it’s accepting and fully owning and feeling like we belong, and that it’s true and that it’s right. Guess what, even if there’s only one person in the world, that’s “Yeah, that’s not right.” Or “Yeah, that is right.” They’ll find you. You’ll find each other. Absolutely.

Melinda Wittstock:

And so you’ve always been an entrepreneur. I mean, as a little girl, I guess you were hanging with your dad and you have sort of an entrepreneurial background. So, were you just absorbing all of that as a kid? Do you think that really informs what you do now?

Ashleigh Wilson:

Yes, absolutely. My stepdad was in the elevator industry. My mom and dad have sold and started any business you could imagine, from like vacuums, to phone books, to cleaning products, to cars, to anything. And so I was definitely raised around that hustle. And then my stepdad had the corporate life, right?

So I had these two major influences from both sides. I remember the first time that I learned the word entrepreneur, I was probably 10, and I had taken a bucket and some shoe polish and I walked to the golf course that was by my house. I was cleaning golf clubs and shining shoes for a charge. And a woman was “Oh, you’re just a little entrepreneur, aren’t you?” I ran back home to my mom because I thought she had called me a name, because I didn’t know [crosstalk 00:16:09].

Melinda Wittstock:

You thought it was a mean thing or something.

Ashleigh Wilson:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

That’s hilarious. But you went on, you’ve had a lot of different businesses across a lot of different industries. What was your first adult business?

Ashleigh Wilson:

The first was a cleaning business. I was a bank teller, right out of high school, and making, whatever, $7 an hour probably. I was “This is ridiculous. [inaudible 00:16:42] money for less time.” I went to Walmart and I bought, again, a bucket, a bucket seems to ring through my story, and some cleaning supplies.

And I put an ad [inaudible 00:16:52] to start cleaning houses. I made these little thank you cards. I made these flyers and contracts and all of these things. I went out and started cleaning houses and eventually was cleaning commercial buildings. Which mind you, all of this was hilarious to my family because I was a very, very messy kid and not clean at all, so it wasn’t even like this business was something that aligned with who I was.

I just knew that I could do it better and I wanted to create a business. I didn’t even, really, at that point in my life, care what it was.

Melinda Wittstock:

I think, there’s a certain entrepreneurial DNA. Often, it comes up on this podcast a lot. Can the entrepreneurial mindset be learned or is it innate? Where do you fall in that?

Because I mean, it’s hard to be an entrepreneur. I mean, there’s so many things beyond your control and, gosh, I learned more from all my mistakes. But ultimately it was a personal growth journey and continues to be, because it throws at you every single subconscious belief or preconceived notion you have, or your own sense of your own value, all that stuff. And you got to heal and grow and deal with all those icky things to succeed in entrepreneurship. So if you want therapy, you just be an entrepreneur, right?

Ashleigh Wilson:

Yes. Well, and if you’re an entrepreneur, get therapy also.

Ashleigh Wilson:

Well, that’s also true. This reminds me of a quote from Dare to Lead by Brene Brown. And she says something along the lines of great leader heal thyself, which is so true. I think to be a great leader and a great entrepreneur, it does require a lot of that self-reconciliation that you’re talking about.

Can entrepreneurship be taught, like the tasks and starting a business? Sure, absolutely. I think it’s the internal risk mitigation that, I don’t know if that can be taught, because as entrepreneur, I think we have this spirit of, “I can do it or I can do it better” or some innate belief, that’s “I can do this even the odds against me.”

Melinda Wittstock:

The odds are tremendously against. Especially if you’re doing something disruptive. Like all my businesses are “Yeah, I’m just going to take the take on this whole industry.” I’m just going to disrupt. What gives me the confidence to think, “Oh yeah. Like, duh, I can do that.”

Melinda Wittstock:

I was talking to Kara Goldin about this, who build Hint Water into a $2 billion business, and it’s well, why not me? I mean…

Ashleigh Wilson:

Yeah. Absolutely.

