Interview with the CEO of one of the fastest-growing SaaS startups: Tim Reigner, founder of Smart Access

Hi Tim, can you give us a brief overview of yourself and what you do at Smart Access?

• I’m Tim Regnier, CEO and founder of Smart Access.

• We built what we call SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) execution software. It helps distribution centers align frontline productivity with data-driven SOP execution.

• Distribution centers rely heavily on SOPs to keep their commitments—whether that’s shipping to stores, grocery retailers, or medical companies.

What size distribution centers do you typically serve? Larger or medium-sized?

• We work with organizations that have over five distribution centers, typically with a thousand or more employees.

• Our largest customer has 27,000 people in their buildings and 200 facilities overall.

How do you sell them on using Smart Access instead of building something in-house?

• Building in-house takes too long, is usually more expensive, and software isn’t their main business.

• We deliver productivity, accuracy, and safety at scale, which is hard to replicate in-house.

How big is your team?

• We have about 28 people total, including some folks from Athyna.

• We’re growing now.

• We started in Canada. I’m now in San Francisco. We’re about half American, half Canadian, plus people in South America and one person in New Zealand.

Which roles have you offshored?

• We have a customer support person who deals directly with customers.

• We have both a front-end and back-end developer from Athyna.

How did you discover Athyna?

• It was via the Bay Area Times.

• I’d also heard on a podcast.

• I eventually looked into it more carefully and connected the dots. That’s how I realized what Athyna was.

What was the hiring process like through Athyna, compared to what you’re used to?

• Normally, we’d post on LinkedIn, sift through a million applicants, and that’s a huge time sink.

• Athyna just presented us with a few strong candidates who truly fit what we needed.

• For developers, especially, we wanted someone who could get started quickly. Athyna helped us find that person right away.

Is your company fully remote now, and how was the onboarding process for these new team members?

• We went remote during the pandemic and haven’t returned to an office.

• Bringing remote hires on board isn’t difficult for us; we’re used to it.

• The Athyna candidates seemed to understand remote work well and integrated easily.

In terms of hiring costs and time-to-hire, how does it compare to your normal process?

• Time-to-hire was really fast. We were picky with certain roles, but Athyna had strong candidates right away.

• Cost-wise, if I hired a San Francisco-based back-end developer with the same quality, it might be 3x the cost.

• In Canada, it might be 30% more than what we pay, but we might not get the same quality for that price.

Looking ahead, how do you see the balance between expanding with Athyna and expanding locally in San Francisco?

• We might set up a local office for some core people in San Francisco.

• We’re also in a confusing time for software development because of AI. Everything we build and how we build it feels like it’s changing.

• We’ll likely be looking for people who can understand the job to be done and adapt to these evolving AI-driven workflows.

• We might shift to building different types of software or agents instead of traditional apps.

Is AI already affecting your productivity?

• Yes, I believe so. Our developers say it’s speeding up tasks that used to take hours.

• It’s hard to quantify how many people we’d otherwise need if we didn’t have AI tools.

• We’re debating whether to build certain features or just create an AI agent that can serve multiple needs.

Tim, any other thoughts you think Bay Area Times readers should know?

• Our experience with Athyna has been great because we found excellent people.

• We didn’t want a “task-based” relationship; we wanted them fully integrated into the team.

• Our Athyna hires really feel like part of Smart Access. They’re culturally aligned, eager to help, and supportive—especially in tough times (e.g., one teammate’s father passed, and they reached out personally).

• It feels very different from a typical outsourcing arrangement.

Any recommendations for companies hoping to build a better remote/global culture—tools or practices?

• We’re a “cameras on” company. It keeps people engaged in remote meetings.

• We also have robust note-taking tools (like Fathom), and we store transcripts for action items.

• Slack is our primary messaging tool.

• Overall, we try to foster direct engagement. Remote doesn’t mean disconnected.

Thank you, Tim!

If you want to learn more about Athyna, especially how they can help your company, click here to receive more information.

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*Sponsored by Athyna. We have equity in the company.

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