Welcome to the fifth edition of our Meet the Service newsletter! This month, we had the pleasure of interviewing Pablo, the co-founder of Bigger – a Sydney-based software development company that is revolutionising the way startups access top engineering talent and expertise.
In this insightful interview, Pablo shares his entrepreneurial journey, from his early days in the corporate world to founding three successful startups, including Bigger. He delves into Bigger’s unique approach, which provides startups with dedicated “tech teams” comprising experienced developers, project managers, and software architects – all at an affordable cost leveraging their talent pool in Argentina.
Throughout the interview, Pablo’s passion for entrepreneurship and his commitment to removing barriers for startups shine through. He provides valuable advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, emphasising the importance of finding the right tech partner and following engineering best practices to set a strong foundation for growth.
Absolutely! I started my career in the corporate world, working for companies like Unilever, Reckitt Benckiser and Dulux. At Byju’s, the world’s biggest edtech company, I was GM in charge of establishing its ANZ operation – achieving an annual revenue of over A$20 million with a team of 75 people in under two years.
I have founded three startups in the past seven years. The first one was Chemistry (2017-19), where we aimed to ‘rehumanise’ dating by organising events where people come to connect. The second was Date In a Box (2019-22), which achieved 350 monthly subscribers and helped over 5,000 Aussie couples connect.
Bigger is my third startup, which since November 2022 has grown into a team of 104 employees and crossed the seven-figure revenue mark. Bigger would not be possible without my co-founder and CTO, who was Director of Engineering at some of the biggest companies in Australia, including the fashion portal THE ICONIC, and has an encyclopedic knowledge of all things software.
The main difference with Bigger is that we deliver enterprise-grade engineering for a fraction of the cost of Australian software agencies. Although we are an Aussie company, most of our talent is based in Argentina – where I am originally from – and where wages and the cost of living are much lower than here. Our clients can thus access a high-quality engineering team for a fraction of the cost.
When you sign up to a Bigger retainer – you’re instantly allocated your own ‘tech team’, which generally comprises a tech lead, two full-time developers, a part-time project manager, and a software architect – who effectively serves as your CTO. These five become your advisors and trusted colleagues, committed to the development of a strategic series of back-end and customer-facing projects, with frequent check-ins through a weekly group chat, daily Slack updates, and other regular communications.
We maintain technological and engineering best practices at Bigger Academy, which provides ongoing training for our staff to ensure they stay up with the latest trends in coding, cloud computing, cybersecurity, and UX/UI design. By offering jobs to the best talent, we know that every member of our tech teams will bring the highest technical standards to bear on our projects.
Our teams use agile development to build your MVP quickly in a series of two-week ‘design sprints’ – similar to those used by Google Ventures. At the end of each sprint, we’ll show you a working prototype of the software we’ve built – enabling you to review it, make necessary changes, or pivot if you prefer.
Byju’s was a fantastic learning experience for me. In 2020, I set up the company’s Australia-New Zealand operation from scratch, and in less than two years we achieved an annual revenue of A$20 million and grew a team of 75 members across all departments.
From my time at Byju’s, I learned firsthand how to scale a business: building great teams, creating a strong sales funnel, and the overriding importance of developing clear metrics and constantly reviewing them. However, the most important lesson that continues to influence me is the belief that you can create something big if you are willing to work hard and evolve the right business model.
Since our launch, we have helped more than 40 startups launch their businesses. Many were just in the “idea phase” when they came to us, but now, after just one year, they have customers and subscribers, some have raised capital, others are generating revenue, or have achieved other positive outcomes.
This is something that makes the entire Bigger team and me very proud. It is our mission to remove barriers and help startups achieve their full potential – that’s our raison d’être, and the entire reason we exist.
Among the companies we are proud to have assisted are:
Our agile development methodology allows us to design, develop, and test your minimum viable product quickly, in a series of two-week ‘design sprints’. At the end of each sprint, we’ll show you a working prototype of the software we have built. This allows you to review it, make any necessary adjustments, or pivot if you choose to.
This flexible build methodology allows us to deliver MVPs in between two and six months – which is much faster than the average agency development time. Speed is always of the essence for startups, for whom getting an online platform or product in front of your audience quickly can mean the difference between success and failure.
Unexpected challenges often crop up when you’re developing a new technology. But having a Bigger software architect – effectively a remote CTO – who you can call on any time, will help to guide you through every step of your MVP, test it with different markets and customers, ensure its security, and overcome any challenges to bring your vision to life.
The best advice I can give is to start working on your idea as soon as possible. Begin by building a minimum viable product, testing it with users, and keep improving it based on any feedback that resonates with you.
As an early-stage founder, you should spend most of your time (if not all of it!) talking with users and building a great product. When it comes to the technical aspects, ensure you find a tech partner who follows engineering best practices. As a founder, you don’t need to be a coding expert, but having a good understanding of the key principles and best practices can help you evaluate whether your tech partner is the right one for you.
Additionally, if you want to complete your Design Sprint and clearly define your MVP, explore the interactive template on Miro