Read, learn, think in scale and take your time
Pavle Beslic
Pavle Beslic (1985) studied Economics at Erasmus School of Economics. He obtained a Master’s Degree in Accounting, Auditing & Control.
In the central hall of the office of Staffyou one object stands out: a gong. ‘We ring it every time we land a client’, founder and CEO Pavle Beslic clarifies. Does the gong ring often enough? ‘Never enough!’, he says, with a generous smile. The location of the office is impressive: it is situated in the Maastoren on the 33rd floor, a couple of floors above Beslic’s former employer Deloitte, with spectacular views on the Erasmus Bridge and beyond.
Staffyou is a digital temporary agency platform that matches temps and employers through smart algorithms. The location matches the success of the company: in a couple of years Staffyou became a million-dollar business that is active in both the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
How did you come up with the idea of Staffyou?
Around 2008 I was working as a student for a temp agency myself. I noticed that a lot of colleagues turned up late or were high. I had started a small business before and thought: I can do this too. I addressed the client on the spot, who replied: ‘Well, this is going so bad… If you turn up next Saturday with eight employees, you will be my new supplier.’ I succeeded and started my new business. It was typical for me: seeing opportunities everywhere, without being limited by any expertise. That also meant that I made all the mistakes you can make. I failed to arrange essential things, like taking care of the right acquisition and credit control. My client started paying later and later, and then the financial crisis happened. I could not get a loan and my client went bankrupt. It made me take a different approach. I finished my studies and started working as an accountant, aiming to move up on the corporate ladder that way. After a couple of years, I saw the opportunity to work for myself and eventually to also start my own business again. From the mistakes I made when I was younger, I learned to really take the time to develop a proper idea first. That idea turned out to be the digitalisation of the temp agency. When I was a student, the workflow of these agencies was very cumbersome: there were no smartphones yet, you always had to call people and email directions. I realised that the sector had not changed that much ever since. Why not digitalise your workflow, since we already do everything else online as well? At first, employers were hesitant when I pitched this idea to them. They preferred to call their temps and were not very keen on working with reviews of employees. But I was still convinced of all the advantages of digitalisation and was determined.
Determination is key if you are an entrepreneur. When you fully believe in your idea, people tend to give you the benefit of the doubt. Timing is essential as well. There were some people thinking of the same concept a couple of years before, but that was too soon. Think of online shopping – nobody would consider that a couple of years ago, nowadays it is completely normal.
What makes Staffyou unique?
Our product is innovative. I call it the ‘TikTokifiation of work’. If you scroll through TikTok a couple of times, the app ‘learns’ what you like. We also use algorithms to predict who will work where successfully. A straightforward example is a warning when someone accepts ten jobs at a time at 03:00 AM. In that case it might be a good idea to call that person the next day to check in. Another example is a successful match between a temp and a client that may predict a successful match with a comparable client. You see a similar process at Netflix or in retail: ‘since you watched/bought this, you might be interested in watching/buying this as well’.
The way this company was built, stands out as well. I invested a lot of my own money in the first years. After three years an investor joined me, for a reasonable price. We spend ten times less than most other digitally innovative companies, which makes us financially healthy and less vulnerable to trends like rising interests. Of course it was a risk to invest so much, and I had to put things like buying a house or going on holidays on hold. But now I am a majority stakeholder and Staffyou still really is my company.
Is there a certain road map to a successful enterprise?
It really depends. If you have a brilliant idea and you are the first one to think of this, you should get started immediately. That is an exception though. There will always be ideas. The question is whether you will be the one to successfully carry it out. According to several studies, one of the traits that very successful entrepreneurs have in common is that they are in their thirties or forties. They gained experience first and learned from others. Of course, you can take Facebook founder Zuckerberg as an example. But then ask yourself: are you attending Harvard? Are your parents wealthy? What are the odds that someone invests 10 million in your idea? And that you will find the most talented developers to work for you? Chances are already small that your business will be successful, so you better be prepared. Through working as an accountant for Deloitte, I learned a lot about how the industry works: how to dress, how to approach clients, how to measure things, how to take the lead.
Besides knowledge, perseverance, and timing there is one more quintessential aspect: make sure that your idea is scalable. You cannot add scale afterwards. When I ran my temp business as a student, I was always present as a team manager on the spot. That made it different from other agencies and contributed to the initial success, but was in no way suitable to scale up. So always think ahead: what makes your business stand out and how will you expand it? Or decide beforehand that you want to go for a small business. If you have the potential of a small business but aim for a big one, that is where things go wrong.
Did you learn things during your studies that are still helpful now?
In retrospect, definitely. When you are a student, a topic like financial accounting is quite abstract. But when I started to expand my business, I recognised the theory behind what was happening and knew what sources to consult to refresh my knowledge.
Are there also topics that you wished you learned more about when you were a student?
Yes. Communication would be on top of the list. Of course you study languages and you write a thesis. But I am talking basic communication: how to communicate, how to read people and how to interact with different types of people. It will be a huge part of everything you will do after graduation. Another theme would be certain financial knowledge: what taxes entail, how capital works and how to raise money. I would recommend students to read books from successful entrepreneurs who share their experiences. For example, I learned a lot from Zero to One by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters, the biography of Elon Musk and Amp it up by Frank Slootman – an alumnus from Erasmus. But besides that and focusing on your studies, I think it is also important to do something else that you are passionate about. That can be sports or something creative, as long as it is something that you can completely dive into and that helps you take your mind off other things.
When you were young, your family experienced hardships because of the war. Does that play a role in how driven and motivated you are?
After being born in Rotterdam, my parents and I moved to then Yugoslavia. After four or five years we left because the war was coming. The economy was turning bad slowly and you could predict it was going bad. My parents sold everything to start a new life in their motherland. When that life fell apart, they lost everything. I realised that things did not work out as we hoped. Being back here, I had the feeling that I stood behind and that I had to make up for something. It felt like I had something to prove. That was definitely a drive to achieve things.
I have always stayed in Rotterdam since. It is the place I know best, where I know everyone. I have an emotional connection with the city. When we were in the middle of upscaling, I bought a small boat. When I was under a lot of pressure, I went speedboating across the Maas to wind down. It also created head space for new ideas.
I would have liked to live abroad for a year, but that never happened. That is something I regret: I should have had a little bit more fun before I fully took on my entrepreneurship. I underestimated how intensive and time consuming it is. I just started and once you have, you cannot step out that easily. So I would advise future entrepreneurs to think it through beforehand and make a conscious choice. Also: know that everything is possible. I also started in a paid employment situation without a lot of connections. But, and I cannot stress this enough, be realistic at the same time. Not everything can be an instant hit. Do not listen to influencer coaches who promise you golden mountains with minimal effort. If your attempts keep ending up in failure, you will risk giving up your dream. Read, learn, think in scale and take your time. When you will eventually come up with the winning idea, you have made it.
More information
Pavle Beslic (1985) studied Economics at Erasmus School of Economics. He obtained a Master’s Degree in Accounting, Auditing & Control. After his studies he first worked as an auditor at Deloitte, and later as an accountant on a freelance basis. In 2016 he made his first turnover with his company Staffyou.
This item is part of Backbone Magazine 2023. Backbone magazine is the corporate magazine of Erasmus School of Economics. A digital copy can be found here.