Solve for hiring
The story of how we used storytelling to solve for Chargebee's hiring problem.
About Chargebee
Today, Chargebee is a global leader in subscription billing and revenue management, trusted by over 6,500 businesses in 53 countries, including brands like Freshworks and Calendly. Backed by investors like Tiger Global and Insight Partners, Chargebee has raised over $470 million in funding and was last valued at $3.5B.
Back in Jan 2018, Chargebee was a Chennai-based Series-B startup with 150 employees. And it had a hiring problem.
Problem statement
As Chargebee was scaling, founders were finding it challenging to be involved in the early interview rounds themselves. But that meant lowering of motivation for applicants to complete the interview process (which was pretty intense). Was there a way to compensate for this dip in motivation? The need was also to focus specifically on attracting
- more engineering talent
- more qualified folks to apply for customer support (it was more than a regular call centre job)
- more women employees
Additionally, there also seemed to be an overall Chennai perception problem when it came to attracting talent from other parts of the country. Could Chargebee do anything about it at all?
What we did
Amrit, founder, Story99 (who was a freelancer filmmaker during this assignment) interviewed founders and employees, and put together 5 videos - each addressing a specific problem.
Video 1 - the overall Chargbee working culture
The idea was to channelize the passion and clarity of the founders to signal the kind of tribe an applicant would get to join, if they got through. It's been seven years since we made this video, but it still works for Chargbee.
Video 2 - Chargebee from an engineering POV
This was created to speak specifically to engineering talent.
Video 3 - Customer Support focus
Video 4 - Women's perspective on working in Chargebee
Chennai Beyond Stereotypes
A video may not change perception. But here is what happened - the below video got over 2 lakh organic views within a year, and massive engagement. You should check out the comments section. It was strategically decided to put it out on Amrit's personal channel as a collaboration with Chargebee and that seemed to have helped.
Outcome
Chargebee has grown to be a unicorn, from ~150 people in 2018 to 1K+ today (with offices across the globe). These videos still work and are part of the career section of the website.
Over the years, we have helped several tech startups tell the stories of what it's like to work there / vision of the founders, which has helped them attract & retain talent.
- Hyperverge - it's a digital onboarding tech company
- Jodo - fintech
- Turno - EV transition enabler company
- BeeHyv - IT services
If you have scaled to have a team size that's over 50, and have started to witness challenges with hiring, let's speak to see what could be the right story led solution for you. Because great storytelling is good business.
Below are some outcomes that we can help you achieve.
Block a time to speak with Amrit (founder, Story99)
Questions
& Answers
Does Story99 only work for tech companies?
That's where we bring in most value. Tech storytelling is hard. Very few can do that.
Why the focus on 50-500 team size companies?
If you are very small, may be best to figure out the storytelling yourself (the RoI of spending on it may not work out)? And if you are over 500, you have probably figured out the storytelling bit already.
It's the messy middle where an external entity like us can come in and iterate with you to take your growth to the next level, powered by a coherent, distinctive and actionable storytelling strategy.
What is the engagement model?
Either lump-sum for a specific project or a retainer where we act like your storytelling, marketing & brand partner, helping grow the business (while you focus on the product, tech, and client relationships).
Who is the founder of Story99?
Amrit Vatsa.
Amrit was in IIT Madras from 2003 to 08 (Civil Dual) and then joined PwC as a consultant. But took a break after four years to start experimenting with photography. Launched a short documentary film-making venture in 2014, followed by a marketing consulting & content studio in 2021 that grew to a 15 people team - working for a diverse range of companies - seminconductors, drones, motors, SaaS, fintech, edtech, agritech, real estate, VC, manufacturing etc.
Amrit is passionate about tech, business & storytelling.
How much does it cost to hire you guys?
Some projects cost INR 2 lakh lumpsum, others 10. And then there are things in between.
When we work with you on a retainer, it starts at 2.5L a month. There have been instances where the scope increased to go up to 7.5L a month. We hope this gives you a good idea about the spends.
Now here's the thing - whether you spend 2L or 10L, what matters is the outcome. We will work out the right RoI for you.
What is that one thing that Story99 is really good at?
Storytelling.
Where are you guys based out of?
We are a remote company. Our clients are spread across Bangalore, Mumbai, NCR, Pune and USA. Amrit, the founder works out of Goa (when not traveling for client meetings / events).
