How HR's bumblebee plant built
HR professionals dedicated.
What is the point of HR?
Do they do something? Something can?
Sell, produce, transport, import, maybe report?
They recruit, write employment records and have parties.
Everyday opinion.
With age, men are divided into two groups: those who build villas, and those who build factories.
The second impressed me more.
Dmitry Volodin.
')
Summer of the next crisis year was coming to an end. Markets fell. Business activity faded. The new business season did not promise anything new and interesting. Emotional burnout was transformed into a deep and sticky procrastination. It's time to change something.
I wanted something simple and concrete: a candle factory, a cheese-making factory, to breed piglets, in the end. Build not a cottage, and the plant. Specific, but some new, fun, exciting. To the soul sang ... And we found it!
Details under the cut.
In August of that year, I went to a neighboring country for inspiration. The search for inspiration led me to the estate of my then partner and the head of a venture fund in combination.
Walking around the estate, we discussed cheese production, views of ham and other business initiatives. And quietly nadralis. The control function of the brain decreased in both, fresh Forbes was found, where the market of bumblebees and entomophages was described in one column. Growing, green and noble. And completely empty: not a single manufacturer in Eastern Europe. In the morning the column was re-read - the market seemed interesting in the morning. Good sign!
And inspired, I went to the airport.
So the idea was born: we will grow bumblebees, ladybirds and other useful animals!
All autumn we studied the market, searched for niches, read entomology and were engaged in propaganda.
Why do we need bumblebees?
For pollination of vegetables and fruits: tomatoes, peppers, most varieties of cucumber, as well as raspberries, strawberries, cherries and a hundred more crops ...
Especially in greenhouses - greenhouses.
Bumblebees are many times more efficient than bees, and the latter are not used at all in greenhouses.
Bumblebee breeding is not an ancient craft.
Mankind has learned to control the diapause (hibernation) of bumblebees only in the 21st century, when the first iPhones had already entered the market.
Total: Hi-End technology, excellent cost and open markets.
By November, the business model began to emerge: bumblebees produced in Eastern Europe would be - according to calculations - several times cheaper than those of Western Europe. The analysis of the Russian market spoke of its inelasticity and the possibility of dumping. The franchising model seemed interesting: why carry bumblebees over three seas, if you can build modular productions right next to consumers?
Under the action of propaganda were five HR, a Dutch IT entrepreneur and a venture capital fund. During the winter holidays we signed the Statement Agreement. In English and British law. Everything is as it should be.
Tasks: technology, logistics, advertising, customers, location.
With the technology was not easy. Everything, except common words, turned out to be closed and secret. We were told about the Israeli kibbutz, where the bumblebees were raised - how it was guarded no worse than the local prime minister. For direct requests, we were given a price tag with six zeros in euros - and we were retreating.
I had to enroll in "Leninka" to read all the abstracts. And at the same time find the names of those who wrote them. As you can imagine, this was real head hunting.
And we found it. One of two in Russia, who knew how to raise bumblebees. And we went to visit him.
It was in February, an old friend calls me, asks:
- Hello! How are you?
- Well - I answer - I catch bumblebees!
For a long time my friend was silent then. I thought - is it worth it to continue the conversation.
February in the yard.
And marketing and advertising in five languages. We had to understand and touch the market, and we began to explore it in vivo (live). We talked with almost all agronomists of greenhouses. They sold bumblebees that they bought from others at a loss, but they learned how to carry them and talk to customers.
Looking for a place. Ideal seemed Belarus. Especially “High-Tech Park” - as if understandable tax and customs regimes and other preferences - we immediately aimed at exporting. The idea of ​​such a park, by the way, was later repeated in Skolkovo.
A few trips to this country dispelled illusions. Everything was slow and sad there. "We can not" - as the main refrain. At the slightest tension - people just rearranged to take handsets. Such is the cultural feature.
But quite unexpectedly, we sold all the bumblebees . All promising bumblebees, which we have not yet seen ourselves - we have sold. Finns.
So the problem of location ceased to be theoretical and turned into a practical plane - the Finns wanted specific terms and volumes.
At that moment, the head of our investment fund remembered an abandoned winter garden on the edge of his estate. And we agreed.
In fact, bumblebees are not about construction. Bumblebees - about hormones, enzymes, microclimatic regimes and veterinary medicine. Bumblebees - about technology.
