On the way to a billion

”Staff leasing is an existing and growing 500-billion-euro industry that has experienced quite a bit of disruption,” says Timo Hakkarainen.

"The operating methods are outdated. Reforms will take place,” Ville Herva continues and asks: "Who will do it? The game is on."

"Why couldn't it be Bolt?" Hakkarainen asks.

Hakkarainen and Herva are the founders of Bolt.Works and are ready for their next rocket journey. In five years, Bolt has grown into one of the largest staffing companies in Finland.

The coronavirus pandemic hit the industry hard in 2020 and Bolt's growth was limited to 30%. However, the company captured market share. Last year, as the market grew and Bolt had a bigger slice of the pie, its turnover doubled. Or not quite: growth was 99%. One hundred per cent would be far too pretty a figure for a company which even has four and a half stars on its logo. A traditional staffing agency would put a full five stars on its logo, but not Bolt, which is much closer in spirit to a software start-up than a recruitment agency.

What is illustrative is that shortly after launching, Bolt took part in Slush rather than settling for recruitment fairs.

Hakkarainen, the man behind the idea, is not hesitating to talk about a billion in revenue and the conquest of Europe, the steps for which Bolt is starting to put in place together with Vaaka Partners.

Timo Hakkarainen had worked in the staffing and recruitment industry and was familiar with its operating methods. He also knew what the key problem was for customers - distrust. Especially in the construction industry, an unhealthy practice had taken root where the seller promises the moon and the stars to secure a deal. However, a person may turn up on the construction site who is far from having the skills to perform the work. If they even turn up. Let alone with the necessary tools. Distrust should be turned into trust, Hakkarainen considered, and this would be done through peer review: a buyer who needs an employee would see previous buyers' reviews of the person and could watch the person's introduction video. The video was eliminated from the plan because the reviews turned out to be exactly what customers needed.

He had also noticed that in the United States’ very stagnant industry, a company called Wonolo was growing fast. This was another industry where things could be done differently, where doing things differently had the potential to achieve tremendous growth - and no one in Europe seemed to have woken up.

Hakkarainen and Tommi Hämäläinen, the owner of a small construction staffing company, got together, and Hämäläinen's company was transformed to operate as Hakkarainen had envisioned. On the terrace of Tapiola Garden, Hakkarainen sold his idea to Herva, who became the third participant. Hämäläinen later left Bolt and Herva became its CEO.

It was clear from the beginning that the company would invest in software. It would do things differently.

A customer who needs an employee not only wants the right person but also wants them quickly. For example, a construction company that needs a carpenter may be a client of several staffing companies. The deal will be awarded to the first person to offer a suitable person.

When the customer enters the details of what kind of person they need and for what period of time, Bolt's software engine kicks in. The automation will sort the job seekers in Bolt's database according to who would be suitable for the job. The system takes into account qualifications, certifications held by the employee, distance from the workplace, previous work history, and probably many other factors that Bolt employees are not keen to disclose publicly.

"There's starting to be quite a lot of data. It can be further utilised," says Ville Herva. A food delivery company comes to mind, whose name differs from Bolt only by its first letter. Data has been said to be the most valuable part of it.

Bolt's phone robot can call a thousand people in just a few minutes. For example, if a restaurant in the metropolitan area is looking for a busser, Bolt can offer a list of candidates within minutes. And no humans have been required. The system also handles financial management, payroll traffic and other activities that usually take a lot of time and money. Bolt is a software company not only in mentality but also in the sense that automation is its competitive advantage. "We are a software company that does not sell its product but monetises it by conducting business," explains Herva.

Bolt has about twenty offices around Finland. Recruiters are needed to reach the most specialised and sought-after workers. Automation allows employees to focus on the jobs that robots cannot do. The operating model has been tested. The strong and profitable growth seen in Finland in the last few years is proof that the model works.

The next step is to spread the good news to the rest of the world. This is where Vaaka Partners comes in.

"Together with Bolt and industrial advisors, we have been thinking about what Bolt's secret sauce is and where it could be used next," says Antti Salmela, Bolt’s lead partner at Vaaka.

Just over five years ago, an existing Finnish company was reformed to do things Bolt's way. Next, the same Bolt-seasoning could be applied to a European recruitment agency.