How We Grew Our Open Source Crypto Platform To Over 150K Users
This is a follow up story for HollaEx. If you're interested in reading how they got started, published about 3 years ago, check it out here.
Hello again! Remind us who you are and what business you started.
Hello again, I’m Adrian from HollaEx, a software provider that helps businesses use blockchain-powered finance. We do this through our flagship open-source white-label exchange kit.
Our exchange software kit allows businesses to create a digital marketplace or an exchange, and from there they can add their digital assets or tokens, including traditional fiat assets like USD or EUR. Their exchange can then be added to their website for their customers to trade and hold digital assets.
Anybody looking to build upon blockchain will find HollaEx to be the perfect go-to tool kit. The kit contains all the essential components from built-in high-level security processes, global wallet technology, various tokens/coins, liquidity, login user onboarding flows, trading, coin pricing, exchange cloud hosting, and of course a reliable connection to all major blockchains.
Who is using HollaEx?
The clients using HollaEx typically come from the tech and finance sectors. But more and more, we see a broader user base as digital assets have become ubiquitous.
Many businesses are now finding new ways to tap into the benefits of digitization and tokenization. Many are slowly realizing there are great efficiencies in having a digital assets exchange system that is global by nature, that can issue a token to incentivize participants in a venture. An exchange and tokens are powerful levers in accessing a global workforce to advance any project.
Another consistent HollaEx cohort are the developers. Developers generally enjoy the freeware version of the HollaEx DIY exchange kit that’s open for anyone to use on GitHub.
HollaEx’s GitHub now has over 200 stars, and 150 forks and is highly reviewed by developers around the world.
As a result, many new and interesting permutations and many more unique business models globally have been created from HollaEx’s DIY exchange kit.
Developers won’t have to reinvent the wheel with HollaEx’s blockchain kit, as it allows them to build applications faster.
For those learning the ropes of blockchain development, HollaEx is the best and most hands-on tool kit you can get. It also can be tested without any financial risk through the free testnet developer environment.
Tell us about what you’ve been up to. Has the business been growing?
HollaEx is now listed on the biggest business software platforms like SourceForge, Capterra, and G2.
HollaEx is effectively banking the unbanked, with over 150,000 users now active on the HollaEx Network of exchanges. This is powerful because it gives citizens of countries with weak currencies an option. They can use other currencies like USDT and virtual USD or even BTC. That is powerful.
HollaEx has been very highly vetted and has established a leading position in the open-source exchange space. HollaEx is now listed on the biggest business software platforms like SourceForge, Capterra, and G2. This is all despite the tumble in digital assets market prices, and the crazy damage FTX has done to other platforms.
At the core of HollaEx’s success has been the fact that the overall pie has increased. You see it with PayPal now offering digital assets services. More people from all walks of life are warming up to blockchain-powered finance.
Practically speaking, many fintech companies looking to upgrade their services are having difficulty hiring the right personnel to help build their digital assets platforms. Many fintech businesses are just looking for a where they can experiment quiet with blockchain. A space where they can develop at their own pace without having to shake up their current processes, this is where HollaEx shines for fintechs and IT companies because now they can adopt existing tried and true technology from white-label white services like HollaEx and develop safely and conservatively.
So how about revenues?
Revenue for HollaEx has remained steady and this is despite the current market turmoil in crypto. With our conservative revenues we’ve decided to put over 80% back into R&D. This is required to maintain our exchange technology high upkeep standards that we promise to all our exchanges.
For example, in 2022 the HollaEx automated cloud exchange hosting services take up much of the upkeep costs and are required to maintain the high levels of reliability and speed that only our white-label provides.
However, steps have been taken to ramp up revenues and we will be doing that in 2023 by improving the sales department.
This will translate into improved customer service and will make onboarding easier as there will be more dedicated personnel looking over each exchange that goes live. This will greatly improve current cloud exchange users but will also improve the experience for the new ones too. This means better tech support and better access personal requests from emails, voice calls, and even video calls.
