Q. Tell us about your journey to Aqore and how Aqore began.
My business partner, Sandeep Acharya and I started Aqore, but the journey began back in our college days. Sandeep and I were from Nepal, and I met him at St. Cloud State University here in Minnesota, where we were roommates. After we graduated, Sandeep started working for a staffing software company called TempWorks, where I joined him right after I graduated. We were doing implementation, which included everything from custom development to training to data migration to consulting, and touching every role in a staffing company. Basically, you were one-man shop taking care of your clients. The benefit was that we got to know staffing operation and every different role, along with the associated challenges. It was a very good experience.
In 2006 we co-founded Avionte, which was our next staffing software venture. It all worked out well and was very successful. We decided to exit in 2014, and with that we had a five-year non-compete. We tried a few other ventures but soon realized we really missed the staffing industry. Also, during that time, we kept hearing from our clients. We noticed that they were still using all the legacy systems that were at least 10 years old. And the service they were getting from vendors was deteriorating, so they were unhappy with that and/or the products. So, we saw an opportunity to return to the staffing space, and in 2019 we started Aqore with a true focus on providing a better service and a better product in the staffing software arena.
Q. How have you used marketing to help drive the success of Aqore?
When you're developing a complex, end-to-end software platform like Aqore, it can be a challenge to just “go out and market.” But we were lucky— based on our previous relationships, former clients trusted us and immediately started implementing our software. So our first sales were relationship-based. But then since then, we’ve deployed strategic marketing initiatives: we developed a website, and we are active on LinkedIn and on social channels. We write blogs and we’re mindful of SEO. Paid advertising is part of our marketing, and we participate in almost every trade show that is relevant for us. We also do webinars with our partners, as well as email campaigns. And we have a client referral program, where again, clients are a testament to our growth. Together, all of these channels have become important for our growth.
Q. What has surprised you about the staffing industry?
The first thing that comes to mind are the different verticals within the staffing industry. So there's the light industrial and commercial, and there's the skilled trades and there's hospitality and healthcare and direct hire and day labor. So the variety of staffing services is just mind-blowing. Plus, there is collaboration with multiple third parties, whether they're providing pay card services or background check services. The complexity and the entanglement of all of these is just very, very interesting! Also, each small company has their own unique way of servicing their clients and becoming successful. It’s amazing—even though we keep hearing the bigger names, like Manpower and the Adecco, the reality is that 80-85% of staffing companies are small, family-type businesses.
Q. Where do you see the most common areas of opportunity for staffing firms to streamline their operations?
Not surprisingly, the biggest opportunity we see is around technology consolidation and integration. There are still tons of staffing companies using either multiple systems to manage their operations, or even pencil-and-paper methods. If they use platform that is truly end-to-end, all the way from the front to the back office, and everything from client and candidate engagement to timekeeping to payroll, that consolidation adds the biggest value, minimizes costs and helps them scale and grow.
Q. What new things are on the horizon for Aqore?
We’re focused on continuous innovation, and we have many up-and-coming features that we’re excited about! Probably the most exciting thing is AI. Everybody knows that AI will disrupt their industry, and it's no different in the staffing industry. But many are still wondering how to implement it. Who can help, how should they go about it? We're excited about actually adding the AI features, the AI agents, and all of these automations into the platform. And at the same time, educating our clients, helping them distinguish between the hype and reality, allowing them to implement AI at their own pace, so they can try out one thing at a time, and then gradually implement the functions that they can outsource to an AI assistant. When it comes to AI relative to staffing software, I genuinely believe Aqore will be the authority in this space.
Q. What was your very first job?
My very first job was when I came from Nepal to the US, before I entered college. I was in New York for maybe a week. My first job was working at a Times Square restaurant cutting gyro meat. I worked there for maybe four hours…but because I couldn't make the slices thin enough, I got fired after a few hours!
Q. What else should we know about?
Even though Aqore is “up and coming” in terms of the technology, we have years of experience and have actually shaped what staffing software needs to look like. Aqore is truly providing excellent value for our clients. We recently conducted a client survey, and 95% of our clients rated us “five stars” for client service. And we just made it to the Inc. Magazine 5000 list of fastest-growing companies, which is truly a testament to the support of our clients and partners.