A Brazilian Startup Growing Amid Pandemic Chaos

Adalberto Generoso of Yapoli tells us about an intelligent platform for governance, management, and distribution of digital assets for large corporations.

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times? 

Adalberto Generoso: My relatives and I got the virus during 2020 and fortunately we’re fine and healthy. But, I can’t say the same thing for all Brazilians. Thousands of people are dying every day in Brazil.

Tell us about you, your career, how you founded Yapoli.

Adalberto Generoso: I’m Brazilian, I’m 36 years old and I live in São Paulo, the largest city in Brazil (economically).

I started as an entrepreneur at 19 years old. I created my first “startup” in 2007 and it was a website where people could control personal finances (inspired by mint.com). Facing my own reality, I’m a developer, and that year I was really experiencing financial difficulties and needed to keep my finances in check. Today, this platform is called GuiaBolso, possibly the next Brazilian fintech to be a unicorn in 2021.

After that, I had a digital Publicis agency and worked with companies like BIC, Havaianas, Unilever, Volkswagen, Mead Johnson Nutrition, and Bonduelle. In this business, I understood that large Brazilian companies do not have governance and management of digital assets.

In 2017, I decided to sell my agency share and start a product (SaaS) known as DAM (Digital Asset Management) Curiosity: Yapoli is the combination of “Yasnaya Polyana“, the house of Leo Tolstoy and where he wrote Anna Karenina and War and Peace.

How does Yapoli innovate? 

Adalberto Generoso: We are a startup that works with the challenge of combining governance and digital innovation. Large companies need to centralize, organize and distribute their digital assets to all markets, from the third-party producing new materials to physical retails, vendors and digital platforms such as eCommerce. Especially when the company is omnichannel.

How does the coronavirus pandemic affect your business finances?

Adalberto Generoso: Positively. Fortunately, our company is entirely digital and our platform supports companies in this digital transformation. The pandemic scenario has forced companies to look more at the market in search of platforms such as Yapoli.

In addition, we are saving money for the back office because today our operations are 100% online, including the sales team. With that, we were able to convert these savings into more benefits for our team.

Did you have to make difficult choices regarding human resources and what are the lessons learned?

Adalberto Generoso: The pandemic brought us the knowledge to work remotely. At first, we thought that this change could be a great challenge. But we are a startup that was born with an agile mindset and the changes were naturally smooth.

How did your customer relationship management evolve? Do you use any specific tools to be efficient?

Adalberto Generoso: We are a B2B SaaS company, so our relationship with our customers is support, training and comes from our ability to listen to our customers and include new features to our roadmap to further enhance their experience. To be effective, we use integrated platforms such as Zendesk, RDStation, and Jira (Atlassian). And about people, an incredible Product Owner who manages our team so that we can offer our best.

Did you benefit from any government grants, and did that help keep your business afloat?

Adalberto Generoso: We use only our own resources. In 2020, we had our first investment round and now we are reaching the break-even point.

Your final thoughts?

Adalberto Generoso: Stay focused and try to collaborate in your environment. We will only win the pandemic if we work together.

Your website?

https://yapoli.com/en/