From Small Town Dial-Up to $12M in Connected Companies

From Small Town Dial-Up to $12M in Connected Companies

Albert Steed has a lot going on.

What started with a gym in 2016 morphed into a trifecta of interconnected businesses that today serve 1000+ clients across 13 countries, schools across the East Coast, and soon, hospital and school staff with wearable safety devices.

It’s all built around one theme: communication, access, and security.

I interviewed Albert to find out how he did it. 

Who are you and what’s your business?

I’m Albert Steed, based in Wilmington since 2000, and I run three businesses:

1. Hybrid Athlete Foundation: Founded in 2016 - a software + hardware solution that gives gyms and studios 24/7 access control via mobile app. We’re now active in over 13 countries.
   

2. True IP Solutions: Founded in 2013 - a voice-over-IP, access control, and security provider serving schools and businesses across the East Coast.
   

3. True Guardian (launching soon):  a wearable security device that provides real-time location, audio/video streaming, and two-way communication for professionals in vulnerable situations.
   

How did you get into this?

I went to UNCW for management information systems, then jumped into support roles in public safety software, agriculture tech, and pharmaceutical IT before becoming CIO of a FinTech firm. After a few years there and a PE exit, I joined the family business, True IP..

My dad ran a rural ISP back in the ‘90s and later spun up True IP after seeing a gap and wanting to join in with a more modern VoIP system solution. Meanwhile, I opened a gym that I didn’t want to staff, so I built a keyless entry system for it. Other gym owners started asking for it. That turned into Hybrid AF. Now we serve yoga studios, CrossFit gyms, Pilates, Jiu Jitsu, and even golf simulators.

How did you get your first customers?

For True IP, our first client was a rural school district that let us deploy four cloud-based phone systems across campuses. They still use our platform today.

Hybrid started with 20 friends joining my gym. That turned into 50, and we outgrew our space in 6 weeks. Other gym owners took notice and asked how they could do the same. We launched the Hybrid app five months later. That got us our first four clients, of which  three are still active today.

What’s worked best for growth and retention?

Two things: deliver more value than we charge for, and support like it’s our superpower.

We don’t offshore any support. Clients know they’re calling someone local who understands their business. And even for our new hardware product, we’re committed to building entirely in the U.S.

Our retention rate is rock solid across all businesses. That’s rare in the gym space, but we focus on long-term relationships.

Where is the business today and where are they headed?

Across all businesses, we’re doing over $12M annually.

True IP just brought on a senior exec from the reseller world and is pursuing tuck-in acquisitions. We’re even bidding on a top-10 U.S. school district.

Hybrid is considering hiring our first sales rep to keep up with growth. We’ve never needed one thanks to referrals and word of mouth.

True Guardian is our biggest swing. We’re building custom hardware and software from scratch and plan to sell through other integrators like True IP. The first demo unit lands this week.

Was there ever a moment you thought it wouldn’t work?

COVID nearly killed Hybrid. Every gym shut down. We cut rates in half to help clients survive.

But in July 2020, we sent a blast email to 7,000 prospects with the subject line: “Hybrid AF: Your COVID-19 Recovery Tool.”

It got a 87% open rate.

We doubled sales that year and kept growing. Then in 2023, we signed nearly 200 new clients.

What do outsiders not get about your space?

In telecom, people don’t realize how many outdated phone systems are still out there. Startups might live on Google Voice, but legacy systems are still in school closets across the country.

People assume it’s all dying. It’s not. It’s just shifting into unified comms, and we’re there for the shift.

Favorite tools?

We use Office365, Slack, and Zoho One for everything from accounting to project management. We chose Zoho over Salesforce because it was more affordable when we were small.

We also eat our own dog food of course: our own phone and video conferencing platforms, True Talk Mobile and True Collab.

Favorite books or podcasts?

• Never Split the Difference

• The Go-Giver (I paid my kids to listen to it!)
  Unreasonable Hospitality

• Winning
  
  

Podcast-wise: Joe Rogan (for biz guests), and Patrick Bet-David is great.

If you had to start a totally new business outside of your industry today, what would it be?

Honestly? I wouldn’t go outside my industry.

Currently, our businesses are tied together around communications, access, and security. I see so many founders chasing shiny objects and doing everything poorly.

I’d rather go deep where we’re strong. Or maybe help my wife with a boutique.

Best advice for other founders?

Don’t go it alone. Surround yourself with people smarter than you and actually listen.

And keep perspective. My favorite analogy is: every day has 86,400 seconds. If something wastes 600 seconds (10 minutes), are you really going to throw out the other 85,800?

Let it go. Move on. Don’t let 10 bad minutes ruin a good day.

Takeaways:

• A lot of successful businesses start with solving your own problem.

• When you deliver more value than you charge for, and provide world-class support, people stick around.
  

• Don’t chase trends. Build around what you know and what your customers need.

• U.S.-built products with local support can still win big.