Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Wytpod. My name is Harshit and I’m the Director of Business Alliances at Wytlabs. We’re a digital agency specializing in SaaS and e-commerce SEO.

I’ve got Ro Fernandez with me today. She’s the co-founder and CEO at Nova.

It’s an all in one collaboration workspace. Where teams can manage the whole collaborative process from start to the very finish. So big welcome to you all. So happy to have you with me today.

Yeah, thank you. Thank you for inviting me.

But, uh, let’s start with your journey. What really led you to go from Nova and what really inspired you, you know, to create a platform focusing on collaboration and productivity?

Um, it’s a tough question, but I would say that, um, we are going through really big challenges. Global challenges. Challenges are not like local any anymore. So we need to collaborate with people that have different skills, that have different experiences [00:01:00] and live in different countries because they have a different ways to see things.
So I think collaboration has become essential for, um, and in company and, Any any challenge, really. So, um, I believe that we came from a period of time where decisions were made by one single person, and that is not happening any any longer. So you need to really focus on the processes that need to be put in place so that Teams can collaborate without with understanding really how to make those decisions on how to achieve a goal together without wasting a lot of time.

So, um, in what keeps me gets me excited about this is that I think. This is what actually can change the world if we actually work together and put our minds together. Um, [00:02:00] I think is what will change, um, our world.

Now, uh, You know, you describe yourself as a dreamer, uh, you know, with dual capabilities. How do these two specific traits manifest in your work and your leadership style?

Um, I think that is a simple question. I think to start a new business and to lead a team, you do have to be a dreamer a little bit. Of a crazy one, especially if you want to tackle difficult challenges, so you need to be able to dream and be able to also get it done. So, uh, I say that I’m at work because you can tell me anything that is happening to you on five minutes later.
I’m ready buildings. Something for you so we can get it started. I’ll get in that. And that is the part that I enjoy the most because [00:03:00] dreams without a plan are still a dream. So I think it’s important to have the two the mix of those two on. And I hope I can inspire the same thing for the rest of my team as well.

Now, uh, you know, uh, let’s discuss few of the biggest challenges that you feel, you know, teams face in collaboration and, uh, how exactly your platform helps them address these challenges and overcome them.

Yeah. Um, right now there are a few different challenges that businesses are facing. Um, I’m going to mention just three.

And so the first one is that businesses have, don’t have processes. Uh, usually is the manager or the leadership team who holds the whole, the knowledge of the company and, and their vision of how they want to achieve things. But the team is kind of guessing. They’re trying to figure out what the rest want to do and how they expect to do it.

So I think we are missing, uh, a part in which we bring and share that knowledge with the team and kind of guide them through the process so that they can work together following like the same standards that you have in your mind, but really. bringing that collaborative process between all team members.

And without that, I think organizations, what they are missing is that you are repeating your work. You get frustrated as a manager because people don’t get exactly what you need from them. And also each team member have their own version of what’s needed. success look like? So I think processes are fundamental for any company and a lot of organizations that talk to me when they say, well, we are not growing.

We’re hiring people, but we seem to, our velocity is still very, very like the same as two years ago. Uh, my answer is that They don’t have the fundamentals. They haven’t invested in processes, but they did invest in hiring and all of that. So I think you have to start with the fundamentals first. The second thing is leadership.

So the leadership has changed. As I mentioned, Um, if we think about 100 years ago, the manager on the business owner was the person that was making decisions. And right now you are, you need to collaborate. One single person doesn’t know everything. And if you do think that you know everything, then it means that you are working 24 hours and you’re probably too tired to have great ideas.

So, um, I think it’s changing the mindset to really empower others. to share their knowledge, but you need to change the way you approach it and be able to delegate and how you do that is often with processes, not just telling them what to do, it’s by defining what are the steps and what is the expectations across all team members so there is visibility across them and there is more clarity, more transparency, more transparency between them.

And the third is something that is a topic that is very, very, very hot right now. Um, it’s remote work. I know that a lot of organizations are going back to the office. And I would say that if you talk to the people leading those teams, they will say that they don’t have visibility on what their teams are doing.

They don’t know exactly how to manage them and they don’t, they don’t feel that the velocity have increased even if they hire more people. And I think that the problem in there is related to the approach of things. So we move to working in the office that I go to the office.
I can see you here. So I have visibility on what you are doing while we move to remote work.
Then now, we didn’t change the processes. We expected to keep everything the same, just add a computer, use Zoom, and then somehow everything had to work out. So, I think changing the processes and defining how to work for remote work is fundamental. So, um, I think those are the three things that are very, very important right now.

And I see it across all companies.

Especially after, uh, you know, uh, during COVID and post COVID as well, like I’ve got a few of my teams that are like completely remote, dual remote teams as well. So, for some of the causes, but yeah, I mean, you know, we do have a few people who also come to the office on a daily basis.

