Kunal Pandya
Aug 3, 20153 min
I joined SuccessFactors in 2008 as I saw it as a opportunity to be part of the disruption of the HCM industry. Many would see joining a 'Talent Management Software' company, exactly one month before Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy triggering the global financial crisis, as bad timing. Instead, it became a career defining moment.
During the peak of the global financial crisis, SuccessFactors repositioned itself to become a 'Business Execution Software' company. This was a masterstroke by Founder/CEO Lars Dalgaard and Jay Larson, Global Sales Lead. The repositioning of the company enabled it to be relevant not just when times were good, but especially when times were bad. The ambitious mission was declared by Lars Dalgaard: "Improve worldwide productivity by 50%".
The return on Business Execution had immeasurable value for businesses of all sizes. It became a compelling obsession not just for HCM leaders, but CFOs, COOs and CEOs of the world's largest corporations. This not only drove SuccessFactors to survive during the economic-downturn, but thrive and outpace the competion. The fact that the software was delivered within the Cloud enabled companies to realise the value earlier and continuously through frequent innovation.
SuccessFactors disrupted the HCM software industry and the $350m revenue company was eventually acquired by SAP for $3.4bn. It had to happen.
This is the reason why I am joining Taulia.
Taulia has a sense of purpose, a belief and is creating a movement. We have a mission to boost the global economy and change the world by improving the way businesses interact with their supply chain.
We not only help companies achieve significant savings through operational efficiencies, and align to their strategic initiatives through compelling balance sheet improvements, but also help accelerate the global economic recovery by radically changing the way the world's largest companies partner with their supply chain. We help companies create more jobs, produce more goods and help control the planet's climate through greener, paperless initiatives.
From Dynamic Discounting, Enhanced Discounting, Supply Chain Financing, Supplier Management, eInvoicing and ePayments solutions - Taulia Business Exchange makes this compelling disruption achievable by providing easy-to-use solutions, tools and services that automate and optimize invoice, payment and discount management processes.
The fact is, the worldwide macro-economic impact of paying suppliers early is $2.3 trillion. $2.8 trillion is locked out of the economy because of the time an invoice sits unpaid until the due date and that if suppliers were paid in 10 days, $2.3 trillion would be released into our global economy, saving suppliers $232 billion and buyers $209 billion.
Why does this discrepancy happen? A handful of Global 2000 companies believe holding onto their cash and waiting 60 days to pay their invoices supports cash flow and reduces cost of capital. However, the returns on excess cash are minimal (think <1%) and negatively impact their supply chain.
These statements are even more compelling than Lars Dalgaard's productivity goals. Compelling and globally disruptive.
I joined Taulia, because we don't need to talk about the Cloud. Yes, all solutions are delivered 100% cloud, but this is no longer a big deal. Those who are still stressing about Cloud adoption and UX, have been disrupted. The world has moved on. Taulia only sells business value - the products are merely the vehicle to achieve it.
Taulia's culture is one that reminds me of SuccessFactors from when I joined. The employees have a motivational purpose, are encouraged to join the movement to change the world, to be leaders, to create our own future, to go forth and disrupt, to believe in our mission and most importantly: Get s**t done! We are not prohibited, we are all Intrepreneurs.
Taulia is the next big thing - and I'm here to make a difference. We're significantly expanding our employee-base, our lucrative partner ecosystem and of course, our customer base with 21 consecutive quarters of growth and 116% YoY growth for Q2-2015. Our founders even have cool beards!
Check out the recruiting video here: