The Bookster Podcast: A bit of history
- Episode 1
Who's Talking?
- Simon Beattie
- Robin Morris
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How did Bookster come into existence?
Simon introduces the podcast and his guest, Robin Morris, co-founder and CEO of Bookster. Overview of the series’ aim to explore running a successful SaaS company.
Key takeaways
Robin recounts the beginnings of the company as Tribalogic and the development and success of Caravan Site Finder, which was sold to Haymarket Publishing in 2007.
Post-sale, Tribalogic expanded its software capabilities to serve various clients, including event management and holiday rentals, leading to the initial steps toward what would become Bookster.
Around 2009, the company developed a booking button for holiday rental websites, marking a significant shift from custom software projects to creating a defined product.
In 2015, they reacquired Caravan SiteFinder and operated it alongside Bookster, while Bookster continued to grow into a more comprehensive property management system (PMS).
The sale of Caravan SiteFinder in February 2020 provided crucial financial stability as the pandemic hit, affecting many clients in the tourism sector and highlighting the challenges faced by the industry.
Robin explains the SaaS (Software as a Service) model, emphasizing benefits like regular updates, maintenance, and web-based accessibility, which Bookster utilizes for its clients.
Robin discusses his role transition from software developer to Managing Director, focusing on business direction and team guidance. He also highlights the contributions of co-founders Colin Guthrie and Craig Douglas.
Bookster serves a diverse, international clientele, including holiday rental providers from various regions such as the UK, Europe, North America, and Australia, catering to businesses of different sizes.
The story behind the name Bookster and clarification of common misconceptions. Unlike the complex naming process for Tribalogic, Bookster was quickly agreed upon and has proven effective.
Join Simon and Robin next time as they discuss the Four Pillars of Bookster.
Credits
- Editor
- Simon Beattie
- Producer
- Joint Beat Productions
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Transcript
- Hello and welcome.
Minute 1
- So, without any further ado, let's get straight into it.
Now, Robin, thank you for joining me.
Um, I know that the company has a great history.
I know that you started the business as tribal logic and were involved in the successful camping and caravan website called Caravan Site Finder before it was sold to Haymarket Publishing in around 2007.
So perhaps we can pick up the story.
Um, at that point, if you don't mind, We were running a camping and caravan website, and our software was for essentially running that website.
So, uh, for taking bookings for content management system, caravan park operators could log in and update their, their listings.
So it's a list of campsites and caravan parks throughout the uk.
Um, and actually a bit broader as well.
Um, so, uh, I was a software developer on that.
In about 2007, uh, the company was sold to Minute 2
- Haymarket Haymarket, our publisher in London.
And, uh, we had a contract to continue operating the, uh, that website for Haymarket.
And at the same time, we started expanding what the software could do.
We took on a, a few additional clients, but it was across lots of different, um, areas.
So in events and, uh, other publishers who were using the content management system, um, and holiday rentals.
There was a couple of holiday rental companies that started using our platform mainly to run their website Also, you know, take bookings as well.
Um, in fact, uh, we, there was a theater company, Simon, that you might be aware of that, uh, we provided a ticketing system for as well.
Uh, you did.
I'm aware of that, yes.
So transparency, uh, yeah, months from productions.
That was a few years ago now though, but, uh, that Minute 3
- Was so that was at the start.
Yeah, yeah, Yeah.
No, it was really useful.
So, um, you know, thank you.
You know, for 15 years ago, I, I knew I got Thank you.
In the end.
Um, But you, yeah, you didn't stay in the theater world though.
You've, uh, come out of that again, have you? That's right.
So we were, uh, around 2009 ish, uh, start of 2009, maybe end of 2008.
We came up the, with the idea of, uh, a booking button for your holiday rental website.
So we had this booking platform, it allowed you to take bookings and take payments.
It was kind of quite a little standalone thing.
And so we developed a little, um, product basically.
So before that, we didn't really have a product.
We were just a, a software company.
Uh, we had our own platform, but it wasn't really a, a really well-defined product. Minute 4
- Um, we were manipulating the platform and changing it depending on which clients we had.
And I'm sure that's a very common way to start.
You know, you're, you're basically, you're reusing your software or you're changing it, um, or updating it to provide different services to different companies in completely different industries.
But in about 2008, nine, um, we started this little product, which was the ability to add a book now button onto your holiday, uh, or self catering, um, as you might say here, uh, website for booking a single property really.
Um, and that allowed you to take a payment, um, to, um, to take a booking, secure, you know, manage availability, manage some of your prices.
Um, and that little part of our business started to grow, uh, as time went on.
