Pitch Please

00:01.64
mike_flywheel
What's up everybody. It's Mike we're back here on the pitch please podcast and today I've got t j from work pal. They're an ai tool for workforce management to help streamline scheduling I'm sure it does a bunch of other cool things and I'm sure there's an interesting roadmap so I'm going to let him get his pitch in. But to get us started tj why don't you give us a quick background on yourself your role at work pal and then we'll learn a little bit about your background that led you to where you are right now.

00:22.65
TJ Walia
It sounds awesome. Mike thank you very much for having me my name is TJ Wallia I've basically I'm the founder and Ceo at workpal a little bit about my history and how I got started I haven ah I've had a career of a corporate career of about 20 years out of which I spent about 15 years at Microsoft. And during that journey. Um, as I was growing up I was actually I was actually pulled into Microsoft while I was still in my second year university and so it got me a lot of exposure into the corporate world but on the entrepreneur side. My entire family has always been in the entrepreneur world. So from my. Parents to my uncles. My aunts. Everyone has either had retail stores or some sort of businesses associated with anything and everything including gas stations hotels properties you name it. So for me, there was always that itch of getting into the the entrepreneur world and the first I guess dabble I had with. Um, any of this was while I was actually still in university um, what I had actually started doing was to pay for university I'd actually started selling cell phones and I'd made some contacts at the local rogers stores and I basically started selling on their behalf um with a nice healthy margin. Um, of course in a markup. And that actually essentially paid for a lot of my university and then from there slowly started dabbling in other businesses. Ah one of which was taking my dad's retail business online so we actually established his ecommerce business back in I would say it was about 2014 and and we actually.

01:57.68
TJ Walia
Expanded it to the point where we were actually shipping its product worldwide so whether it was italy uk Spain us like you named the country we were shipping women's dresses um, globally and then covid hit um obviously and we had to kind of you know wind down on that aspect of it because.

02:17.27
TJ Walia
Our entire supply chain kind of got broken down and was impacted with the manufacturers and all that. So for me though with work pal. It's it's something that the the idea was actually born several years prior and what had happened was um, we had actually come. We were come back from a party. And my my daughter my she was the youngest one at the time out of out of 3 and she was actually crying because she was hungry and eat at the party whatnot you know kids kids cry for various reasons and we figured she would probably be hungry. What's one of them. We decided to pull into to the Mcdonald's um in the driveth through to you know, get a kid chicken nuggets and you know and they'll they'll stop crying. Um that was probably 1 of the biggest mistakes we made that night Mike and what had happened was as soon as we pulled into the drive-through lane. Um, everything stopped. Um, there was about at least a 40 to 50 minute wait in that drives sp in I couldn't back up because it was the cars behind me. They've got the the curves next to them so I couldn't go over them so we're just sitting there and by the time we got to the window. My other daughter's crying. My wife is in tears I'm ready to you know, just jump out of the car. And I get to the window I'm like I sick what's going on. What's so what's the issue like what's the what's causing all the delay and what had happened was they actually had 2 people calling sick and that broke their entire system and with those 2 people calling in sick. They couldn't get the food produced on time. They couldn't get it. You know out the window and.

03:46.90
TJ Walia
And instead of you know people sympathizing with them. Everyone was yelling at these individuals for being there for showing up and trying to save the day and that's when the idea was actually born and I thought you know what someone's going to have to figure out a way to do this and and I waited for a couple of years actually after that. So I didn't you know, really act on it I just sat around and thought maybe you know and every time i' go through a drive through and see it I'm like there. It is again. Someone still hasn't thought of this someone still hasn't thought of this and eventually I got to the point I'm like you know what? no one's going to do it so I had to roll up my sleeves and I got an opportunity um to to look at building. Ah, this platform and initially I had started conceptualizing it with because it applies to a lot of industries I started conceptualizing it with the police force. So there's a chief of police from a reputal police ah organization. Um, locally in the gta him and I met. We yeah, we chatted about the pain points that they had in their units and and how their scheduling was was being impacted especially for lastmine changes and that's kind of where you know we we put ink on paper and started conceptualizing what the idea needs to look like. I went through a couple of iterations until I landed at where I am so for me, the biggest thing was I didn't want it to be just another app or another platform that we could just launch for the sake of it I wanted to solve a problem and for me, um, as as you may know from my my days at Microsoft even.

05:15.58
TJ Walia
I'm very very um, keen on productivity and efficiency so from a productivity perspective. Everything I came back with I'm like I don't like this. It's not working. It's not solving what I wanted to solve even though some of the users that we're looking at and saying oh which need an app that does this that was the frame of mind. Um, and that's what they were used to is just another app and I you know I thought people are getting bored of that they're getting sick of that. That's not what they essentially want what they want is to solve the problem and if I can solve that problem in a very effective way that is or is not an app. They don't really care as long as that problem goes away. And so that's kind of where workout was born and we kind of you know started um ah building the team around around getting the development the designs and all that structure. Um in place and and and we've effectively you know launched work pal since then.

