How We Monetise Our IoT Product: The Odyssey of Our Third IoT Creation

Embarking on the Favoriot journey wasn’t just about developing another IoT product; it was a pivotal moment, a turning point steering us towards our dream: embedding IoT into every business’s essence.

The Birth of Raqib: A Learning Curve

Raqib, our first IoT product, didn’t come easy. It was two years of relentless work, learning, and adapting to the entrepreneurial challenges of the IoT space.

Raqib was envisioned as a comprehensive solution; hence, we meticulously searched for the perfect hardware partner, as manufacturing wearables wasn’t our forte.

This end-to-end solution also demanded a robust IoT platform for data communication, a user-friendly mobile app, and a CRM system to manage customer relationships smoothly.

Favorsense: Rapid Execution, Valuable Insights

Then came Favorsense, our second brainchild.

The market witnessed its arrival within a year, a testament to our evolved skills and understanding of the IoT terrain. The feedback was invaluable, serving as the cornerstone for refining and enhancing Favorsense to meet user expectations better.

Favorsense

The Unplanned Masterpiece: Favoriot

In the grand tapestry of product development, Favoriot emerged almost stealthily. Initially conceptualized as middleware while developing other products, it soon dawned upon us that Favoriot held immense potential as a standalone solution.

A free trial period provided crucial user insights until we introduced a pricing model in March 2019.

Navigating Through Challenges

Every product brought challenges, draining resources, time, and capital.

The country, we presumed, had abundant IoT talent to collaborate with, but reality painted a different picture.

With my association with local universities as an advisory member, it was evident that while students were eager to explore IoT, the lack of structured IoT education and an acute talent shortage hindered progress.

A Market of Untapped Potential

In the shadows of challenges, opportunities often hide.

With the IoT market expected to burgeon to a whopping $1.39 trillion by 2026 and Malaysia just beginning to embrace IoT since its official introduction in 2014, Favoriot could be the critical enabler for commercial IoT deployment and education.

Favoriot: More Than Just a Product

With every IoT deployment requiring a platform component, Favoriot was positioned as a cost-effective, cloud-based solution accessible to students for their projects and feasible for lab experiments.

It promised security, user-friendly APIs, and protocol support, offered as a Platform-as-a-Service to encourage innovation while ensuring user data ownership.

Different subscription plans, a cohesive community for shared learning, and extensive documentation and tutorials completed the package.

Learning, Adapting, Growing

However, initial responses were lukewarm, with many users gravitating towards more familiar platforms.

The tide turned as we compiled use cases and tutorials and actively promoted Favoriot through various channels, widening our user base to over 5300 across 115 countries.

Unleashing a New Wave of Talent

Now, universities are producing graduates well-versed in building IoT projects, with practical knowledge of Favoriot, ready to be the torchbearers of IoT growth in Malaysia and beyond.

Five Startup Tips from Our Journey

Persistence: The entrepreneurial journey is arduous; brace yourself and persist through challenges.
Continuous Learning: Absorb feedback and learn continually to refine your product and services.
Invest in Talent: Recognize and nurture talent; they are the building blocks of your startup’s success.
Spot Opportunities Amidst Challenges: Every problem presents an opportunity; it’s imperative to identify and leverage it.
Foster a Community: Building a supportive and engaged community can be a game-changer; shared success and collective learning are invaluable.

Embark on your journey armed with these insights, and may your startup thrive and inspire!

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