Tutela
Propelled by the emergence of 5G networks, over the past year Tutela has grown revenues by over 400%, headcount by 133%, customers by 500%, expanded internationally, and has outgrown two offices.
Recipient of: Scale-Up of the Year
Interviewee: Hunter Macdonald
What’s your company’s story?
It took Tutela 6 years to become an overnight success. The company spent half a decade developing a technology platform while pinching every penny. Now, only two years after commercial launch, we have more than 300 million installs and customers on four continents. We’re in growth mode, facing new challenges every day associated with globalization, scale, and making sure we hold on to the best parts of our Victoria start-up culture.
Tutela was founded in Victoria and launched out of the Alacrity Foundation with the support of Owen Matthews and Wesley Clover – who have Canada’s deepest experience in telecom. We have also received investment and support from Yaletown, Vancouver Founder Fund, and East Valley Ventures.
Tutela crowdsources more mobile network statistics than any other company in the world to help mobile operators plan their network roll-outs and ensure that they deliver great service to their subscribers.
Who do you work with? What are some interesting projects you’re involved in?
Tutela’s public accounts include Telefonica, who have launched us as their global standard for network benchmarking, and Nokia who have announced that Tutela will be their global provider of crowdsourced data and insights.
What are you most proud of in the work that you do?
We have an amazing team that I’m incredibly proud of. It has been indescribably rewarding watching their personal growth.
Over the past year every senior member of our staff has had to step up to support our scaling business – whether in the form of taking on new responsibilities, training new staff, or handing off jobs and trusting them to others (often the hardest).
Tutela has always endeavored to hire the best and the brightest. We empower those individuals by providing them transparency into the business and it’s inner workings. The result has been exceptional performance with almost no employee churn.
If your team had a theme song, what would it be and why?
Hotline Bling, by Drake.
Why? Because it tells the story of how a strong cellular network is imperative to Drake’s happiness.
Tutela collects cellular network insights to improve the world’s mobile networks. Knowing we help Drake receive such important calls, even late at night, is truly fulfilling.
The song repeats how Drake’s love interest “used to call [him] on [his] cell phone”, and how “ever since [he] left the city” the calls have stopped.
Maybe she doesn’t have good reception? Maybe poor Drake’s provider should improve their rural infrastructure?
This song is a cry for (cellular network) help. Tutela is here to answer.
What are some hopes and dreams for your company?
Tutela is disrupting an industry and having a lot of fun doing it. We’re challenging the status quo and succeeding. Now as 5G networks emerge the potential to displace our competitors and alternatives is greater than ever. My dream for Tutela is that we make a large and lasting impact on the mobile industry while continuing to grow our business and the number of families it supports.
Why is Victoria a great spot for your organization?
Victoria gives Tutela access to world class talent. There are amazing individuals looking to join the west coast technology sector who don’t want to live in Vancouver, Seattle, or San Francisco.
Despite tech growing to become Victoria’s largest sector, as a community we’ve also been able to hang on to a culture of mutual support. There’s no one in town who wouldn’t meet to provide whatever help they could. We are all each other’s cheerleaders.