As a founder of Poly, I’ve learned a hard truth over the past three years: the tech industry has a serious problem with avoiding “the work.” Developers chase shiny applications, entrepreneurs obsess over product-led growth and funnels, investors shy away from services-heavy businesses, and customers increasingly outsource the gritty tasks. Even within project teams, there’s often a rush to become managers to escape doing the work. Meanwhile, AI is pitched as a magic bullet to eliminate it altogether. But as David Goggins might say if he were in software, “Stop avoiding the work—do it.”
At Poly, we embrace the work, especially the complex, undervalued craft of systems integration. Integration is often seen as “shitty work” because it lacks the glory of greenfield platforms or applications. Yet, it’s some of the most intellectually rewarding work, demanding abstraction, mental dexterity, and creativity to solve problems across uncontrollable systems. It’s the art of making things work, no matter the circumstances, and it’s far more challenging than building from scratch. Our customers love us because we tackle these challenges head-on, delivering solutions that drive real value.
Poly’s Vision: A Full-Stack Integration Revolution
Poly is revolutionizing the systems integration space by offering a unified, full-stack solution—analogous to Apple’s integration of hardware and software. We combine the team to execute integrations, the training to empower clients, the tools to develop and operate solutions, and the platform to run them. This holistic approach eliminates the fragmentation that plagues traditional integration efforts, delivering unparalleled value to our customers.
The Four Es: Our Framework for Exponential Scale
Scaling a full-stack integration business isn’t easy—it doesn’t come for free. But at Poly, we’re addressing this challenge through our “Four Es” framework: Execution, Expertise, Efficiency, and Effectiveness. Each pillar offers opportunities for significant gains, and when compounded, they unlock game-changing outcomes for enterprises.
- Execution: We work harder, faster, and better together
By fostering seamless team collaboration and leveraging Agile methodologies, we deliver integrations with speed and precision. Our focus on performance metrics ensures we consistently improve, driving faster project turnaround and higher client satisfaction. - Expertise: We build shared knowledge systems and networks
We’re creating a centralized knowledge base to capture integration patterns and solutions, reducing onboarding time and enabling reusable frameworks. By building internal communities of practice and partnering with platforms like AWS or Salesforce, we tap into a vast network of expertise to solve complex challenges. - Efficiency: We leverage procedures and technology
Through automation, modular templates, and AI-driven tools, we streamline repetitive tasks like data mapping and testing. Standardized processes and lean methodologies minimize waste, allowing us to handle more projects with fewer resources. - Effectiveness: We focus on high-value problems
We prioritize integrations that deliver significant ROI, avoiding mundane tasks. By aligning with clients’ strategic goals and offering self-service tools for simpler needs, we reserve our expertise for transformative, high-impact projects.
The Power of Compounded Gains
The scalability potential of the Four Es is staggering. A 2x improvement in each dimension—Execution, Expertise, Efficiency, and Effectiveness—yields an 8x overall gain, translating to an 8x acceleration in time-to-market and roughly a 90% reduction in costs. But we believe we can do better. A 3x or even 4x improvement in each area is achievable as our processes mature. A 4x gain across all Four Es could result in a 99% reduction in time and cost—a true game-changer for enterprises seeking seamless integrations.
This vision isn’t theoretical. By doing the work, we gain the insights needed to identify where these gains come from. Every integration project sharpens our ability to execute, deepens our expertise, streamlines our processes, and hones our focus on what matters most. And WOW do we have a lot of work to do.
Join Us in Doing the Work
At Poly, we’re building a team that thrives on the challenge of integration. We seek talent who share our passion for solving complex problems, who see the beauty in crafting solutions across diverse systems, and who are driven to achieve exponential scale through the Four Es. We’re committed to creating an environment where doing the work is celebrated, and where every project pushes us closer to our vision.
We will soon be scaling our engineering team 2x. If you’re interested in joining us to revolutionize integration, reach out.