Packaly
Packaly is the fastest last-mile delivery platform that combines businesses and their customers with an on-demand delivery service.
Nowadays the company offers Instant Delivery, Same-Day Delivery, and Linehaul Delivery to more than 500 retailers in 125+ Dutch cities through its technology.
The story so far…
Packaly is the fastest last-mile delivery platform that combines businesses and their customers with an on-demand delivery service. Nowadays the company offers Instant Delivery, Same-Day Delivery, and Linehaul Delivery to more than 500 retailers in 125+ Dutch cities through its technology. Packaly’s 10.000+ riders cycle the earth multiple times a month, the team is growing from a small group to a great number of like-minded tech enthusiasts while maintaining the sustainable CO2 neutrality goal and delivering a unique experience to all their customers every single day.
The idea of Packaly was born from a small group of friends who came together, dove into the infrastructure, idea, and especially ethics of the bike delivery landscape, and started their mission to reshape it completely.
BUSINESS CHALLENGES
Technical skills shortage
“First of all, as a startup, it’s important to consider all budgets, but invest mostly in technology. Therefore, it’s been a simple but also fast choice to work with an external development team. It is hard to find talent in The Netherlands, as big tech companies have a lot more to offer right now. We started looking into different countries, which gave us the power to expand our team way faster.”
Cultural fit
Packaly is a business with a bold set of values. They value sustainability in all their services, believe in tech that fits all and drives change, and work hard and smart to get the job done.
The company has a real focus on preserving transparency, as well as its collaborative, optimistic, and positive culture. Packaly is always aiming to change the world. Their initial request was not just for technical skills; it was about finding a balance between experience, personality, and cultural similarities.
Good English, fast communication, and trust were the factors that influenced Packaly‘s decision in extending their team to Moldova.
The assignment
The initial search was for an experienced web developer. They needed a forward-thinking individual who could develop the product while ensuring that each task is fully completed. A strong knowledge of the PHP programming language and Node.js was required.
Process
Over the course of the search, BackstageIT mapped the Moldavian market in search of suitable candidates. The recruitment team focused its efforts on providing Packaly with a shortlist of pre-screened candidates. The selection process included two-stage interviews, starting with the technical specialist and people coordinator from BackstageIT and culminating in a thorough final interview directly with Packaly.
Result
BackstageIT helped Packaly find the requested candidate, on time and on budget, for an ideal first foray into their collaboration. As a result of the success of the partnership and the quality of fit for the developer, in a short time, Packaly decided to expand their extended team with one more developer.
For more than 3 years of collaboration with BackstageIT, the extended team of Packaly was slowly but constantly growing. Now, the team in Moldova consists of three developers working with Angular & Flutter, Node.js and Golang. Besides, they have a Project Manager to better coordinate the project, a QA Engineer to identify all the software issues on time, and a DevOps Engineer who designs and develops automated deployment arrangements.
The diversity of the team and the power of having remote working gives Packaly flexibility and power to focus on what is needed and finish the sprints every detail.
“The Moldavian developers are fast, highly skilled, and know what they are talking about. They got the knowledge you need in an early-stage company, but also when you are scaling up and growing your team. This is powerful to scale fast and get answers from your development team constantly.”
Axel Dekker
CEO of Packaly
FEEDBACK
Here are just a few features of our model that Packaly has appreciated over the course of our partnership to date.
Cultural fit
Packaly appreciated BackstageIT’s level of focus in providing the right fit both technically and culturally, which they saw in all candidates proposed for the interview.
Speed
In a fast-paced market, Packaly needed to hire developers in weeks rather than months to drive forward their innovative ideas. BackstageIT’s competence to balance the quality and speed of the process was the key to a successful collaboration.
Collaboration and alignment
Packaly appreciated the constructive assessment of the candidates provided by BackstageIT. They were also pleased that BackstageIT made sure that everyone was both comfortable and engaged throughout the hiring practice, which made the onboarding process for the successful candidates run smoothly.
PLANS FOR THE FUTURE
We are sure that the Moldavian team will grow. Packaly frequently travels to Moldova to check on their colleagues and work some time together from BackstageIT’s office in Chisinau. This ensures team bonding and culture transfer. It also strengthens team relationships for even better performance and productivity.