It’s like, I’m pretty mixed. Uh, culture, and definitely, like, just like you mentioned, defining the processes clearly is something which becomes extremely, extremely vital, uh, you know, so, you know, well put. Alright, now let’s talk about, uh, you know, some specific marketing strategies, uh, that you have implemented within your company, uh, you know, that is helping you out.

Basically stand out, you know, in this competitive space that you’re in.

Um, that is a good question. So I will talk about the, the most recent one, I think, one that is very typical and everyone is talking about, and I, I will recommend it to anyone that is starting a business, especially if this is something that you can do, is content marketing.

I think as a marketer, we did say this very, very often, content marketing is almost like essential in this era. And, um, and I think with content marketing, we are educating users that didn’t know how to do things in a, or changing their mindset on how to approach businesses or processes. So it’s really helping us educate.

First and then after they will, they will approach us and also implement our our tool. Um, our software in their company. So I would say that one is the essential, um, strategy from our side, just because it was necessary in from our side to educate people about how to change that mindset.

Gotcha. And since you’ve authored multiple books on various topics, I’m sure like, you know, content marketing is definitely, you know, one of your favourite areas to work on.
So, yeah. Anything specific when it comes to, uh, retaining your customers as well? Like how, how’s the churn Um,

It depends because we are, it’s kind of, it’s kind of, it depends on the, on, on what we are measuring. Um, and our approach at that time, like we have different strategies in place. So I can not give you an answer because we have it based on user types. Um, so if we look into leaders, for example, that will be different because also our own boarding and how they approach and use the platform is completely different from a team or we have even people in the health space using Nova.

And that is completely different. Like they use Nova on hourly basis and they invite a lot of people outside the platform to collaborate with them as well. So it depends on the user type that is kind of funny and we have it divided by user type just for that reason.

Okay, any specific content type that Uh, you know, in your experience, uh, [00:11:00] resonates really well for your targeted, uh, for your target audience.
Sorry. Right. And which has basically, which drove, uh, some really good engagement for you in the past.

Yeah, actually, there are two things that we write about very often. And also, it’s a topic that I specialize is, is anything related to meetings. So how to lead meetings more productive and make sure that if you don’t need them, you can do that asynchronously.

Uh, so that’s a topic that is very, very important for us. And the second one is anything related to leadership as well, like how to manage your team, um, how to provide, like, I don’t know, performance reviews and all of that, that is something that we educate our users based on that.

And, uh, don’t tell me this thing, like, do you incorporate user feedback, uh, you know, just for the betterment and refinement, uh, that you do off your platform or like, uh, you know, if so, like what that process looks like.

Yeah. Um, we not only, uh, look for user feedback, we also reach out to customers and do like research, um, to understand their user needs and their pains. very, very often. Um, so I would say that a user can contact me even directly. And I am, I get really excited when someone contact me and says, okay, I need this.

And I want to understand what they really mean when they say I need this. So understanding the problem and making sure that we are not just, um, finding like a quick solution to, to the symptoms and not to the problem is very important to me. Um, and we actually put a lot of effort to solve any problems they have.

Um, we recently got, uh, new. new user types using our platform. To give you an example, like we have more health centers using our platform. That was a surprise to me because I, I’m not, I’m not familiar with that, with that world as much as like business. Um, and they, they use it so differently than how I thought people will use Nova.

So when they provide feedback, I need to innovate about how to approach uh, our solution as well.

Any specific trends though that you see, uh, you know, coming up, uh, specifically in your space, work productivity suite or, you know, collaboration, um, you know, in your future?

Um, I mean, in my space, you are seeing a lot more tools that are, More collaborative, like you have Canva, um, and then they are implementing a lot of the tools that are similar to, for example, Miro.

Um, so there is a, it’s a very competitive space. Um, I think they are all trying to solve problems that are very focused on how people interact during meetings. And it shows you that it’s a big problem related to that as well. Um, so I think that is something that will continue to improve, but it will, it will get to a phase of maturity as well.

So I think after that, you are going to see as well as you are seeing right now, a lot of AI and tools that will help you kind of edit your content and anything like that. And related to that, what I think is going to happen is with AI is going to, is going to be in part of everything we write, especially on Slack, on our communication, that’s going to be part of, of our filters, uh, to make sure that we communicate things in a certain way.

So it will be, it will be a change on that and it will help us be more productive in, in my perspective.

Right. Any specific projects or, uh, you know, initiatives could be around marketing as well, you know, all your product development, uh, that you’re really excited about.

Yeah, I mean, we are always working on exciting things, um, related to marketing. We are creating more content, especially more educational content related to a specific area. So we are creating training, training programs for free for all our users.

We are also, um, implementing new, new, uh, features. For example, we received recently, it created a feature that is like the recurring session.

