IoT or the Internet of Things is a widely used term. Many technological changes in the work environment sometimes rely heavily on the IoT. To put it in simple words, IoT is a network of physical objects or “things” which are then connected with sensors, software, and many other technologies. This serves the purpose of connecting and sharing data with other devices and systems over the internet.
Although, with the convergence of different technologies, this definition of IoT has changed shape. Even so, it remains an integral part of a company’s growth. IoT-engineered solutions have made it possible for companies to focus on the speed, efficiency and scalability of their products.
Featured for the Cover Story of The Enterprise World’s The Best Performing IoT Solution Providers to Watch in 2020 is Very, a company that brings to the table innovative solutions designed by a world-class product team.
The Company- Very
Clients turn to Very at pivotal moments. Whether they are bringing complex facilities online, connecting a global supply chain, or translating IoT innovations into the real world, moments like these require tenacity and ambition. And in moments like these, clients are looking for a partner as driven as they are.
At Very, the team brings their drive and savvy to deliver elegant, end-to-end IoT solutions to technical challenges. This is visible in both their proven process and the proven products.
But the work doesn’t stop there. The company goes beyond mainstream customer relationships to build long-term partnerships focused on the big picture. Every product they ship is measured against the business imperatives vital to their clients’ success. With a focus on mitigating risk and maximizing opportunity for the clients, the company turns pivotal moments into competitive advantage.
Every day at Very, the team celebrates the impact IoT can have on their clients and the world. More than the client satisfaction, the team is driven by passion for creating solutions that have an impact on their clients. The work they champion for their clients is the kind of work they would be doing anyway. This reflects their dedication and integrity towards their work.
For us, our internet of things extends beyond the workday and into our garages, our apartments, our worlds.
Cutting Through the Complexities-
At Very, they are constantly asking questions as individuals and teams about ways they can optimize the systems and processes to deliver the best possible results in the time available. These are questions like:
- Is there a task in my development workflow that repeatedly costs the client time?
- Is it possible to spend some extra time now in order to save large amounts of time in aggregate in the future?
- What is the last moment of responsibility for making a decision?
- At this exact moment, am I taking the fastest path to a solution for the client?
- Will a time-saving shortcut now cost me time in the future? If so, how much, and should I still take it?
- Are the tools we’re using, and the way we’re using them, allowing us to do our best work in the time given? The flexibility of a system is important, and the ultimate “quality” metric.
Time and time again when they ask their clients, ‘what is the thing that stands out the most about our work?’, the answer is always their processes and the way they optimize for effectiveness.
The Growth Quotient-
Very was founded in 2011 and has been growing steadily ever since, with a substantial increase in recent years. Very has launched more than 250 products across industries and has a team of more than 60 full-time engineers. The company is regularly recognized by third-party organizations such as Clutch and Inc. as a first-class vendor.
In 2020, Very was recognized by IoT Breakthrough as the IoT Partner Enablement Company of the Year. With the win, they joined a list of innovative companies recognized by the IoT Breakthrough Awards including Dell Technologies, Samsung, and RF Controls in the Partner and Ecosystem category and IBM, Honeywell, Emerson, Cisco, Schneider, Verizon, Apple, and Fitbit in other categories.
Very has also won multiple awards for excellence in areas such as product development (Top Development Company, Clutch, 2019) and innovation (BIG Innovation Award, Business Intelligence Group, 2020).
We are a one-stop-shop for IoT product development. Our elite, multi-disciplinary product teams take products from concept to launch and beyond.
We are US-based. Our senior engineers, data scientists, designers, and product managers work in standard US time zones for our customers’ convenience.
We have unparalleled experience. Focused on speed, efficiency, and scalability, our product teams follow a time-tested, proven process to de-risk projects through trusted partnership, easy communication, and an agile workflow.
The Products and Services-
Very’s services include product design, mobile app development, hardware engineering, software development, machine learning, and support and maintenance post-launch.
“We can tackle an IoT project at any stage and see it through until the end.”
Product Design-
Very’s design team has the ability and experience necessary to navigate the unique challenges of designing IoT products.
Mobile App Development-
Professionals at Very use world-class mobile development frameworks to craft high-functioning adaptive mobile IoT apps.
Hardware Engineering-
Whether you need PCBs, mechanical enclosures, or a full-scale electronic device, Very’s hardware team will take you from concept to mass production.
Software Development
Very’s team of full-stack developers has unrivaled experience working to deliver secure, scalable, resilient software and firmware.
Machine Learning
They create future-ready machine learning-powered applications to help you take advantage of your data.
Testing, Support, and Maintenance
Very’s support offerings take the headache out of support and maintenance with support contracts tailored to clients’ business needs so they can focus on innovation.
There is a growing need in the IoT industry for agile development processes. For traditional software, when you’re doing product management, you’re trying to make sure that technical requirements and end-user requirements are all coming together within a user-centered design. All of those disciplines have been developed over the past 10–20 years, so the processes are very robust and fleshed out.
Now, the company is looking at extending those ideas to encompass machine learning development and IoT development.
We’re asking, what’s the new version of product management that includes all of these things?
Benjamin Wald- Leading the Way-
“Entrepreneurship gives you unique visibility and a breadth of different experiences at your company. It’s critical to have clearly defined roles at your organization, but, no matter how hard I’ve tried, I still have a dozen roles I juggle. In retrospect, I’m sure this is the product of personal design and because I enjoy the variety.
Still being young in this journey, I’m very grateful to have the visibility across different departments and practices, and the opportunity to be a sponge, working alongside some amazing professionals. But, while I don’t think there’s anything I’ve learned being an entrepreneur that someone else in a role would be incapable of learning, I do think the breadth of the perspective you have as a business owner is wide. You simply are exposed to a lot of different situations, crises, dilemmas that you end up directly having to deal with or watch the people whose role it is to navigate them.”
Benjamin has co-founded two successful start-ups. He dropped out of Babson College to pursue his first endeavor- an online education software company that secured more than $5+ million in seed capital, was later acquired by eCampus, and resulted in him being named as one of Business week’s Top 25 Young Entrepreneurs.
He also co-founded LookSharp, which secured $10+ in venture financing and was acquired by WayUp in 2017.
Then, he co-founded Very, because having a well-gelled product design and engineering team that can take an idea and brings it into reality is a priceless asset in the world we live in. The rate of change is unprecedented and you need speed in order to be able to launch products and platforms that address current pain points and have an impact on people’s lives.
The Work Culture-
At Very, our people are our priority.
Transparency is fundamental to who they are, and they value autonomy, fairness, and balance in how they work with one another and with their clients.
The company also offers benefits for their employees that correspond with the high quality of work they deliver:
- Most of the employees pay $0 for top-tier health, dental, vision, and life insurance.
- They match 33% of 401k contributions for all employees — 5X the national average.
- Their maternity and paternity leave for new parents is in the 95th percentile for the U.S.
Very has been a remote-first company since day one, and a remote-only company for years. Over the years they have learned a lot about how to make remote work, work. Their remote code of conduct helps them to collaborate seamlessly and excel at distributed client service.
Driven people making an impact, together.