06:07.45
mike_flywheel
That's cool I want to talk about work pal in a second. But first I want to talk about this like start of your journey. You know you talked about this piece where you were surrounded by amazing entrepreneurs in a various amount of industries. Um, um so was there this notion that when you were still in school. You know you were selling cell phones. You were already being entrepreneurial. Um, do you think there was something at that time that you thought maybe entrepreneurship's not going to be for me because you you know you came into. You you know? 15 years of Microsoft you you kind of went down this path of a career despite being surrounded by entrepreneurs was it hey I know I'm going to do this the timings just not yet was there something else. Um that sort of you know, started that journey because and the reason I want to talk about this is There's the second piece to that journey which is when you actually became an entrepreneur and I'm always fascinated by those parallels and the decision points for people because I I don't think they're in isolation for any individual lots of people face that they like should I take path a or path b so. It's always helpful to hear how other people went through that themselves.

07:10.12
TJ Walia
Yeah, yeah, you know so it's it's it's funny. You asked that question because there was actually a turning point in my life that I had to be very deliberate of what I do and what I did was. So inside I always thought I was an entrepreneur because this is what I was doing but for some reason I thought I'm not being able to execute at that same level to get that same result as an entrepreneur and and I couldn't figure out what it was so I went to some of my closest friends and I asked for feedback is like when you look at tj. What do you see. Right? And they gave me a list of you know his a techie is this. He's that but everything but an entrepreneur and it used to tick me off I was like okay you know what? this is not what I want all I want is that one answer where is it. Why isn't anyone giving me that and and then I realized that. The perception I have of myself is totally different than what the perception of others that others have and it's typically that we have that so I had to actually change my own behaviors and activities in order to get to that perception of others seeing that as well. So I went through. Ah, creating a a kids program. Um that I launched a couple years ago um which was basically training children in the ages of 9 tooth 12 on how to be leaders how to be entrepreneurs how to ah you know start a business doing all of that because I had done all of that. But that wasn't what people were seeing.

08:39.30
TJ Walia
They were just seeing me as the guy who worked at Microsoft but not the guy who's doing all that and once I started doing that I helped my wife with her business. She opened a spa as well and we kind of you know, partnered together. Um, along that this is while I was still at Microsoft. Um. That perception of is Tj an entrepreneur not started changing for others as well and then they started seeing that and that's when I realized I was on the right track and I got to a point where I was constantly coming up with ideas solutions and I even started treating my role at Microsoft as an entrepreneur so there were times when. I developed solutions especially when I was in the enterprise services group. Ah for for the education sector which we had never done before so that came out as you know part of my entrepreneur journey is like okay you know what I can do this and apply this anywhere. It doesn't have to be that I'm in a certain role or I'm doing running a certain business. It happens anywhere and everywhere. But it was really that perception that had to change for myself first in order for me to identify and then switch over to to having others see that same lens from same lens.

09:40.62
mike_flywheel
Yeah there's 2 interesting pieces you have there I think um one was obviously there's the perception change but there's probably like this timeline where you probably benefited from developing some skills along the way that are going to make you and are making you a better entrepreneur. Um. Can you tell me about like you talk about this element and I think a lot of people that I've seen that do a little bit of both have this superpower that I don't know if everyone realizes but when you were sort of helping build this curriculum up or helping your wife and then you started bringing these entrepreneurial skills. To Microsoft and then things that you were probably learning at Microsoft and applying them in the way you approach approaching these problems. What are some of like the top skills that you found from either or pile that were helping impact your your effectiveness in each other um other role.

10:36.16
TJ Walia
You know what? I think um and it's a big blend right? like I mean the roles that we had at Microsoft allowed us to have the autonomy to do whatever we wanted to do to have that impact so I would say that not everyone's going to have that luxury unfortunately and it's a lot of their roles but in terms of what we had. We had that flexibility where I could actually go and collaborate with you know our account teams and say hey listen this is what I'm thinking of doing what are your thoughts and that's what happens in the entrepreneur world. You kind of come up with an idea you start you know? Um, ah the ideation process of what it should look like and then you go present it to someone and say hey listen I'm thinking of doing this. You think there's a need for it. Do you think there's a market for it. Can we you know potentially monetize this even and so those skills I think came in terms of planning and strategic planning came in together. Um, quite ah, quite smoothly the parts that didn't come um which were which were a lot of fun. Um, so. Building a brick and-mortar store. There's a whole different ball game of negotiating. You know your your rents and your um, ah your your lease holds and even the construction that's going to happen and everything else so being able to work with someone that had that exposure to that experience and again in my case, it was my father who has done that. You know a hundred times over he had over you know 10 10 12 different stores that he had you know, renovated over and over again in all the major malls in the gta so he had that experience so I got a lot of insights from him to go in say you know what when you go in for this deal.

12:05.61
TJ Walia
You're negotiating this much. Um, you know, um, ah, rent break or whatever have you and I'm like really you can actually do that.. He's like yes, you can so there were a lot of elements of that network that really helped so taking that and then bringing them into into the corporate world I mean those were not necessarily applicable but you get an understanding of how. Business World works from that lens because when we're working with customers. They have a different perspective on it than we're coming In. We're coming in as a vendor for them right? So they're looking at that. But you have to be able to get into their mindset of how they're running their business and once you can do that you can understand where all. Costs are all the benefits are and you know all that association and we start tying all that together I think there's there's a ah cross of those skill sets that you can. You can you know, bring across from one to the other.