Um, and at the same time, Minute 5
- in 2000, about 2015, we actually bought Caravan Site Finder back, uh, from Haymarket.
Uh, for some reason we decided to do that.
Um, so, uh, we actually ran the original.com, uh, camping and carvan website again, uh, for about five years.
And over that period of time, we essentially, um, became, we were operating simply those two businesses.
Most of our other things, you know, other clients.
We, uh, fell by the wayside really.
So, uh, we, we became operating more Bookster, and Bookster was growing into a more fully functional, what you might call a property management system or PMS, so allowing people to manage multiple properties, take bookings and, um, uh, from multiple sources. Minute 6
- So Bookster was growing in its functionality and we were also operating Caravan site finder at the same time.
Um, in, uh, I'm nearly at the end, Simon, I promise.
Interesting question.
Um, so in about, uh, well, in fact, I know exactly when it was, it was 2020 in February.
We sold Caravan Site Finder, that date being significant to everyone around the world, of course, because we did that just before.
Um, uh, there was a global pandemic.
So in some senses it was good timing because, um, we had a little bit of money to keep ourselves going.
In other senses, it's not really the ideal way to launch yourself as being, uh, you know, I suppose especially in the, uh, tourism sector, you know, the travel sector, all of that was all shut down and yeah, lot of our clients stopped, stopped operating for a long period of time. Minute 7
- Um, but, uh, essentially at that point, uh, although our company name is still Tribal Logic Limited, um, we, we really became only Bookster.
That's really the only thing that we do now.
Bookster is a much more fully functional property management system for it's a B2B business to business software for holiday rental agencies or single properties, um, and allows them to do sorts, all sorts of things to, to operate their business.
Uh, and that's, yeah, that covers it, I suppose.
Yeah, very comprehensive.
Thank you.
I mean, I think that probably the, the whole topic of covid and, and tourism is a, is a subject for another, uh, podcast later on, which is a very interesting time for everyone.
Um, so we'll come back to that.
I think in the introduction, I mentioned you're a SaaS software company.
Do you wanna maybe just tell people what that actually means? Minute 8
- So if you're, uh, if you know software or you're trying to start a software company yourself or our software, you'll know exactly what SaaS stands for, software as a service.
I mean, essentially it's, it's when you pay for something, usually on a monthly basis, and you're paying for the use of it.
So, um, you don't usually download anything.
Um, you, it, it's usually a web-based service.
You pay a monthly fee or pay some sort of fee based on your usage.
Um, and, uh, and usually your data is stored, uh, by the company operating the SaaS software.
They look after everything, they maintain it, they, uh, apply all the security patches.
It's, it's constantly upgraded as well.
You're always on the latest version.
This is, this is usually how SaaS works, Right? Um, yeah, yeah.
So that, that, and so we, that's how we operate.
So, yeah. Minute 9
- Okay, great.
I mean, you've given us a lot of background to the, the company, which is great.
How about your role in the company? Uh, what do you do? Yeah, so I, I suppose earlier I was saying I was a, uh, a software developer.
In terms of background, I don't really do that much of that anymore.
Uh, I'm the md uh, managing director basically.
So, uh, I'm much more on the business side of things, just trying to keep, uh, a general us generally pointed in, uh, the right direction or a direction and, uh, uh, making sure we're doing, uh, the right things or deciding, you know, or guiding the team or whatever.
So just generally trying to keep things, uh, keep things moving along, really.
But I think you, we sort of glossed over the fact that you are sort of the co-founder of this, uh, of, of, of Bookster.
Yeah.
Oh, that's true.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So myself and, uh, Colin Guthrie, um, Minute 10
- and also Craig Douglas as well, uh, I mean, Colin and I, uh, really involved in the business.
Um, so describe his co-founders, Craig.
Um, he's, he's on the board, uh, but he has another business that he really runs, uh, in terms of day to day stuff.
But the three of us really, I suppose you describe as co-founders.
So yes.
Let's, let's move on a little bit then to sort of why we're doing this podcast, uh, and what we hope, uh, listeners will get out of it.
And, um, you know, what we can sort of help, uh, by doing this.
So what are your hopes and, and views and, uh, you know, aspirations for this podcast? Yeah, so I think I, I thought it might be quite nice to do something, um, for, well, for other people's, running, other people's, peoples, for other people running small software companies, Minute 11
- and also for our clients and prospective clients, just giving them a bit of an insight into what we do, how we make our decisions, why we do the things we do, who, you know, some, a bit more insight into the, uh, the team, uh, behind Bookster and, you know, what, what our general philosophy is, what we're, how we're likely to approach problems and issues in the future.
Just so that, just to give a bit of insight really, and hopefully it's helpful.
