Interview with Ben Peterson, CEO of BambooHR
20 December 2011 - We asked Ben Peterson, Co-Founder and CEO of BambooHR, a few questions about his company and his view of the markets they serve.
Ben Peterson
CEO
GETAPP.COM: Who are you and what is your role in the company?
PETERSON: Ben Peterson. I'm most often referred to as the Bagel Delivery Boy, but I am also Co-Founder and CEO.
GETAPP.COM: Can you briefly present your management team?
PETERSON:Previously, I was founder and CEO of MingleMatch, Inc. which sold to publicly held Spark Networks in May 2005. I was co-founder at States Best, now Allegiance Technologies, Sr. Executive VP of Business Development and Online Sales at MyComputer.com (now Omniture), acquired by Adobe, where I lead deals with eBay, Go2Net, Lycos, and other major web portals back in the wild west of the web.
Ryan Sanders: COO and Co-founder BambooHR. Executive Vice President Spark Networks, Vice President MingleMatch, Inc. Product Manager at MyComputer.com (now Omniture), Project Manager at Candesa. Ryan lead product releases for MyComputer.com and managed projects for Disney, Novell, Hitachi Data Systems, Intel, Scifi Channel, Lucent, and HP, among others. Ryan is a UI guru and efficiency addict.
Ted Finch: VP of Marketing and Sales. Ted is a former VP of Sales and Marketing with TAC (now MarketStar), a VP at Goldmine Software, VP at Harcourt, Sr. VP at Motorola, VP at GE. In addition, he helped form Red Storm Entertainment with Tom Clancy, and led the marketing team that published Netscape Navigator, the #1 best-selling software in the world at the time that inaugurated the .com era. Ted has launched over 450 products into the channel for over 200 vendors (including Microsoft, HP, Adobe, Corel, Intel, Aldus, Epson, AOL, WordPerfect, Novel, Autodesk, Citrix, IBM, Sony, Disney, Mitsubishi, Lotus, DCA, Netscape, plus over 50 start-ups with SaaS products).
GETAPP.COM: Are you a cloud or a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company?
PETERSON: We are a Software-as-a-Service company...and of course in the cloud.
GETAPP.COM: What are the points of difference of your solutions?
PETERSON: Among human resource software, specifically the HRIS/HRMS solutions - there is a gaping hole in offerings provided for the small business (companies under 200 employees). The legacy code of ERP and other 'closed' solutions, including payroll, do not provide the right fit for what small businesses need, nor is the price in the realm of possibility for small business to afford. BambooHR is optimized for the small business. The rapid implementation, ease of use, lavish support, and affordability of BambooHR makes it easy for businesses to see why we're a match for their unique needs. Also, no long-term contracts, no hidden costs, no licensing fees, and no training fees are differentiators.
GETAPP.COM: How would you like to be evaluated by a prospect?
PETERSON: With a demo, a free test drive, and price for performance comparison. Our team loves counting how many times we hear the word "wow" during a demo, the test drive shows how BambooHR is optimized just for you, and the price relieves budget concerns in a blink.
GETAPP.COM: Why do your customers buy from you?
PETERSON:
1. Simplicity: free trial, rapid implementation, easy to use, customized UI, no training needed
2. The 'RIGHT' Fit: optimized for the market, feature rich, open API and partner integrations, software grows with you
3. Excellent Value: we sit in between spreadsheets and bulky systems, price/performance leader for small business
4. Unparalleled Support: incredible resources for our clients, and lightning fast
GETAPP.COM: Can you mention some of key clients?
PETERSON: Among others we work with Atlassian, SEOmoz, Doba, NES, etc,.. You can see a sampling of our clients in the 'success stories' section of our website.
GETAPP.COM: What do you see as the key trend emerging in the industry?
PETERSON:The obvious shift in the human resource software industry is towards SaaS and the Cloud. Interestingly, in this specific space, it has been adopted and understood more rapidly in larger organizations - perhaps because HRIS has been so cost prohibitive in the SMB market. However, we see good signs with our own growth that it's moving quickly into the small business space.
GETAPP.COM: What is THE most important message you feel you should get across to someone considering buying your solutions?
PETERSON: Small business human resource teams usually consist of only 1 or 2 people, are ridiculously overwhelmed, and barely keep their heads above water. Go make your job, your company, and your life better by using BambooHR's software which is built specifically for you. Come kick the tires for free and we'll prove it. You'll have an exceptional experience.
GETAPP.COM: Thanks for your time, Ben.