12:52.42
mike_flywheel
Yeah, it obviously the the roles that we have are are give us the flexibility to you know color outside the lines and and operate it the way you wish now not everyone does that Um, and and so it is up up to you. Do you feel like you're.

13:05.00
TJ Walia
Right.

13:12.35
mike_flywheel
Um, benefit of being able to do both simultaneously made you better in both scenarios or you know if we circle back to when you took the career path versus entrepreneurship path where you're like listen like I Love my journey I can't change my journey. But. If I were to do it all again? Yeah maybe I would just jump right into entrepreneurship or do you feel like you got a bunch of value that's going to make you a way better entrepreneur now by taking this path to.

13:40.66
TJ Walia
Absolutely you know without a doubt I think when I look at the experiences that I had even with my father's business. Um, you know he was a retailer. Let's let's put it this way and out of a retail even having you know 8 to 10 retail stores. It's 1 thing but some of the manufacturers that we were working with were you know 2 3 $ $400000000 businesses right? So totally different in terms of what you're going to be incorporating with and learning how to talk and interact with those level of businesses is the skill that we got from Microsoft right? so. There was definitely that skill set that I could go in and say okay, you know what? I know exactly how to talk to the c-suite over there at this company now or any company for that matter versus seeing other entrepreneurs who don't have the exposure don't really understand how a big business operates. What their challenges are so.

14:29.65
mike_flywheel
And.

14:34.61
TJ Walia
You know those are some of the factors but the other one is I also now understand how I want to build the business to be at that level right? So what kind of efficiencies technologies you need to apply versus keeping it at a certain um certain level and saying you know what? this is good enough whereas you're like okay I can actually take this to ah new heights if you if you will. Um, so I think those skills were absolutely and are absolutely essential if I were to do it again from that perspective I think I would say yeah I would definitely um, take the corporate journey again because there's a lot of experiences you get there. A lot of confidence building a lot of you know? Um, ah. Key networks that you get exposed to but and the same in that same um, same breath I would say I would have probably pulled the cord earlier to leave rather than spending the whole 15 years or or 20 years in corporate.

15:27.30
mike_flywheel
Fair enough? Yeah I think that's the balance. Everyone tries to to figure out each person's journey is personal and individual and and different. But it's always good to hear other people's stories now. Um other than the experience of driving through a drive through are there other elements and we're going to talk about. You know work pal in a second but are there other elements that you think uniquely position you to solve this problem other than driving through a drive-through from your experiences you know, observing and and seeing and being a part of these other entrepreneurial Journeys around you and your family and your time at Microsoft. So.

16:00.91
TJ Walia
Yeah I think one of 1 of the core aspects that I look at um, about myself in terms of why I would be uniquely positioned for this is I like to help people become efficient. Um, so that productivity element is so essential for me and and when I look at even being in the entrepreneur world and you know we'll put Microsoft aside for now through the family experiences I saw the battle between owners and employees. It was always a constant battle of trust and you know and struggle of. You know I want this this shift or I don't want this shift or I can work or I can't work and as a business essentially and any business for that matter if we really get down to the the nitty-gritty of it. Whether it's a fast food restaurant or a high-end chain. They really don't care which employees working let's call it for what it is as long as the customer is served. That's who they really care about. It's not about hey you know what it's Tj coming in today and I love it because Tj is going to be no, it's which one of my customers are coming in and do I have the workforce there to handle it That's what it comes down to. And it goes the same to the corporate world right? if we look at it. Corporations. Yes, they're there as ah as a for profit and and in a lot of cases and it's a matter of you know what I want to pair tj up with this customer because no, if t is not around. We're taking the next best guy or you know whoever is available or next best girl is available and say let's.

17:31.66
TJ Walia
Have the adequate coverage on these accounts. It's not about matching these individuals if you get that. That's a bonus but the the core necessity is fulfilling that need so when I look at um, recognizing that and saying okay I need to solve a couple of things 1 from the business side is. Making sure. There's adequate coverage irrespective of who it is so our system actually eliminates discrimination and favoritism because that's something that we face um in in the workplace especially in a lot of fast-pa environments you might have someone who needs a shift that's available and what happens is well I'm going to give it to Mike because I like Mike. That's not how we should be operating right? because now t is getting left behind because possibly because of you know, various different reasons. It doesn't get along with the supervisor or whatever right? It could be discrimination. It could be racism. You. You could you know that list goes on. We eliminate all of that because our algorithm. Doesn't look at any of that it doesn't care about that. It just says we need a skill set that has to be matched with a position and that's it. Um, so from ah from a business owner a supervisor perspective you're getting the adequate coverage from the employee perspective you're getting the freedom right? And that's what employees want because they're like well you know what. Saturday night I'm going to watch a leafs game I can't make it in today because I don't want to be working for whatever reason. Usually they get their way and when an employee calls in sick then you know I've rather got a headache or I'm not feeling well or I've got this one day flu all of that nothing that an employer can argue back with.

