Brief Summary Of Atlys
Atlys was created to enable travelers worldwide to apply for their visas without hassle easily. As most already know, visa application processes are notoriously known to be tedious and time-consuming, creating unnecessary uncertainty for travelers who wish to explore the world’s wonders. My solution to this problem was Atlys – the first automated visa application app.
It all started with the idea to streamline the visa application process to enable everyone to apply for their visas easily (no matter their nationality). I’ll get into the why and how shortly.
Why And How Did You Start Your Company?
Why Did You Start Atlys?
Atlys started as a small idea that I had during my frequent travels throughout the years. I was constantly overwhelmed by tedious and frustrating visa processes I had to complete before traveling internationally. As an Indian passport holder, I can only travel to a handful of countries.
For those reasons, I started Atlys. I wanted to create an environment where people worldwide can travel without stressing about visas and enjoy all parts of the travel experience. The main focus of Atlys is to facilitate and promote travel for all citizens globally, regardless of their citizenship and the type of passport they have.
How Did You Start Atlys?
When I started thinking about Atlys, I knew there were a few things that I had to do to ensure it would be successful. Therefore, to get Atlys up and running, I did the following:
1. Brainstorming the idea: As I mentioned, it all started with an Idea. Therefore, the first step was to start brainstorming the idea. Then, I started thinking about implementing Atlys into daily life and promoting easier travel.
2. Build a prototype and demo: Now that the idea was there and laid out, I had to start building a prototype. RND is one of the most important stages of growing a company because this phase determines the functionality of your service. After we built, tested, and approved the prototype, we had to start finding capital and growing our service.
3. Find investors to support my idea: Getting investors is where things get very tricky. The reason is that you must show investors that your service will provide a profitable turnover. Investors might not support your idea, making things very challenging for start-up companies.
Luckily, it was time to make a dream a reality after finding investors to buy into my idea. The final step was creating a team and building the idea.
4. Create a team and build upon the idea: It might seem easier as you might think, but creating a team and building the idea is a big challenge for start-up companies. Once you find your team, the most complicated parts are over. Now I had to focus on building my dream.
To build the dream was not the end goal. The end goal was to provide a hassle-free visa process. And till today, we’re constantly making improvements and adjustments to the Atlys app to ensure a more streamlined visa application process.
What Has Been Your Biggest Success Factors?
Our biggest success factor is listening to, and obsessing over our customers. I know obsess sounds a bit intruse, but let me explain.
We have weekly customer delight calls, where we as a team receive direct feedback from clients that used our app. Then, we use this feedback to make enhancements to the app.
I personally think that listening to our clients is the best way to improve our service. Not only do we find out our flaws, but we also get feedback that our services are working. We are constantly looking for where we can improve and make the visa experience more accessible to everyone.
What Are The Biggest Challenges You Have Faced Launching And Running Atlys?
One of the biggest challenges is to provide users with a delightful end-to-end experience. The reason being Atlys can’t control the entire visa application experience. Even though Atlys has intuitive tools that help customers during their application process, there are certain parts of the visa application process we have no control over.
The easiest way to explain this would be by providing you with an example. We have had cases where clients received everything they needed from Atlys. But unfortunately, the embassy where they had to attend their visa appointment was running late, and applicants had to wait in the hot sun. There were also cases where embassies charged our clients more than they expected. This is a classic case where embassies do not share the correct information.
The examples mentioned above are where Atlys can’t help the client with a delightful end-to-end experience. However, we always try to help the customer in any way necessary. That is why customer feedback is a big success factor. We take our clients’ feedback and alert other clients before they start their visa applications.
Which Do You Think Is Most Important: The Right Market, The Right Product, Or The Right Team?
I think it is a combination of all 3 that makes the entire idea a reality. The first step is to assemble the right team. Once you have the right team, you can work in unity to build the perfect product. Finally, the perfect product will create the right market through enhancement and improvement.
Therefore, I don’t think each of the above-mentioned can be regarded as most important. The key to succeeding is to combine the right team and the right product, which will ensure the right market.
Final Words For Those Chasing The Start-Up Team?
The most important thing I’ve learned while working on my start-up team is that you must learn to solve your own problem. Other people won’t put the love and passion into your dream as much as you. Therefore, do not rely on other people to find solutions to your problem.
It is essential to learn; therefore, solving your own problems is the best learning opportunity while working with a start-up.
Additional Information Required –
- Author Bio
Mohak Nahta, CEO and founder at Atlys and is an avid traveler who’s visited 36 countries in total. Mohak enjoys documenting his favorite local restaurants in whichever country he visits. Alongside travel, Mohak is a software engineer and is based in San Francisco, CA. He has applied for over 60+ visas. You can also find him on Linkdin and Twitter.