But the winter garden required total redevelopment, tiles, wall replacement, air conditioning, ventilation and equipment. And we had drawings, estimates, sketches and specifications.
I am proud that the entire project plan fits on page A4. I could not reach such heights in infographics.
Another interesting experience: managing the construction site, which goes over a thousand kilometers.
By that time, our team had grown up: we found a real biologist in the state, a normal foreman, who liked the idea itself and - they assigned us a “beholder” to us.
And what about without him?
By the way, bumblebees eat pollen. But the pollen should be frozen immediately after the bees deliver it to the hive. Pollen happens only in spring and early summer. And pollen needed a few tons. Good task.
We found some big apiaries. In environmentally friendly places. So clean that not everyone could get in the rain. And they bought them huge freezers. Seeing the freezers, delivered over five hundred kilometers - the beekeepers refused to advance and began to collect pollen.
In August, our factory came to life.
Trucks with a fragile girl on board set off for distant apiaries for pollen and brought it. For the year ahead. And the girl biologist learned how to boil the inverted syrup - and food appeared.
We bought several imported bumblebee families and settled them at the bumblebee plant.
Then they rescued the selection Shmelestado. Literally: the day after the rescue, their former laboratory turned off the light for non-payment. And with light - air conditioning.
Bumblebees buzzed, ate pollen, drank syrup, and life was getting better.
Call our biologist. I ask:
- How are you?
- Today was a trial pairing!
Great phrase!
Imagine. Come up to the girl and say: "let's have a test pairing with you."
Who will refuse? Well this is just a trial.
Ahead of us were waiting for fascinating tasks about production, packaging and logistics.
Then it was all over. One day. No comment, but bumblebees are alive and growing.
We did not go to the London court to defend our corporate rights.
So one day a new and export-oriented industry appeared in one country.
It was created by 5 people. Who were they?
Businessmen, accountants, geologists, technologists or IT specialists? Oligarchs?
Not. New industry in the whole country created Eychary.
And this article is dedicated to all of them.
Photos from the construction site and little-known facts about the bumblebees here .
What is the point of HR?
Do they do something? Something can?
Sell, produce, transport, import, maybe report?
They recruit, write employment records and have parties.
Everyday opinion.
With age, men are divided into two groups: those who build villas, and those who build factories.
The second impressed me more.
Dmitry Volodin.
')
It all started like everyone else
Summer of the next crisis year was coming to an end. Markets fell. Business activity faded. The new business season did not promise anything new and interesting. Emotional burnout was transformed into a deep and sticky procrastination. It's time to change something.
I wanted something simple and concrete: a candle factory, a cheese-making factory, to breed piglets, in the end. Build not a cottage, and the plant. Specific, but some new, fun, exciting. To the soul sang ... And we found it!
Details under the cut.
In August of that year, I went to a neighboring country for inspiration. The search for inspiration led me to the estate of my then partner and the head of a venture fund in combination.
Walking around the estate, we discussed cheese production, views of ham and other business initiatives. And quietly nadralis. The control function of the brain decreased in both, fresh Forbes was found, where the market of bumblebees and entomophages was described in one column. Growing, green and noble. And completely empty: not a single manufacturer in Eastern Europe. In the morning the column was re-read - the market seemed interesting in the morning. Good sign!
And inspired, I went to the airport.
So the idea was born: we will grow bumblebees, ladybirds and other useful animals!
The idea starts to live. Pre-seed stage
All autumn we studied the market, searched for niches, read entomology and were engaged in propaganda.
Why do we need bumblebees?
For pollination of vegetables and fruits: tomatoes, peppers, most varieties of cucumber, as well as raspberries, strawberries, cherries and a hundred more crops ...
Especially in greenhouses - greenhouses.
Bumblebees are many times more efficient than bees, and the latter are not used at all in greenhouses.
Bumblebee breeding is not an ancient craft.
Mankind has learned to control the diapause (hibernation) of bumblebees only in the 21st century, when the first iPhones had already entered the market.
Total: Hi-End technology, excellent cost and open markets.
By November, the business model began to emerge: bumblebees produced in Eastern Europe would be - according to calculations - several times cheaper than those of Western Europe. The analysis of the Russian market spoke of its inelasticity and the possibility of dumping. The franchising model seemed interesting: why carry bumblebees over three seas, if you can build modular productions right next to consumers?