Melinda Wittstock:

I’ll just build a plane as I fly it. But there’s some weird innate confidence, or maybe foolish optimism ,or I don’t know, because I guess if you knew all the things ahead of time that you were going to deal with, maybe you might not.

Or maybe there’s a perverse delight in overcoming challenges. You just know that the challenges are inevitable and you’re just going to deal with them. I regard all the little failures, big and small, as learning opportunities. To me, there are opportunities, they’re great. I learn more from those.

Ashleigh Wilson:

Absolutely. I’ve been toying around and jotting around this exact idea and writing a book on it. And what I actually call, I call it my magic personally. That I know there’s this thing in me, this spirit that drives, and has driven to, a lot of the successes or accolades that I have. And so what is that magic and how do we learn to understand it and harness it? Because I think that same magic can be flipped and it can become our shadow, right?

If we’re not listening to it and harnessing that magic and that little voice that’s saying, “You can do it, you can do it.” And we’re instead shaming that little voice, that can push us in the other direction, just as far as it can propel us forward. And so how do we learn to understand it and understand, and I don’t like to use the binary of good and bad, but how do we harness that to go in the direction we want to go toward instead of pushing us further away from it?

Melinda Wittstock:

Ah, yeah. 100%. I mean, along your journey, I mean, we touched on it a little bit, like the fear of the pandemic, “Oh my goodness, I’m launching this business that’s dependent on people showing up in office buildings” or whatever. Not fleeing a city where you have people live in apartments with elevators and escalators and things like that. What have been some of the more heart stopping moments that you’ve had along your path that you’ve learned the most from?

Ashleigh Wilson:

Yeah. The hardest for me was when I’m on a mission, I can become a little tunnel visioned, a lot tunnel visioned [crosstalk 00:22:42].

Melinda Wittstock:

Oh my God, I’m laughing because I recognize myself in that.

Ashleigh Wilson:

Yeah. Like a dog with a bone, right? I’m full steam ahead. There was a point with my team that two people had come forward and talked to the COO, and said some things that were absolutely this heart stop moment, that were “Hey, we don’t think Ashleigh’s listening. She says she’s people first. And it doesn’t feel that way. We don’t feel heard.”

Oh, boy, was that hard to hear. And at first, I immediately wanted to get defensive, which that defensiveness is information all on its own. I’ve done enough therapy to know that if I want to pop off and snap back and tell you why I’m doing something the way that I’m doing, I probably need to take some time and be quiet and think about that.

I know in my heart that I am people first, and I know in my heart that my intention is for everyone to be heard. So what was off? What was wrong? What was happening, that what I was doing, what wasn’t translating? Or what they were saying, wasn’t translating to me?

There was some miscommunication there. And it took me a few days to really wrap my head around how this could happen and how we could get to this point. And what I was able to come up with was there wasn’t an easy way for my team to tell me small things, like “Hey, this button doesn’t work.” Or, “Hey, this is weird.” Or, “Hey, this doesn’t make sense.” Or those little things, that then when we’d get into meetings about subject A, someone would raise their hand up in the middle of the meeting and be “Hey, what about this point B,” that’s not a big deal and was not the subject matter of the meeting.

And it would make me pop off and I’d be “Hey, not the time.” Well, when you, “Not the time” someone, not the time someone over and over and over again, those small things begin to grow. And those small things begin to create stories of not feeling heard and not feeling seen.

So the problem was… I created a log that I call This Doesn’t Make Sense log. So the team can write anything down that doesn’t make sense. And this highlights for us, maybe it’s a lack of training. Maybe it’s a system change. Maybe it’s a policy change, but we’re able to look at these things and have a platform to discuss small things, so that we can get to the feelings discussions faster and making sure everyone feels like they have a way to be seen and heard, as we’re moving full steam ahead at insane speeds.