19:05.28
TJ Walia
So Why are we even making that an issue right? Why don't we just eliminate that if the employee doesn't want to work. Let's find a replacement and not have to deal with it. The reason why we don't do it today is because people are Lazy. So Typically what happens in organizations. Well if someone wants to change their shift or schedule. But go find a replacement is what the supervisor manager says and then come back to me and I'll swap you guys out because they don't want to do the work So taking all of that into consideration and recognizing that from how people operate and how they work is how I'm designing this platform to say you know what I'm going to free up the people I'm going to free up the supervisors and. I'm going to make sure that the soup The the owners are actually generating the revenue. They're supposed to that they're set up their business for.

19:48.30
mike_flywheel
Well I'm excited to jump into it then Tj we've kind of given some teasers. We're gonna cover some of this stuff maybe again, but in more depth but before we do, you're on a show called pitch please so before we go anywhere t j your best pitch please.

20:02.32
TJ Walia
Absolutely so imagine a world where last minute shift changes and staffing gaps. No longer drain your time and resources. That's what we're building with Workal. We're on a mission to solve the challenges that supervisors managers and employees face when managing their schedules. Especially when it comes to last minute changes. Our platform ensures that you have the right people at the right place at the right time instantly filling shifts with your existing staff so that your business can operate at its best capacity.

20:32.83
mike_flywheel
I Love it. Well let's talk about that to start. Let's talk about the industries that this serves what a what is like the scope of industries that this covers and what's the norm today I know you were talking about a little bit of this like some of the the laziness and we'll go get someone to fill your shift.

20:37.87
TJ Walia
Um, yeah.

20:51.22
mike_flywheel
But what are the the key industries that you're at least starting with I know over time This might have a broader scope But what are the industries you're starting with them and what's the norm for.

20:56.95
TJ Walia
Yeah, absolutely so when when I look at the industries that we we can hit I've mapped them out to I mean you name it Retail Healthcare hospitality manufacturing law enforcement and that's kind of where we kind of conceptualize it when I was talking about earlier logistics and transportation. Um, Education. We're talking about ah teachers that are um, coming in as supply teachers. For example, right? But they're just brought into be a body sitting in that classroom while my daughter was telling me the other day that you know in her math class. They had a teacher who didn't know Math. So She just sat there as a body. Well now why? why not match that supply teacher with the right skillset so that at least education continues On. It's not a wasted day. Um, like you name an aviation from ground crew right? to to flight attendance and crew entertainment and events right? So all of that. Um, we can. We can definitely Cover. Um and and through what we can do with with work pal.

21:56.51
mike_flywheel
And is there 1 or 2 that you're starting to to lean in on and I guess what would be the norm in those areas like you talked a little bit about hey go get it. Go get your shifts filled which I'm sure is like a good chunk of it. But what are the other scenarios of how this would be. You know resolved.

22:03.23
TJ Walia
Yeah.

22:15.40
mike_flywheel
Today because I assume that's where we'll talk a little bit about the value of how simple you're going to make that. Okay.

22:20.47
TJ Walia
Yeah, so I mean the the industry that I'm starting off with right now that we're actually in active conversations are our healthcare. Um, that's a big big big one and then hospitality I'm also getting interest from manufacturing as well because that's ah, there's a big impact when when an assembly line goes down. And we're talking about in the hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars depending on the organization. So we're having those conversations but the norm right now. Um, and and the way we look at it is that we're not really a a scheduling platform per se. So we're not really competing with any of those ah the the existing platforms that go out and create your schedule for a week two weeks and months or a quarter out. We're actually complimenting those what happens with a lot of these platforms today is that they end at just creating the schedule. Um, you can do shift changes ahead of time you can do all of that great. That's not what we're getting into what we do is. It's last minute stuff. It's today. It's tomorrow It's next three days something that's happening that if you know let's you know, find that replacement a lot of um, the process today are either finding a replacement manually right. Or putting that burden on the supervisor and then the other aspect is especially if there's um, their critical environment is a supervisor getting a call at 4 am right saying I'm not coming in to cover my shift at 5 and who has to do it as the supervisor right? So they hate that aspect of it.

23:48.32
TJ Walia
Um, one of our customers. We're talking to now they're a 24 hour shop where they help individuals with disabilities. It's ah's a a not-for- profit and that is one of their challenges. They've got their team and when someone doesn't pick up and and take their shift or come commit to their shift. That burden falls on the supervisors to find that replacement and if they don't then they have to go in and do it and typically what we find Mike is that organizations and their supervisors managers are spending anywhere from 20 to 60% of their time daily reshuffling and rejigging schedules. So imagine taking all that burden away and letting your supervisor and leadership teams do what they need to do which is what they're hard to do as opposed to this cleanup. Yeah.

24:34.57
mike_flywheel
Well let's talk about how that works then so obviously a lot of this starts with someone is unable to make a shift. That's the initial problem and everything kind of snowballs from there.