Upon improving our sales and support department, we are also directly improving the educational content. When it comes to white-label exchange software, an informed customer is a paying customer.
This means increased educational materials on YouTube, which we’ve found works 5x better than a educational PDFs and/or web page documentations. So even though the video is extremely costly to produce, you tend to get more out of video in the long run. My advice to any startup is to start doing videos and do them well.
We can confidently say today HollaEx has the most comprehensive digital assets white label 🎥video library on the whole wide web.
How about the growth of the product and the team around it? What’s different today?
Onboarding new businesses can be complex, especially for financial platforms like HollaEx's white-label digital assets exchange, and means we are always trying to improve the onboarding experience.
As for HollaEx’s team size, the past couple of years the team has moderately increased. This however has only happened for the remote workers.
We’ve found that remote work depends on having highly motivated personalities within the team but also good tooling. There are a few basic tools and techniques for handling screenshots, screen video recording, and writing and sharing tools.
For example, just having the capability to make notes on various mediums quickly, like a video or a screenshot, and being able to share that fast is important when working remotely.
Many people won’t effectively handle note sharing and process quickly. Instead most will default to text messaging. It is 100x more effective to show (images, video or even drawings) someone rather than text someone.
The goal should be to get the delivery to the speed of speech, or faster. Making a point should take 30 seconds, not 30 minutes.
Many new product functionality has also been added to HollaEx, such as fiat currency systems that enable good old cash or fiat currencies.
Simply put, the past 2 years or so, have mostly been an accumulation of partnerships with traditional banks and fintech payment processors to integrate various systems so that fiat deposits and withdrawals can work for USD, EUR, and other traditional currencies.
These fiat capabilities are now easily accessible for operators using the advanced HollaEx digital assets exchange packages like DIY Boost and Fiat Ramp.
Lastly, the HollaEx tokenomics system has greatly matured. Users and business operators can now trade on the full order book market XHT/USDT, which comes with improved liquidity on both the buy and sell sides.
The success of the XHT token can be attributed to the pure utility of the XHT, which is now an integral part of HollaEx’s coin listing process. This means anyone that runs an exchange that has their custom token, is required to obtain and donate XHT, and this process is done 100% through the blockchain.
What have been your biggest challenges in the last year?
The biggest challenge that we’ve zeroed in on was HollaEx’s onboarding flow for businesses. It is an ongoing challenge. But we’ve continued to improve upon it, and despite the complexity of an exchange has remained a 5-step process only. This self-service and exchange setup automation has largely replaced the “call us for a demo” onboarding which would require months of discussion over calls before the exchange even goes live.
As you can imagine, like anything else, people want to cut to the chase. They want to know what they are dealing with off the bat, and they need to gather the key info like time, total cost and requirements upfront to report back to their team.
This is what HollaEx does. It boils an exchange down to the essence and reduces the complexity around starting a crypto business. HollaEx gets you 75% of the way there and has done so by open-sourcing the solution. By opening up the software it allows anyone to do their own due diligence.
As a side effect of making onboarding easier, it has come with overwhelming customer questions. To deal with this challenge HollaEx as previously mentioned has expanded its sales and customer support operations.
We’ve also adjusted our subscriptions to be more goal-oriented, for example, the dedicated Fiat Ramp plan includes all the fiat ramping systems, while Crypto Pro is fitting for those that want to start a crypto-to-crypto exchange only, without fiat.
As a result, we’ve improved the user’s expectations and thus reduced distractions from other features in HollaEx that may not be fitting for all customers. We’ve also included some key features in the Basic plans and built them so that everybody gets them like custom domain and automated emails. By adding these useful features to the Basic plans, we’ve both saved time for the user and our support teams.
On the back of all these changes, we’ve also had to create a bulk of new supporting docs and videos, which are expensive to create but provide long-term benefits where users can troubleshoot their issues themselves.