Under the action of propaganda were five HR, a Dutch IT entrepreneur and a venture capital fund. During the winter holidays we signed the Statement Agreement. In English and British law. Everything is as it should be.
Seed Round. January - May.
Tasks: technology, logistics, advertising, customers, location.
With the technology was not easy. Everything, except common words, turned out to be closed and secret. We were told about the Israeli kibbutz, where the bumblebees were raised - how it was guarded no worse than the local prime minister. For direct requests, we were given a price tag with six zeros in euros - and we were retreating.
I had to enroll in "Leninka" to read all the abstracts. And at the same time find the names of those who wrote them. As you can imagine, this was real head hunting.
And we found it. One of two in Russia, who knew how to raise bumblebees. And we went to visit him.
It was in February, an old friend calls me, asks:
- Hello! How are you?
- Well - I answer - I catch bumblebees!
For a long time my friend was silent then. I thought - is it worth it to continue the conversation.
February in the yard.
And marketing and advertising in five languages. We had to understand and touch the market, and we began to explore it in vivo (live). We talked with almost all agronomists of greenhouses. They sold bumblebees that they bought from others at a loss, but they learned how to carry them and talk to customers.
Looking for a place. Ideal seemed Belarus. Especially “High-Tech Park” - as if understandable tax and customs regimes and other preferences - we immediately aimed at exporting. The idea of ​​such a park, by the way, was later repeated in Skolkovo.
A few trips to this country dispelled illusions. Everything was slow and sad there. "We can not" - as the main refrain. At the slightest tension - people just rearranged to take handsets. Such is the cultural feature.
But quite unexpectedly, we sold all the bumblebees . All promising bumblebees, which we have not yet seen ourselves - we have sold. Finns.
So the problem of location ceased to be theoretical and turned into a practical plane - the Finns wanted specific terms and volumes.
At that moment, the head of our investment fund remembered an abandoned winter garden on the edge of his estate. And we agreed.
Summer. Construction site
In fact, bumblebees are not about construction. Bumblebees - about hormones, enzymes, microclimatic regimes and veterinary medicine. Bumblebees - about technology.
But the winter garden required total redevelopment, tiles, wall replacement, air conditioning, ventilation and equipment. And we had drawings, estimates, sketches and specifications.
I am proud that the entire project plan fits on page A4. I could not reach such heights in infographics.
Another interesting experience: managing the construction site, which goes over a thousand kilometers.
By that time, our team had grown up: we found a real biologist in the state, a normal foreman, who liked the idea itself and - they assigned us a “beholder” to us.
And what about without him?
By the way, bumblebees eat pollen. But the pollen should be frozen immediately after the bees deliver it to the hive. Pollen happens only in spring and early summer. And pollen needed a few tons. Good task.
We found some big apiaries. In environmentally friendly places. So clean that not everyone could get in the rain. And they bought them huge freezers. Seeing the freezers, delivered over five hundred kilometers - the beekeepers refused to advance and began to collect pollen.
Construction comes to life
In August, our factory came to life.
Trucks with a fragile girl on board set off for distant apiaries for pollen and brought it. For the year ahead. And the girl biologist learned how to boil the inverted syrup - and food appeared.
We bought several imported bumblebee families and settled them at the bumblebee plant.
Then they rescued the selection Shmelestado. Literally: the day after the rescue, their former laboratory turned off the light for non-payment. And with light - air conditioning.
Bumblebees buzzed, ate pollen, drank syrup, and life was getting better.
Call our biologist. I ask:
- How are you?
- Today was a trial pairing!
Great phrase!
Imagine. Come up to the girl and say: "let's have a test pairing with you."
Who will refuse? Well this is just a trial.
Ahead of us were waiting for fascinating tasks about production, packaging and logistics.
the end
Then it was all over. One day. No comment, but bumblebees are alive and growing.
We did not go to the London court to defend our corporate rights.
So one day a new and export-oriented industry appeared in one country.
It was created by 5 people. Who were they?
Businessmen, accountants, geologists, technologists or IT specialists? Oligarchs?
Not. New industry in the whole country created Eychary.
And this article is dedicated to all of them.
Photos from the construction site and little-known facts about the bumblebees here .
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/446428/
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