We’re absolutely over the moon in wishing each #bobber and every Hibob customer a Happy Four Year Bobbiversary! We’re scaling both as a company and within the HR Tech space, and while our growth has been great, we can’t wait to grow more.
They say the fourth anniversary is the celebration of fruit; and boy, has it been a fruitful few years for Hibob! We’re knocking on 2020’s door and gearing up for a new quarter that’s sure to be even better than those of past. We can’t help but feel a bit nostalgic, though. In celebration of our fourth anniversary, we invite you to reflect on some of Hibob’s best milestones… so far.
Funding
It all started in late 2015 when I incepted the idea of ‘bob’ as an entrepreneur in residence at Bessemer VC. I had realized that the evolving world of work required a modern suite to be built; it had to be a system that met the new demands of the incoming workforce, which is something existing platforms and services weren’t offering. However, I needed to fuel the Hibob fire with funds, so the first step to tackle and a crucial milestone to reach, was raising the money needed to launch a modern platform for the ever-changing world of work.
What’s in a name
Hibob is the name of our company and ‘bob’ is the name of our platform. But, how did we think up the name bob initially? It was clear that our brand shouldn’t be called by just any generic term: it needed to be something different, friendly, human, trustworthy, and reminiscent of a “good guy.” So, we picked ‘bob’ and I saved the project on my desktop titled the same. A few weeks later, we presented the idea to BVP’s investment committee and were asked, “Are you going to keep this name?” We had all felt comfortable with bob, but bob.com as a domain was too expensive at the time, so we added the ‘Hi’ and became Hibob.
We’re still amazed by the way our customers are using and taking to our brand.
Product
What’s there to say about bob? Way too much for one blog post, we’ll tell you that. Over the past four years, we devoted ourselves entirely to listening to our customers’ feedback and needs – from big concepts to small features. We’ve consistently innovated and developed our product for companies who put their people first, giving both people leaders and employees the best experience possible when it comes to using people management tools, features, and workflows that simplify processes, enhance culture, and strengthen office bonds. bob itself is a design-led, fun, and cool product built to be easily integrated, streamlining and improving the flow of work.
I recently heard one of our customers share something nice about bob: they said, “bob is the Instagram of the HR tech,” and I couldn’t agree more….
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Culture and people
Everyone’s favorite part of bob has to be the culture components, and each piece begins with an experience generated by amazing UI and UX. Functions like social clubs, hobbies, and superpowers help us get to know our team members. And, ShoutOuts and Kudos recognize and announce wins – you see, it’s always been about putting people first. Our growth has been a driving factor in the passion we put into performance, so how could we not feel good after welcoming so many people as quickly as we did.
More cool stuff, too
Some of our personal favorite highlights don’t have to go unnoticed. In February 2017, Hibob was awarded The Most Promising Company of the Year Award from Qumra Capital and was listed on Calcalist’s Israel’s 50 Most Promising Startups. And let’s not forget, the security of our GDPR broker license in April 2018.
Nothing can compare, though, to when we officially reached over 550 Hibob customers so far. Being able to help such a large amount of companies and their people grow to scale while supporting their culture and employee lifecycles is the reason we’re here, after all. We look forward to stepping even further into the new world of work with all of you, impacting the HR landscape and the people leaders it has come to adore.
A huge thank you to our 160 #bobbers, including those who worked for us in the past, contributed, and decided to move on to other ventures. Another huge thanks to our customers for trusting us, and feeding us with great insights on how to continue building bob. One final big thank you to our investors. Stay tuned for much more to come…
From Ronni Zehavi
Ronni has over 25 years of experience in multinational, hi-tech companies. Prior to setting up HiBob, he was an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Silicon Valley based Bessemer Venture Partners. He's the strategic advisor and co-founder of Team8 Cyber Security and CEO of Cotendo, a content delivery network which was acquired by Akamai for $300m.