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Case Study: Airbotics

Intro

Start the questions

Tonia: So what made you look for a company like Boundless if you can tell us a little bit the story?

Robbie: Yeah, I guess when me and Andy decided to set up Airobotics. We just had different things going on personally in terms of where we needed to be or where we wanted to be rather. And also had an idea for the company that we kind of started from the beginning that we wanted to build a kind of a remote first company. So that was really the reason why we wanted to look into a new artist so we could build that company remotely and kind of get the best talent from wherever they happen to be at the time.

Tonia: Okay. I mean, I bet to you were shopping a little bit around, you know, before choosing Boundless so What convinced you that boundless was the right choice for your company?

Robbie: Yeah, definitely. There's quite a lot of I'm sure you know, competition. There's quite a lot of offer and then there is yours. So we did spend a bit of time researching and figuring out which one would suit us better. So for Boundless I think I was just like an attention to detail, I felt that was was better than the competitors, like, we were dealing with Anthony. And then after that was Hekta. So every every interaction was very smooth, they just give the impression that they're really going to was more a personal relationship than a transaction, which, of course, there was a transaction at the end, but just felt that the we were kind of treated as you know, I will help you out and it wasn't like too salesy or pushy, and we were impressed with kind of the knowledge on the countries that you're operating in, we kind of like the approach of don't go somewhere until you really know the legal side, and you're ready to launch rather than try and get as many countries as you can. So that was kind of attractive, and then really the speed at which we could be onboarded. So like we're in a startup, so we were trying to move really quickly and get people on boarded just like you know, within days or weeks. So you were really quick compared to some of the other competitors, which we put really liked on. And that was, you know, the advertised time was the actual onboarding time, which was really good. So it wasn't like you were all we can do it in five days. And just to get us in, it was kind of true to the word. So we were impressed with this.

Tonia

Okay, thank you so much. We definitely share the startup feeling and get things done quickly. Okay, so the third question, I think, is more general, if you can tell us what makes you happiest about working with our company?

Robbie: We just liked the relationship. Boundless has been very helpful, just with both the payroll and also kind of outside business issues. Like I asked Hekta, a Portuguese teacher, and she was doing research for that, like, it's just a bit beyond the, you don't need to really do that. Like, yeah, so that was nice and accommodating some other kind of requests, like, we had to put some expenses on the star, which wasn't really advertised as a feature. But we were given kind of help with that as well. So yeah, just I think just going the extra mile, it felt like that you guys were prepared to do this. And, yeah, it's just smooth. So I can say, like, we don't really want to think too much about payroll, we want to be working on, you know, the company. So to have just like, you know, I think it took once we were on boarded, like five minutes, not even to do the payroll, and the first few months, which, you know, that's great, like time away from, from the product for us is kind of not where we want to be. So that's kind of a strange metric for us, like probably the less time we spend on buying this, the better. So we're happier.

Tonia: How has boundless helped you so far? So if you could tell us a little bit more about where were the employees, which were the circumstances of the these employees employed through our platform? how the problem was solved and what felt for these employees after being employed through boundless?

Robbie: Yeah, so the, basically what happened for us, as we were, the company formed from was funded from a US accelerator, in which case, the company had to be incorporated in the United States, but me and Andrew are based in Europe. Andre in Ireland's, I'm in Portugal, for my partner is based here for a short time. So it was, you know, something that I wanted to do personally, is to work here for that time. And Andre didn't want to leave Ireland. So the fact that we could set up in the US and still have ourselves like, you know, employed in the place that we want to be is, was really a huge plus for us. Because otherwise, we would have either been in the US or, you know, had to go through a lot more time and hurdles for something that we didn't really want to set up. So that was ideal. And also, we had some friends of mine from the past who were not, you know, we don't have funding to at the moment to expand the team, but we're working on that. And we had that in mind with Boundless as well. Like, how are we could, you know, if we grow How can we quickly hire people in other places? So I guess that hasn't happened yet, but I'm pretty sure in the next, you know, two or three hires, when if when we bring fundraising and they're not, they're gonna be in different countries, and we know how quick it's gonna be to onboard them, which is huge. So I guess Yeah, that was really the first to me and myself and Andrew were really brought on because of personal reasons of where we wanted to live. And, you know, Boundless just made it easy to meet that requirement. So yeah, I think we were maybe not like a typical case because we're quite small bus. Yeah, that was it.

Tonia: So what has exceeded your expectations is working with us?

Robbie: Yeah, I think speed just in general, there was, it was very, very fast. So that was like, the biggest thing for us, it was just really, really quick. And the kind of response time and the you know, onboarding was fast. The payroll was completely on time. Anytime we sent a message to someone, they replied, within like, a couple of hours. So just having that is really, for us, it makes a big difference, you know, just to have the feeling that someone will reply to you quickly is really, really nice to have. So I would say, number one thing is just like speed of getting on board and and speed of people being able to respond with a helpful message.

Tonia: And would you say that this is the main reason why you would recommend our product or if not, which is the main reason why you would recommend our product?

Robbie: Yeah, I think the two big reasons for us for the speed, and also just the personal touch. And just I don't know, we got the impression that you guys were some of the other ones, they seem to be gone very quickly. And they're doing that at the expense of potentially, like customer satisfaction, in terms of, you know, there, you can just get the feeling they're just trying to onboard as many people as they can not really worry too much about the experience. We didn't get that impression with Boundless.

