Allan Jones learned from an early age that ideas aren’t worth much if you just talk about them. At 23, he had an idea for a men’s subscription clothing company and ran with it, raising a successful seed round.
Jones closed the company three years later, but gained a lot from the experience. “Don’t make your first startup one that has 60% of your capital going toward your cost of goods,” Jones said, laughing.
Another key lesson for Jones: Both the business and the founder must grow. “I came in fairly confident that I already had all of the skills to do it—I did not,” Jones said. “The amount of growth and discomfort that I had to be willing to experience so the company could reach its potential—it’s life-changing.”
From his first startup, Jones moved to executive positions at Docstoc and ZipRecruiter. In those roles, he worked directly with small businesses, helping them access financial and legal documents and find talent. Over time, those experiences led to another idea: Giving small businesses access to affordable, effective HR managers and simplifying hiring and employee management.
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How Bambee was founded
Jones knew the market was already saturated with companies that help small businesses post job listings.
What Jones observed, however, is that, in the early stages of a company, there is often no HR department. Small businesses needed help identifying what to ask candidates in interviews, what to do once they made a hiring decision and how to implement important policies.
Jones saw how much anxiety HR management created for business leaders and saw that as a space to eliminate some friction.
And so Bambee was born in 2016, following the belief that every U.S. business, no matter how big or small, should have access to an affordable, dedicated HR manager.
From growing pains to growth spurts
Not long after Jones found this gap in the market, Bambee took off. By 2023, it was ranked the top 1,000 of Inc.’s 5000 fastest-growing companies.
“We grew very fast. Multiple 100% growth years back-to-back,” Jones said. “We went from serving 10 companies to tens of thousands of companies in a really short period of time.”
Although Jones welcomed this incredible growth, he faced challenges along the way. Bambee had to withstand macroeconomic factors that drastically affected its market—namely COVID-19’s impact on remote work, staff reductions, leave policies and workplace safety, and the unprecedented demand for hiring and onboarding that took place after the recession in 2020.
“We’ve had to adapt. What’s remained the same is our appetite to be dynamic and fluid. So no matter the macroeconomic conditions or the microeconomic factors, we’re a business that can survive and thrive.”
—Allan Jones, CEO and founder of Bambee
Bambee’s success has led Jones to think about the future and how best to serve his company’s needs.
“J.P. Morgan was the first who gave us objective thought when I was thinking through forms of liquidity, duration of time, etc.,” Jones said. “The bank’s been awesome at expanding my horizons.”
Whatever the future holds, Jones knows that his love for building new things, leading people and solving hard problems will keep him going.
“Why I do this is less important to me than the fact that I love to do it. And at some point, I will know why,” Jones said. “But in the meantime, I'll just keep doing it as long as I love it.”
We support the efforts of founders like Allan Jones as they make our communities across the U.S. stronger and more vibrant. Our team can help provide the capital, expertise and solutions that serve your organization’s ambitions.
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