In depth with JoeZ – Chatchanart , young startupper who build the cleaning service platform Seekster that meets the needs of the city.

The success of startup businesses might start with one little doubt that soon forms into a business that makes a fortune. Thinking outside the box, answering city lifestyle which is rush and workload and has no time for housework, became “Seekster, the cleaning and repairing service platform” who can help with only a touch on a finger. Jozad – Chatchanart Jiratornsirikul, CEO & CO-founder of Seekster, has driven Seekster since the beginning ideas and funding. Entering 7-th year with big news, millions of fund from True Digital Group. Jozad is considered a young CEO who can use startup technology to connect ones who needs help for services and ones who is able to serves.

Starting of startup, Seekster the online platform

7 years earlier, the word “startup” is not well known as today. Many were still confused what startup is, a new business? I would like to say that it isn’t just new. Else, if I open a pork-stew shop would mean I am a startup. Mainly it has to be a new business model that use technology and sellable. Sellable means customers will come back. Do you get it? Like online shopping, that one is so, so huge now. That is a business with technology. Right here, 7 years before, the idea was formed as there was UBER, remember it? And Grab which people can call a ride with a mobile phone. So I think we should have other service too, such as housemaids and repairmen.

Starting idea as an intern, wanted to start a service platform.

When I was a senior, 8 years ago, I didn’t want to applied for any job. At first I dreamed about becoming a business consultant for some named companies, which might be cool. But at one point it was like, OK, why don’t I do it myself. After being with that thought for a while, I applied as an intern at Co-working space, which is also a new vocab. What is Co-working space? It is not a coffee shop. It is a place where people who have dreams and ideas gather together doing something. So I went there to help, worked as a staff. I earned both money and knowledge, so I was happy. At one point, I wanted to used knowledge I earned to build a business model. How could we build an online platform where people can call for any services they want? As my Co-founder owns a hotel, so we started at his hotel. A platform to call for housemaids and repairmen, to replace full-time employees.  That was the beginning. In details I struggled a lot, as a staff organized events, got to know many speakers who later became my mentors. Many of them want to help me, or not? I wonder. The first 2 years was what I call the probation. 2 years of no application, no detail system. We have admins manually sent me every messages via Facebook or Line. Then we install the application, started with the housemaid part.

The role of the Application Seekster
There were many people who want to do it, but not many who did it. Even there were many who did it at that time, there were not many who wanted to download applications. I can say that if I started since the first year, it wouldn’t go well. It would be too expensive. Lucky at that time I didn’t have the budget, neither knowledge. So, the first 2 years we did it manually, and developed the application later. When we got the application at the 4^th year we get into B2B. As B2B, we can provide services to shops, brands, hi-end brands in the department stores.  We sent out housemaids at 7, working until 9, then out to work at other stores at noon, at afternoon and at evening. Totally we could say that we have provided more than 700,000 services, distributed incomes. Yes, I said distributed incomes, as we have been the middleman created income for more than 300,000,000 baht.

Advanced services and sub-services, through nowadays
Today we are direct services. We provide more housemaids and repairmen. As we have the system, we serve the system to others. I called them the “2^nd company”. There are 2^nd companies such as a multinational public company that sell electric equipment. We serviced them the system, inform their technicians that one has ordered a TV. Then they would use our system to manage the installations. So, we have to think about the addition of our business. We have to always think about how can we use our results to create more value. As we have to program, we provide others the program.

Progression of the system
Completing the program… it would be difficult to answer as a percentage. Even 3 years from now, the system wouldn’t be completed. Because there will be additions and development and go on. We have to wipe out technology from 3-4 years ago as it is not the best or the fastest anymore. We have to develop the new one and put in the existing data.  For the new version, to be completed and launched after that, might be next year.

Screening and recruiting housemaids
We have processes. We maintain our standards and qualities. First id morning standard. We have too screen and train our employees. They all must be certified. After trainings, we will send the document to the Criminal Records Division. We do check every one. So you can trust us. Also, some clients give us reviews, and we can apply those reviews in our trainings later.

If I want a regular housemaid, can I hire the one I like?
We are preparing this model for the future after we serve B2B. There is an office that want to hire aunt Pong as their employee. Something like that. We can sell them the contract. We would like to service them for that. We are still discussing about this point. Because when our customer trusts a housemaid and want to hire him or her, we will not support any issue that will happen after that. Because it is an agreement.

What about favourite housemaids.
You can select your favourites on the application. It will run to your favourites first. As I said earlier, many clients don’t want full-time maids just because of that. So we create our platform. One of the reason that everyone should use the platform is that we provide insurances.

Penetrate the SME market
First is that they can pay just for how they want. No need to hire full-time. Let me simply calculate it. If you hire a full-time, you might have to pay 12,000 baht. Some could be cheaper, but the maid would be distress to stay. The point is, you can have a housemaid with just a budget of 7,000 baht if you hire via us. As there are many times that a housemaid hired just to sitting and waiting because there is nothing else to do. As we use the technology for this, a housemaid can have morning job, afternoon job and evening job. For 300 bath per jobs, this maid can make 900 baht a day. And for clients, instead of paying full salary, they will pay only 6,000 baht each, saving have of the budget.

