The Technopark Podcast: In Conversation with Lloyd Jacob Lopez, CEO of HEX20 Global

welcome to the techn park podcast your gateway to the world of technology entrepreneurship Innovation and the future of business I am your host Ajay ASN and on each episode we will dive into insightful interviews with Visionaries and Pioneers to uncover the compelling stories behind the strategies shaping tomorrow's businesses so fasten your seat bels because the future starts [Music] now today our guest is Lloyd Jacob Lopez he is the CEO of hx20 global let's listen to his insights as you know technopark has seen remarkable growth over the years how do you think the ecosystem here forers Innovation and what role do you see yourself playing in this Evolution see I started my career here in technno park so it was uh at that time it was interesting to see a lot of companies come set up uh office here and you know people getting jobs and then um seeing how it grew um for me you know that motivated us to uh get into a business and uh uh the objective was to set up an office in techn which was a big big you know Milestone to achieve and um yeah that that that was one uh one factor and then uh when all these companies came to techn park set things up and when we started seeing how these companies are growing that that gave us lot of confidence that uh we can do something different than what was happening here in Tandra more car so this was a totally different model that was executed at that time when it was just happening true so that gave us a lot of uh motivation and U you know opportunities at the same time to do something like this so techn park as an ecosystem I think has given a lot of people uh I've seen a lot of my friends start companies here so it's not only that and opportunities for a lot of uh youngsters who came after us to do things true I'm actually coming to that point so many buding entrepreneurs look up to successful individuals like you what advice would you give to you know someone who just starting their business or starting a startup what is your kind of a take for them see uh I've seen a lot of business um being started and then some you know had to stop or you know there were issues so when I look at uh a business you know I think there are two three factors that uh you we need to look into one is the the team yeah because you know there should be a good understanding between uh the people that you're working with to to um achieve that final goal yeah and then the concept and the idea so if you're building something that you know is not ready or the market doesn't require that uh that is going to make a lot of you know issues so the product Market fit kind of yeah so that's that's again very different very important um you know aspect and then you know um third thing is uh you know how you're building that team so you need to have a culture you need to have a good uh environment within the company only then you know it can grow so I think these are three key things there are several other things but these are key things and then you know of course like why I told the team first is because that focus should be there right right so L you used to travel a lot right I mean I know that you came from Australia last day then you are traveling to Dubai so lot of traveling lot of things happening in the business so as an entrepreneur the line between work and personal life can blur how do you maintain a healthy work life balance am the you know demands of your business how do you manage all this so it's a very difficult question uh to answer and U for different people it's different challenge but I think you know the support first first of all the support you get from your you know home especially your family correct cor and uh when you're getting into business uh I think earlier in Kerala uh the the whole notion was why are you not going for a job and why are you doing a business this used to be if you look at trandum everyone want to get into a government job correct which is yeah then you are settled okay correct so um uh for me you know my family gave a lot of support and then my friends or the the team that we started the first company MH I think um that was a key factor again so um yeah these two are you know very critical to uh to pursue something like this so yeah and of course then you know getting projects and all those stuff and keeping things moving daily but I think if you don't get these two support to start with it will be a difficult it will be a difficult journey I understand understand and other thing I want to know is like about the failures you know we we always have this notion that failure is often seen as a stepping stone to success can you share time when you faced any any particular failure and then you bounce back stronger any any such instances can you um see there are SE several instances see there is I don't think there is Success uh without failure so yeah see lot of times we fail for multiple reason yeah and uh how you can bounce back is uh to accept that failure first yeah so if you think no what I did was right for some other reason it did not work correct it is not like that yeah you need to understand it is a failure yeah and then you need to take corrective actions so I I can I you know I'm not quoting any particular instances but this is what I've seen so we need to understand how why it failed and uh then you know we need to fix that so that is the that's how you should handle failure and how you should make that failure work for you got it got it so the entrepreneur Journey can be both accelerating and you know there can be some exhausting moments what keeps you motivated and inspired to keep pushing forward and even you know during this uh some of the toughest times what is it that what is that