Supporting BenchPrep as they Doubled Revenue 3 Years Running
BenchPrep discovered that by outsourcing its HR needs, its founders had more time to focus on the core projects essential to scaling the business and growing revenue.
FAST FACTS
Background
BenchPrep launched in 2009 when CEO Ashish Rangnekar got fed up with lugging heavy textbooks around to study for the GMAT. After a conversation with co-founder and COO Ujjwal Gupta, the two launched an exam prep app.
Today, their product has evolved into a comprehensive learner success platform that helps enterprise organizations create a more cohesive learning experience that improves learner engagement and outcomes. To date, BenchPrep has helped more than three million learners improve their results. In the process, the company has doubled its revenue for each of the last three years. In 2017, it doubled its employee headcount.
Challenge:
ScalING a New Company without Losing Momentum
After launching their first app, BenchPrep raised a $2.2 million round of funding. Their plan was to hire and grow quickly but they knew they didn’t have the resources in place to properly do that.
“We knew from day one that payroll and benefits were important,” Gupta said. “But we’re not experts in that. We’re a SaaS platform.”
BenchPrep's founders understood that if they had to spend time negotiating with healthcare providers, researching payroll services, creating a handbook, ensuring workplace compliance, establishing new employee on-boarding procedures and the proper software to keep track of all HR related documents, it would distract from their focus on their core product and growth goals.
Solution:
Outsource HR to Experts
Rangnekar and Gupta learned about CognosHR and the concept of a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) from Lightbank, one of their early investors. They were intrigued by the promise of outsourcing HR duties to a partner that specialized in handling "all things HR" for startups.
“If we were going to outsource HR, we wanted one company to manage everything for us,” said Gupta. “Payroll, benefits, retirement – everything.”
That desire made BenchPrep a perfect match for CognosHR and their full suite of HR services. Today, BenchPrep relies on CognosHR for the following:
Outcome:
Growth and Maturation
Since partnering with CognosHR, BenchPrep has successfully scaled every aspect of the business:
BenchPrep’s leaders acknowledge that these outcomes wouldn’t have been possible without the right partner handling the HR side of things.
They also note that enlisting HR help came with some pleasant surprises they didn’t anticipate.
“The ability to talk to an expert is big,” said Gupta, referring to the fact that every CognosHR client has a dedicated HR support person employees can reach via phone or email. “Our employees really value that.”
So do Rangnekar and Gupta: having an expert available to answer HR related questions gives them peace of mind and prevents them from being interrupted as they continue to strategize the company’s growth.
Results:
HOW CognosHR Faciliates BenchPrep’s Growth
With CognosHR as a partner, BenchPrep’s founders have been able to…
Save time: CognosHR handles payroll, compliance, benefits administration, and employees’ HR questions. This frees up BenchPrep’s leaders to focus on culture and strategic endeavors that lead to measurable growth.
Tap into expertise: Thanks to CognosHR’s level of experience in working with growing companies, BenchPrep’s leaders now have a trusted source they can turn to and their employees have a dedicated HR professional available to handle their questions and needs.
Scale: By leveraging CognosHR's existing infrastructure and HR software systems, BenchPrep has been able attract top talent, hire and onboard new employees professionally and efficiently.
If you’re ready to find out how outsourcing your HR needs could spark serious growth in your company, get in touch. We’d love to help you discover what you can accomplish when you’re free to focus.