Raynet Company Based in Ostrava That Develops CRM and Is Expanding Globally
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STARTUP
Last year, Raynet celebrated 20 years on the
market. During that time, the company has gained
over 21,000 paying users from more than 3,500
companies. Let’s go back to the beginning – how
did Raynet actually come about, and what made you
decide to focus specifically on CRM?
Raynet was founded in 2004 by a group of friends from
Ostrava. The idea came from my older brother, who
had started programming at the age of eight on our
first Atari computer.
We literally searched for our first clients with the Yellow
Pages on the table, with a simple goal – to survive. So,
we did everything we knew how to do – developed
web applications, built server solutions, automated
production lines, and even ran our own call centre. It was
wild and tough, but we wouldn’t change a thing.
After four years, we had established ourselves in the
software world, received several awards for fast growth,
and realised that we wanted to reinvent Raynet. At that
time, we had several dozen key clients and around
a hundred smaller customers. However, we didn’t have
our own product! We no longer wanted to endlessly
create tailor-made solutions. We longed for a product
of our own that could be used by a huge number of clients
and that would deliver the ultimate customer experience.
That was the turning point. We started developing Raynet
CRM from our own resources. Cloud technologies were
already used abroad at that time, and we were among
the first to bring them into the Czech market.
You often mention open company management.
Could you explain what that means in practice?
First of all – in my view, it’s one of the key ingredients
behind Raynet’s success. We try to share information
as openly as possible. Every “Rayfish” (as we call our
employees) has access to economic data – the business
plan, revenues, salary and operating costs. Without
exception, everyone knows what’s happening in sales
and what decisions lie ahead of us.
On top of that, everyone enjoys a high level of personal
freedom. And it’s really clear that this makes the whole
company feel responsible for Raynet. There’s no need
to put pressure on anyone – we share the ambition
to achieve something and to deliver an excellent
service.
So does that mean your employees can see each
other’s salaries?
That’s right. But it’s important to say we didn’t
do anything abruptly – we only made them public
once everyone had agreed. And it worked surprisingly
smoothly. Another interesting aspect is what we call
“non-dismissability” – an agreement granted to every
employee who stays with us for the first three years.
Whoever reaches that milestone gains the assurance
that the company will always stand behind them,
no matter what happens in their professional
or personal life. While it has no basis in law, we have
a safeguard for employees in the form of 24 months’
salary should it ever be violated.
Has the ownership of the company changed since
the beginning? Who actually owns it now?
At the moment, Raynet is co-owned by 10 people,
all of whom are still active employees. However,
we also want Rayfish outside the ownership structure
to share in Raynet’s results. That’s why at the end
of the year we distribute profits according to the
following principle: ten percent goes to charity, 30%
is shared among employees, and the remainder goes
to the owners and back into the company for growth
and investment.
Like any proper CRM, Raynet
is a soluon for people in sales
– those who sell or manage sales.