1. Challenges in the Early Years & Leadership Response
Like many startups, QUELA faced challenges around funding, customer validation, and building a high-performing team with limited resources. In the early days, we were bootstrapped — running on cheap $300 laptops and 16-hour days, whilst both founders, Nikolas Hardwick and Avaneesh Dash, were studying in high school. The two founders leaned heavily into transparency, agility, and a customer-first mindset. We prioritized rapid prototyping, tested relentlessly, and moved as fast as we could. That adaptability helped us not just survive but lay a resilient foundation.
2. Competitive Differentiation & Sustainable Advantage
Our biggest differentiator is how we design and build our solutions to fit each customer. By leading every solution for every customer with a design-and development focus, we can create the right solutions for our clients every single time, be it a custom backend system for one client, or an AI system for another. No two clients are the same, and each has different needs. QUELA aims to deliver maximum satisfaction to its clients – and it works. Previous clients continue to rave about QUELA and send referral leads to us, indicating our strategies success.
3. Staying Ahead of Trends & Shaping the Future
We try to operate at the bleeding edge of AI and Software development, so staying ahead is non-negotiable. Our team maintains weekly internal “trend huddles,” engages with global dev communities, and contributes to online discussion. Emerging trends we’re watching:
• AI copilots in every workflow
• Privacy-centric machine learning
• Autonomous agents for enterprise operations
• Hyper-personalized SaaS products driven by usage data
• Physical, secure AI “Turnkey” workstations for businesses.
4. Talent Development & Career Growth
We treat every employee like a founder-in-training. Our interns contribute to live products within days. Every team member has access to mentorship, an education stipend, and ownership pathways. We regularly bring interns into the field to speak with clients in-person and get hands-on experience with them.
5. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
We focus our CSR efforts on education and accessibility. We run AI literacy workshops for underserved youth and support tech upskilling programs in the Asia-Pacific region. Our founder Nikolas Hardwick and Avaneesh Dash regularly speak at Business and Tech events, often to inspire the youth. Our impact goal is to enable 10,000 learners from low-opportunity backgrounds to gain future ready digital skills by 2030.
6. Customer-Centric Approach & Feedback Culture
Customer obsession is at the core of our operating model. We embed user feedback into every sprint cycle and host regular co-design sessions with clients. Our roadmap is 50% customer driven. Every feature we build must directly address a real user friction point or unlock measurable ROI.
7. Adapting to the Future of Work
We’ve adopted a hybrid-first model, with optional co-working days. All systems — from onboarding to sprint planning — are cloudnative. Mental health and burnout prevention are non-negotiable. We offer flexible hours and quarterly deep-work weeks to reduce meeting fatigue.
8. 5-Year Vision & Strategic Growth
We aim to scale to a global client base with dedicated hubs in APAC, North America, and Europe. Our strategic priorities:
• Expand enterprise partnerships,
• Develop proprietary AI infrastructure,
• Build a world-class internal product team,
• Scale our internship and mentorship programs to become a regional tech-talent magnet in New Zealand and Australia.
9. Final Message to Global Readers
If you’re building something bold — whether you’re a startup founder, enterprise leader, or curious technologist — don’t wait for perfect conditions. Build fast. Stay human. Learn from your users. Data is king, so map out absolutely everything. Read books, watch videos, and dedicate your life to what you’re doing. You need to become “That guy/girl” for your chosen area. And remember: the best tech isn’t just smart. It’s invisible. PS: If you ever wants a few nuggets of advice, hit up Nikolas Hardwick or Avaneesh Dash on LinkedIn and ask for a word. We want everyone to succeed and will help as much as we can.
Read more: Top Business Magazine
