In this episode of the 20 minutes VC, host Harry Stebbings interviews Johnny Boufarhat, the founder and CEO of Hopin, an online events platform that has raised over $174 million in just 13 months and expanded its team from 10 to over 210 people across 37 countries. Johnny shares his journey from battling a severe autoimmune disease to creating Hopin, driven by the need for better networking opportunities in the virtual space. He discusses the challenges and lessons of scaling a remote team rapidly, the importance of flexibility and delegation, and Hopin's strategy to stay ahead post-Covid by expanding into multiple products beyond virtual events. The conversation also touches on remote fundraising, maintaining company culture, and the future of Hopin as a multi-market company focusing on connecting people globally.
"I'm very, very excited to welcome one of the fastest growing companies on the planet, Hopin, and their founder and CEO Johnny Boufarhat."
This quote emphasizes the rapid growth and success of Hopin and the anticipation of the host to discuss the company and its founder.
"I realized that I needed to at least build something. And it started off with the idea of events are essentially concurrency and subject."
This quote explains the foundational idea behind Hopin—the need for a platform that could replicate the concurrent, subject-focused nature of in-person events in an online environment.
"Remote's made a huge impact because even the smaller challenges, if I went from ten to 235 people over nine months, as we did in a physical office, one, we would have been restrained on recruitment."
This quote highlights the advantages of remote work in overcoming traditional scaling challenges, such as recruitment and office space limitations.
"Everything's very clear. But you can also do the same thing of calling someone immediately on a channel. It's very clear who their line managers are."
This quote describes the clarity and efficiency of Hopin's remote onboarding process, which leverages technology to replicate in-person interactions and guidance.
"Switching from in person to remote would be very difficult. You'd probably have to break a lot of things that existed before."
This quote conveys the complexity of transitioning to remote work and the potential need to change existing processes and expectations significantly.
"We just focus on efficiency and impact." This quote highlights the core principle of remote work culture at the company, which prioritizes productivity and results over the traditional office setting's potential distractions.
"We've made some obvious mistakes, but they're very intricate, essentially." Johnny Boufarhat acknowledges that while the company's onboarding mistakes were clear, they were also complex, leading to the implementation of a more structured approach.
"This is like a huge, huge value that we get at the end of the month, and we didn't have that initially." Johnny Boufarhat explains the significant value the buddy system adds to the onboarding process, which was not present in the company's initial approach.
"Quality needed to be there, but it was not of total importance." Johnny Boufarhat discusses how, in the early stages, the company focused on hiring quickly without compromising on quality, though quality was not the sole priority.
"People tend to join a company because of a founder." Johnny Boufarhat emphasizes the influence a founder has on a candidate's decision to join a company, highlighting the importance of the founder's vision and approach.
"The biggest blocker for growth are founders themselves." Johnny Boufarhat advises that founders need to trust their teams and delegate effectively to scale their companies beyond a certain point.
"Hopin was purely intuition. There was no data from someone, or else someone from the webinar industry probably would have built Hopin." Johnny Boufarhat shares that Hopin was created based on intuition rather than existing data, suggesting that innovation often requires stepping beyond purely data-driven approaches.
"If we're the first ones going remote from six to 220, there's very little data to take from other companies."
This quote explains the context in which intuition becomes important, particularly when there is no precedent to follow, as was the case for Johnny Boufarhat's company when they expanded their remote workforce.
"I try and read as many as I can so that the perspective is there."
Johnny Boufarhat values a broad perspective and believes in forming his own opinions based on extensive reading, which helps in decision-making.
"The one thing about remote meetings are people can't get the same gist of you."
This quote highlights the challenges of remote meetings, where it's difficult to read people's body language and reactions.
"I think the more honest and open you are, I think that's what VCs are looking for."
Johnny Boufarhat suggests that honesty is key when communicating with VCs, as it builds trust and aids in their decision-making process.
"I think it's a game of leverage as well. I think VC itself is a negotiation game."
Johnny Boufarhat compares fundraising to a strategic game where leverage and negotiation play crucial roles.
"I wouldn't take money just for the point of it."
He advises founders to be strategic about fundraising and not to raise capital without a clear purpose or strategy.
"The terms are as important as the price itself."
This quote emphasizes that the specific terms of investment are crucial and can impact the company as much as the valuation or amount raised.
"I want a VC relationship of trust."
Johnny Boufarhat values a trusting relationship with investors, where there is honest communication about the company's status and future plans.
"The competition just becomes data for me."
Johnny Boufarhat treats competition as a source of information to guide business decisions rather than a direct threat.
"We're competing against ourselves, competing against time."
He frames the challenge as an internal one, focusing on self-improvement and timely execution.
"What does virtual look like next year? What is a virtual event?"
This quote shows that Johnny Boufarhat is actively considering the evolution of virtual events and their role in the future events landscape.
"Events itself is a gigantic market, over 1 trillion in size."
He highlights the vast size and potential of the events market, indicating the importance of understanding where virtual events fit within this context.
hosted at different frequencies at different values to hop in at least. And so big conferences, let's call the business market, which probably under 500 billion in terms of physical, let's break that out and then let's look at what's specific in there.
This quote outlines the initial breakdown of the event industry and introduces the concept of differentiating companies based on their revenue models within the event industry.
We think all of those companies are going to stay online.
This quote predicts the future of Company B type events, suggesting they will remain online due to increased leads and customer engagement at a lower cost.
Can I just add on that one also, you get fundamentally better guests because they remove friction from travel. Absolutely.
This quote emphasizes the benefit of virtual events in attracting high-quality guests by eliminating the need to travel.
So in tons of different ways, it's significantly better.
This quote from Johnny Boufarhat concurs with the previous point about the advantages of virtual events, particularly regarding guest participation.
Expect next year, Hopin wouldn't have just one product.
This quote indicates Hopin's intention to diversify its product offerings beyond virtual events.
I think next year you'll see two products from hopin that are equally as big in space.
Johnny Boufarhat hints at upcoming product launches that will have a significant impact on the market, showing Hopin's ambition for growth and diversification.
Well, I mean, that's a really loaded question. So let's say they don't believe in the market. My opinion would be the market's bigger than 10 billion.
Johnny Boufarhat challenges the assumption that the market for virtual events is limited, suggesting a broader potential.
I think next year you'll see two products from hopin that are equally as big in space, where there's an acquisition happening now.
This quote reveals Hopin's strategic plans for product expansion and hints at an acquisition that could open new markets.
It's going to be lame. But it's 1984 by George Orwell.
Johnny Boufarhat shares his impactful reading choice, highlighting the influence of technology on society as depicted in "1984."
I think the London tech scene has evolved.
This quote reflects on the growth and increased prominence of the London tech scene as a global business hub.
If you're not someone from northern Europe originally, I would say in general, dairy, modern gluten... are not good for you.
Johnny Boufarhat provides specific dietary recommendations based on geographical and genetic considerations.
Well, hopefully Hoppin is a product that really spans across quite a few different markets, specifically around connecting people.
This quote outlines the broader vision for Hopin, focusing on connecting people through multiple markets and products.
For me, I'll definitely be hopefully staying at Hoppin unless I've been kicked out.
Johnny Boufarhat expresses his commitment to Hopin while humorously acknowledging the uncertainties of leading a company.