So basically let’s say you have a team retro, you have a one on one with your team that happens so often, but. If you right now, the only thing that exists in the market is tasks that are recurring. So in Nova, what we do is that you have your template is already defining, um, taking the conclusions from previous meetings to that session and really automating the whole process.
So you can take notes and just focus on getting the work done and collaborating instead of really preparing things, um, uh, manually.

Gotcha. Now as someone obsessed with productivity, uh, what, what personal practices or tools do you utilize to, you know, stay organized and stay more effect, uh, you know, efficient basically?

Um, I will say that I use Two techniques. One is, um, anything that I have to do, I added on a sticky note on my table. So when I have, uh, 20 sticky notes on my table, they become very annoying. So I need to get them done. I don’t, I don’t leave them for tomorrow. It’s a way for me to get frustrated with my life and make sure that I get it done today.

So I have all the signals in my table. And then if by the end of the day, I didn’t get them done, then I put them in Nova and become, I need to define when I’m going to do them. Um, so that is something that works for me to just kind of make sure that I get things done today and I don’t leave it for tomorrow.

Um, and then I have processes. So every time I repeat things more than twice. I’m already thinking like okay, if I’m gonna do this again, or I have to explain this again, it means that it can be a process, I’m just gonna create a process inside Nova, and when my team needs it, they don’t have to ask me, they can start that process, and it’s like having me without having me there.

So, So, uh, for me, autonomy is essential. I need that my team to make sure that my team is autonomous. They can work without really relying on just little things that I know. And, um, that is something that I do. And I think it helps me really scale my, my business and work really, really well without having constant dependency with my team between my team and me and myself.

Gotcha. Any specific advice, uh, you know, that you would like to give to aspiring entrepreneurs, uh, like, uh, looking to create basically an impact for the tools for work productivity or collaboration, like, especially in your space.

Yeah, I don’t know if I have like a, an advice for entrepreneurs that are in my space specifically.
Let’s make

it generic then. For anyone who wants to enter the SaaS space.

Okay, so I would say my general advice is enjoy the ride. It’s going to be really, really hard. So I think a lot of times as entrepreneurs, we have Enjoy the ride. We have to do so many things like you really wear all hats and that’s the hats you didn’t know that even existed you are wearing them.

Um, but I think you also need to take it that you are here to learn and no matter how many years of experience you have, like I knew, I thought I knew it. I knew everything when I got here and that was seven years ago.

Um, I, I think you are all, every day you have a new challenge and you have to really innovate and think about it.

And some days are really, really hard, but you are learning and there is nothing in the job market that is gonna teach you as much as being an entrepreneur. So I think that is the, the most beautiful thing about this is that after this you can do anything.

All right, so we’re coming to an end now and I would love to have a quick rapid fire round with you.

Are you ready for that?

Yeah.

Okay, uh, what career did you dream of having as a kid?

I actually wanted to be a vet, uh, veterinarian. I wanted to save animals. Um, but I get dizzy when I see blood.

Do you have any pets at home?

I do, I do. My, I have a dog right now and her name is Eva and it’s the cutest, the cutest thing alive.

So what breed is Eva? Eva

is a Border Collie mix. Okay. Very smart.

Yeah, they’re pretty active as well. Super energy, so, yeah. All right. Uh, what subject you are, like, do you find to be most fascinating?

What, what? Sorry, I couldn’t hear you.

What subject do you find to be most fascinating?

Philosophy? I can talk about philosophy anytime.

What chore, daily chore, do you absolutely despise doing?

What, sorry?

What daily routine activity do you absolutely despise doing?

Oof, cleaning. Who loves cleaning?

What habit holds you back the most?

Um, honestly, if I want to get it [00:22:00] done, I get it done. I don’t have a habit that I’m like, hush, no, no, I’m lazy. I’m like, let’s make it a habit and then it will just become natural.

Okay. For your research purpose, what do you prefer? Like you, do you do traditional like Google search or are you a generic, uh, you know, fan?

I think you have to do both. At this time, what do you, what

Do you prefer? Like what’s your go to?

I think I use AI first to see what ideas I can get and use it as a way to kind of. make me think differently. And then I use that in Google to kind of search based on different options.

Okay. So what’s your last journey from?

Oh my goodness. Um, I think I was writing yesterday about, um, something about sales and how to create an offer on top of your product. And I was, uh, I asked about all the different options of the offers that you can offer to see if I was missing anything.

All right. Thank you so much. I really enjoyed this conversation.

Thank you so much for taking time out for this and sharing your wonderful experiences and tips. Really
appreciate it. Yeah.

Thank you. Thank you. And have a wonderful day.

Streamlining SaaS Success: Process Automation, Remote Team Optimization, and Growth Strategies

CEO & Co-Founder

Ro Fernandez