Reaching 1 million customers with Theodore Sotiriou (CPO, Mishipay)

From a background in marketing to building startups in Greece, Theodore’s path eventually led him to London and Mishipay. In this interview, he reflects on the challenges and learnings that have shaped Mishipay’s evolution into a leading self-checkout software provider.

The journey to a million customers

“My first job was a six-month internship in marketing, far from the tech world. I had no idea what product management was, but I knew how to write code and create programs. After that six-month internship, I was invited on a scholarship to a Stanford summer school that introduced me to startups and product management.

“After a few years in Greece as co-founder at a startup, I decided to move to London for a master’s degree. Then, I joined Mishipay in its early stage after it just raised a seed round. I was one of the first employees to join the London office as a product manager, and half a decade later, I became the CPO.

“I always wanted to be part of a company that aimed to reach one million customers, and I was obsessed with that. Fast forward to today, and we’re celebrating reaching one million customers, a milestone that took unexpected twists and turns.

Covid-19 and the cost of living crisis

“The Covid pandemic was a mixed experience. Essential stores flourished, but non-essential ones faced closure. The pandemic highlighted the urgent need for automation, especially in the face of rising costs and challenges in staffing.

“Recently, the rising cost of living worldwide, coupled with the difficulty in finding and retaining staff in-store, has accelerated the adoption of automation. Even unexpected regions like Dubai and India are embracing self-checkout technology.”

What are your three key learnings from reaching one million customers?

“Leverage: Initially we were focused on B2C, and we realised the power of leveraging existing retailers. Our self-checkout software needed the store’s marketing and in-store experience. Identifying the user’s location, in this case, inside the store, was crucial. For us, our users were in the store or the retailer itself. For others, it might be a blend of both B2B and B2C users.

“Adoption: Recognizing that not everyone adopts a product immediately, we delved into customer adoption trends. Targeting the right customer and understanding their journey was paramount, moving beyond superficial adoption through discounts.

“Living with the product: Team immersion in in-store experiences proved invaluable for us. From the team using the self-checkout kiosks, to observing user interactions and interacting with them to understand whether they see the value, living with the product ensured a deeper understanding of user needs, uncovering gaps, and refining the offering. Experiencing this real-time feedback on the product aligns teams who aren’t as close to the product’s experience.”

With a team of 22-23, how did collaborative efforts drive Mishipay’s growth?

“Joining Mishipay at an early stage empowered me to mould the company into a product-centric one through effective communication and cross-collaboration. Books by Marty Cagan inspired these foundational principles, combined with spending extensive time with teams and clients to understand the best way to operate.

“Engineers at Mishipay underwent this mindset shift, fostering effective communication. This collaborative approach helped them to understand the product’s pain points and the overall business goal. Additionally, formal meetings were essential, especially with enterprise retailers, to build trust and extract valuable insights.”

What is Mishipay’s mission, and what lies ahead, especially regarding AI integration?

“Our mission is clear: eliminating the pain of queuing in stores. We have a purpose, as long as people continue to shop physically and despise queues. Our expanded solutions include self-service kiosks, and mobile scanning.

“With AI’s help, we aim to solve more pain points that retailers and customers have, including addressing theft and further increasing the simplicity of buying items at stores. We have already partnered with software company NVIDA and are using cameras to get computer vision inside the stores. So, for example, if a customer is using a self-service kiosk, we can identify what they are actually picking up through CCTV to reduce theft. We have launched this as a private beta and plan to launch it officially in July 2024.”