We were lucky to catch up with Bryce Alsten recently and have shared our conversation below.

Bryce, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?

There are many factors that go into scaling a business. Arguably the biggest factor is building scalable, repeatable systems and processes throughout the company. Tied to that is automation of old tasks. At some point, you will find yourself repeating the same tasks over and over. This is the point at which you must ask yourself how you can automate this so that you can get back to “working on your business, not in your business”.

One example of a system that I’ve implemented for automation and scaling is an ERP system. An ERP (enterprise resource planning) system is used to automate and integrate the many disparate systems and processes of a company.

As we entered our phase of major growth, it became clear that the current methods of managing tasks and databases were not going to be able to sustain us forever. I realized that operations would eventually become a bottleneck as the sales team brought in more and more business. It was the equivalent of watching a skyscraper being built taller each day on top of a foundation that was only meant to support a 10-story building.

Implementing an ERP helps to fully understand how a company’s different processes and functional departments all work together in harmony. Just like the human body, or a sophisticated machine, all the different components and processes rely on each other to make sure everything runs smoothly day in and day out: accounting, operations, sales, HR, customer service, supply chain, etc. They all depend on each other, and they’re all interrelated.

Bryce, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m the VP of Operations & Development at Popl and part of the founding team. Popl is an LA-based tech company that’s re-inventing business cards and changing the way teams and professionals network. As an engineer turned entrepreneur, my passion lies in creating human-centric products that change the way people interact with the world and each other.

The journey to Popl started when I graduated college from the University of Florida in 2017. After graduation, I started working as a Product Development Associate for a company that manufactured all the outdoor lighting and ceiling fans for Home Depot and Lowe’s. It was there that I learned how products are ideated, manufactured, and commercialized. I traveled back and forth from China many times and became comfortable working in a cross-functional role.
However, it didn’t take long for me to realize that working for somebody else my entire life wasn’t a viable option for me. So a friend and I decided to start our own company called KickBack, which sold phone grips and accessories. We taught ourselves how to do everything from setting up a legal entity, filing patents, 3D printing, Kickstarter, Amazon, Shopify, digital advertising, etc.

In 2020, I left KickBack to start my own e-commerce company. Then just a few months later, I came across a TikTok video about a brand new product called Popl, a little tag for the back of your phone that you could tap to other people’s phones to instantly share contact info and social media. I was fascinated with the technology, and I envisioned a potential collaboration with PopMagnetz, a magnetic phone accessory I had created and was selling at the time. So I sent a cold DM to the Popl Instagram account and talked to Jason Alvarez-Cohen, the CEO and co-founder.

The PopMagnetz collab didn’t work out, but Jason and I became friendly, and I told him that I wanted to be involved in what I could see was something very special. I led with value and helped create the first version of the now best-selling Popl wristband. I wasn’t looking for a job; I was looking for a lifestyle. I wanted to build something special with a special group of people, and I found that at Popl. Fast forward to today, I’m part of the founding team, building a booming tech company that’s pioneering an entirely new industry and changing the way people connect – life is everything that I ever dreamed it to be.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

“Start with why.” This is a principle made popular by speaker/author Simon Sinek. The core of this concept is to always focus on WHY your company does what it does, not on WHAT it does or HOW it does it.

Customers become loyal to companies who’s brand and mission aligns with their personal mission and values.
WHAT you do (your products and services) is just proof of your WHY (your reason for existing as a business and organization).

Customer’s don’t stay loyal because of discounts, promotions, or gimmicks. They stay loyal because they feel inspired and empowered by using your product or service.

By keeping this in mind when engaging with customers, you will always have an advantage over the competition.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

Take time to get to know people personally. Ask questions about their lives and their family. Take time out of your week to spend time with them.

There’s a saying that goes “People don’t leave bad jobs, they leave bad bosses.”
While this may not be 100% accurate, there’s a lot to be said for how much a strong relationship with your employees can have on their loyalty and retention.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.popl.co
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brycealsten/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brycealsten/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/brycealsten
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbhS_v2OzdmypM5ahSyoGxQ