Searching for Krypton IT Services
How a Bangladeshi freelancer set up a successful IT company in the UK
In conversation with Mahfuzul Hasan
I'm Mahfuzul Hasan. By profession or skillset, I am an editor and marketer. I started my career as a web developer. I used to do programming on PHP, then later shifted to web development using CMS and other platforms. Website development is closely attached to marketing, as if your website is not generating any traffic, it's of no meaning. So, I expanded my career goal to the digital marketing sector, now focusing on digital marketing and paid advertising. I also assist with SEO, media management, branding and strategy development.
Before Krypton IT services, I was a programmer, and I started my career as a freelancer. I used to work on Upwork, and when I eventually generated more clients, I thought why not turn it into a brand? That's how Krypton IT started.
I started Krypton IT in my home country of Bangladesh, so I have a license in my country. Later, when I saw that it’s tough to receive international payments across borders, and attracting clients from other regions of the world like North America and Europe, I decided that it would be better to incorporate my company in the UK, so I started by coming to your company to set up the business.
Inspiration
Krypton IT Services is a combination of all IT services. I was developing web applications and websites and realised that without marketing, it would be very hard. So, since I shifted from programming to web development, then web development to marketing, the idea popped up when I was developing websites. I was helping create pretty websites, but they were not generating any traffic, so it was not very beneficial for my clients.
Right now, the major services that Krypton IT provide are digital marketing, like providing or assisting with paid advertising, Google Ads, Facebook and Instagram ads, and also SEO for organic traffic generation. Then social media management for organic social media-based traffic generation.
We also provide digital marketing strategy development for brands which are just starting, such as startups. We strategise, we plan the workflow, how they want to do things, and how things will go towards a successful digital marketing campaign. In summary, the idea for the business came when I was developing the websites. I thought that marketing would be an essential part of the whole funnel, so I started measuring digital marketing as a service for Krypton.
Besides digital marketing, we also help our clients with app development, mobile app development, and critical business solutions development. We also work with companies like Odoo, who provide ERP solutions, so that we can offer their services if our client asks for additional IT support.
When I was freelancing, I realised that I'm sitting in one country, but I'm working for someone who is in another country, and I’ve never met that person. I’ve never even seen the person that I am working for, but I am doing professional work for them. As the service I was providing was benefiting another company, I decided that I was generating some value, so this motivated me, and I decided that even though I'm living in a third world country, if I have the team and I have the skillset, then I can definitely contribute and compete with the same level as those working in a first world country.
The journey
So far so good, I am happy with what I am doing right now. I have a small team of professionals. Most of our clients are from North America and Europe. We have a handful of clients from our local market, but we are not interested in our local market, as “IT” and “digital marketing” are still terms that are in their infancy in our local market. That’s why the major market for our business is America, Europe, and countries which are technically advanced or advancing.
The growth curve
To be honest, the growth was not very stereotypical, as it was still a new thing for me and my team. We started with clients that we already had, and our main concern was serving those them.
Later, when we saw that our capacity was growing, we started thinking about marketing our services. We started small on the marketing scale and started onboarding new clients. We are trying to grow or expand and go for a much bigger marketing approach and onboard more clients. Our capacity has now increased, and our team is growing.
Challenges
When you have a few clients and you lose one or two, the impact is very hard. This was the challenging part, as we were not doing a lot of marketing and we were not concerned about getting new clients. We were busy with what we had, so marketing and spreading the word was also a challenge, but I would say this was because we didn’t try certain marketing strategies in the first place.
Highlights
What I enjoy is the contribution and the changes we make through our services. When we help a client, we can see the result is either growing or drowning. We try to contribute in a positive way, and most of the time we're fortunate enough to see that we are contributing in a positive way to different companies, different people's lives. That brings us joy to our lives.
The future
We want to develop a few products. Right now, what we are doing is betting on our time, as the longer we work, the more money we can make. We want to change that dimension by developing a few products, but this could be dependent on AI. AI tools and products can help us lift a bit of our workload and automate processes, so that it can also benefit the client and help us increase our capacity, lowering the time we invest for our services.
Advice
You must be patient and ready for failure. With failure comes learning, and with learning, the pathway gets developed for success. If you can stick with the agenda and remain determined, then success will be there. Every business idea is doable. There is no business which is unattainable or not doable for a certain person, it’s just dependent on determination and the mindset of the person.
Using 1st Formations
I was looking into some options on Google, and I thought that the price your company was charging was reasonable. For me, that was the best deal that I could get, and that was the starting point. From a convenience point of view, I had a few conversations and chats with your agents, and I thought, yeah, it's the right way to go. Then I purchased the package.
The company formation process
I am in a very comfortable space with your company’s services, and everything has been fine. 1st Formations have been very helpful, and the most important thing is that the process was tension free. I didn’t have to face any stress, like how am I going to renew my company or anything like this, I just get an email that I have to renew. Even at the beginning of the subscriptions, I had to receive some documents and this experience was very swift.
1st Formations today
I still have a Registered Office and Service Address with your company that renew every year, and I receive my government mail to your address.
