“Never stop training, because the digital era we are living in is constantly changing and technology makes giant strides. You have to be ready!”
This month we sat down and talked to Héctor Badal – Founder & COO at Yeeply.com, a platform that helps companies select the most suitable professionals for digital and technological projects.
Read the inspiring story told us by Héctor about his entrepreneurial journey, Yeeply, and peculiarities of hiring in tech.
5 min read
What was your first entrepreneurial experience?
I started my voyage as an entrepreneur back in 2011, as a founding partner of Fruit Away, a catering company specialized in the sale of natural fruit juices, crepes and salads with a clear vocation for franchising. Fruit Away achieved success in the first 6 months of existence with several investors in the portfolio and development of parallel growth lines: catering and events, and mobile sales carts.
How the idea to create Yeeply was born?
As a good engineer, I have always been passionate about technology and digital transformation. After getting my master’s degree, I started looking for a job. While talking to many different entrepreneurs and CEOs from all sorts of companies, I realised that most of them were suffering from the same pain: they found it difficult to find an external digital partner for the development of their technological products.
“Most young aspiring entrepreneurs make common mistakes. In my opinion, two of the most critical points are problem validation and financial dependence.“
What was the most challenging stage in the company’s development and how did you overcome it?
Yeeply’s worst moment came undoubtedly with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. After years of steady growth, from the Spanish to the international market, the virus took us by surprise and hit us hard.
We had to scale back our marketing budget and make some tough choices for the good of the company. With regret, we had to say goodbye to some of our teammates in order to reduce the workforce, as well as to further outsource some areas of the company.
What was the most significant and most meaningful support on that journey?
I feel like a very lucky entrepreneur because during my long journey with Yeeply I have always been accompanied by trustworthy and capable companions.
In addition to the support of family, friends and top-notched workmates, I also feel grateful to the incubators who believed in our project.
Just to name one, PlugandPlay, but also all the partners who accompanied us along the way, who provided all their resources and experience to guide us in our growth, and to introduce us to the world of investors.
Now in the role of a mentor, do you see a common mistake that most entrepreneurs make?
Based on my personal experience and that of some fellow entrepreneurs, I think I can say that most young aspiring entrepreneurs make common mistakes.
In my opinion, two of the most critical points are problem validation and financial dependence.
As regards the first, many young startuppers skip the problem identification and idea validation stage. In fact, driven by an irrepressible desire to do business, they do not pay enough attention to their target audience’s pain, and end up convincing themselves that the problem exists only because they want it to exist. This conviction leads to a biased analysis of the sample and an erroneous validation process of the idea. If the project is based on these flawed assumptions, the startup is doomed to fail.
But even more important, I believe, is the ability to monetize and get to billing as quickly as possible, shortening the breakeven so as not to have to depend on external turnarounds and resources.
What would you do differently looking back at all your entrepreneurial experience?
Looking back, if I could correct my entrepreneurial path, I would focus on being profitable from moment zero. Over time, I realized that organic and sustainable growth and financial independence are key factors for a young startup. I advise young entrepreneurs to look for ways to self-sustain in the short to medium term, to free themselves from the constraint of external investment and resources.
Is Yeeply now everything you have dreamed of? What are the future plans for the company?
I firmly believe that an entrepreneur, to be successful, can never consider his project as finished and perfect. Consequently, my answer is NO. This does not erase our awareness of Yeeply’s growth and achievements over time. Our mission is to be the reference point in the B2B market for all companies, both SMEs and Startups, for any kind of digital solution. And it has not been achieved yet. We want to be the trusted digital partner for all entrepreneurs both in Spain and throughout Europe. Our goal is therefore to grow internationally in order to consolidate the provision of our excellent technological services. Among other objectives, our biggest challenge in the medium term is to ensure the easy placement of tech profiles within startups, which, due to their business model, require maximum flexibility. It is a service we call RTT, Remote Tech Talent, and it is already working in Spain.
What is unique about Yeeply and its technology?
Yeeply’s greatest strength, which has determined our unique selling proposition since the company’s foundation, has been the ability to adopt an in-house developed digital business model. This has allowed us to improve our internal digital processes and keep them up-to-date over the years.
In this respect, the cornerstone of our business model is our online platform, through which we quickly and efficiently manage all Leads’ digital projects that land at our CRM. Thanks to this tool, we can adopt an agile work method. We manage the workload efficiently and 100% remotely, which translates into a highly scalable service without any deficit in service quality.
“The only advice I would give is that before starting the search, hiring companies and startups define as accurately as possible the profile they are looking for.“
What advice can you give to hiring companies to make the most out of using the platform?
The only advice I would give is that before starting the search, hiring companies and startups define as accurately as possible the profile they are looking for. And that they make use of the data.
Once the requirements in terms of skills, price range, timeframe and selection method are clear, failure rates drop dramatically. And you can count on Yeeply indeed. We are leveraging the dynamism of an ecosystem made up of startups and entrepreneurs, and we want to actively and proactively contribute to its formation. Thanks to the ever-increasing talent pool generated through our close-knit network, we are able to pick up on placement opportunities for remote tech talents with increasing frequency.
Are there special considerations they should take when hiring internationally?
My suggestion is to always keep two key factors in mind, talent and reliability. Regarding the former, I believe that if we focus our energy on finding talented people who believe in our project, it is difficult to go wrong. It doesn’t matter if the effort will be huge and if it will take us longer to find them, what counts is detecting the potential of the resources. People make companies.
On the other hand, reliability also plays a key role. There are many entrepreneurs who contact us every month saying that they entrusted themselves to the wrong hands, to self-styled professionals who assure quality at low cost and in record time, who then turn out to be totally incompetent or even fraudulent. This is one of the main pains that we at Yeeply try to solve.
How can talents join the platform? Do you have any advice for them?
We are constantly looking for teams and professionals specialised in all kinds of technology services, who will put their skills at the disposal of clients who require technological talent. Our Business Developers and Marketing specialists teams work daily to find the most interesting and ambitious projects to assign to these talents.
Joining our network is very easy: just leave your contact details on our dedicated page.
My personal advice? Never stop training, because the digital era we are living in is constantly changing and technology makes giant strides.
You have to be ready!
Ekaterina Efimova, Marketing Manager at Volvero
