Buk: The new Spotify of Human Resources?

This article was written and published in Spanish and has been translated into English via Google Translate. Click here to read the original article.

In 2016, four friends wanted to change the way human resources are managed in companies, competing with giants such as SAP and Oracle. The key was in the cloud. Today, Buk plans to bill $3 million in 2019 and start planting its flag in Latin America.

Santiago Lira (31) and Jaime Arrieta (32) were with their respective wives dining in Chicago. It ran 2016 and they lived in the United States while they were taking an MBA. They already had a clear idea of ​​the startup they would set up together with the other two partners - Felipe and Ricardo Sateler (32 and 35) - who were in Santiago. But they could not find the name. It should be short and not registered in an internet domain.

They sat at the table proposing not to stop until they defined it. They spent hours and tried a thousand alternatives. Nothing worked. "Suddenly we looked at a children's book that was open, the one that said simply, 'book'. It was ideal because we wanted our startup to be like an open book of knowledge, but as that word was clearly taken, we adapted it to 'buk' and... it was closed," says Arrieta, CEO of Buk.

Maybe it does not have the glamour of many startups, but solve a fundamental problem in companies, mainly medium and large: human resources management. For this, several ingredients of this new generation of entrepreneurs apply: algorithms, computer development, data in the cloud, a low monthly payment per user and a lot of innovation and flexibility. In other words, buk is a people management platform that allows you to automate all the processes of a company in this area, such as remunerations, talent management, assistance and electronic signature.

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They began timidly with two clients at the end of 2017 and today they number more than 300 among which stand out WOM, Codelco, Besalco, BTGPactual, Finis Terra, SKC and UC Christus Health Network, Besalco, Echeverría Izquierdo and Tarragona, among others.

But let's go back to dinner in Chicago. Santiago was the development manager of Falabella.com and with Jaime they had realized that HR in the United States had been digitalized in such a way that the manager of that area "was much more concerned with the career plan of the employees, be closer to people, instead of being all day in a computer, "says Santiago. "In Chile, however," adds Jaime, "it was just the opposite. The personnel area is full of papers and even, in many medium-sized companies, they spend a great deal of time on the subject of remunerations ".

Both partners, along with Felipe, speak interspersed throughout the interview, but their coordination is so perfect that it seems to be a person. They laugh, they look at each other with complicity and they correct themselves kindly, while they wear the shirts with the logo of their startup. "The key to our growth is the team and the corporate culture. That's why we have never wanted to receive capital from investors or apply for funds. We would grow in a way that we do not want and the key is to be organic, focus on sales, "says Felipe, who along with his brother had more experience as entrepreneurs when students from Chicago called them to build the company and start programming, something that was not difficult, because everyone knew how to do it. "It was mostly a big investment of time," they say almost in chorus. They implemented their solution in the company Maforsa and a school (Matte Mesías Foundation). They already had something demonstrable. A pilot.

In December 2016, Santiago and Felipe came to Chile to spend Christmas. They opened the gifts and the next day they spent a week to meet with about 40 companies to show what they had and understand more local reality. "Companies with 100 to 500 employees did not achieve an efficient process in the HR area," says the CEO. They got a couple of customers and that's when the strong sales and development process began.

The great step

"It was very difficult for us to convince companies in Chile, because they are very reluctant to try something new. Even less if we were a startup that had so few months, compared to HR solutions that are decades old. IN THE USA it is the opposite. There is another attitude towards the entrepreneur," recalls Jaime.

Until October of 2017 - with the four partners already living in Chile - the great step was taken: WOM. Finally, a large company dared to buy its software.

"We were fighting in a tender with giants like SAP, Oracle and Sonda, and we had been there for six months!" says Santiago.

Felipe adds: "The WOM manager told us: 'we have an entrepreneurial soul and you... are entrepreneurs. Let's go! The worst that can happen is that the thing does not work. ' And it worked, being a great milestone that made us grow until now."

They were able to hire more people, although the partners divided their time between Buk and their respective activities. Felipe two days a week; Jaime a little more and Santiago, during the nights, because he was still in Falabella. "In the end, we were in survival mode," Jaime laughs.

Even so, they continued with their own resources. "In Chile, the Venture market is not developed and very little aligned with startups. They want more than anything to sell their participation in 4 or 5 years. They are very close to the financial issue, "criticizes Santiago, adding:" without investments we are achieving growth between 20 and 25% per month. That is, we double sales in five months."

As is. At the end of 2018 there were 16 people and today they are 30. They already have US $ 1.5 million in turnover so far this year and plan to close it for US $ 3 million. The business model is based on charging between US $ 2 and US $ 4 per "card." That is, by employee within an organization. With this amount, the company can access all its services, under cloud computing in a platform hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS). "We are a kind of Netflix or Spotify in the area of ​​Human Resources and our key is to provide excellent customer service," says Santiago. Felipe adds: "It is an ideal solution for companies that have a variable spreadsheet, such as construction companies."

They already have contracts in Colombia (Grupo Alto and Fuller) and in Peru (Comax and Sky Airlines), countries where they want to begin their expansion to Latin America. As for the technological edge, in the coming months they will launch an Artificial Intelligence solution, which allows estimating the labor turnover and the probability that a person leaves the company; and in the second semester of 2019, they will implement an intelligent module for selection and recruitment processes.

This article was written and published in Spanish and has been translated into English via Google Translate. Click here to read the original article.

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