When it comes to developing good software, I learned from the experts that it is always about quality vs quantity. It is not about how much it does, but rather about what it does, and how well it does it. Fortunately, I learned this lesson at the beginning of the software development process that led to the release of HILO 1.0. As it turned out, this learning has served me well, particularly during a time of disruption by technology in the CRE industry, and in a period of rapid change and uncertainty. All of this has led to an accelerated rate of adoption, as building operators look to create tech-enabled environments to support their tenants.

Never before has it been more important to develop tech solutions with purpose.

We believe that our tech solution should continue to evolve and strive to answer the question, how can I not live without HILO? We want HILO to be part of your everyday life. We take inspiration from Bill Gates, Co-founder of another startup you may be familiar with, called Microsoft. He said, “The advance of technology is based on making it fit in so that you don’t really even notice it, so it’s part of everyday life.”

Our commitment to co-create HILO in collaboration with our building partners, along with a dedication to understanding the needs of our end-users (building tenants, consumers of our product), will continue to drive product evolution and innovation.

Through initial research, we built HILO with the features that both CRE professionals and building tenants wanted most:

• Two-way customizable communications.
• A resource of building and community information and services.
• A local business marketplace directory.
• A real-time REWARDS platform that promotes exclusive offers available from the building and nearby businesses.
• An ecosystem that supports smart building integrations and customizations.
  
  

Product development is not a race to introduce more features than the competition. So we will continue to be thoughtful and deliberate, adding features and benefits driven by customer feedback and insight, that will improve the end-user experience, and continue to keep them engaged.

As we continue on in our journey to create the largest community of connected buildings, we are thrilled to welcome Pawan Giri to the team as our new Head of Technology. Pawan brings a wealth of experience, as both a software engineer and a startup founder.

I sat down with Pawan to get the inside scoop on what makes him tick.

David: What is the biggest mistake you made in tech, and the lesson learned?

Pawan: Over-engineering. Going forward, build small and what you need. Build for scale when you need it.

David: What is your favourite app, and why?

Pawan: Apple Books. It’s simple and clean.

David: When you are not coding, what are you doing?

Pawan: Travelling, reading, watching movies.

David: What attracted you most to the HILO team?

Pawan: Team, culture and product.

With Pawan at the helm, we are committed to fostering our continued partnership with CRE owners and managers, evolving the HILO platform in three ways:

1. Within the platform, build what is essential to the whole community, and will have broad customer appeal.
2. Create custom solutions that connect with existing internal building systems and sensors.
3. Integrate features with best-in-class third party service providers.
   
   

Our vision is to provide tenants with the best customer experience by consolidating everything they need to access during the course of their day, where they work or live. We want HILO to be part of our users’ everyday life. While we strive to ensure that HILO delivers ROI to our building partners, we believe strongly that, just as CRE is ultimately about the people that occupy buildings, so too is HILO about making everyday life for people that occupy buildings easier and better.

If building tech with purpose is important to you, please reach out and let’s have a conversation.