Melinda Wittstock:

I love that. The “This doesn’t make sense” because it’s giving people permission to get the clarification they need, or just be heard, be seen. But, also just identifying communication gaps. I think with CEOs and founders, particularly visionary ones, I know, certainly in my case, my field of vision is always changing between what’s right in front of me to what’s five years from now. What’s next month? Where do we want to be by the end of the year?

And then you have this vision, because you’re flying at 30,000 feet, but everyone else is down on the ground. So at 30,000 feet, you can see all the clouds, you can see your competitors, you can see the different trends. You have the whole picture as the CEO.

But everybody in your company doesn’t necessarily have that field of vision. And so it’s “Okay, do I want to train people to swoop up to me or should I be swooping down? When I swoop down, I lose my vision.”

Ashleigh Wilson:

Totally.

Melinda Wittstock:

But sometimes there can be a perception as “Oh, she’s way out far ahead. Or she’s committing us to things that there’s no way we’ll have done in the roadmap yet.” That kind of thing.

Ashleigh Wilson:

Totally agree. I once joked that I was like being a founder is being able to express my vision in multiple languages and on multiple formats. I need to be able to put it on a JIRA board. I need to be able to write it out in long text. I need to be able to explain it to everyone from an investor to the person doing data entry in the company. I need to be able to bullet it, to chart it, to roadmap it. It’s taking that same vision and slicing it up into so many different communication formats, in so many different ways, so that everyone understands their piece and other people’s pieces.

Melinda Wittstock:

Oh, that’s vital. It’s the why. Why am I doing this? I think sometimes if people just know the why, or where their particular puzzle piece fits into the puzzle, then they’re “Oh, okay.” But if they have no real grounding in “Why am I doing this?” Then it’s hard.

I think it’s so interesting what you say though, about being able to communicate the vision in all these multiple formats. It reminds me of something that’s the founder of Buzzfeed was saying on a podcast, not so long ago, that he felt that he was repeating his mission over and the vision and the mission over and over and over again. And one of his biggest things, as a CEO, was to not get bored saying it, or frustrated, having to say it over and over and over and over again, because it’s internalized for you, but not necessarily for everybody else.

Ashleigh Wilson:

I love that. I completely agree. I agree with the not getting frustrated about communicating it. I also agree with having a practice of falling in love with it again and again and again. Especially as a serial entrepreneur, and you might align with this actually too. With AuditMate, and where I’m at in AuditMate, sometimes my brain will be “Ooh, well what’s next?”

And being able to refocus that what’s next of when I don’t have motivation. And when I’m “Ugh, over the thing,” finding another area within AuditMate to become my new tunnel vision thing, so that I can fall in love and find that motivation again, because it cannot be manufactured. That magic comes from within. We cannot force it.

Melinda Wittstock:

I love how you said that. Falling in love with it over and over and over again. Because, in the context of Podopolo, the podcasting platform that I’ve innovated, we have such a huge innovation roadmap ahead. It’s such a big idea from where we are, one of the first ever social podcasting apps, personalized listening, all this like six proprietary technologies, all these things we’ve already achieved so much.

Melinda Wittstock:

But my mind is always on the next thing, like how do we keep innovating? And that’s in my DNA and that’s where I keep falling in love with it again and again, because there’s the work ever done.

Ashleigh Wilson:

Totally. Totally.

Melinda Wittstock:

It’s never, ever done. But you have to you know what you’re doing? You have to like your mission and everything. I want to dig into where you say people over profits and this is so important. I think this is something where business overall is beginning to change more in that direction. I think women are a big impetus of it as well. But tell me what that means for you and what that means in practice in terms of how you run your business?

Ashleigh Wilson:

Yeah. I think that I grew up in a culture that was focused on profits, focused on profits, focused on KPIs, numbers, metrics, profits, profits, profits. And when you focus on the profits and all your KPIs are around efficiencies or profitability, you lose sight of the people. You lose sight of the customers. You lose sight of the people on the ground that is doing that work.