motivat motivating factor see uh in an entrepreneurial Journey you know there are a lot of things that happen on a day-to-day basis or you know in the business and things it's a firefighting yeah it's a firefighting so you need to celebrate each and every small small success yeah and that will give you enough you know push to achieve the next small success so we cannot U just wait for that big thing to happen success no that that will happen at some point of time but you need to you know celebrate and enjoy small small success and like the previous question when you make a mistake you need to understand why how it failed and then next time yeah next time don't do it or next time when similar issue comes you handle it so that even is a success correct yeah and then keep moving forward so there is no big success you need to wait for you know that's that's a great point because um we often will have think that you know okay there is something that is yet to happen and we won't see the small wins I understand that and you are someone who have uh uh you know expanded the business outside India right so you have a office in in Australia I believe you have office in um theb or you have some business connections and all so expanding outside India or expanding internet Al uh can present unique challenges what considerations do you take into account when you know entering into a global market and how do you navigate cultural differences and Regulatory Landscapes and things like that so every business you know when you growing it's you know small steps or you know at a time and um when we get especially when we get into uh new markets um we need to start uh you know testing the market with small projects and um understand how things work and then move into bigger projects so for us how things were happening is that you know we uh get U when we get a project in a particular region um then we go there start building more connects through this first customer yeah because at any in any region when we go you need to have a local partner or someone you can show that you worked with that will give as a reference and that will give confidence for the next customer to come in and you know give you more projects so I'll give you a small example for xx20 m so when we uh went to Taiwan we got a small project there okay we started working with them uh and then you know we started discussing other projects and then we were able to get the second project yeah and then they invited us to to be part of the Taiwan you know space accelerator program okay now we are looking at setting up an office there oh great and we have now you know so these are small steps that I was talking about and then uh once you convince the customer when once they see you how you're working then you will get more you know support and now they are fully willing to support us to set up there because you know it'll be much easier for them to work with us when we have an office there so it should be step by step and start with a small project and then you know so so you are going to set up a Taiwan office that's a new news yes okay great okay so as your business scales you know you you need to satisfy your customers right customer satisfaction becomes an increasingly important uh Factor how do you ensure that your customer is satisfied and you know you provide that support and infrastructure and it can adopt to adapt to Growing demands while managing high standards see for a startup one of the major you know challenges is to get repeat business cor you can get repeat business only if you give proper support to the customer and uh the area that we are into space technology is a very small and Niche area and we need to you know keep up that customer satisfaction levels to the best yeah and um I think uh to an extent and we've been you know successful in doing that because we got a repeat customer from Taiwan so that you know shows that you know we we are doing that but um for any business I think once we uh deliver a product to a customer any issue that they face we should have a team to jump in and support them so when you get a inquiry from them within certain time you need to respond to that yeah and then help them with whatever required so as the as the business grows um we need to put in more effort uh bigger team to achieve that and keep that going yeah so at at any point we should not be going down so we need to keep that that very uh that's one of the important factors that will keep uh that will um set you apart from your competitor understood understood and another thing is like when you scale the business you know scaling is is often it comes with its own challenges scaling a business often involves expanding into new product lines or verticals can you discuss a successful product diversification strategy that has contributed to your company's growth trajectory it's a very interesting question and I have a very good answer for that so when we started the company so we started uh the concept is to build satellites and these are very very small satellites so lot of components that we use uh can be uh used in many other products so what we use for a very small satell that's a 3u we can take uh some of those components and use it for a 6u and similarly for a 12u on the other side um the UA space agency had a requirement to train uh 30 member team to um how to build a satellite so with the components that we have we were able to develop or give them a flat set which is a totally you know a different thing which is an engineering model MH uh that they use to train their team and now we have a lot of inquiries for that or we are already working with universities M to give this kid so that they can train their students how to build a satellite and then yeah and then we can even