An Interview with Hanna Konyi, Bygglet AB CEO: ‘Our Vision is to be the Market Leader in Sweden with a System that is at the Forefront and Offers its Customers First-Class Support’

“We are continuously investigating new sustainable solutions that can improve both ourselves and our customers’ way of conducting business.”

The construction industry is in a moment of enormous change. Business is booming — along with the number, complexity, and duration of projects. Increasingly, companies are expected to be able to meet or exceed timelines and budgets offered by competitors. To keep up with these increasing pressures, construction companies are embracing new technologies to gain a competitive advantage.

In light of the foregoing, we’re thrilled to present Bygglet AB.

Bygglet AB is a software company that has developed a web-based project management tool for the construction industry that handles all aspects from quotation to invoice and follow-up.

The company was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Gothenburg. It has additional office locations in Stockholm and Malmoe.

Hanna Konyi, Bygglet AB CEO, spoke exclusively to The Silicon Review. Below is an excerpt.

Why was the company set up? And how did you expand your company and its offerings over the years?

Our founder, Jonas Wanggren, was consulting as a developer of special admin software for a scaffolding company when identifying the lack of similar tools for smaller companies within the construction business. Spending a couple of years developing a product to take to market, Bygglet was launched in 2011. The offering has always been “what you see, is what you get”, but from a broad perspective, meaning that Bygglet does not focus on the most advanced niche features, but on bringing many core features together in an easy-to-use way. Jonas sold Bygglet in 2018 to Valedo, a private equity company.

Company milestones:

• 2011 Bygglet is launched as a desktop administration tool,
• 2014 App for time registration and project information is launched,
• 2016 Stockholm office is opened,
• 2017 February – first 1000 companies. Malmoe office is opened,
• Change of technical platform in order to build a foundation for mobile functionality and use
• Bygglet nominated by Dagens Industri (Swedish equivalent to Financial Times) as one of the fastest-growing companies in Sweden.
• 2018 External CEO is hired in order to ensure exponential growth. Organization changes and focus on scalability,
• In the end of 2018, Bygglet AB was sold to a private equity company and are now a part of the Cordel group.
• Bygglet nominated by Dagens Industri as one of the fastest-growing companies in Sweden.
• Bygglet nominated by Financial Times as one of 1000 fastest-growing companies in Europe,
• 2019 Bygglet HQ is moving to new premises,
• Bygglet is nominated by Dagens Industri as one of the most successful growing companies in Sweden in 20 years.
• 2019 June Bygglet reaches 2000 customers.

How successful was your first project roll on? Share the experience.

We launched Bygglet at a large trade fair for craftsmen. There were not many project tools in 2011 so we got customers very quickly. Our success is very much based on the fact that we have had in-house sales that booked meetings for outside sales who have been able to focus on meeting customers.

What kind of responses have you received from your consumers over the years? How have they motivated you to shape your offerings/grow the company?

In June this year, we conducted a Customer Satisfaction Survey in order to find out how our customers evaluate our services. Our overall NPS score is +56.5 with an average of 8.76. Further, our Customer Support team is receiving a grade of 4.96 on a scale 1-5. We believe these figures to stem from our customer obsession involving them in the development of the product as well as engagement in their success.

There is nothing more important for a successful small business than a well-defined mission and vision statements. Can you explain your Market & Value statements in brief?

Bygglet’s business concept is to make craftsmen more successful and loved by their customers. We offer the construction industry the project tool that frees you from paperwork and lost hours. Our customers can focus on what they are really good at, thus bringing in more jobs, becoming up to 50 percent more efficient and more climate-smart. Our digital solutions for invoices, quotes, bookkeeping and various forms make all paper redundant and our clients’ customers can easily follow how the projects are going. With Bygglet, all administration should feel easy – easy to get started – easy to understand and perform – easy to deal with. Bygglet should be the craftsman’s most important tool. The industry is facing reduced margins where fewer people will be able to perform more tasks. It paves the way for efficiency and digitalisation – this is a driving force in digitalisation of the craft industry.

What are your company’s core values and how are they helping you to succeed?

Our core values are mostly reflected in our customer devotion and extended into the organization:

Liberation – Our customers are generally extremely stressed by the end of each month when all transactions, purchases of materials, wages etc. are to be paid. Very often they have difficulties explaining to the end consumer why extra hours were added or changes made from original project. By using Bygglet the craftsmen have an instant view of their projects and economy, which leave them with a sense of liberation and comfort.

Confidence – Since craftsmen, in general, find administration work painful, Bygglet assures them to take care of every single step and to help out instantly. Help at all levels is at most two minutes away.

Generosity – Unlike many other SaaS companies, customers today only pay for user licenses. All main functionality is included which means that the customers directly get an understanding of their investment. “What you see, is what you get”. Further, all training and support is always free of charge.

“Earning trust and respect of consumers is through consistent focus on delivering high quality in all of our actions.” How do you interpret this statement?

Our SaaS service is founded by the need of a segment of an administration tool made “fool-proof-easy-to-use”. We are involving our customers in every step; we grow based on our good reputation, word-of-mouth and recommendations. Our customers’ success in their business is our main driver when building new functions or services.

What are the factors that help your company to compete on a global platform?

We are today not on a global platform but we are definitely preparing for it. We have for the last one and a half years prepared our processes to be as scalable as possible; we are developing an API so we can hang on new modules from partners if we want to. Our technics are standard.

Do you have any new products ready to be launched?

Since we have a SaaS business model we constantly develop new features and improvements. We work according to Scrum and an agile way of working. Larger things ready to launch within the next seven month is a new app, EDI delivery note, construction diary and an improved quotation module.

As a question on sustainability, where do you see your company a couple of years from now?

Bygglet has signed the Climate 2030 toll for companies in Sweden, committing ourselves to work for a better climate by pushing both ourselves and our customers towards a more sustainable and climate-neutral future.

The construction business, in general, has a great impact on the environment. By helping small and midsize companies to digitize their business through our digital project management tool, they become more efficient and more sustainable as well. Our digital solutions for example invoices, quotes and different kind of forms or paperwork, take away all use of paper, as well as the transport of paper. When a lot of companies change their ways of working, the impact is large.

Bygglet is striving to become a climate impact neutral and has moved to premises totally using renewable energy. We are continuously investigating new sustainable solutions that can improve both ourselves and our customers’ way of conducting business.

Hanna Konyi: An Aspiring Leader

Hanna Konyi serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Bygglet AB since January 1st 2018. She is the shareholder of the company as well. Prior to joining Bygglet, Ms Konyi held several senior positions at Sweden’s largest media group, the latest position as a CEO of a digital development company co-owned by six large media companies. She has great experience within business development, programmatic trading, big data, and worked with driving the digitizing of companies her entire career.

Ms Konyi holds a Master’s degree in System Science and an executive Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Gothenburg.

”We have for the last one and a half years prepared our processes to be as scalable as possible; we are developing an API so we can hang on new modules from partners if we want to. Our technics are standard.”