And that creates a culture of folks feeling like a number, folks feeling like they’re only there to produce results, that who they are as a human; what something else I say all the time also, is permission to be human. It gets lost. I’m of the belief that when we focus on people, people inside our organization, our customers and our partners, and we ensure that they feel that they can be authentic, that they feel safe, and that they have value in the work that they’re doing and, or the products that they’re [inaudible 00:32:03], that the profits will follow.

They come. Now everyone is upholding the value and the mission. Everyone feels like they are a part of upholding the mission. And you’re creating cheerleaders on all sides of the fence and people that believe and aren’t just doing their job for a paycheck.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah. It’s so vital because increasingly, there’s all kinds of studies that show, whether it’s in the context of the great resignation or whatever, that it’s not just money that people value. It’s not enough to keep someone in a job or on a team motivated. It’s do you feel part of a mission bigger than yourself? Are you getting creative satisfaction? Do you actually like the people that you’re working with?

Is the day, is the work, actually enjoyable? Is it creating an outcome that’s meaningful to you? All these sorts of questions are like increasingly important. So it’s not just, “Okay, we’re going to have a great culture, because we’re going to put a ping pong table in our office.”

Ashleigh Wilson:

Yeah. We’re going to serve beer at 3:00 PM. Yeah. No, totally. I agree and [crosstalk 00:33:23].

Melinda Wittstock:

Like those forced events and things, you know? Oh my God.

Ashleigh Wilson:

We’re going to have fun now. Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah. Okay. Everybody, let’s have fun.

Ashleigh Wilson:

Exactly. Yeah. And actually money is pretty low on that list of what the value of employees or how they want to be compensated. And I think everybody’s different too, right? It’s do you want public praise? Do you want private praise? Do you get that sense of belonging or the sense of a greater mission? Or I think everybody’s number one for those things is different.

I also think we don’t necessarily know what our number one is, unless we’re that type of person that does that introspection. Ask someone why they work, they’ll likely say money, but if the reason that we stay or the reason that we feel fulfilled, is generally not money.

Melinda Wittstock:

Like 100%. It so true. What was the epiphany that led you here? Was there any particular thing or has this been a gradual learning, as you’ve grown all your different businesses and the current one? But was there a moment where you said, “Oh my goodness. Yeah. It’s people ahead of profits.” You’ve got the right people in the right positions, enjoying, the profits are going to follow.

Melinda Wittstock:

But, what was the thought process there that led you to where you are in operationalizing this?

Ashleigh Wilson:

I think it was watching the elevator industry, honestly. And seeing how people felt in the industry and seeing folks or organizations letting their values bend in order to hit certain metrics or forget to.

Because most people on earth, I believe we’re all doing the best we can. First of all, that’s one of my greatest beliefs in life, is that we’re all doing the best we can at all times. I also think that we often dehumanize things to make it fit within our value system. And what I by that is it’s easier to say “We are reducing labor hours” than it is to say, “I am not going to fulfill the maintenance obligation for Mary Sue at the church down the street.”

So, we use this language and profit centered cultures that is dehumanizing. We talk about labor hours. We talk about profits. We don’t talk about the humans that that’s impacting. And so watching this culture and watching how the human was forgotten about, I was “No, no, we’re looking at the wrong thing. We’re talking about the wrong thing. I understand that the end result might be the same, but the focus needs to be different.”

Melinda Wittstock:

And so, people need to know how they’re doing, I guess, against a goal. And often on Podopolo, we talk about the difference between doing or tasks or outcomes. Like it’s really ultimately the outcome that’s important. And yet, so profit, is one outcome, but there are many other outcomes. And so how do you define outcomes, in your business, in that sense, in terms of, you want your folks to be productive and contribute. So how does that work in that context?