Through Covid-19 pandemic and the strategy to overcome Covid-19 pandemic.

2019 was very crucial in monthly incomes. We reached 8 million per month and went down to half immediately. As lockdown was announced, we had adapted very fast. We added new service at once, Covid testing. Thinking back then, there was a time when I have to take a long drive to drive-through service. I went there at 9 am, but tested at 3 pm. So we bring this service to your houses and offices. This service helped us survived, made us more than 8 million. Because it was the must. There was another service, which I call the housemaid gang. From sending out one housemaid, we sent out a gang of 6, becoming a Big Cleaning service. This one is still be required in the market. It is a case when clients are not at the work station. Like their relatives got Covid and everyone already moved out, they would call for Big Cleaning and trust us to be there. That was the customers part, we added consistent services. For housemaid part and protocols, if we buy ATKs from retails, they will be costly. So we act as an agent buying wholesale for cheapest price. We have economy of scale, buy more but cost less. Such as the sanitizer, if we buy wholesale it would be cheaper than buy just one bottle.

Adding sterilizing service

This is another service that help us through the pandemic until the jobs has decreased as there was the coming of Chinese sprayers. But what we import is not the same but different technology. It is a sterilized sprayer from Switzerland. It can trap smaller virus. Ordinary sprayers usually are larger.

How do you recruit the team for sterilizing service

Actually it was sourcing the service providers, which will be another core model of our business in the future. By sourcing, we have talked to 2 SMEs companies. At first we provided the sterilizing sprayers, but not for the Covid. Before Covid, sterilization is a service for fresh moms. After giving birth, they want to clean the houses because babies are vvulnerable to bacteria and virus. So, they like to sterilize the house before bringing in babies. And for Covid, we just intensify the solution. Then we searched through our connections, and found a junior who also graduated Engineering from CU as me. It was like, even I don’t know How but I know Who. For the future, I think it is a good model. It has gone so well. For housemaids, we provide trainings and applications for our own housemaids. We create everything by ourselves. If we hadn’t done them all by ourselves, it would be difficult for us to expand to all over the country, even only in Bangkok. We don’t know everything. We just go get those who know. We have around 200,000-300,000 customers. Only if we just look for a new service, find a SME that matched what we need and we can have a new business. This is what we are going for after True Corporation joined us. This model has been adapted to repairman services, which has already been launched.

Funding by True Digital Group

For Startups, mostly it is about funding. We need funding because to start a Startup can cost a fortune. Software, programmers, or else are pricey. So we have been search for funding. At the first time we received funds from an American fund, SCB and Dtac. We could run our business through 2017, 2018 and 2019. In 2019, we got funding from private equities. It was funding from the rich, like 500,000 or a million each. That was the second funding.  Everything looked so booming in 2019. The economics grew and there were many opportunities, so many want to invest. We got lucky because of that as we had enough funds to get passed through 2020 and 2021, enough to servive the Covid pandemic. Last April I had a change to meet with True executives. They have seen that our visions and strategies are in line with their associate companies. They want to provide more household services. We can be complement and promote each other. So, the deal has been made, and so the funding, a large funding. They invest to be a major shareholder as they have a specific direction they really want to do. Actually they give us more freedom than I thought. As you invest in us for 60-70%, do you want to specify any direction?  Then there was a meeting, and every companies agreed to let us continue on what we have been doing. Just add more services that benefit their associate companies. They already have more than 4,000 technicians and nationwide service centers. We connect them with technology, then the benefit can be multiply. The funding from True was around 88 million baht.

The changes of Seekster after the funding

For Seekster to jump into B2B we have to combine every services into one unit for an entrepreneur. That is why we want to be your assistant. You don’t have to do everything yourself, just run your business. For services such as air-conditioner repairing, you can make a contract with us. We will take care everything for you, cleaning, repairing or even renovation. Can you imagine what it would be if you are an entrepreneur but you have to focus on something else that is not your main product? So you can hire us instead. We will add this part, by joining with True as they have professional technicians. But we are still open for applications. As I said, we act like a market place. If you are a SME, please call us.

Managing supplier systems

First is about VAT registration. We give this first priority as if you register VAT, you can manage things when your income grows millions. We only ask for some interview. With customers’ interview, we are more confident. As when you are connected to our platform, of cause the price has to be agreed on. Yes, we will charge for commission, but I want you to think like this. We didn’t squeeze out your money. Consider it as marketing price. If you set up your own marketing team, I can guarantee you the price will be much higher. We have strong marketing team. We have large customer groups. So let us make the sale for you. You just wait to click accept on the application. You have an application that can manage schedule; date, time and place.  It is the mobile app that you can send your crews out to work and the you click to receipt money. That’s it. We open for SME suppliers who has great reviews and fully registered.

The idea of using Blockchain in service system
For blockchain, we have studied it since last year. Actually I already have an expert in my team. For the question that will we go that way, after studied for a year I think we should suspend it. Even we install blockchain to our system, it will not creat that much value. People still don’t understand what Blackchain is. We also cannot find a team for that easily. Everything seems difficult. So now we know that we noted it on, we have information for more research and we can come back to it in a few years. As Blockchain might be about creating a token or a coin. It might be like a bonus for our housemaids. Working on NFT, working on tokens, housemaids might exchange this tokens for something else.

