D.C.-based Aquicore has built an impressive lists of clients since its founding in 2012. With 45 employees, the startup runs commercial real estate management software for the likes of Cushman & Wakefield, JBG Smith, Under Armour, Facebook and the World Bank.
It's been a quick ride to a weighty portfolio for founder Logan Soya, who was recently selected as a winner of CEO Report's Mid-Atlantic Innovator & Entrepreneur Award.
Aquicore's software is used by property managers to track, analyze and predict building-performance factors in real time. With more than 1,000 systems installed worldwide, Soya said, a bigger client list doesn't necessarily require more employees: "We’ve interviewed 800 people year-to-date and only hired a dozen."
DC Inno sat down with Soya to talk about pacing growth, finding talent and advice he would have liked to receive while still in his "entrepreneurial diapers."
Q: Tell me about the launches this year of new features on the platform, and how those came together?
Logan Soya: Aquicore in recent features really focused on helping to digitize the operational aspects of real estate. The mobile app was big release for us because we learned time and time again our audience is in the field, and being able to give them information they need on a mobile interface has been a huge win for us by engaging with customers, getting to know them and providing the right information to them.
We’ve come out with a big splash – our mobile capabilities outweigh peers in the marketplace so the wait was worth it.
I would credit my product team led by Mike Donovan, we created a really cool team of tech engineers from the D.C. area. We follow the practice of continuous improvement and understanding of the market around us, finding sweet spots and making sure our product in the marketplace is forward-looking. It allows us to freely innovate with feedback from our customers, so we’re not always waiting for the next thing to come.
Q: What's your take on finding tech talent in the D.C. metro?
LS: We find that when sourcing and finding talent, you need to have a couple team members dedicated to that effort, so we brought it in-house because it’s so essential to have great team members. We look for someone who demonstrates strong competency in skill but also is passionate about our mission in one way or another.
To a degree, you’re never going to be able to go it alone. Finding the team members you can put around yourself that you’re inspired and amazed by gives you a sense of shared purpose. That’s important because everyone has their special sauce to make the formula work, so looking for those people is so important.
The D.C. tech scene has continued to grow slowly but surely, but I would always love to find more engineers and more talented team members. It’s something you need to always keep up with.
Q: How do you go about maintaining the corporate culture as you add employees at a fast clip?
LS: It starts with our mission and core values: the global impact of helping clients understand the physical world around them. There are a number of activities we do to keep camaraderie and team unity. There’s a lot of coaching and hands-on leadership we want to provide so they have a well-groomed career path and know where their direction lies within the company. We foster fun events that team members can be part of beyond just being a hardworking pro. We volunteer at D.C. Central Kitchen and do Toys for Tots; we do annual trips bringing the whole company offsite and breaking the team into four cohorts, which cook a meal for the whole company.
Q: Going back to 2012, what did you envision for Aquicore, and how does that compare to where you are now?
LS: As a young entrepreneur in my “entrepreneurial diapers,” you don’t quite know how it's going to play out. You can have some foresight and hope and aspiration. My personality was driven by sheer commitment to make a difference without the tools or skills to articulate exactly how to get there. Today, the way I see the world, I’ve been fortunate to learn an amazing amount, so it gives me a better lens to forecast with. When I look at where I am today and the team that’s around me, the culture and elements making sure we’re a mission-driven organization with a really cool place to work, I’m extremely happy. There’s an energy and a shared vision that’s a signal we’re doing something right. That means I’ve done my job to share the vision of the organization as it continues to grow.
Q: What has made you want to stay in D.C.? Is there anything unique about this area that compliments your mission?
LS: D.C. has a strong ecosystem from a network perspective that keeps me confident it’s a good place for Aquicore to have its headquarters. There’s easy access to Chicago and Atlanta and New York. We have a lot of pride for what we’ve seeded here in D.C. and don’t see ourselves moving away … With that said, it would be great to see more capital opportunities – a vast amount of that gets pulled into the New York and San Francisco markets.
Q: What advice do you have for other entrepreneurs trying to find the right talent?
LS: Be a sponge. Learn as much as possible about the market and the problem you’re trying to solve. I jumped into this not knowing as much about real estate as I would’ve liked to know, in hindsight, and had to learn it along the way. It would have been great to have that information to get the ball rolling. Once you have an employee and raise funds, then the clock starts. So the more articulate you are about what you want to accomplish, before the clock starts ticking, the better off you’ll be.
