Megna Murali Founder and Data Scientist

Who are you and what business did you start?

I am a female, immigrant, entrepreneur, a data scientist and the founder of Convert Dial (www.convertdial.com) Convert Dial helps Shopify businesses to find their hottest prospects and highest risk customers by monitoring their customers changing needs and behaviours in real time using artificial intelligence. It is easy to set up, fully automated and can be integrated with your favourite marketing channels. Stop funnel leakage with real time behavioural insights that take the guesswork out of your segmentation and targeting

What’s your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?

I have 10+ years experience across many industries, building machine learning applications that help businesses grow using data. However it was my experience in ecommerce that helped me realise that there is a gap in the ecommerce industry for enterprise grade, predictive insights that track not just what your customers did in the past but what are they likely to do in the future. So the business can get closer to their customers and their needs and build a lasting, personal and targeted relationship. Being a data scientist, I was confident that I could build a simple, automated user friendly tool myself.

Describe the process of launching the business.

I was very lucky to be accepted into the Western Sydney University Ignition accelerator program in early 2021 which kickstarted my vision from idea to MVP. I ideated and researched the opportunity and built a proof of concept product to test in the market. At this point I was also awarded the NSW Government MVP Grant and was ready to commence development of the MVP. I found a great developer to join the team and we kicked off building Convert Dial in July 2021. By September we launched the MVP product and tested the beta with a core group of real ecommerce businesses.

Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?

The strength of Convert Dial has always been in the simplicity. Data, analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning are all complex and indeed, scary terms as well. But Convert Dial has made the entire flow simple, automated and suitable for every ecommerce store, big or small. Its accurate, reliable and simple which resonates strongly and stands out from the crowd. Secondly, supporting customers as they transform their businesses with Convert Dial has helped strongly with retention. Customers know that they can get help and advice whenever they need it and I celebrate the wins with them! Thirdly, the cost. Convert Dial costs from only $79 a month which is 90% cheaper than market alternatives.

How are you doing today and what does the future look like?

Convert Dial has launched with our MVP, we have tested extensively and validated the problem-solution fit. We have early traction with paid users and are looking to grow and scale the business quickly over the next 12 months

Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?

Talk to your customers. They are the ones who will tell you what you need to build, create, solve or ignore. It’s tempting, especially as a technical person to build first and ask later but the more research you do upfront and the better you know your customers, the closer you will get to product-market fit.

What platform/tools do you use for your business?

We use a variety of tools from Google and Azure cloud services and React/Node.js for the application itself to tools like ClickUp, Notion, Miro and Google Docs for project work.

What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?

The Mom Test was a really eye opening book

Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?

Build fast and cheap and test everything

Where can we go to learn more?

www.convertdial.com