StackOne is a company that makes building integrations quickly, reliably, and securely using Unified APIs (HRIS, ATS, CRM, LMS, Marketing automation, etc.) Pulse 2.0 interviewed StackOne co-founder and CEO Romain Sestier to learn more about the company.
Romain Sestier’s Background
(StackOne founders Romain Sestier and Guillaume Lebedel)
What is Sestier’s background? Sestier said:
“I am StackOne’s CEO Romain Sestier. The CTO of the company, Guillaume Lebedel, and I have spent over ten years working together at several SaaS companies. I met Guillaume 10 years ago at Maxymiser (acquired by Oracle) when he was a Solutions Engineer, already working on building integrations for the customers I was managing. We co-founded Upper.ai, an AI-powered data analyst for marketers, and eventually, both joined Yieldify, where we became VP of Product and VP of Engineering, respectively. I worked at Google for 3.5 years and while there, built a $0 to $1 billion product for the company.”
Formation Of StackOne
How did the idea for the company come together? Sestier shared:
“StackOne is the integration platform we wish we had during our ten years working at software companies!”
“While at Yieldify, we built 50 integrations for 1,000 B2B customers. What initially was a dream (to have so many integrations) quickly became a nightmare to manage and maintain. We had a team of 15 full-time people globally dedicated to maintaining our 3rd party integration connectors. Making updates was challenging as it affected so many customers.”
“We decided to build StackOne to fix that problem. By unifying and standardizing the APIs of 3rd party tools, we’re making it incredibly easy to build hundreds of integrations at once. What would have taken years previously now takes days.”
“We were inspired by the fact that LLMs allow us to automate a big portion of the integration development, and our goal is to automate it fully so we can build thousands of integrations.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Sestier reflected:
“Founding a company such as StackOne with a clear value proposition that is meeting a market need has fueled my favorite memories so far. We have investors who are excited about StackOne and SaaS customers who clearly need the ability to easily integrate with their HR workflows. The positivity and market need for us has made getting up and doing what we’re doing a great thing. We’re making the memories right now.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Sestier explained:
“With a single unified API, StackOne enables enterprise-grade B2B integrations, providing SaaS companies with a simple way to connect with established HRIS, ATS, CRM, and Marketing tools, powering seamless workflows. The StackOne pre-mapped, unified API provides a real-time interface for interacting with multiple platforms while protecting sensitive data. StackOne includes all that is needed to build, test, ship, and monitor integrations, with best-in-class security and privacy.”
Challenges Faced
What challenges did Sestier and the team face in building the company? Sestier acknowledged:
“The challenge with starting our business is educating the market. There are a lot of people who are still thinking about how it used to be. 5 to 10 years ago, to build integrations, it was very manual and took a lot of time. Educating them that there is now a better way to build integrations can take some time because it’s a pretty technical concept. We have to be very clear, using a lot of analogies. For example, we’re basically a real-time translator. Translating the languages that the API speaks is a good way to help educate the market and the fact that there is a new way to build integrations that didn’t exist before. The second piece around education is data privacy and security. A lot of people don’t know how API integration platforms work, and a lot of them actually store data within their systems. This creates a huge security risk because if their systems are breached, a lot of sensitive employee data, candidate information, data, and other information can be leaked. This can be a risk for the businesses.”
Evolution Of StackOne’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Sestier noted:
“We are building the next generation of API integration platforms. StackOne’s tech keeps evolving to eventually fully automate building integrations using LLMs. We want people to be able to focus on building the best features and focus on their core roadmap for their product so they can add more value to their customers and completely automate building the integrations that their product integrates into so that they can focus their engineering resources on what creates the most value for their customers.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Sestier cited:
“Many unified APIs necessitate the storage of data within their systems to function effectively. However, this practice poses significant security risks. Storing sensitive information increases vulnerability to cyberattacks, diminishes the likelihood of procurement acceptance by clients, and complicates the removal process when necessary. Recognizing the paramount importance of data security and privacy, we have implemented a distinctive approach. With StackOne, we are proud to have created a solution where no data is retained either at rest or in transit. StackOne’s commitment to security and privacy is priority number one and gives the company a competitive edge, even as others in the market may overlook certain aspects of security. StackOne stands out as the sole unified API provider in this regard.”
