Founder Tips. Ilya Ekushevsky - about the Busfor online transportation service

Busfor - “Uber for buses,” as English-language publications readily call it, or a ticket aggregator of international and intercity bus passenger flights. Last week, the project attracted $ 20 million from new investors - the Baring Vostok and Elbrus Capital funds, while the current shareholder, InVenture Partners, increased investments in the company. The total amount of funds raised to date is $ 25 million.

As Western analysts note, it’s quite possible that we are dealing with a new potential “unicorn,” since Busfor’s growth can be called impressive. By 2019, the company hopes to occupy 20% of the ticket market, while accelerating growth in existing (the company operates in Russia, the CIS countries, Eastern Europe and Thailand) and new markets such as Asia.

We talked with Ilya and found out how he managed to build a full-cycle transportation service using IT technology.

Ilya, what did you do before that? How did you and Artyom get to the helm of this startup?

I used to do stock trading on stock exchanges. My partner was a developer, he managed real estate, real estate investments.

When we had financial opportunities, we decided to invest in a joint Internet project. By that time, the Internet was already very actively developing - this was in 2011. We began to look for niches, areas in which our experience could be applied, and our money used. So we found a huge market with great potential online, studied the global experience, existing players, local features of different geographies, conducted a serious analysis and decided to start such an idea.

I heard about you for the first time relatively recently. In my opinion, this was last summer when you got your first investment. You have competitors in the market. How do you evaluate your position, and how interesting is it to promote this service?

Of course, it’s very interesting, and above all because our service is changing the market. Reading reviews on Habré and other services, we see that some people are unhappy with the transportation service. And this is true, since in most cases this transportation is carried out at a low level. But all at once does not happen. We are actively working on the quality of transportation, helping transport companies to increase the level of passenger service during the trip, and thereby transform the market.

The social mission of our project is to change bus transportation for the better, make them more convenient for passengers, and make carriers respect passengers. This is a big important social task.

In addition, we are actually making a new product in a new market. This is something unknown, and we are pioneers. This is a challenge and very serious.

When we talk about competitors, it is important to understand ours and their place in the distribution process. Our technologies essentially cover the whole chain: we offer b2b solutions for suppliers (bus stations and carriers) that help them manage their inventory efficiently, and b2c solutions for end users, including ticket sites and mobile applications. Who and in what direction should be considered our competitors?



If someone has a website for selling bus tickets, then of course to some extent they are our competitors online. But they do not have a booking system, the so-called GDS, so from this point of view they are not our competitors. The same applies to bus station systems: most providers lack high-quality b2c solutions, and they focus on offline and b2b.

We have no competitors covering the entire distribution chain.

Perhaps that’s why you are doing relatively well?

In aviation there are companies Amadeus, Saber, Travelport. These are global reservation systems (GDS). For decades, they have been able to connect a large number of air carriers and build distribution. These companies work as if in the middle, between carriers and agents. However, they practically do not work directly with end customers.

We are actively developing both directions, like the same Uber or Airbnb. These services also work on two fronts - supply and demand. This is a great advantage, because when you integrate inventory into your service, then later you invest more confidently in the development of sales.

If you have only a b2c solution and you work exclusively as an agent, then such a model is always more risky, due to the lack of your own reservation system and guaranteed inventory.

Now I understand why you are called “Uber for buses” ...

What is the main lesson that can be learned from the company's development experience over the five years since the idea came up?

When you build a new project, pitfalls always pop up. Perhaps the main lesson is that in such a situation it is necessary to remain a startup, which can be flexible and able to quickly respond to a changing situation. We are always in search of ways to increase profitability in all directions - in working with carriers and with end users. We are trying to make all work processes more efficient. And we did not come up with this: Facebook and other major successful projects are still startups.

Something new is happening all the time. The company is constantly progressing, new directions appear, new hypotheses are tested. We rarely have a situation where we can once build a process and forget about it.

In the new market, everything is constantly changing. Here you need to constantly drive yourself, do not lose motivation, be in search. In our business, this is especially difficult, because we attack in several directions at once.

How did the company staff grow? How many employees work now? What units do you have? What is the ratio of their sizes?

Now we have about 100 employees. Quite a lot of employees (20-25%) are focused on end-user support. Over the past three years, our staff has grown 10 times.

We clearly spelled out business processes. There are people who are responsible for contact with carriers, there are those who are responsible for their implementation in our system. As soon as we agree with the carrier, the technology department immediately begins work.

At the same time, lawyers communicate with them - conclude an agreement. When this process ends, other departments are included in the work, who begin to promote new flights. Then the customer support department is turned on.

Do you have a development department inside?

Of course, all our development is done in-house. Sometimes, when deadlines are running out, we use out-staff. We have external contracting companies with whom we are friends and collaborate. At some points, we are reinforced by their developers. But in general, we believe that we are building a large project that is deeply and infrastructurally being introduced into the market, so it is important for us to develop competencies within our company, and not give it to the side.

Many projects use outstaff or outsourcing, but then there is a risk that competence will not grow within the project. She grows only outside of him. At the same time, it happens that an external developer has pumped and went to work in another area. And for us it is important that key employees work with us as long as possible. The more people work for us, the more their competence grows, it generates more proposals for improving something.

At the same time, we constantly hire new people. They look at processes from a different angle and also recommend something with a fresh look. After all, if you work on one thing every day, there is a risk of stopping noticing something.

How many developers do you have in your department?

About twenty-five people.

As I understand it, your difference from young and inexperienced startups is that you already had experience working with high-level partners: you were involved in the sale of securities, Artem worked with commercial real estate. But there were some points that can be called the main mistake or the main obstacle that appeared during the construction of the business?

There were no gross errors. There were times when we made mistakes in people. I myself several times quite seriously burned myself. But this is inevitable, especially if the company is always in search of the best employees. It is very important at the time of growth to attract the right people to the company who grow with the business and are interested in increasing their own expertise. It is important for us that work is a challenge for the team.

Those who cope with it become an important link for the company. At the same time, we believe in our employees. So, for example, many sensible specialists have grown up inside our company who started from simple positions and today occupy key positions.

In addition, in order to increase the expertise within the team, we try to constantly use external consultants and advisers. We receive important information from them and move on.

Yesterday we did a survey on My Circle. There are a lot of people in IT who tried to enter the market with their project. According to our data, there are 36% of them. We know that IT is an area where competition is most fierce. What advice can you give to those who are just starting?

I know quite a few projects that developers have launched, successful and unsuccessful. And he repeatedly witnessed when the developers forget that they are primarily technical specialists. That is, they really close the development in the project with high quality, but forget that for success it is important to work effectively in other areas: finance, sales, marketing. Without partners who are strong in other areas, it is very difficult to succeed.

Now I’m just watching such a project. It deals exclusively with two developers. Of course, they are building a cool product, but they are not working on other components of success - commerce, distribution, attracting investments. Even if you are a cool developer, you need to find an equally strong partner in the project, which will close other areas. If you find the weak, you will not be able to bring the project to the market, you will not be able to sell it, you will not attract investment, no matter what product is in demand. You risk not even bringing it to commercial use.

And there are far fewer good merchants than good developers. Therefore, I recommend finding the right partners at the idea stage or early prototype.