A start-up from Valencia that improves the well-being of employees of companies such as Balearia, Consum or AirEuropa

At first glance, it may seem that Balearia, Osborne, Consum, Mercedes-Benz or AirEuropa have nothing in common. However, they are all success stories Happydönia, a startup from Valencia, is dedicated to improving management and communication in companies through technology.

According to its CEO, María Carmen Lacuesta, in an interview with D+I-EL ESPAÑOL, the firm was born six years ago out of its own need. “We wanted to promote culture internally and that we all breathe the color of the organization’s t-shirtbe it a person who lived in Galicia or Valencia,” he recalls.

Later, this goal was revealed and materialized in a an application hosted in a SaaS environment which seeks to unify the company’s channels to simplify and optimize its processes. “We strive for multi-channel to make the work easier not only for the company, but also for the staff,” sums up Lacuesta. “Typically they have many different applications: one with an intranet, another with social benefits software, another with an employee portal…. We try not to get dizzy“.

In addition, he clarifies, they strive for a collaborative environment, including all departments, so that shared management at the internal level is much more practical.

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“The reality is that we find companies that say they want to improve the well-being of their organization, and to do this they provide their employees with many tools, but they know that half of them are not used because they either do not know each other or, directly, they don’t know how to access it,” he says.

Given this scenario, Happydönia is here with the aim of bridging this digital divide so that anyone in the company can have access to the information that the firm they work for wants to make available to them. for this, They define the single channel in which successful processes are usedsuch as employees on social networks, in order to facilitate interaction with them.

“It’s like if you took the best of each app in a shaker: like instant messaging, WhatsApp, then Instagram, LinkedIn, the employee portal… things that everyone knows how to use, you put it together and you get Happydönia,” it says.

Lacuesta says that using such common interaction patterns makes user onboarding much easier than expected. This is added to the fact that when they work with each company, they adapt to their corporate image, thus “many times no one knows that Happydönia is behind them“.

A sense of belonging

Since 2017, they have worked with companies such as Consum, Balearia or AiEuropa, firms that manage very high numbers in relation to employee management. Lacuesta explains that working with these big firms wasn’t about giving them tools, because “everything is at their fingertips,” but about improving their experience. bringing together all channels, improving communication and “promoting a sense of belonging”.

This, he notes, has helped aspects such as talent attraction and loyalty, one of the most serious problems of modern companies.

“Companies that make a difference are those that put people at the center and focus not only on external customers but also on internal ones,” he says. “There is no need to separate external and internal communication: it’s communication“.

Lacuesta explains that the company has “a lot of challenges” ahead of 2024, but highlights as the main one the consolidation of the growth they have experienced in recent years. “Now we’re looking at scaling with the size of the workforce to support whatever comes in and improve at all levels,” he promotes.

Among the changes that await us, Happydönia’s CEO mentions the introduction of new digital tools like artificial intelligence. “These are problems that weren’t there at the beginning, but that help us go a little further,” he says.

Entrepreneurship in Spain

However, having reached this point of growth it wasn’t easy according to Lacuesta. Shortly after starting the company, the CEO recalls that they decided to stop because even though they were growing, they weren’t doing it the way they wanted to, so they preferred take a break and professionalize the firm.

“A startup starts with a business idea, on the go, with the resources it has, but the goal is to be sustainable over time,” he points out. “In our case, there was a point of exhaustion where we said, ‘Hey, we can’t die of success,’ which was pressand we said “let’s do it right but without losing our essence‘”.

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Therefore, along this path, the CEO explains that they have always tried to support the innovative spirit in the people who are part of the firm, as well as the trust in the product. “All together” made this process easier,” he emphasizes.

Lacuesta says the inequality they went through when launching Happydönia is common in the Spanish entrepreneurial ecosystem. “It’s not all good or it’s not all growth and a lot of times it’s belief to continue despite valleys or difficulties“he notes.

Despite this, the board is convinced of encouraging startups that start to support themselves despite ​​these obstacles, if, indeed, “they see that their product solves something” or that “they have an opportunity to continue to grow” . “Of course, many times they will have to adapt,” he warns. “It’s not about settling down, it’s about wanting to move on.“.

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