03/15/2021
Flávia Prado analyzes the importance of education at Insper for her professional experience and the success of HYPR, a company that offers solutions to unite physical and online audiences focused on increasing digital performance
Above: Cesar Moura, Flávia Prado, and Pablo Souza
The marketing scenario changed significantly in 2020. It has required many advertisers to accelerate their digital transformation processes in search of less dependence on physical retail and creating a relationship channel closer to their consumers.
Aware of that change, Cesar Moura, Insper Certificate in Business and People Management (CBPM) alumnus, and Adrian Ferguson, a media and advertising industry veteran, came together to build the mobile marketing stack HYPR. Its goal is to support agencies and advertisers to understand and intervene in consumer journeys in both the physical and digital worlds. Given the size of the challenge ahead, Pablo Souza and Flávia Prado, alumni who met in the CBPM class of 2015, joined the team next. They support the activities of sales, operations, and people.
As they have different backgrounds, training was decisive to build a solid management model, focused on people and oriented to results. They came quickly: The company earned the first million in less than three months of operations. Moreover, it ended last year with 20 major clients. Its portfolio counts on the likes of Natura, Santander, and Unilever, despite the adversities the pandemic brought about.
HYPR has created a tailor-made offer, keeping an eye on the difficulties that Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) encounter in identifying and implementing the right platforms. It integrates the best technologies on the market, such as Google, Amazon, and Oracle, to allow for brands to activate consumers on mobile channels based on visiting behavior in physical retail and real-time metrics.
The assembling of this technological puzzle’s pieces designed by HYPR allows creating direct connections and personalized experiences, as well as directing the purchase journey from one channel (physical) to the other (digital). The company has digitized over 2.6 million journeys in just ten months, helping major brands grow even with stores closed during the pandemic.
We invited alumna Flávia Prado, a business administrator and specialist in people management, to comment on how the synergy between strong organizational culture, multidisciplinary team, and business vision define HYPR’s endeavor together with the purpose of driving the transition to digital. Also, she analyzed the importance of the CBPM attended at Insper for professional experience’s success:
1) How were the first steps in founding HYPR?
The first step was to dive into the industry and understand its inefficiencies. Every market has opportunities for optimization. We had seen many angles that could be explored in the media and technology sector for marketing, which was already undergoing a profound digital transformation in recent years. We had identified that an increasing share of CMOs’ budgets was being allocated to technology. However, there was a knowledge deficit within organizations to find out which platforms to hire and how to integrate them to maximize results. At the same time, many brands — and it was enhanced by social distancing —, sought to migrate part of the revenue that until then was traded in physical stores to digital channels. From this pain, we had built our platform and looked for customers to validate our offer.
2) How did your training at Insper impact your professional experiences?
We have different backgrounds in the team and understand that complementarity is essential for a complete view of the business. Added to that, we believe that mastering certain organizational functions is key to building a solid management model.
We would not be able to estimate HYPER’s valuation and do the company’s financial management if we had not experienced those analysis scenarios during our training at Insper. That had helped us to think about value from day one and has guided our decision-making to date. Topics like team building, leadership, and process optimization were also crucial to get us here. We were definitely able to finish the program equipped with the necessary tools to compete and win in a supercompetitive market.
Also, one of the businesses’ great challenges is designing a culture that directs decision-making efficiently, for instance, using people analytics intensely to understand and influence the team’s development path. Such a point is directly related to people leadership. That course brought us important insights for understanding the system, which connects individuals, interpersonal relationships, and business vision.
3) What are the company’s goals?
When we launched HYPR, our goal was to earn the first million [in Brazilian Reais] in the first 12 months to make the business feasible and create value for our customers, team, and shareholders. We managed to achieve that in 88 days. Thus, the goal became earning one million per quarter. We reached that stage in nine months. Currently, the business has a recurring revenue of one million per month. Our goal is to earn this same amount per week.
4) What lessons have you had at HYPR so far that you could share with Insper students who want to become entrepreneurs?
The world is full of inefficiencies. That is a great opportunity for entrepreneurship. Train your eye to not only identify what doesn’t work but also build solutions. Our suggestion is to think by first principles instead of analogies. That is, instead of thinking about how other companies are solving a particular problem, identify the fundamental principles behind the question and seek to build an original solution. Also, have by your side people who complement you. Finally, work hard, study, and dedicate yourself. Nothing resists work!