Leveraging the Cloud to Drive Digital Commerce Analytics

When you hear an Aussie describe his bootstrap company, you’re forgiven if your mind flashes to images of cowboy boots kicking up dust on Earth’s driest inhabited continent. But neither entrepreneur Bryce Adams nor Metorik, his Australia-based software company,  are still long enough for any dust to settle.

In August of 2016, Adams quit his solid day job to pursue his dream: to develop a software application that provided a desperately needed reporting solution for companies that use WooCommerce, an open source digital commerce plug-in for WordPress.

“I was determined to build the product I always wanted even if it meant giving up an incredible job and lifestyle to start from scratch and hope for the best,” says Adams. “If you don’t build your dream, someone will hire you to help build theirs.”

He started simply, armed only with a vision of a better way, a prototype he’d built in his spare time, and his savings account to sustain him. The clock was ticking to get a viable product in the hands of paying customers before those savings dried up. He spent nearly every waking hour developing the product, had a beta version within two months, launched it a month later, and had 10 paying customers by the end of the year.

Adams’ goal for Metorik, in the beginning, was highly focused: provide something people would actually pay for so that he could pay the bills. Metorik’s first offerings were reports.

Adams says, “Our strength is giving our customers around the world a wide variety of reports and data analysis tools, and letting the customer customize them to their needs. What’s so great about this is that our customers use their data and reports in wonderful ways that I never planned for or imagined. So Metorik isn’t just one solution; it’s 100 different solutions to 100 different problems.”

Adams and his team have since added a robust slate of efficiency tools, such as email automation, to Metorik’s list of features. Adams describes Metorik’s product development philosophy as clear but ambitious. “We provide e-commerce stores with the tools needed to grow. If they grow,  so will we,” he says.

As the entrepreneurial adventure continues, Metorik is looking to conquer new challenges. “We’re providing a very tailored product for the stores that use our product, and we always want our customers to feel like our product was built for them since day one,” explains Adams.

“Accommodating our customers’ needs as they change over time is our ongoing challenge. That will lead us in the future to integrate with other platforms. As we see it, our mission isn’t to serve a platform but to serve e-commerce companies as a whole.”

Metorik is a bootstrapping success story, not just because the product receives tons of praise and the company is profitable, but also because the founder and current staff get to spend their days doing something they love and find fulfilling. “I love that we get to help similar businesses, small- and medium-sized businesses that I can relate to,” says Adams.  “I get what they’re struggling with and what makes them happy. Plus,  our work is fun. We get to work on a variety of technical challenges,  and, since we’re a small shop, we all get to work on everything.”

An IaaS partner, not a provider

Fair pricing and a great suite of products are just two of the benefits of Akamai's cloud computing services that Metorik particularly values.

Another aspect of the business that Adams loves is the service he receives from his infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) provider.

“When I started looking around for a partner, Linode’s [now Akamai’s] reputation in the PHP community preceded them, and it is well-earned. From the start, we were looking for a partner, not a provider. Some of the large providers see us only as a transaction. Linode [now Akamai] is the kind of partner that will be with us from the start,  today, and beyond.”

The partnership is exemplified in the level of support Metorik receives from Akamai. “I love that what’s my problem is their problem, and I get help immediately. I don’t have to wait it out while my request works its way through tiers of service levels,” says Adams. “If I ever have an issue — and let’s face it, there will be issues with infrastructure services from time to time — I can speak with someone on Linode’s [now Akamai’s] end within a minute. No one ever says, ‘Oh, sorry, the problem is not on our end.’ My issues always get acknowledged, checked, and resolved. And I don’t have to pay extra for that level of service.”

About Metorik

Metorik was started with a clear but ambitious goal — provide ecommerce stores with the tools needed to grow. If they grow, so will we. Born in Melbourne, Metorik (pronounced Meh-toh-rick) now serves thousands of ecommerce stores around the world and millions of their respective customers.