Why i invested in: Setyl

Setyl: Device and subscription management software for businesses (setyl.com)

In a world where businesses transition from in-person work to either fully-remote or hybrid, managing hardware and software licenses becomes even more complex. Especially as companies grow headcount remotely, the need to manage their onboarding, device tracking, which seats they need on tooling, whether that means an increased license, renegotiation etc.

At Contentful for instance, in 2021 so far, we have hired ~400 new employees. That means our IT and finance teams need to track 400 new/reused laptops, track their shipment to remote places, make sure at least 400 seats are available on existing software (Salesforce, Looker, Redash, Google products etc), which in turn might bump us into higher pricing tiers, therefore initiating negotiations with software providers, causing a tonne of internal friction.

Setyl aims to remove that friction, building a tool for IT and finance teams to track everything from one place, track usage / limits on platforms, help teams plan proactive measures if coming close to price tier increases.

Product

Device management: visibility of your organisation's devices and equipment - everything from laptops and phones to fire extinguishers and cars can be logged, stored and tracked. Assign devices to a location, legal entity and team member to never lose equipment again. Store critical information including purchase information, warranties, receipts and device status.

Subscription management: From software licences through to the office rent and utilities, manage everything from one clear view. Keep on top of contractual obligations like phone contract renewal dates. Avoid free trials turning into unwanted subscriptions and assign your subscriptions to your team to never lose track of who is using what.

Early traction

A few KPIs tracked which are indicative of holistic view: how many orgs use the tool, how many users from those orgs and how many assets are being added:

  • +20% MoM organisation growth

  • +25% MoM user growth

  • +25% MoM assets added growth

Market & Competition

Market is large with a TAM of any company using devices or buying software. Setyl’s strategy is somewhat vertical, where they will become the best in-market for device and software management.

Rippling on the other hand is more horizontal, offering many more tooling/people/benefit management. They also seem to be the closest competitor, with a large war chest of +$400m, posing a significant threat.

ServiceNow is orthogonal to Setyl, but has risk of entering the market. They are more on workflows rather than device/subscription/people management.

Tailwind(s)

Covid drove businesses to remote-first, with many now trying out a hybrid approach. Regardless of where on the spectrum businesses sit, having a device/subscription management tool is a core need.

SaaS market growth continues (+18% CAGR) driven by businesses buying more and more software licenses for exponential use-cases.

IT decentralisation, where teams become more distributed with devices and subscriptions more complex and the buying of software is stripped from C-suite and thrust into the hands of users (essentially creating more software tools to onboard and cheaper prices).

Team

Christopher Batts - CEO, cofounder. His diligence & pure focus on building the best product in the market, thinking outside the box (see GTM section) and his thoughtful approach to fundraising, shows he is incredibly clear of mind on what he’s trying to build.

Milorad Doljanin - CCO, cofounder. Biggest strengths are his work ethic, ability to pick up and run with any aspect of the Style, all anchored around “his obsessiveness in solving problems”, as Chris nicely puts.

Go-to-market strategy

One of my favourite insights into Setyl’s ability to stick around, was an initial GTM strategy they built - that’s still driving inbound activity today.

Given the need for device management, they created QR code asset label stickers with Setyl branding and url. These labels are sold on Amazon at cost ($4 total), generating a healthy influx of inbound leads since those people purchasing the labels explore Setly’s site and understand their whole device and subscription issues can be solved.

Other than leveraging Amazon, they have a mix between outbound and inbound: Google ads, outbound email and soon-to-be outbound sales motion.

Risks

Market risk: ServiceNow could come into the space, Rippling could be more persuadable if businesses prefer horizontal position of them vs the vertical position of Setyl.

Execution risk: not finding distribution for scale, not understanding the driving value proposition of Setyl and matching that to core customer needs. Additionally, if it remains too high-touch for onboarding customers - as a goal will be to self serve.

Deal

EIS Seed round

Summary

There are significant risks in Setyl’s market with large incumbents quite nimble and technical. However, i am taking the bet on cofounder Chris, with his determined product-focus, building the best product to meet customer needs, that will then compound against the 3 tailwinds depicted above: remote work, continued SaaS growth and the decentralisation of IT.