24:42.40
TJ Walia
Yes.

24:48.19
mike_flywheel
Walk us through how the product itself works and is it. Ah you know an app on a phone is it on the website is it integrated into something. Let's talk about it right? from start to finish and talk about how you're going to really help improve this for for company. So.

24:54.66
TJ Walia
Yeah.

25:01.42
TJ Walia
Yeah, absolutely so the way our system works now is so today what happens is let's just say I'm going to be calling in sick for whatever reason because I've got a headache and I'm not going to go in. Ah I pick up the phone either end up calling my supervisor and saying hey you know Mike I'm not coming in today. Um, you know Mike says why and this and then we have to go through this back and forth. So. There's a little level of anxiety that I have calling in like kind of especially if I'm lying right? It's like I don't want to go in. Um and I have to make this excuse up and so there's a hesitation and there's that anxiety that comes in there Mike doesn't care about. Tija coming in or not now Mike cares about I've got to find a replacement because otherwise we we can't we can't operate and there's some organizations that have minimum staffing requirements right? So those you're're're you're in ah, a really bad situation like think of a Costco as an example, their kitchen crew. You cannot operate unless you have a certain amount of staff member that have their food handling licenses um to be in that kitchen. Otherwise you have to close it down and and this goes across you know the walmarts into their their delis and you know meat handling you name it so this the same um rules apply. That's the standard way of doing it. So now there's chaos. There's there's stress involved of you know how do I solve this? How do I find the right person and what happens with that process is and Mike is now stressing I've got to find a replacement you end up calling everyone that you know at the top of your mind that could potentially fill this shift right? or you have a list that you go through.

26:29.73
TJ Walia
And sometimes we end up calling the same people 2 or 3 times right? and now they're getting ticked off and the people that are constantly covering these shifts are the ones that are saving the day but now they're getting ticked off because now there's this extra burden on them. What they don't want to deal with and you know Mike's a great guy. He always looks out for me I don't want to say no to him and. It's causing a lot of um, a lot of friction. So our platform eliminates all of that mic and basically what this happens is now if I'm going to be calling in sick I go into the platform which is sms based um, it knows who I am it's got the database. It has everything and I would basically message it and saying I'm not coming in for the shift. Um, ah today it would go in and say are you sure you want to cancel this shift and this shift is you know from today from say six P M until whatever and I would say yep confirmed as soon as it does that your shift is canceled. You're off the roster and now it will go in and find the replacement. And basically send out a communication almost like an uber-like approach where you're saying I need an uber ride right now. It's like no I need someone to cover the shift right now goes out to everyone who's eligible so when I say eligible we eliminate the requirements of overtime. Right? We eliminate the requirements of someone who's working right now because that would just be stupid calling them and saying hey are you available for this shift when they're already on a shift. Um, so we eliminate all of them take those factors into consideration and then say okay these are the people that are eligible now. Let's send them a broadcast communication and saying are you available to take this shift whoever takes that shift.

28:01.24
TJ Walia
Gets that shift if for whatever reason that layer does not take on that shift a message comes to the supervisor and saying listen t just cancel this shift. We tried with tier 1 tier one is not available now with your permission we would have to go into overtime. Are you? Okay, with that. So if the supervisor says yep. We're good and it's talking to the Ai platform says. Yeah we're good now the ai goes in and says okay, now we're going to tier 2 and finding someone who is going to actually hit overtime but as long as we have the adequate coverage so that's kind of how we operate through that.

28:31.84
mike_flywheel
Brilliant. So now I imagine people's shifts are are in tons of different systems. Um and and calendared in different ways does this. Sync up automatically and if so you know what are the immediate things that you'll be able to to snap into and hook into and what's sort of on the roadmap for what will be available as you continue to build this out. So.

28:53.50
TJ Walia
So I mean we're like there's a million different systems out there right? So some of the bigger ones like Adp and and davefors. We're actually working on integrations with them right now. So it's a matter of integrating with them. This will also take care of payroll. So now when the shift has changed. We remove you off that shift. It gets pushed into the backend system of these these yearpes of platforms and you know their roster gets updated accordingly and then the payroll gets updated accordingly as well. So that there's less manual work. But that's work in progress in terms of how we're building through those as as we start building and taking on.

29:30.21
mike_flywheel
So got it and then that'll do the same when someone Accepts I Guess it'll just plop them back into that schedule So everything still gets managed in the central place. It's just all the shift changing can be done at the simple request of a text where you text when you're not able to show.

29:30.76
TJ Walia
On customers. It seems to exactly.

29:42.85
TJ Walia
Exactly.

29:47.28
mike_flywheel
Cascades a message to different tiers of groupings based on eligibility and it's first come first serve for a response first I'm good. It swaps them in in in that regard.

29:49.63
TJ Walia
Yeah.

29:56.52
TJ Walia
Exactly and the other aspect that we're looking at it from ah from a law enforcement perspective is let's just say we need extra hands on deck right? So this is not now a shift cancellation. It's now instead of broadcast off. Yeah yeah.

30:05.36
mike_flywheel
You can push that out and.