Another way we’ve tried to increase HollaEx’s team capabilities is to use customized customer support software. We’ve partnered up with FreshDesk, and they’ve helped us develop certain functions that help with internal customer support management.
Besides customer support software, good sales and lead software for customer acquisition can go a long way. Software review sites, for example, will often have dashboards that help provide information on industries and, ultimately, potential leads.
The data from these platforms can, in turn, be used to create outbound marketing, sales campaigns, and general strategies.
However, the data can be a lot to handle and distracting and so it is always good to hone in on the demographic with targeting tools like SpyFu and other similar web traffic and domain tools. Using a combination of all these can get you much of the way there. Enough to create test ads, marketing, content and build leadership strategies.
What have been your biggest lessons learned in the last year?
Probably the biggest lesson learned was to share useful content. Sharing content that is useful will reward you by getting you found.
Writing useful stuff is a powerful habit, and it will scale into the future because the internet reads everything. Meaning Google or Bing is reading everything (and now OpenAI).
The SEO advantages can’t be argued, as the whole game is built around the written word. That means every text and link, every sentence, is shaping your business. Every word you write is influencing Googles search engine and AIs.
Besides getting more easily found, the written content helps you understand what matters. Writing requires a look into the past, future and present. It forces a connection between everything, and it has to be done concisely. Ultimately the practice of writing will help with orientation and direction of the business.
Case in point, the key word digital assets ‘OTC’ or 'over-the-counter digital assets brokers', doesn't provide much practical information on the subject online, and so HollaEx has attempted to fill this information gap with a blog post, images, and videos.
By creating these useful pieces of content, educational content, you will be indirectly promoting your website and the product. Google or Bing will also rank your website higher for providing useful information.
Note, trying to predict what will work is a fools errand, you won’t ever really know what will work. It is only once you've gone and written it that you will have a sense of it. Because of this unpridicable nature of SEO it is a wise idea to deploy an alternating strategy where content is written up in a refined long-form way, awhile other times smaller but easier-to-produce short-form content is produced.
If you stick to just one style, say, writing long hyper-refined pieces, then you will never get to hit on other potentially easier low-hanging fruit because you will be bogged down on a single piece that may never get published anyway.
It can take months or years for the engine to pick up on the content and so it is important to just continue on the next piece of content and analyze the success or failure of it later.
On different topic but related, if decide to change keywords like your business name, product name, and other key words/names, this will destroy the connections between the content and is a good way to undo years of work. Changing key names should be avoided.
By extension, using third-party platforms like Medium, instead of your own website’s blog is a toss-up between giving up the power of your domain, or going for the new audiences that an existing platform like Medium can provide. Medium ultimately can drive traffic away from your website rather than towards it, and at the end of the day, if the content is good enough then there is no reason why you shouldn't place it on your own website domain.
The only time you'd want to use a third-party platform for blogs is if your product is new and/or the website isn't ready yet. Then starting something on Medium can allow your business to get more easily found.
The only exception to this rule however has been YouTube, with a nearly monopoly on fast video hosting and more importantly video search. We’ve deemed it unworthwhile to self-manage our video content.
I would even strongly advise against using other video systems that appear to offer advantages like Wistia or Vimeo because they don’t have the search engine optimization advantages YouTube grants. Lest we forget, YouTube is Google's product.
What’s in the plans for the upcoming year, and the next 5 years?
There are plans to give the HollaEx dashboard a facelift, to give it a more cohesive look. This is going to be done simply through a unified dark theme. We will also streamline the exchange setup even further for digital assets businesses.
In the slipstream of the above, we will push for an app marketplace. This is going to be something akin to the Google Play store and the App Store, but for crypto exchange businesses.
It will be called ‘Plugin Apps’ for the operators and simply ‘Apps’ for the user side. Business operators or developers will be able to buy or even sell their Plugin Apps to other exchange operators.
The HollaEx app store will be another way to earn coins and prestige within the ecosystem. It will give all the open-source exchange builders and contributors out there a chance to earn and get appreciated for their work!