Are you tired of doing service platform business?

Yes, I am tired. But I think we are tired at the right way. What we do is big. If we weren’t tired, it wasn’t big enough. Another question is that are you having fun doing it. If you are tired, you take a break and come back. You can keep doing things as long as you enjoy it. For me, 7 years is quite long. As I had never work anywhere else before.

Looking back to last 7 years to today of the success

For the achievement, we made the target last year. I talked to my team, we want to improve the quality of lives, a million lives. We have great technology, great services and great mind set. Think about it. Not worldwide, but only within this country. One million service routers who have brilliant technology to engage in services. Everyone has great service mind. Everyone loves to service. How liveable would it be! When there is any problem or any issue, just click. No more worry, no more venture. I want Seekster

Seekster’s additional service

IoT CCTV Smart Service Installation. There are some people who cannot find technicians to install for them. Some even sell as DIY. We have smart device technicians to help on this.

Secrets of impression

All service providers must pass the training before. For service mind, how to start, how to meet customers, we have protocols. And for B2B, we have account manager teams to help manage everything in needed. Such as replacing housemaids, you can directly contact our account manager.

Next year business direction and marketing

For next year strategies, firstly we want to improve more on training. Not only number of housemaids, we have seen that we must have a few more training centers. Now we have ones in Nonthaburi, Thonglor, Sukhumvit and Pattaya. I think that we have to build more for more access. More trainings, comes more skills and more services. Previously we focused only on housemaids, next year we will focus on repairmen.

Secrets of impression

All service providers must pass the training before. For service mind, how to start, how to meet customers, we have protocols. And for B2B, we have account manager teams to help manage everything in needed. Such as replacing housemaids, you can directly contact our account manager.

Techniques to bring company to success

I would like to describe as phases. When we were small, not more than 10 people in the company. The technique to success at that time was about Design Thinking. What is Design Thinking? It is that we make a clearly understanding of our customers and users. That’s the first steps. The step of understanding is that you don’t do business because you want to do it not because you want to sell and sell and sell.  You must know what people want to buy and then you start from there. So this first technique is that you have to know this. And when we grew up from 10 people to 20-30, we already had hundreds or thousands customers.

The second technique is Lean Management. You have to grow fast, but not with too much invests. This topic can be read everywhere now. And last is what we call Growth Hacking. At the day you feel like reaching hundreds millions, you must have Growth Hacking technique. You must have a technique of finding customers, networks and partners. You must know how to introduce your brand to more than a hundred thousand people. For me, when you are building your own brand on selling something and more than a hundred thousand people know your product, you have success for a degree.

. My target is a thousand people pay you a hundred baht each, and your business will value ten million. Those are my 3-phase techniques. And for human resource, many has talked about it. For me, it is about managing business systematically and put your heart into it. To make it systematic is just set up systems. But to use your heart, is to ask yourself do you want this company to success, and do you want all people in your company to success with you. If this feeling covers all the company, it will progress further, and progress fast.

Recruiting the crews

We have adjusted criterions for regular crews every year. Every time we recruit a new staff, we have to review our criteria. It has to be arranged, but not by me, by the team headers and team members. We are a company of the new generations. We have a new perspective for viewing things. Those who come to join us don’t have to know much. If our chemistries match, we can teach you. So it is all about chemistries. Same chemistries, good mind set, and we will hand teach you. No matter you apply for marketing, operations or sales. We already have protocols. Only if you are the right person, you can come to learn and earn.

Working philosophy and working idol

For idol, I cannot name only one person as I has always learned through backdoors since my senior year until now. I was a back room staff. I had learned from Khun Ton, Hun Jui Su Boonlearng, Khun Nick Genie. I was a staff for these courses and I learned through that. So, mainly I have two teams of idols. For Management idols, I would like to name Khun Supajee Sutampan, CEO of Dusit Thani Group. She is a strong woman who specialize in hotel management.  So I esteem her as an idol in managing things. For Arts, there is Khun Phol, a concert designer. He makes me see that it is not only about doing this and doing that. He focuses only one thing, the feelings. From that, these days even when I talk with people, as I also am a speaker, I listen to the feelings of the speakers and think about how to change those feelings. All that I have learned, both sciences and arts, became my life and work philosophy. I see that for sciences, I have protocols. I have reasonable logics. But when I make decisions, I use feelings. I listen to the feelings around that time and decide which logics to be used. Some people like to say that we should use logics not feelings. But “Feeling is a logic”, as Khun Toom, Hnum Muang Chan once said.

From a boy who had dreams and curiosity, into the new business model. The online service platform Seekster can create millions of incomes due to willingness and continuing learning tirelessly. When he is tired, he just takes a break and comes back fresh. A CEO who engrossed himself into work and make the cleaning service platform to be well-know. He is another CEO that we, Memag Onling, want to record.

To know more about Seekster

Facebook :  Seekster
Website:  Seekster 
Line@: @seeksterelite