30:09.67
TJ Walia
And people can just come onboard and so you know who's signed up especially in ah and um, a state of crisis or emergency because you're not really tackling on at least you know who's coming in ah firefighters same kind of thing volunteer firefighters right? So now you need to bring these people in you don't have time to look at and assess and do all of that.

30:17.43
mike_flywheel
Yep, yeah.

30:29.47
TJ Walia
It's let's get all hands on deck and we can assess all that afterwards and now you have that roster of hey these are the people that accepted and they came on um and then they basically were part of the the organization.

30:40.11
mike_flywheel
You got it and so your Target market for this isn't the um end employee. Obviously they're a benefactor of it. But it's really the organizations themselves who are interested in maximizing uptime.

30:46.98
TJ Walia
Um, yeah.

30:53.66
mike_flywheel
And capacity I guess in some regard and.

30:56.38
TJ Walia
That's exactly it. That's exactly it because even going back to that. Mcdonald's incident that I was talking about right? They lost a lot of revenue so seeing that lineup. There's a lot of people that are not coming through that drive through anymore. Um I went in and then I got stuck mind you. But if I had seen what was happening there. And there's probably a lot of individuals that drove away I see this opportunities everywhere now I was at a Costco the other day and it got busy. So I saw abandoned shopping carts each abandoned shopping carts anywhere from 500 to the thousand dollars. We know what? Costco's like right? exactly? Well you know what? I mean right? So and then we the average. So.

31:23.23
mike_flywheel
Yeah, at least a Costco thousand buckes on the cheap side of Costco. Yeah.

31:31.77
TJ Walia
If they were able to get people coming in and open another ah few cash um cash registers then you you've got flow right? and and your revenue goes up and you know in comparison to what you're paying hourly to 1 of those shopping cards right? it offsets it just like that and I've seen and I count these things now. So when I go by. Um, like oh that's you know this much revenue laws right? there that could have potentially been impacted.

31:55.13
mike_flywheel
Well I think that perfect segue I think you know you're you're counting shopping carts of cash. How much does this product cost or how's the pricing work on it. Um.

32:02.55
TJ Walia
Um, exactly.

32:07.41
mike_flywheel
And and I guess where do you make money. It might become obvious when you tell us a little bit about how the pricing of this works and.

32:10.23
TJ Walia
Yeah, so we're we're basically doing licensing at the moment for either per user depending on the organization's size or we're doing organizationwide especially if they've got multiple locations as well. So we've got different structures and it's it's very customized pricing at this stage. Ah, we will basically get to a point when we've basically anchored that pricing in and our platform. Um, you'll say know is is hosted on azure right? So we we are on azure we're building everything on azure as we scale. So all of that is is consistent with you know we put that burden on Microsoft if you will. Um, to handle that and that's that's what we know? best right in terms of the background and and experiences I've got and um and yeah, so the pricing is basically in scale with with with the the consumption model works.

32:54.92
mike_flywheel
Got it So you'd have some set of how many users are going to need this. It's not like a per shift basis. So.

33:01.26
TJ Walia
No, exactly. It's because I want I want to make it simple so whether you know the organization I don't want organizations to be sitting there thinking of well am I Goingnna get hard for that? Yeah, no exactly I want them to use it here. It is. It's all you can eat in certain cases. You know there's going to be add-ons in terms of.

33:09.10
mike_flywheel
I stressing that it's going to cost me more when I push this out you want to use the tool. So.

33:21.16
TJ Walia
Ah, some of the the factors of implementation if that's required or if there's a specific training Required. It's very simple to use um per per se so a lot of organizations should be able to get up and running on their own. But um, you know that support system is there. Ah, but but yeah, the even the the pricing I'm I'm simplifying it just so that people can start adapting it getting getting accustomed to it.

33:43.47
mike_flywheel
That's super cool. Um, so where where are you adding the journey. You know how long you've been building. This is it available today. Tell us a little bit about that.

33:51.75
TJ Walia
Yeah, we've been. We've been building it for a while um you know in terms of special design aspect and and and the actual development of it but we're we're at the point where we're taking on customers now right? So we're we were actually we've tested it Out. We've played around what it we poke around with it. And so we're out of Beta and we're we're taking on our early customers right now just to get them get them started so they are going to get some ah some additional benefits of starting early right in terms of locked-in pricing and um and support. That's that's going to help us in terms of learning a few things along the way. But but that's kind of where we're At. So if there's customers in the in the Healthcare Hospitality law enforcement retail space where we're more than happy to you know, look at early conversations and see what that looks like.

34:38.25
mike_flywheel
So that's cool some that actually might allude to what's what's in the next six to twelve months for for work pal and what's ah, what's the roadmap looking like what are the top priorities for you in the next six to twelve months okay

34:48.30
TJ Walia
Yeah I think one of you know there, there's ah, there's certain components that I'm I'm trying to build out in the roadmap and and one of those is going to be the reporting and the integration. So. The integration is really big for me because again I'm I'm about productivity and efficiency. Um, the last thing I want to do is introduce a product to an organization and then they have to do manual work to get their payroll and everything else sorted out So That's something that we're working on the roadmap is how do we get that integration between other platforms. So That's been a big priority for me in terms of getting that integration. Um up and running and working.

