Fifteen Years in the Making: The Journey to Building Perxify

A personal reflection on the entrepreneurial journey that led to Perxify - from early ecommerce ventures to finding the right problem to solve.

Sometimes, the best insights come from looking back at where we thought we were heading. This is a reflection on my entrepreneurial journey and how fifteen years of experiences led to what would become Perxify - written from the perspective of May 2024, when we were beginning to see our vision take shape.

The Power of Reflection at 30,000 Feet

Three hours in the air, with no internet access or other distractions, was a fantastic experience. It allowed me to catch up on long-form reading and have much-needed moments of reflection.

The latest flight allowed me to look back and think forward, analyzing our planned journey for Alder Solutions and the Perxify project.

By the end of this process, I realized that almost everything I had been doing in the last 15 years had prepared me for this, making it the next logical step.

My next Great Work, as Paul Graham says.

So, let me walk you through those years so you can see why, too.

The Foundation: Growing Up Entrepreneurial

My entrepreneurial journey began at home, where my parents and those around them were entrepreneurs. People who had taken control over their lives while building solutions for problems they had encountered around them - or at least filling the market caps.

Such an upbringing didn't leave me with a choice but to become a businessman myself.

But the question was - what business should I build, or what problem should I solve?

To be honest, this has been a difficult task. Especially when I'm built to be single-minded. I genuinely love taking one problem and working hard on creating a solution around it, not giving two shits about what happens around me while I'm focused on a task.

The Early Years: Finding My Path

• As a 14-year-old, my parents involved me in their e-commerce ventures. Their focus was helping other people set up their (sometimes first) businesses while getting paid only when they succeeded. That's when I discovered my interest in helping others initiate and grow new ventures.

• As a 15-year-old, I got involved with my first non-profits - from student councils to debate communities - learning about different viewpoints and politics, choosing the optimistic and capitalistic route.

• As a 16-year-old, I discovered the startup world, initially studying the sharing economy concept by writing a few papers and later founding my first startup around this concept with developers I met through a university class.

This last period lasted a few years, during which I remained involved with family businesses and non-profits.

Silicon Valley and the Real Tech World

Then, as a 21-year-old, I attended Draper University and experienced the real Silicon Valley tech world in all its glory - becoming even more inspired to continue on this path.

Returning from the US, I worked at an accelerator and co-founded our first proper startup with my dad, focused on the digitalization of the Supply Chain industry. I didn't know it yet, but this would partially become my track for the upcoming nine years, where we built products, found clients, raised funds, sold a company, and tried to fix the one buying us. This was an incredible journey!

Amid that process, I was also invited to help grow a local Robotics ecosystem and single-handedly helped create a global network of events expanding across 25 countries until the birth of our first child and the COVID-19 pandemic prompted me to take some time off.

Expanding Horizons: Agency Work and New Technologies

As a 25-year-old still involved in the Supply Chain industry but starting to look for the next chapter, we initiated a CMO-as-a-service agency that returned me to my roots of helping companies optimize processes, create new ones, and use them to grow their businesses. We were extremely fortunate to be involved with some of the most innovative teams at that time and help them get started.

Then, in 2020, the March crash occurred, and I realized that although I had initially heard of and dismissed the idea of cryptocurrencies, it might have been the right moment to delve deeper, so I did. This led us to initially combine what we knew (supply chain) with the latest technologies (web3).

Initially, we experienced some early success and even managed to build a community around the entire concept. However, our focus became too thinly spread between our main product and side projects (such as events and games), eventually running out of cash and ultimately losing our team.

The Turning Point: Realisation and Refocus

There I was, having just turned 29 and with more than a decade of experience in tech, but also realizing that I did not want to continue being involved with the supply chain industry, not even a bit.

Thankfully, one of our side projects was sustained - the BananaConf events, which were first hosted in Estonia but have now expanded globally. At that point, I decided to focus on these events until I figured out something bigger.

At first, I thought setting up media and investing in ventures around the events would make sense, but the changing markets made me look deep within myself, helping me realize that I'm best suited as a builder - so I had to figure out what to build.

Finding the Right Problem to Solve

Over the next 18 months, we experimented with various ideas and hosted a range of events. I realized what problem I was best equipped to solve, which is also the most interesting one for me in terms of novelty, and seemed to have organic interest from the businesses around us. As we detail in our story of building in public during the early days, this period of experimentation was crucial to finding our true direction.

How do we increase revenues for innovative companies?

Or rather, how to help unique brands find their one thousand true fans…

As a carry-over effect, help consumers find 10-20 brands they actually want to use and give them the motivation and tools to succeed alongside those brands as these communities grow.

In simple terms, it helps brands build efficient loyalty and reward programs.

…although there is much more we have planned around the whole concept - much more!

The Perfect Convergence

The best part is that this concept brings together my interests while allowing me to use most of my past experiences:

• Helping to build and grow businesses (family business & agency)
• Being surrounded by emerging technologies (Robotex & general Web3)
• Creating and optimizing systems (Supply Chain ventures)

Fortunately, along the way, I also found others who were attracted to this concept, and now we're here, building the first product alongside our initial customers.

Looking Forward from May 2024

In the coming weeks, we expect to launch our MVP with the first client and get busy with the next ones in line.

Soon, we'll share more about the actual product and the roadmap publicly. Until then, claim your link via join.perxify.com and reach out directly if you'd like to learn more about the opportunities available to become one of the first clients and/or investors.

Reflections on the Journey

Looking back at this reflection from a year ago, it's fascinating to see how the dots are connected. Every experience, every pivot, every failure and success was preparing me for this moment. The supply chain work taught me about complex systems, the agency work showed me how to help businesses grow, and the web3 exploration opened my mind to new possibilities.

What strikes me most is how the question evolved from "What business should I build?" to "What problem am I uniquely positioned to solve?" That shift in perspective made all the difference.

The journey from early e-commerce experiences to building what would become our commerce cloud platform represents fifteen years of learning, iterating, and understanding what businesses truly need. Every step - from family e-commerce ventures to supply chain digitalization to web3 exploration - contributed to our understanding of how to build a comprehensive commerce platform that serves modern business needs. As we detail in our analysis of Perxify's evolution through 2024, this journey of discovery and refinement continues to shape our platform development.

Today, Perxify represents the culmination of this journey - a commerce cloud platform that combines the lessons learned from fifteen years of e-commerce experience with cutting-edge technology to create something truly innovative. Our marketplace capabilities, loyalty program platform, and analytics and insights reflect a deep understanding of what businesses need to succeed in modern commerce.

Sometimes, the most important insights come not from looking forward but from taking the time to look back and see the patterns that were always there, waiting to be discovered.