[HN Gopher] Launch HN: Procoto (YC W21) - Procurement SaaS for SMB
___________________________________________________________________
Launch HN: Procoto (YC W21) - Procurement SaaS for SMB
Hi HN! Ryan and Michael here. We're the founders of Procoto
(https://procoto.com). We help small and mid-sized companies
organize their vendor rates, vendor contact info, and vendor
contract terms. Most growing companies find themselves juggling
different systems/spreadsheets and overspending with their vendors.
Procoto replaces the multiple systems to become their central hub
while identifying savings opportunities based on historic rates.
Why us? We come from the procurement world and spent time in 30+
procurement platforms as both vendors and users. But when we went
to switch from spreadsheets to a centralized solution, we couldn't
find what we were looking for. Our only options were to stay in
spreadsheets or to jump to a six-figure platform. We'd be forced to
pay for more features than we needed in an outdated UI/UX. So we
left to build Procoto for people like us - procurement pros at
small and mid-sized companies (25-1000 FTEs) looking for a simpler,
smarter way to manage their sourcing process. We help our users get
there in three ways: Savings. By standardizing and leveraging
historic pricing data, Procoto identifies savings opportunities to
drive down third-party spend. Automated Databasing. Every
contract, vendor, and price point is systemically stored in
Procoto. Collaboration. Procoto fosters internal communication and
collaboration across teams and remote workers. It's not a tool
built just for the procurement team. It delivers status updates and
reporting to all stakeholders in the organization. In short, we're
building the procurement solution we couldn't find. What do you all
think? We'd love your feedback. For any procurement pros out there,
what would make your life easier?
Author : michaelotis
Score : 36 points
Date : 2021-03-05 14:38 UTC (8 hours ago)
| bberenberg wrote:
| Are you acting as a reseller?
| theprofitmotis wrote:
| Not today, but we think there's a potential for a
| marketplace/catalogue type approach in the long-term as we
| build out both the customer and vendor sides.
| Simonga25 wrote:
| Nice launch.
| michaelotis wrote:
| Appreciate it!
| slovette wrote:
| What size SMB are you targeting?
| theprofitmotis wrote:
| Largely going by FTEs at this point... 50-500 employees
| mrwnmonm wrote:
| Honest question: If you are backed by YC, it means you got some
| money, so why you don't spend more on design?
|
| The design looks a little bit basic, and the animated boxes are
| annoying. Sorry for the negative feedback.
| michaelotis wrote:
| Fair feedback. Just a team of two at the moment and we've
| prioritized building out a couple of integrations and adding
| modules to the app. Revamping the UI is on the shortlist too.
| kitcar wrote:
| FYI there seems to be something wrong with your registration
| flow. I entered my email on the homepage, was brought to a login
| page
| (https://app.procoto.com/Identity/Account/Login?ReturnUrl=%2F)
| Click "Sign Up" under don't have an account, created an account,
| clicked the verification link, brought back to login page, when I
| try to login nothing happens - page just refreshes, no error
| message of any kind.
| michaelotis wrote:
| Thanks for pointing out. Should redirect to a page letting you
| know our onboarding team will reach out shortly.
| brycelarkin wrote:
| Looks cool! I use to work with some procurement groups. How is
| this different from the current rfp software out there rn (Scout,
| Ariba, Bonfire)? What makes it so that it's for smb because I
| feel like theres a lot of similarity in the rfp process in
| enterprise and smb.
| michaelotis wrote:
| Definitely similar and that's part of the problem. Scout,
| Ariba, Bonfire, Coupa, Jaggaer, etc. prefer to stay upmarket.
| Longer sales cycles, onboarding processes, training sessions,
| and pricier annual agreements.
|
| We're taking a simpler, more user-friendly SaaS approach so
| that similar tools/processes become more accessible to smaller
| companies that may not have dedicated procurement functions or
| the budget for one of the big guys.
| kayhi wrote:
| Very cool, can you give details about the monthly costs?
| michaelotis wrote:
| Reluctant to give a quote without knowing whether there'd
| be any custom buildout, integrations, etc. If you're
| interested in learning more and talking pricing, feel free
| to shoot us a note at info@procoto.com. I'll personally
| respond and we can take it from there!
| kayhi wrote:
| No problem, but this feels more like an enterprise
| process than a self serve SaaS solution. I'm not saying
| that is bad, but had the impression it is more self
| service such as I could select needed integrations and
| see pricing. I'd consider that more user friendly than
| contact sales.
| michaelotis wrote:
| You're right and we're in the midst of transitioning to a
| self-service approach from enterprise. Much more in line
| with what we're trying to accomplish.
| npilk wrote:
| This is low-value advice, but I'd add some periods to the copy on
| your site - right now it feels a little unpolished. Compare to
| Stripe's homepage (or similar).
|
| E.g.:
|
| "We get you out of multiple systems and spreadsheets without the
| cost or feature bloat of the big guys[.]"
|
| "Procoto drives down vendor spend, streamlines the sourcing
| process, and automates purchasing, contract, and vendor data[.]"
|
| Sounds like a cool idea, best of luck to you both!
| michaelotis wrote:
| Done. Appreciate the feedback.
| rsweeney21 wrote:
| If you are selling to SMB you need to put your pricing on the
| website.
|
| I'm your target, but lost interest because not disclosing pricing
| usually means it's expensive.
|
| Hope this helps!
| michaelotis wrote:
| It does! Thank you. Something we've debated internally. Really
| good to hear it from a potential user.
| akarma wrote:
| As someone who has worked in SaaS pricing, definitely agree
| that you should add a nice pricing page. :)
|
| Otherwise, there's a funny sort of irony in being a spend
| management tool for other SaaS products without clear pricing
| on your own.
| michaelotis wrote:
| That's a great callout and definitely been part of the
| discussion internally. We'll get a pricing page up there in
| the near future... Been holding out until we have the self-
| service version up and running, but you make a good case to
| openly address it now.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2021-03-05 23:01 UTC)