35:19.42
mike_flywheel
Got it So integration is gonna be a big piece of the roadmap ahead. So as you're onboarding those new customers that'll probably lead you to whose integrations or what integrations are gonna be most relevant to prioritize as you go through that. Um it sounds like things have been a snap and easy. But.

35:25.25
TJ Walia
Exactly that's correct. Yeah.

35:36.72
mike_flywheel
Journeys are never easy. Um, you know I chuckle because whenever I have these conversations we talk through and it's a breeze and being an entrepreneur is a breeze.. What's what's sort of been the most challenging part of like maybe maybe it's in work pal and and sort of getting work pal up and going or maybe it was making that switch for you and. Jumping all into being an entrepreneur or the hesitation to maybe go back to a career. What's sort of been like the hardest part of like this build phase for you.

36:05.65
TJ Walia
Um, I think there's there's new skills that you have to build right through all of this and learning that aspect of it and for all, let's line. Is it learning identifying What those skills are and then going out on learning them right? I think is um is is one of the challenges. Um, as an entrepreneur. There's so many distractions Everything is a distraction that I can go do this I can do this I can do that? Um, because essentially you have that free will to to go out and do whatever you want to do so one of the challenges there is especially because I'm I'm running 2 businesses right now. And it's it's about really balancing and juggling between them. But that's something I've done all my life. Essentially so for me, it's not that that complex. But I think if I was to say what the challenge is is is finding the right customers who are willing to you know, put that bet in. And say okay, let's let's let's give this a shot and see if we can solve this problem.

36:59.40
mike_flywheel
Got it. So it's finding those real first movers that want to take the leap that see the value I think that's always the tricky part right? because people can see the value but especially I want to knock canadians we're good at a lot of things. But 1 thing we are not.

37:03.70
TJ Walia
Um, yeah.

37:15.38
mike_flywheel
Great at doing is taking some risks a lot of times in being the first and I say that ah not ah in terms of like canadians generally but canadian companies I find and I don't know if maybe you have seen this two Tj but I find they always ask the pivotal question. Well who else is already doing this.

37:16.95
TJ Walia
Exactly.

37:32.88
TJ Walia
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

37:35.80
mike_flywheel
Who like and then the next follow up question is well who exactly like me is doing this? Um, but no one really ever wants to be the first even if it's at a deal or a discount or a proof of concept. It's It's usually challenging. It seems like that's a piece that that you're you know feeling as you get this rolling? yeah.

37:48.90
TJ Walia
yeah and I think yeah I think I think there' there's 2 components to it right? I mean if you find the right people ah because the the early movers. There's always a small small fraction of them right? So majority are going to be no, we're not so our first client that we've actually came on with was just that is like you know what. Um, I like what you're doing I believe in what you're doing so I'm going to support this right and and that was just amazing to get that feedback to say you know what we're we're on to onto something and and we've actually got someone who's actually cutting us a check. And saying you know what? this is how much I believe in it because that's the hardest part you got a lot of people saying oh this is great. You got the great vision and this is amazing. Well cut me a check and let's talk about this and oh let me think about it right? That's what usually happens. But when you get those customers that come in and say you know what? I really do and I think there's um, there's a real pain that you're solving here and and I'll share. What what the conversation was with that first client because in his organization anywhere from 30 to 60% of the time of each of the supervisors is actually being spent and when we calculated he had about 6 or 7 he has about 6 or 7 supervisors and. He equated that to close to a half a million dollars annually wasted right? and when he looked at that he goes this is ridiculous and the cost of our platform was a fraction to solve that right and he's like this is a no brainer. So.

39:04.15
mike_flywheel
Wow.

39:16.55
TJ Walia
Understanding that and and that's the biggest pain people have to recognize just a cost and lost labor of just supervisors alone I'm not talking about revenue loss because that's hard to calculate for a lot of organizations say Okay, how much did we did that person leave that abandon that shopping cart because they didn't want to or the lineup or something else came up.

39:25.69
mike_flywheel
Yeah.

39:34.28
TJ Walia
Those are all hypothetical situations. But when you look at the actual cost of as supervisor or manager manually doing all this day in day out for 5 hours a day that's that's easy to calculate right? And that's what that's all he calculated on so we didn't calculate anything else of you know. The the morale the impact on the morale that that happens on the team. The the impact on the mental health the anxiety the stress those are hard to calculate. So no, exactly exactly.

40:00.70
mike_flywheel
Yeah, not even the empty shopping carts in line I Love it Well is there been something that has been like a highlight for you or something that you know has been a really memorable moment as you've gotten the ball rolling here on work pal.

40:14.34
TJ Walia
Um I would always say my first client I don't think I'll ever forget that moment to to recognize you know from from them to recognize that this is something and then for us to actually strike that deal and say hey this is you know this is what we're. Um, headed towards achieving it's it's it's probably going to be the most memorable moment that I'm going to probably you know, live with for for the rest of my life I think yeah.

