Startup Snapshot:
Startup name: Lapzo
Industry: HR Tech
Business Model: B2B SaaS
Founders: Santiago Maldonado & Pedro Sors
Operates in: Mexico, Panama, Colombia & Chile
HQ Location: Monterrey, Mexico
Team Size: 120
Founded: 2018
Stage: Seed
Investors: AngelHub, Blue Zone Ventures, Act One Ventures, Plug and Play, Dragon Capital, Soma Capital & YCombinator
Accelerators: YCombinator
Website: www.lapzo.com
What does your startup do?
Lapzo was specifically designed to cater to the unique requirements of medium and large organizations in Mexico and Latin America. Their main objective is to simplify talent development programs, which helps companies improve the skills and abilities of their employees. By measuring the impact of these initiatives on key performance indicators, organizations can effectively evaluate their employees' performance, providing valuable insights for further growth and development.
What's your backstory?
In 2018, Santiago founded Lernit with the objective of creating training content for both small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as larger enterprises. However, he soon realized that in order to make a significant impact, he needed to develop a more comprehensive solution that would enable the distribution and monitoring of training.
Pedro, a longtime friend of Santiago, was an early investor in Lernit. As the project progressed and grew, Pedro's role evolved from an investor to a co-founder who supported the company's expansion. Lernit was accepted into YCombinator, which helped accelerate its growth. However, the team soon realized that the impact of training on the company's bottom line needed to be measurable. With this in mind, they rebranded as Lapzo and launched a new platform that covers employee training and learning, evaluations, competency development, objective key results (OKRs), and engagement.
How did you come up with the idea?
Santiago’s mother worked in HR consultancy, where he helped his mother during summers. Because of this, he was exposed to human resources processes from a young age. Engaged in training projects while facing new challenges in university, he realized the importance of acquiring new skills to confront these challenges effectively.
Simultaneously, online platforms like Coursera emerged, offering easily accessible quality content for skill development. Santiago's project involved streamlining training processes for a company. Contrasting his Coursera learning experience with the reality of organizational training, where he noticed a significant gap, feeling like the corporate training methods were outdated by around 15 years.
This realization led Santiago to research the e-learning industry, discovering a common trend: most e-learning platforms focused heavily on learning management systems rather than prioritizing the learner's experience. He recognized the increasing significance of continuous learning and capability development in a rapidly evolving world. This observation sparked the idea of revolutionizing the learning and development sector within organizations.
How did you acquire your first customers?
Lapzo initially faced a prevalent problem with potential customers, but instead of relying on family connections, Lapzo engaged in proactive outreach, actively approaching as many businesses as possible to showcase their prototype and sell their vision. These early customers essentially became sponsors, providing essential capital that allowed Lapzo to commence product development and subsequent enhancements.
When did you realize you had achieved PMF?
Santiago expresses skepticism about Lapzo achieving Product Market Fit. They acknowledge the success of their initial learning product in terms of usability and organizational growth but realize that it didn't entirely address the broader problem they aim to solve. Santiago emphasizes the importance of not just addressing a part but the entire problem to create a culture of continuous development as they believe that the true value will come from solving the entire problem globally.
I always read about Product Market Fit, right? It's like something everyone says they have achieved, but most people don’t really know what it is. I don't believe we have reached that stage yet with Lapzo. However, as Lapzo has evolved, it has gradually integrated various capabilities to form a cohesive solution that addresses the core problem and I think we’re getting close to PMF.
- Santiago Maldonado
What's your motivation?
Santiago was always an average student in school, where he didn't value the importance of developing problem solving skills, but his motivation started after realizing the significance of applying these skills and knowledge to solve real-world problems. He identified a crucial root problem in within Mexico and Latin America where the lack of tools and capabilities hinder innovation and progress. This drives his passion to instigate a shift in mindset emphasizing the importance of continuous development cultures in organizations. He envisions two potential outcomes: either becoming regional innovators and value generators, boosting the economy, or becoming a source of cheap labor for foreign companies due to remote work.
What's next for Lapzo?
This past year Lapzo prioritized product development aimed at effectively addressing client issues. While in the upcoming years they will shift the focus towards expanding and venturing into new markets, especially on an international scale.
Tips for other founders?
Don’t obsess with raising capital; a company's value isn't inherently tied to the amount of capital it raises. Validate the problem-solving aspect instead of fixating on the funding rounds.
Stress the importance of disciplined execution within the company and concentrate efforts on problem-solving rather than PR activities.
Age isn’t a barrier to entrepreneurship; disregard conventional age-related notions about entrepreneurship. Especially in recent years, younger individuals and non-graduates possess substantial potential.
Focus on weekly impacts as they accumulate over time, and measure growth regularly and consistently, emphasizing the importance of continuous improvement.
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