Have a clear goal beyond creating a company you like with Maxim Rotaru

so I noticed Maxine that your background is in software development, working at different companies like Hugh Romania and a few others. How did you come to the idea of starting with Bamboos?

maxim:

Oh, it's T's interesting, so it was like At some point Yeah, I was working as a softer engineer in a company here in Tmisara, and it was a huge company. I think there are like ten thousand employes around world, and I just wanted to be in a company to be closer to the decision maker, you know, and I started to to look up for local companies. Romania. Ones where are I can go and I don't know. Closer to to the Co, not especially to the Co, but to the decision maker, and I found like the were not so many companies here that we are doing what I was doing. I mean, softer engineer in with those programming languages. So at that moment it was for me like Okay. Probably I have to start something. Basically this is how it started. It was like it.

eric_melchor:

But did you have an entreprenurial background? I mean, where your parents or did you have any family that were entrepreneurs?

maxim:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, my father was an entreprener for the almost the entire life, so he had like several businesses, So I was like very close to what an entrprenership means. So yeah, he was

eric_melchor:

Okay,

maxim:

taking me with him to the wall office, so I know I knew all that stuff.

eric_melchor:

Kind of work was he doing? Maxine?

maxim:

Oh, he had like different businesses, but I think that the longest one was having like trucks and delivering goods all around the Europe. So this was the longest one that he had.

eric_melchor:

Okay? Okay, Do you recall any any advice? Any good advice that he gave you that stuck with you.

maxim:

Yeah, he gave me like chance of advice, but I think that the one that stuck very much with me with my personality and in general I was following since now is like If you promise something, make sure that you you deliver that and I think that this is like the key. For you know, we are always talking to people and saying a lot of stuff. but you have to be very careful of what you are promising, because after that the people are Preparing the plans based on that. so basically this, this

eric_melchor:

Yeah,

maxim:

is the most portant thing that I remember from my father,

eric_melchor:

Absolutely, I think your word is

maxim:

M.

eric_melchor:

everything. I think it's your reputation.

maxim:

Right,

eric_melchor:

It's your credibility. and you know, if you can't deliver on it, then why would somebody trust you in the future?

maxim:

Yeah,

eric_melchor:

right?

maxim:

and at some

eric_melchor:

okay,

maxim:

point our motor was building trust, so it was like we we wanted to to, to show to share a trust with show that

eric_melchor:

Yeah,

maxim:

we can do that.

eric_melchor:

Now it's so funny because in the English language, particularly, I think this is like more popular in the U. K. in India, India, there's like a saying that that says You know, I got bamboozle And so when I hear the company A and we bamboos, that was like the first thing that I thought of was like you know, getting bamboozle

maxim:

Um,

eric_melchor:

over here

maxim:

m.

eric_melchor:

and bamboozle means like you know somebody got one on me. They tricked me, or you know something like that. Now where did the name where bamboos come from?

maxim:

Uh, uh, it came. it came. It was like a situation. At some point we, we just wanted to. It was the first, the first project. So we didn't have any name. anything. We just opened a slack and we needed to just give a name. And the guy that created the work space just put

eric_melchor:

Yah?

maxim:

the bambo. It was like something that came first to his mind, so he just put there and

eric_melchor:

Yeah,

maxim:

and and it remained for a long time. I think it was there for almost one Yea. and at some point we, just when I stood that Okay, what we are doing is growing and we need like a brand. We need a name. You know, this kind of stuff and we started thinking Okay, what a name. And it was like Okay, we had the bamboos. It's something interesting. It's you know. The plant is growing very fast and you know, and we started to find something around bamboos and we are like to be like we. We are bamboos, you know, and after that it became like we want to grow like bamboos. You know that Babs is growing like One meter

eric_melchor:

Yeah,

maxim:

per day or something like that, very very fast,

eric_melchor:

Okay, yea, from the bamboo tree.

maxim:

Right,

eric_melchor:

Got

maxim:

right

eric_melchor:

it okay?

maxim:

right,

eric_melchor:

Now, where did you get your first client? I mean, how did you? How did you? How did you land your first client? Maxine?

maxim:

It was a friend of my friend. It was like he is, that we started with a product and everyone while after we finished the product, we started to, you know, to sell it to anyone. We tried to go in different conferences and people started to know about us, but you know, in two thousand fifteen sorter was not so okay. It was common, but for non technical person it wasn't like main stream stuff And everyone knew that these are the guys that are doing some sort. Er. What is this? we don't know. and at some point one of our friends just asked us, Hey, what you are doing? We are doing websites. At that moment we are doing just simple websites, And he just repaired another friend from Berlin, which was like our first client. at that moment.

eric_melchor:

Okay, Okay, now, who was your first hire And what was that experience? Like trying to get somebody to come on board and you start up magazine?

maxim:

That's funny that last Friday I met, we are working fully remote, and last Friday some of our team mates came here in Teamshor and we met, and at some point they asked me how you hired the first employes. This was the question because she was there at present, Um, the is. At at that moment, Definitely we had no processes of hiring. It was again, somebody. We were looking for somebody to help us The product. so we just asked around. Hey, do you know somebody? they said Hey, Look, this is this girl who could help you. We just met with her. We met in a Pop, asked a couple of questions and after that we said Yeah, you hired. It's okay

eric_melchor:

Uh,

maxim:

and by the way, she's still with us. So she's the first one and she's still with us And she's like now. Now she is doing or some of our interviews. And and we were alive, Think that

eric_melchor:

Yeah,

maxim:

everything changed from that moment.

eric_melchor:

Is she inviting inviting the applicants to a pub and asking them. You know a couple of questions that you asked her.

maxim:

No, No, it was at that moment, yea, all of them where we had no office at that moment. So we just were inviting

eric_melchor:

Yeah,

maxim:

everyone in a pub, talking a little bit of them.

eric_melchor:

Yeah,

maxim:

No, no technical questions. nothing, we were just

eric_melchor:

Yeah,

maxim:

we trust we. If you say that you, you could do that, we just trust you and that's that's all so.

eric_melchor:

Yeah. it's actually a really good strategy Went back when I was in in in the States and working for publicly traded companies. I think the last two positions that I got hired for I was having lunch with my potential boss, but people say that it's good to go, you know, out to lunch or dinner, because you get to see the person in a social setting and you get to just see how they interact with other people, which is very, very important, because obviously, if it's going to be a good hire, you want somebody Can collaborate well, speak well, engage well, and there's no better atmosphere than actually being out in a social setting and whether it's out a restaurant or a bar. So hey, you were actually head of the game before you even knew it, Maxine

maxim:

Yeah,

eric_melchor:

by doing this tack to get the bar

maxim:

yeah,

eric_melchor:

right.

maxim:

right, yeah, it is that we are still doing. Of course, now we have like a very rough process of hiring with a lot of. However, it's not very tough. we. We are trying to simulate like a normal day. You know, you have all the resources you can google. You can do anything you can do it from home. But but still we. we. I am having all the interviews. I mean, the first call is with me and I'm trying to see.

eric_melchor:

Yeah,

maxim:

Is this the Person for this team or not? So based on that feeling, the process continues or not.

eric_melchor:

Got you. Got you Okay. So you got your first hire? What were some early obstacles that were in your way maxim of growing the company?

maxim:

Um, I think it was like we didn't know where exactly we want to go. We hadn't. We didn't have a goal. The only goal that I had, as I mentioned early. I just want to create a company that I like and that that was well and I have

eric_melchor:

Yeah,

maxim:

done that. But what's next? And and it took like, I think around one year until we found that Okay, We don't want just to do websites. we don't want just to build the commerce. Now we want Be to build something that is meaningful, like something that cannot be done with some platforms in one. two days, you know, and basically this is how we switched from simple, softer company to a digital product studio. We just started not just to build your product but also to offer you like consultation, Like we, we take what you want to build, and we go through you through all the steps we guide you. we explain how it goes. So after that it's it's easy for you also to track the progress and you understand what happens. So and we are calling this workshop or discovery workshop.

eric_melchor:

Go you now. If I was a tick entrepreneur and wanted to launch a start up, but I didn't know where to start. What would you suggest I do first? Maxine?

maxim:

Uh, discovery calls with us.

eric_melchor:

Uh,

maxim:

Yeah,

eric_melchor:

yeah,

maxim:

yeah, the idea is that the majority of our clients are non technical persons, so they are very good. They are experts in the industry, but this is. this is like the first product they want to build, and of course there are a lot of things they have to handle beside the business beside the business they have like a lot of things do. So this is why we. we are trying to through the calls to go through all Steps like Okay, what you want to build? What is the time line? Do you have any constraints? What is the budget? What are the priorities? Because you know we had no ideal customer, Everyone has some constraints of time, budget of quality, and based on that we are trying to find solution. Okay, you have like a limited budget. Okay, let's try to go for some third parties. You have some limit of I don't know of time. Okay, let's not focus on quality. Let's focus on on deliver, you know, and I think this is very important. not just me or the product owner or the clients to understand this, but also the development team, Because if they understand that okay, the priority is to build fast. They won't focus on anything else, So they will deliver fast. Or if it's very important to build a high quality, then they focus on that. So this is the most important thing.

eric_melchor:

So what's the big goal that you guys have for twenty twenty three?

maxim:

Oh, to be on we have a big goal. It's not for twenty twenty three we. I'm sure we on get to it. but like our big goal is to have to help three startups that will become global leaders in the industries or unit cards. So we want to help. We want to support them to become like leaders, at least leaders in the industries. So this is like our lower goal Mission,

eric_melchor:

Okay, so back to the workshop real quick, and you called it a discovery workshop? Was that

maxim:

Right,

eric_melchor:

correct?

maxim:

product.

eric_melchor:

Like a discovery?

maxim:

Yeah, product discovery workshop,

eric_melchor:

Okay, what's the typical length of time it will take for somebody who who attends one of those calls or joins you guys and decides to collaborate with you and have this discovery session, and from there going into a prototype into something that can actually be usable. Like what is the typical journey look like? And how long does it take?

maxim:

It depends on on your product. In general, I mean, we are splitting this into in three tiers, like small projects, like medium projects and big ones. talking about small projects. It takes like not more than two weeks, I mean, from

eric_melchor:

Really?

maxim:

from the first call. Yeah, we just have a call. We understand what you what you want to build. After that we start to put all the features all the requirements, writing all the technical side, Having again one more call with them to go through it to be sure that we understood what you want to build. and after that it's we are starting to build like a time like it's sorry, a prototype. So we are doing the prototype for the main user journeys. For example, If it's like I don't know, let's say any commerce. it's I don't know. a low gain going to a product buying it. For example, this is user journey, and we do the product. Ovid. By prototype, I mean a design. we, you can go and click on buttons, is not the product itself, but you have the real field. You can go, click on the buttons and understand if it's good or not, and after a proof we do, we

eric_melchor:

Okay?

maxim:

prepare the time and we prepare the risks technologies that we. we think they're the best for this product And it takes usually not more than two weeks for a small project.

eric_melchor:

Okay, Do you guys also do other things like crom plug ends or mobile applications?

maxim:

No Plgswrenot, doing plugins, just Web and mobile development, and of course everything, everything

eric_melchor:

Okay,

maxim:

that is linked to it, meaning the Obs meaning design, meaning automation. So everything that related to Web mobile,

eric_melchor:

What's a project that you guys have done that you've been really proud of that you can kind of tell us about.

maxim:

I think I have. we have a lot of projects. I would say we had a product from the Finteck In the stream, It was for the K market, where you. We connecting your zero Zero is like platform where you have your accounting. So you are connecting all the all that stuff to the platform that we have built. We were extracting the data from there And on that we were building some. What will happen in the next eighteen months. You know, like what would be your revenue? What will be a profit? So and it's pretty simple that the interesting part there was that you were able to set some goals like I want to increase, my are, indeed, or I want to cut some costs and you were having like some options. There, You put that, and based on that you have like models. What will happen because you know everything is interconnect. I like. If you want to cut some

eric_melchor:

Yeah,

maxim:

cost, probably your revenue also will go down. and based on that you'll you'll see what happens. And the good result was that After we, we worked on this project for around eight months or something like that, eight nimaths and they managed to raise like one million from from your case. So it was like a really good result and everything was like Okay, building product delivering. We helped them to raise those. Why we went to talk to the city. We introduce him to hand over everything, and after that they raised. it was like a perfect project. You know,

eric_melchor:

All right all right now. What's a big mistake that that you will never make again? Since since growing we bamboos.

maxim:

Sure,

eric_melchor:

Maxine.

maxim:

we had it quite recently. I mean last year one of our clients came to us and they were very prepared. They had everything. they looked like the perfect customer. They knew what they want to build, Because usually usually the clients don't know exactly they want what they want to build, but here everything seems to be perfect and were okay. You know everything. We just start building it. It's fine. It was a mistake After after just a couple of months we understood that. Okay, we did. You don't know what exactly want to build? We understood something.

eric_melchor:

M.

maxim:

Something else, And it was. it was a mass it was like.

eric_melchor:

Okay,

maxim:

and from that moment this is we were doing our product discovery workshop even at that moment, But it was like an optional thing we were doing when we, you know when we were feeling that something is not, But now it's like a standard. You have to go through it and we, It was a really big stay for us. We had a struggle with that project, but in the end we had enough experience and resources to launch it, and by the way it was launched quite recently and it has success.

eric_melchor:

Okay,

maxim:

It also is going good

eric_melchor:

All right, So for people listening, If you're planning to get some custom software development, it sounds like you definitely went to attend one of these discovery workshops.

maxim:

Right

eric_melchor:

Here. In that way, both both you guys and and the clients are in alignment of exactly what what's needed. What's on Ted, and what's to be delivered?

maxim:

Right right

eric_melchor:

Ah, how long does that workshop last? Is it? We're talking like one phone call. That's you know. like a couple of hours. What does that look like mixing?

maxim:

Now. It's It's a continuous process like you have. For example, let's assume that we have now the first call. After that, We need one, two days to put everything together after that. So the first point is we need to understand what you want to build. Once we understood, we start writing, putting the features like that. Will that will form the product and we start to put the features After putting the features again. We have May be a call to understand. Are these all the features We want to build, or there is something else? After having that, we start to detail to give details to all the features like. Even though it's a long game, we need to understand. it's like a log in just with a email, or with Google with Pass, with all this stuff, and once we have all of that, we again go in a call. we talk to them, and after that we prepare an estimation for that and again you know, Usually the just putting requirements of features. it's very easy. you know, Have to pay for that. But when when when starting to estimate it, and when you see that every feature, every small task cost you something, you start to think otherwise to that and we start to optimize everything. Do you really want that feature? Or maybe we can. This feature takes a lot of time. Maybe we can replace with another one that brings more values to to your customers.

eric_melchor:

Okay, And how many employes are right Are part of we Ben boos right now

maxim:

Twenty five.

eric_melchor:

And the entire company is remote.

maxim:

Yeah, yeah,

eric_melchor:

Maxine

maxim:

remote in Romania. So everyone, we are fully remote company, but everyone is in Romania.

eric_melchor:

Got you all right. All right. Okay, So time for some rapid fire questions. Just give me the first thing that comes to your mind. Are you ready vaccine?

maxim:

Yeah,

eric_melchor:

Okay, first one. Would you rather have twenty five thousand dollars in cash or dinner with Guy? cast? Psyche?

maxim:

Um, guycaskasak.

eric_melchor:

Okay, Okay, what is an unusual food or drink that you consume?

maxim:

I didn't assume, but it's always coming to my mind When I was in Ti land, a girl was eating bugs, and every time

eric_melchor:

Yeah,

maxim:

I hear like something weird food, I go with my mind there.

eric_melchor:

You weren't tempted to try win,

maxim:

No,

eric_melchor:

Maxine.

maxim:

No, in general, I like to try. I like to try food, but not that much.

eric_melchor:

You know, there's a lot of routine in bugs. They actually sell crickets now

maxim:

Maybe,

eric_melchor:

as now, instead of protein powder. you can put the crickets in the blinder. I used to do that back of the day. I didn't

maxim:

M.

eric_melchor:

enjoy it.

maxim:

hm.

eric_melchor:

I only did it like a couple of times. but yeah, okay, What's the most interesting thing that you've done in the past twenty six days? Maxine?

maxim:

I was to a birthday of my close friend.

eric_melchor:

Okay, like dinner or

maxim:

No,

eric_melchor:

just

maxim:

it was like, No, No,

eric_melchor:

drinks?

maxim:

No, it was like a big party with a lot of people there. So and

eric_melchor:

Okay?

maxim:

probably you know, when you have a small kid, you don't go so so often to this kind of parties

eric_melchor:

Yeah,

maxim:

And it was like a new thing for me.

eric_melchor:

Yeah, A have to be careful because you know when when you have kids, you don't really drink that much anymore. or maybe you do.

maxim:

Yeah,

eric_melchor:

But now when you know now when I decide to have a glass of wine or beer, it's like After one beer, it's like I'm feeling pretty good where.

maxim:

Yeah. instead,

eric_melchor:

yeah, yeah, all right. Next question for you, what's the most death defying act that you've ever done?

maxim:

Can I repeat, please

eric_melchor:

The most death defying act that you've ever done. Like the riskiest thing that you've ever done.

maxim:

Starting a start up.

eric_melchor:

Hey, Yeah, there's a lot of pressure and stress so I definitely definitely understand.

maxim:

Yeah,

eric_melchor:

Okay. Okay, next question for you, At what age did you have your first kiss?

maxim:

Oh, I think I was thirteen somewhere there,

eric_melchor:

Okay, All right, where can people learn more about you, Maxine?

maxim:

Sorry, sorry, sorry.

eric_melchor:

Where can people learn

maxim:

Oh,

eric_melchor:

more about you?

maxim:

I'm not so public person, but in general I'm trying to go to a lot of local conferences to help local startups. Local people don't want to to start companies. I think there. I'm pretty present at a lot of conferences like the, So you can find more definitely at those conferences. you'll find out more about Our story

eric_melchor:

Okay,

maxim:

what we are doing.

eric_melchor:

All right, I'll also put a link to your website in the show notes. Okay, thank you, Maxine for being on the

maxim:

Thank

eric_melchor:

show.

maxim:

you, too. thank you to Eric thing.

eric_melchor:

Yeah, for everybody listening. think about how motivated you feel right now listening to Maxcime's story. Imagine if you had missed out on that. So if you enjoy this story, I ask that you tell somebody about it, someone that you think would benefit from hearing about innovative entrepreneurs and the start up scene here in Europe. Now before you get on the rest of the rest of your day, I want you to hear something. you are awesome. Yes, you you may say. come on, Eric. you know you just had Maxime on this show. He's pretty cool, successful tech Firm. and while that may be true, if you are an entrepreneur, a business owner or creator, you have the courage to do something that a very small percentage of people actually do, And that is, try to make their vision become a reality and to create something new. So you're taking an idea and trying to turn it into reality And that is pretty amazing, which makes you awesome. Anyway. Have a wonderful day and I will see you on the next episode. Cheers