Deep tech companies are difficult to start. It generally requires insurmountable efforts, resources and planning to even know if their model is right. For example, companies like Hyperloop saw demise in spite of large amounts of capital infusion. So is the story of numerous Silicon Valley companies. However, an unorthodox company, Azle Technologies Inc., is on a mission of “parallel entrepreneurship”, dubbing the founder and CEO Seshu Kiran as both reckless and impeccable visionary. Azle sees a future where cohesion, interoperability and high performance are key for any technology to be relevant and they should serve to enhance customer experience and solve problems at scale.
Azle is in the business of futuristic synergies. Claims are yet to be validated and seen. However, their mission seems to be in the right place. Capital-intensive technology businesses are unattractive- as in companies that need loads of VC cash tend to be actually inefficient and bloated. Seshu wants to attack these inefficiencies. According to him, the very definition of technology is to spend less to achieve more. Achieving an ideal product-market fit shouldn’t be a huge cash-burning exercise. Azle considers itself a hash between the role of an investor and an indirect operator of their subsidiaries.
Azle operates by spawning companies and through acquisitions. According to Seshu, their due diligence process is multipronged. He says that they do pre-diligence before jumping on to hard facts. The pre-diligence process consists of rating a company on something called a TMCD matrix, standing for Technology vector, Market vector,
Company values and Delivering results. A memo consisting of the respective sections will show both the “magnitude” and “direction” of the company besides other metrics. A Web3 technology startup may look nascent, but a technology vector suggests that we are entering an era of smart contracts and tokenization of assets. So they got to betting on future possibilities and future value, too. “An RF company with innovative short-range communication devices and methods may find compelling medical applications. So we look for how one market leads to the other,” says the CEO.
But Seshu emphasizes that they primarily look for a team with integrity, energy, and intelligence in that specific order! Super intelligent founders, but with low integrity, are bad bets. It looks like Azle is also taking a strategic approach to ensure subsidiaries function in harmony. They develop something called KPI (Key Performance Indicator) metrics to be met across its subsidiaries. For example, in the more traditional world, Peter Lynch’s primary KPI to assess a company has been the PEG ratio. But for Azle, there are an array of unique KPIs for each of the companies.
Seshu says that every company and business is unique, and depending on the kind of
problems they solve, the functions of product engineering to sales and marketing differ and have different cycle times. It is impossible to impose the same process and tempos on each of them. “However, we built a proprietary process based on a set of common principles those are applicable independent of the kind of business”
The main component of Azle is their proprietary process called ASEE- Azle Systems Engineering Enterprise. According to them, it takes a systems-engineering approach to identify opportunities and to serve those markets. Seshu further mentions that the transitional efforts of NPI (New product Introduction), product management to marketing are all part of the systems engineering definition of ASEE. Pertaining to aerospace and semiconductors they like to take a so-called variation of V model very seriously.
“Azle Technologies prioritizes unique technology, innovative solutions, and intellectual property in their acquisition strategy. This focus aims to scale acquired assets and deliver substantial value to both customers and shareholders. Acquisitions must seamlessly empower the company to address complex customer challenges and pursue current and future market opportunities. ” concludes Seshu Kiran.
