Ep148 – Matt Elsley (Co-founder & CEO – Qsic) on teams, fundraising and enterprise sales

May 13, 2021
rohitbhargava
Podcast

My guest for Ep148 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Co-founder & CEO of Qsic, Matt Elsley.

Qsic leverages smart devices and other inputs such as music to drive changes in real-time consumer behaviour such as increasing their spend in retail stores.

They have had a fascinating journey since launching in 2012, initially bootstrapping for the first few years before going on to raise an angel round from some of their early customers.

They are now used in over 2,500 retail stores including 7-eleven and McDonalds in the US and this week announced their Series A funding round of $4M led by Carthona Capital.

In this interview we discussed:

Their decision to shut down their first business to go all in on Qsic
The journey from bootstrapped to VC funded company
How to sell to large enterprises like McDonalds and 7-Eleven in the US
How COVID helped Matt and his team reassess and refocus the business
How to get the most out of your advisors and investors
& much more!

Timestamps

2.20 – Introduction to Matt and the story behind finding Qsic
7.00 – Decision to shut down his previous business and focus on Qsic
9.16 – How the introduction of streaming platforms helped to inform the market and with finding customers
11.30 – Importance of having support and investment from customers especially in the early days
14.55 – Pre-investment bootstrapping, borrowing from friends and family, maxing out cards
16. 14 – Building a startup with young families to support
19.06 – Sharing the conviction for the idea and bringing the team on the journey
22.34 – What they hired for in the early stages of the business and why their fist hire was a CTO
23.42 – Attracting the best people in the early stages
26.06 – The story behind the haunted office space they previously worked in
28.53 – The importance of co-founders and how Matt met his co-founder, Nick, in school
29.58 – Getting key customers such as 7/11 and McDonalds US early on in the journey
32.40 – Acquiring enterprise customers and the importance of doing both talking and listening in pitch meetings
34.58 – Finding the industries your product is ideal for a pitch to the largest players within the industry
38.13 – Listening to the customers to first understand their focus, their why and their needs
39.30 – How COVID-19 provided the team time to reassess and refocus the business
43.50 – Attracting the right people as advisors and connecting with people
47.34 – Making the most out of advisors/board members
49.00 – Raising $4M Series A during COVID-19
41.49 – Trusting your instincts when choosing between investors
54.12 – What’s next for Qsic
55.28 – Where to find Matt and Qsic