Mexico's HR startup Runa unleashes more features for its platform

Contxto – Runa, the HR startup from Mexico, has been busy as of late. In correspondence with Contxto, it shared that it’s added two new perks to its platform. One applies to employee enrollment in Mexico’s healthcare system and the other is a performance management feature.

The startup can be found in Mexico City and Guadalajara, but more recently it’s also opened offices in Monterrey.

Through this expansion, Runa is now well-positioned in the country’s key business and tech hubs. And it’s also good news for people looking for great employment. This is so given it was previously featured in LinkedIn’s ranking of best startups to work for.

HR startup and its on the rise platform

Like many startups we’ve previously covered, Runa emerged as an answer to a recurring problem. In this case for payroll management in Mexico.

Specifically, the startup’s founder, Courtney McColgan, was surprised with what a bumpy process it is to release payroll. And it often results in stressed-out employees and headaches for HR.

As a result, McColgan put her Silicon Valley-honed skills to the test and founded Runa in 2017.

Through the platform, HR staff have more control over payroll including settlement packages for employees.

And as the startup has grown, it’s also expanded its offering of features like tracking vacation days, employee performance, among others.

The startup’s platform is leased to companies based on the number of employees or the features the business is interested in using.

McColgan previously worked as an Executive at Cabify and even worked for venture capital (VC) funds such as Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Morgenthaler Ventures.

The startup for its part has gone through Y Combinator’s accelerator program and raised funding from the likes of Salesforce Ventures and Maschmeyer Group Ventures.

HR featuritis?

A little while back we released a market map covering HR startups from Santiago, Chile.

And it was striking to see the number of full-suite end-to-end solutions out there for Human Resources. Platforms with recruitment features, work environment metrics, add-ons for employee exits.

It was concerning that some may have even fallen into excessive feature offerings, aka “featuritis.”

Wanting to get a better grasp on how startups find a healthy balance between the quantity and quality of features it offers, I reached out to Runa.

For this startup, finding the sweet spot between the number of perks and the effectiveness they provide is a matter of being in contact with customers.

“The secret is in listening to the customer,” the startup explained in recent correspondence, “it’s something we do through our platform. There we provide real-time consulting, we answer questions, and we learn about the features that really make a difference for them.”

So there you have it folks, customers have a unique perspective to offer. So keep those communication channels open.

Related articles: Tech and startups in Mexico!

-ML