support uh to you know fly these experience and in in trandum itself uh now we are working with three um you know uh colleges here okay to support uh the students uh in in the projects that they they are doing so one is Barton Hill uh you know college they are building a satellite and we are helping them to build things and the students are coming and working with us so and uh now we are working with Marine engineering college and uh you know a lot of things are happening in that so this is an this is a clear example of how you can have a you know sub product from the core thing you're not diversifying uh you're not deviating you know too much correct we have a product that is complimentary to each other yeah great in fact you are giving back to the society like you know what you have build you can actually help students see again yeah this is a very Niche area and to get people to work also is so this you know that's where you know this help us to identify also really good resources so we are working with I here in tandum so we have uh uh now few students from I working with us we have few students from Barton Hill now working with so this is an amazing you know impact that we can it's a win-win situation and these students I mean uh so whoever is listening to it they can approach or should they have to be in the college e system uh how open are you and and I mean I'm just just curious to know like you know if anybody is curious about space and satellite and such things and if they are a student or if they are an Enthusiast will they be uh you know able to connect and uh take part of some initiative sure see there is a lot of initiative now from the government to especially for stem education yeah correct so we are you know 100% happy to collaborate with students uh colleges universities uh to you know uh help students you know get into space it's it's a it's a niche and a growing you know uh n and deep yeah so and and there's a lot of things to do so any students who are interested we are open and we are trying to get into you know uh collaborations now I think there is an initiative that is happening from you know startup Mission Gera yeah so uh there are several other initiatives now coming up and even with this Ro there is an educational push for for space so we are surely happy to get in and help and uh yeah that that that's absolutely great like you know so whoever is uh listening to this can uh surely they should reach out they can they can reach out awesome awesome so um coming back to another question I have in mind uh you know as entrepreneurs we have to navigate through uncertainty there will be like since you gone through certain extent and you have faced a lot of challenges failures then you come up then you bounce back you have international customers and you are you know you are cing to a category that is very nich as we discussed so as entrepreneurs we often have to navigate through uncertainty what is your go-to strategy for staying uh resilient in the face of challenges like you know what is what is it that uh you know you look look into see uh I think a good way to tackle that situation is to keep yourself updated see technology is changing so faster than ever yeah when we started uh to to look at the hardware side of things you know my first computer or the computer that I worked with was at 286 and then see where we have reached now yeah and even with technology now the speed at which things are happening is is fast so you need to um you know get into newer things for example now chat GPT correct it's a keyword like everyone is using yeah if we don't start using that you know you're you're going a step behind and yeah so similarly for business you need to identify what are the opportunities what is coming next so um you know attending events um uh listening to people uh basically you should be a lifetime learner yeah you should be a lifetime learner and you know you need to um you know talk you know if you're in it or you know space or whatever you should also start looking at other areas and then you will identify something that you can do for a particular problem that a different sector is having uh typically to give you an example for uh the use of space technology you know um the space based imagery can help identify you know uh during flood situation how to you know how to plan evacuation for um uh Farmers to plan because now um you know climate change is kind of affecting everyone and things are changing so fast so you can use this data to help farmers to plan things yeah or when there is a situation like a flood how to plan evacuation so things like this are getting very important so yeah you need to you know identify opportunities understood understood well that's that's great so yeah Lloyd thank you so much uh for giving this opportunity and I'm sure that the listeners will will get a lot of understanding from this uh thanks a lot for giving us the time and it's always happy to uh keep uh thanks uh for inviting me first of all and like I said I started here at techn Park it is always um nice to come back you know tell you all the stories what we have done so this is uh the second venture or third to be true this is the third Venture in techn park so uh this is the third company I'm part of in techn and uh uh the support that we get and the ecosystem here some of the questions that you have asked I've already told how techn park has helped and how techn park has helped us to dream so it's these are all things that's very important and uh thank thanks for this opportunity awesome awesome it's nice chatting to you thank you as we close this episode I want to express my gratitude to each of you for joining us on this journey thanks for listening stay tuned for more this is the techn park podcast [Music]