“Additionally, our integration solution seamlessly connects with every SaaS platform. Unlike our competitors which require individual building and maintenance of integrations, StackOne provides a unified solution, streamlining the integration process and saving valuable time for our users.”
“And finally, StackOne’s real-time integration capabilities ensure instantaneous data transfer for our users. In contrast, our competitors experience significant lag times of several hours or days, StackOne delivers immediate integration, enhances operational efficiency and facilitates faster decision-making processes.”
Customer Success Stories
After asking Sestier about customer success stories, he highlighted:
“StackOne recently worked with Localyze, a leading global mobility platform specializing in facilitating international work and relocations for both companies and their employees. Through this collaboration, StackOne has spearheaded the development of innovative integrations between Localyze’s software and a range of enterprise Human Resource Management System (HRIS) tools, such as Workday, Personio, Bamboo, HiBob, and SAP. These integrations, characterized by their user-friendly interface, real-time functionality, and robust security measures, empower HR teams to efficiently manage employee requests concerning international work, relocations, and visa sponsorship.”
“StackOne demonstrated creativity by developing integrations between Localyze’s global mobility platform and a variety of enterprise HRIS tools. This allowed HR teams to seamlessly manage work requests directly within their existing HR systems, streamlining processes and enhancing efficiency.”
“By focusing on creating easy-to-use integrations with real-time functionality, StackOne prioritized the needs of HR professionals and employees alike. This user-centric approach demonstrated creativity in understanding and addressing the pain points of their target audience, ultimately leading to more effective solutions.”
Funding
Upon asking Sestier about the company’s funding details, he revealed:
“We recently secured $3.6 million in funding led by Episode 1. When Guillaume and I met Episode 1, we felt that they were the right partners as they understood the pain point we were solving, having previously backed major SaaS companies like Zoopla, Huboo, Carwow, Omnipresent, Betfair, Shazam and Raft. They believed that we were the right team to solve this problem because of our previous experience building integrations. We were also growing quite rapidly and reached our first $100k in revenue within weeks of launching the product last year, which showed clear product-market fit.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Sestier assessed:
“Over 90% of B2B SaaS products need to offer integrations. The market is valued at over $280 billion in 2024.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Sestier affirmed:
“At StackOne, our key differentiators include:
1.) Unified Offering: At StackOne, our aim is to continue expanding our customer base by offering a unified integration solution that works seamlessly with every SaaS platform. Unlike our competitors where integrations must be built and maintained individually, StackOne provides a one-stop-shop solution, eliminating the need for time-consuming integration efforts.
2.) Real-time Performance: StackOne is committed to maintaining our lead in real-time integration capabilities, ensuring that data transfer occurs instantaneously. Unlike competitors which have lag times of several hours or days, StackOne delivers immediate integration, enhancing operational efficiency for our customers.
3.) Data Security: Our focus on data security sets us apart from other integration platforms.StackOne does not store transferred data, minimizing the risk of data breaches and ensuring compliance with stringent privacy regulations.
4.) Customization and Support: And to further differentiate StackOne, we offer unparalleled customization options for our unified API, allowing customers to tailor integrations to their specific use cases. We provide service-level guarantees for support for certain connectors, ensuring reliability and customer satisfaction.
By capitalizing on these key differentiators, StackOne has rapidly gained traction among SaaS vendors, positioning us for continued success and growth in the integration platform market.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future company goals? Sestier concluded:
“At StackOne, we want to keep developing our AI capabilities to automate the majority of the creation of new integrations. This is our north star and allows us to offer the best coverage of integrations on the market.”
“We also plan to expand our offering to new categories. We’re about to launch unified APIs for Learning Management Systems (LMS) and IAM (Identity and Access Management).”
“With the incredible demand we’ve seen at StackOne recently, we’re focusing on onboarding our new customers and expanding our integrations. We are hiring across engineering and sales and expect the team to continue to grow quickly.”