40:42.56
mike_flywheel
It's funny I I should almost start a whole episode or a whole series called my first customer and talk about first customer stories because I don't think there's I would say sixty to 80% of the people that come on the the podcast here and I'm sure this is for everyone.

40:46.50
TJ Walia
Yeah.

40:59.40
mike_flywheel
It doesn't matter if it was like a $10 customer and $10 transaction or a couple hundred thousand everyone's first customer they spent multiples of that celebrating just because of what it meant it was that validation that.

41:04.40
TJ Walia
Um, yeah, so.

41:11.61
TJ Walia
Absolutely.

41:15.75
mike_flywheel
The work you're doing as an entrepreneur which is sometimes so risky and and you know you overthink as what I'm doing right? You have to push past all the the nose and that this isn't going to work. This isn't needed and you're hearing that every day and so that when they get that first first five bucks ten bucks hundred thousand bucks million bucks from that first customer.

41:33.55
TJ Walia
Yeah, and you know it's it's funny you you say that Mike because one of the things that I haven't had is anyone saying we don't need this so which has been the complete opposite which you actually you know it got me to question myself I'm like.

41:35.73
mike_flywheel
And really helps validate the hard work you've been putting in which is cool. So.

41:50.97
TJ Walia
Am I really doing this right? like what's going on. Everyone says that you're goingnna get nose Nos knows every client I've potentially talked to has been Wow like we we actually need this. This is this is gonna be a game changer whether it's health care whether like you name it like it's um, so that's been reassuring. But I'm also being selective at the same time of you know.

42:01.17
mike_flywheel
That's amazing.

42:10.16
TJ Walia
Who am I rolling out with because I need to take that data input for myself and be able to partner with these and early organizations rather than just saying hey go deploy this and and you know just use it and and then see how it goes. I Really want to actually partner with these organizations for learning for them and for myself as we continue to grow and develop.

42:29.40
mike_flywheel
That makes sense. Well um t j thank you for sharing. You know your story with us a whole bunch of work pals sounds like things are going amazing before we kind of wrap up today. Are there any kind of final closing words either on things that are advice that you would share with others kind of going through a similar thing or a similar journey. Um, there's always great advice on the end of this show so turn it over to you to see if there's any thoughts that you want to share with the audience.

42:50.90
TJ Walia
Yeah, absolutely advice I would say is trust your gut. Um, it's it's underrated. You know we we we start we start covering everything that our gut tells us with logic and this and that and you know strategy of this. I found that at least for me personally um through my career even you know, starting at Microsoft everything. My gut had a huge role in it. Um, and it was little things like talking to someone about an opportunity because someone said to go do it. Leading into something else leading into something else and it was just you know you you look back and like how did that even all fall in place but it was because you trusted your gut to go do something right? So ah, that's probably my biggest advice like if if you're on the edge of do I do this do I not believe in yourself because others won't. Right? So if others are not going to believe in you then you've only got yourself to believe in yourself.

43:46.90
mike_flywheel
I Love that Well if people want to find out more about work pal or anything else. You're up to and again we'll we'll we'll link all this in the description but where should they go if they're interested in. You know, signing up for work pal. Um, and yeah, tell us tell us where to head.

43:57.78
TJ Walia
Yeah, yeah, the the best way is on the work file website. You've got a form that you can fill out that will get right to to us the other way is just find mail Linkedin. Right? Um, I'm on Linkedin I'm quite active on Linkedin send me a message I try to respond to every message that I do get so send me a connection request there or a message and you know and the subject lines is put in work pal I'll be more than happy to kind of get engaged and started on that conversation.

44:28.45
mike_flywheel
Amazing and just in case, everyone's listening and trying to write it down. We'll have in the description but it's WRKPALDotCom correct tj okay, awesome. Um, whenever anyone's kind of getting things set up and going I ask this question. The answer may be nothing.

44:36.33
TJ Walia
That's correct. Yeah, you got it.

44:44.30
mike_flywheel
Other than hey if you know a customer but as you get the ball rolling on workpal and where you are right now in your your development of it if someone's listening that just so happens to be the right person. What kind of help or support. Do you need right now or would you benefit from if someone the right person's listening in.

45:00.86
TJ Walia
I think it's getting in front of the right? Um, right customers for 1 and potentially investors right? So I'm looking at when I'm scaling and and mapping the the platform out. Um, I'm looking at getting and onboarding the right customers and then as soon as that's ready I need to scale so in order for scaling. We need to make sure we can build the right teams um quite quickly and fast and and be able to be as effective as we need to be so those are the 2 it's the customers and investors that I'm I'm assuming most. Startups are looking for the same thing as well. But but that's that's kind of what's on my radar.

45:34.67
mike_flywheel
Awesome! We'll make sure that we we shout that out in the description. So if there's any people that are you know able to link up to a great new customer or interested in being or connecting an investor into this type of a business we'll we'll make sure we set that up. Tj thanks again for joining in today I had a blast. Thanks everybody who tuned in for another episode of the pitch please podcast and we'll make sure to catch you on the next episode have a good night.