Make the most of technology to internationalise your start-up

Do you remember the times we had to run around the town handing in resumes to managers of local businesses to find a job? The Internet has changed it all. You can still go to see the hiring manager in person, but nothing really prevents you from applying for a job while comfortably lying on your sofa. Just as technology allows everyone to broaden their job search scope, it also offers companies solutions to tackle new markets. The example of Yeeply, the Spanish start-up specialised in mobile application development, illustrates perfectly how technology can stir social innovation helping SMEs conquer markets “from a distance”.

A start-up with a global vocation

Founded in 2012 by two young entrepreneurs, Luis Picurelli and Héctor Badal, Yeeply is a platform to match mobile developers with brands that need to create apps. Yeeply’s team does not only assist clients in finding the right developers but also takes care of project management.

“There is talent everywhere. Technology allows us to reach it easily. That is how we find a huge part of our certified developers; they find us online and thanks to the internet. And it’s exactly the same for our internal team. We have found the right people thanks to the internet.” explains Héctor. The startup has hundreds of collaborators and clients in forty countries and only about twenty people working in its Valencian office. The project managers stay in daily contact with developers, through telephone, email, WhatsApp and Skype, to supervise their work. The developers also have to send them regular reports so that the commercial team and the client stayup-to-date on the progress of the project. Creating a mobile app for a French client with a developer from Colombia and with the project director from Spain may sound like a mess for someone, but for Yeeply it’s a daily routine. And it works! The startup has already realised 1 500 projects.

Changing marketing patterns

Even the best entrepreneurial idea wouldn’t ever pay off without continuous efforts and a good dollop of patience. It is true that the fact of not being “physically” present on a market makes its conquest a bit more complicated. It’s unlikely that a French, Portuguese or Italian journalist ever comes to Yeeply’s office, no matter how successful and innovative the company may be. It’s just too far and it’s still Spanish to everyone’s eyes, despite its global reach. Although Yeeply organises regular trips to different countries to see its clients and partners, it is impossible for them to go spontaneously to a meeting in Paris, Rome, Berlin and even less in São Paulo. Digital marketing is absolutely essential for the company’s existence on the global market. This is why its team consists of SEO experts, social network strategists, passionate bloggers and…phone call addicts. Have you ever heard that, according to Albert Mehrabian’s research, body language accounts for 55% of the impression that people get about their interlocutor? At Yeeply, the numbers are clearly different: the commercial’s voice is far more important than his body language, since the company usually uses phone to communicate with the clients.

To succeed, the startup needs to overcome the barrier that many prospects have at the idea of entrusting their app projects to people whom they have never met. Their reticence, however, has been weakening over time as the company’s portfolio has been growing. “We wanted Yeeply to become an international marketplace and that is why we focused on digital marketing since the very beginning of our project. It allows us to spare thousands of kilometres of travel and to have permanent visibility on the global market. In my opinion, businesses should invest in technology if they want to go global”, recommends Héctor, “it will let them go faster and further”.