Tonia: now more like from a suggestion kind of perspective, what do you think we could have done differently? be brutally honest

Robbie: Yeah, no, I think I did tell Hekta. So one thing I was, I was moving to Portugal. So I didn't really know, like, all of the things that I needed to do in terms of, you know, getting various numbers like social security and financial number and even like stuff, like registering for healthcare. And I guess the typical thing is people who sign up to Boundless are already living in the place that the employer wants to bring them on. But if you do have other customers who are like me, removing some of the advice I got wasn't accurate, actually, just the order of which to do things on. Like, I was told I don't need to get a Residency Certificate when I actually did. So that was a bit frustrating. I guess, it would just be really nice for each country, I know, you have a very nice guide for like, you know, taxes in the country, and, you know, Guide to Portugal guide to all the countries that you're based in. But it would be nice to have, like, if you move here, like, these are the things that you'll need to do. Like if you're European, you'll need to do this. And this is the order and but I think Portugal slicks is a special case, because things are just difficult to figure out. People don't know what order to do things in. But if you could put any information about that, like guide, sort of like moving to Ireland, moving to Spain and moving to here, I think that would help a lot. And then maybe just don't let anyone give advice until like, you're sure that that is accurate. Yeah, that was it. But it was small, like it was a small thing. And I kind of done it myself. But that would be like the only kind of thing that wasn't perfect, I guess.

Tonia: Getting into the last few questions. So if there's three words that you could use to describe your experience with us, which one you would pick up and why.

Robbie: Seamless I think probably the first one. Just because there really wasn't too much to think about it was you know, send an email and within a week, we were kind of on the way to being on boarded. So that's an everything. Friendly. I think we're welcoming just the tone of everyone I've spoken to at Boundless was really kind of open. And that was that was nice and accommodating. I think the last one, just that you're kind of happy to solve things that they're maybe just outside of the, what I would say is like, your remiss, you know. So it's another good quality to have.

Tonia: All right, thanks. Last one. Have you seen our new Flexi benefit solution?

Robbie: I mean, I think, for us, like, we're just so kind of insane now that we're not, I think when we're a bit bigger, we'll that'll be really nice to bring on, like me and Andy know each other. So we don't really have to, you know, get offers each other, like parks to work with each other. So it wouldn't be something that we're kind of looking at immediately. But I think going forward, if you're trying to bring in other people, I think it's really nice to have, you know, money is one thing, of course, but like if you can, you know, offer people like mail every now and then or a gym membership, or transport? I think it does, like it does go a long way for for just shows like the employer is kind of has the employee in mind. So. But to be honest, I haven't spent a lot of time looking through all of the options, but I think it's a good idea.

Irina: So kind of when you when were you in the accelerator? What's the sort of timeframe that you had to figure this one out? Was there ever an option that you stay back in the US? You know, kind of take us through a few of the details of what was going on back then.

Yeah, so basically, Andrew was working on this as a side project, I was working in another job at the time, I co founded another company before, and he applied for this programme. Just one of the requirements was that you had to incorporate in the US like that was that was a hard requirements. Like if you wanted to benefit from the money, the funding, you needed to incorporate the company in the US. So like, personally, I didn't. I didn't want to live in the US on neither did Andy. So when he got word of the money, I think it was in March or April, I guess. I think April actually was confirmed. And then we were just trying to figure out a way like if we're not going to live in the US, we still need a Payroll solution for us living here. So that is when we kind of started looking at EORs, And yeah, we wanted to get ourselves on the payroll was like the minimum amount of efforts like so our timeline was basically we gave ourselves enough funding for 2022. So until like, we can pay ourselves until December. But we are like now it just going to try and fundraise. And I think it's been good. So that's why like we wanted to I know there's a discount of or there's a slightly better rate, if you can sign up for a year. That's fair. Remember, like, if you pay for a year up front? Is that correct?

Irina: I don’t think that’s us

Robbie: Yeah, I think maybe I asked on three, was there a benefit of signing up for a year? And I'm sorry, I got confused there. But that's absolutely fine. I wouldn't have done it anyway, actually. Because we just don't have a year of runway. We just didn't know if we would have money next, you know, January, February.

Irina: I suppose when I when I was talking about timeline, I meant more so Okay, you've gotten the money from the is it like an accelerator programme or?

Robbie: Yeah, exactly. It's, it's an accelerator. So it's called on deck. It's kind of like a YC competitor. I don't know if you know, Y Combinator. So money and mentoring and then yeah, just access to the network who most of their network is US based on actually for us was kind of good because most of our, the most of the market that we will be serving our US companies, so it just made sense. I mean, it was really Portugal had nothing to do. It wasn't like a business decision was purely personal. There wasn't a problem for investors. Like they have quite a few international find internationally funded companies. So they don't really care. Like they just a lot of the companies are remote. So they just evaluate the company and the prospects, they don't really care where you're based, as long as you have to the corporation based in the US. So that was

Irina: Is the ability to employ anywhere changed your approach to hiring?

Yeah, I think before the pandemic, or during the pandemic, I was working remotely, anyway. And it was working fine. I mean, Andy actually worked together with my previous startup for a while he worked for us for a bit before he moved on. And we we'd already known that we could work together in a remote way. So I wasn't too worried about that. But in terms of, like, when we started our politics, we thought like, we kind of made a decision like, are we going to be a remote first company or not? And we said, Yes, we will. And I don't Yeah, I mean, for us, it works for what we're doing that really doesn't make too much difference. And it's, it's nice as well, because we're in the same time zone. So it's really easy to manage that.

Wrap up and cheers

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