Ashleigh Wilson:

Yeah. We use OKRs, objectives and key results. I would say the objectives are the outcomes, and the key results would be how we track those things. And so making the objectives human-centric, like our customers see value in care, and keeping the human in the objective, although the key results may be reducing their costs, or increasing their maintenance and really technical numbers based, maybe even profit based things in the key result. But the outcome and, or the objective should be how do we want someone to feel? How do we want our partners to feel? How do we want our employees to feel? What is the satisfaction level there?

And then making sure the key results… because we’re still a business, right? We need to make a profit. We still have investors. Those facts don’t go away and they’re not lost on me. It’s just making sure that the human is kept in the objectives.

Melinda Wittstock:

Exactly. So that involves a lot of really great people skills and really understanding, not only what’s motivating all your employees on an intrinsic level, but it’s also partly a systems issue as well. How big is your team?

Ashleigh Wilson:

12, now. No, 14 now, I think.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, because this is the interesting thing. It was really easy for Podopolo has gone from two people at the beginning of last year to 24 now, and will be like 65-70 by the end of 2022.

Ashleigh Wilson:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

Super top of mind for me, though, is like part this great culture, on Zoom and Slack is where our team is all over the world. And put all these different cultures and everything and it’s working really well. But then when you’re suddenly putting it on a scale, and you have this people ahead of profits, but then suddenly as this CEO, you are no longer able to interact with everybody on that same one on one level anymore, because your team is much bigger.

So it just happens to be top of mind for me right now. How do you scale that? What are the systems that you put in place, to make sure that you don’t lose your culture as you scale quickly?

Ashleigh Wilson:

Yeah. One thing that I did recently, is I set up an AuditMate Lounge, is what I call it, which is a Zoom call on Fridays for people to just hang out. I make sure to always be in attendance, so that people can get that FaceTime, water cooler, discussion with me and that’s weekly. So that every week, right before we end the week, we have that time, that’s, I don’t have a strict like no business conversation. But it’s pretty loose that this isn’t to talk about requirements or to talk about whatever. It’s strictly just for us to hang out and keep that culture alive.

Melinda Wittstock:

Ashleigh, I’m really curious to learn a little bit more about what’s in your plans, like for this year and beyond where you ultimately want to be in your business and how it’s going to scale.

Ashleigh Wilson:

Yeah. We plan on scaling by at least four times this year, from what we did in 2021, which is very, very exciting. And then set us up for a Series [A 00:41:24] round, either in 2022 or 2023, which is very, very, very exciting.

We are releasing a new platform, two new platforms, actually, next quarter, which is going to allow not only the customer to have access, but also the vendor to have access. So full transparency, everything we show the client, all of the metrics, all of the reports that we show the client, we are also going to be showing to the vendor. So this isn’t trying to be like an, “Oh, gotcha” on the vendor. We want everybody to understand the requirements and everybody to have the opportunity to fulfill and succeed. We’re super excited about these next releases.

Melinda Wittstock:

Fantastic. What’s the best way that people can find you and work with you on the chance that there are people in the elevator escalator business, listening to this podcast?

Ashleigh Wilson:

Yeah. So automate.com is our website. We offer free contract analysis, which is a deep dive of your full legal terms and conditions and vendor performance. It’s a no obligation contract analysis. I personally am also on LinkedIn. I love these discussions and want to be involved in as much women in tech, queer in tech, all of the above discussions as a personal passion of mine. All of the links to my podcasts or speaking gigs or any of that is available on LinkedIn.

Melinda Wittstock:

Well, I really enjoyed our conversation and I’d like to invite you to keep the conversation going over on Podopolo, of course, because it’s a socially interactive app. So if anyone wants to share their perspectives or on any of the themes we talk to or ask your advice about anything, it’d be lovely to have you there. We can always add you there as a guest and with all your details and links out everywhere as well. And carry the conversation over on Podopolo.

Ashleigh Wilson:

I would love that.

Melinda Wittstock:

Fantastic. Well, Ashleigh, thank you so much for putting on your Wings and flying with us and congratulations on all your success.

Ashleigh Wilson:

Thank you so much for having me. It was lovely.