To get the Plugin App store going, we’ve had to build a friendlier developer environment. This means more videos and content on how to enter the HollaEx ‘Exchange Developer Mode’ for exchange Plugin App development.
NFTs are also something we are considering in the distant future. However, NFTs are still in their infancy and so I won’t be able to share much about that yet.
What’s the best thing you read in the last year?
Principles, by Ray Dalio, has been the only relevant business book I’ve read this past year. His book presents counterintuitive principles which make for an interesting read.
Ray’s background is in investing which means his job has always been about sifting through piles of complex information and data. He shares his useful principles online so you don’t need to read the book.
One of the highlights from the book that stood out to me was simply the ‘Be an imperfectionist’. The rule forces a scrappy style of work and is beneficial because it helps people to avoid getting stuck.
One way I’ve applied this simple principle is to research, where 75% of the information is often enough. The last 25% can easily take 10x longer to gather and isn’t exactly going to bring that much more truth and clarity. The last 25% is where people bicker and spend countless wasted meetings on.
Remembering the 75% rule will translate into faster steps towards execution and avoids the never-ending research and planning stage that many people get stuck on. It also leads to faster shipping which in turn provides valuable feedback. As Steve Jobs famously said, “Real artists ship”. Avoid being a perfectionist.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who might be struggling to grow their business?
Having a good website goes a long way. People want to see a website, and I’m not talking about a social media profile or LinkedIn.
The other thing is to be careful when paying for development services. This can lead to development hell where nothing gets done or finishes.
It may sound counterintuitive but trying to figure out what can be handled manually behind the scenes (without development) and what can be automated with custom development is where a lot of big decisions should be made.
What remains manual and what gets automated is dependent on the industry. For example, the sale is an area that can be manually operated for some time. Basic cold emails and connecting via LinkedIn can go a long way.
Instead, start with the no-coding path first. These are 10 tools to keep development hell at bay:
- Canva — Graphics
- Gumroad — Selling
- Zapier — Automation
- Wotnot io — Chatbot
- WriteSonic — Writing
- GetRevue — Newsletter
- Scribe — Video Manuals
- Readymag — Simple website building
- Webflow — Advance Website building
- Notion — Biz Management
Notion is personally one of the most useful tools out there. It allows for docs to be made, fast. The docs made on notion can also be made into a public web page making it easy to share. Notion is also less complex than other task managers like Jira and includes a lot more ‘expressiveness’ which is helpful for team communications, especially remote working.
The second is Webflow and Readymag which are great website builders. However, it is worth noting that no matter what website builder you use, websites are difficult to get right and it is best to be prepared for the long haul.
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
We are always looking for savvy salespeople that know a thing or two about crypto and blockchain technology.
We are also looking for good content creators, for video creation and writing. The best way for content creators to get a job with HollaEx is to first try using the software itself on dash.hollaex.com. Also, sign up for the live exchange at pro.hollaex.com. Try using the software before applying for jobs.
Also, we do take the time to look at developer's CV, but as prerequisite, any developer we look to hire should have a keen interest in open-source finance, and some interest in trading technology.
To the developers out there try to think of HollaEx as the Linux or Red Hat of blockchain. You’d be hard-pressed to find other open-source exchanges like HollaEx Kit, and should make for interesting work.
If the above sounds interesting, then reach out with a real example of your work, CV, and cover letter that briefly explains why you think you’d be fit working in open-source finance to this link.
Where can we go to learn more?
- Learn more about HollaEx here
- For recent events visit Twitter
- To start a crypto business simply login to the exchange dashboard
If you would like to see what people are building, then visit the HollaEx forums.
To learn more about coin or token listing and pricing watch this video or read our blogs.
Lastly, if you’d like to actually trade, deposit and test the exchange software with real digital asset currency then, then sign up to HollaEx Pro. HollaEx Pro is using 100% of the white label exchange software and is a great working hands-on example of what you could get.
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Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
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