Um, if you, you know, are running a small, maybe holiday rental business or a small software company, you might get a little bit out of this, hopefully just, you know, we, we've made mistakes, uh, we've done some things right, done some things wrong.
Uh, what, what are the things that we think work and work for us? Um, it might explain some of the reasons why we've Minute 12
- built tools in the way we've built them or made decisions about prioritizing, um, in the way we have.
So it's that, that's the, uh, the general gist of why I wanted to, to kind of make a podcast a bit like this.
And Yeah, no, absolutely.
I mean, I think that's really actually, uh, important as well.
I mean, a lot of businesses try and put on this veneer of, you know, they're, they're, they're perfect and they, they know exactly what they're doing from day one.
Um, and I think as you've alluded to there, they've perhaps been times when that's not quite been the case.
Um, and I think for other people to be able to learn from, you know, missteps, I guess perhaps, uh, is really important.
And I think it's very useful and, um, I think it's a, a great idea.
So, um, so no, I look forward to sort of, you know, as I mentioned, going on this journey with you and, and learning about, uh, how you've come to be where you are. Minute 13
- We've sort of talked about how Bookster came about.
I, I guess, um, so maybe what we haven't talked about is where you're actually based, uh, and how many people work for Bookster and, uh, yeah.
Tell us a bit about that perhaps.
Yeah, absolutely.
I suppose, uh, this is where Covid comes in again, because we are quite remote now.
Um, we, or, I mean, we're based in Edinburgh, Scotland.
That's pretty much where we operate out of.
Um, but it, you know, and we have a, a room in, uh, somewhere called Code Base, which is, uh, a sort of technology hub, um, just at the, at the foot of Edinburg Castle, in fact.
Um, so I'm in there most days and the team are in and out of there, but we are sort of based generally not too far from there.
There's, uh, eight of us in total that are involved.
Um, and, um, uh, and, Minute 14
- and everyone is, is within striking distance of Edinburgh, really, um, whether it's, uh, writing software or providing support, uh, or, um, trying to grow, uh, the business.
That's generally where we're based.
I think.
Um, I mean, that's quite an undertaking for you eight members of staff, but you've got clients sort of all over the, not all over the world, I guess, uh, not just in the uk.
So I mean, where are your clients, uh, based? Yeah.
Yeah, so we do, we've got clients everywhere, really.
So it, it kind of, I suppose, fans out from, uh, Scotland, but we've got clients all over Scotland.
We've got clients all over the rest of the uk, uh, throughout Europe, uh, Spain, France, Greece, um, Italy, um, yeah, Ireland, and we've got some in Canada Minute 15
- and America, Australia.
But I mean, the actual, I mean, for another podcast later on, I think probably is, is to delve into sort of how you deal with clients in different time zones.
I mean, that must be an issue.
So, and I think that would be quite interesting to speak about that as well.
What sort of, you've mentioned that they're all over, over the place, which is great, but what sort of clients are they? Are they primarily sort of, um, accommodation providers? Yeah, so the, the software is, is only for, uh, for holiday rental providers really.
So it's, that's the niche that it's covering people, self catering or vacation rentals or sheets or apartments, um, basically where someone is, uh, renting out a single unit.
Uh, so we connect to, uh, Airbnb, booking.com, vrbo, TripAdvisor, um, uh, also, uh, another service called Rentals United to distribute Minute 16
- even more widely.
And also we provide websites, so, um, sort of instant websites for, for our clients to create.
So our, our clients are typically quite smallish.
Um, I say small, so it could be from, they're operating one holiday rental, uh, all the way up to say 300 or something, 400.
So we, we've got people that are operating hundreds, but, um, the typical person who starts with us, they, they usually start with, you know, I dunno, nine or eight or nine or something like that.
But then they usually, uh, are on a path to grow.
So they usually grow within Bookster, so they usually add more properties and grow their business.
But those are the, those are our, usually our clients, uh, they're operating holiday rentals, whether that's Aji in France or, um, you know, holiday Cottage. Minute 17
- Right, okay.
You know, something like that.
Cool.
No, like I say, it would be good to chat a bit more about that as we go down the, the route.
Um, I guess final question, probably for this podcast, Robin, um, would be just a nice sort of fun one, and that's, how did you sort of come up with the name Bookster? Um, well, it's quite a good que I mean, I don't really remember a hundred percent to be honest.
I know, I think I, I think I came up with it.
Um, unlike our, the name of our company, tribal Logic, which, uh, I remember when we were trying to think up the name of a company we knew in advance we would have to, um, and because it, we had, it was quite generic, it was very, very difficult to come up with a name.
We went round for circles in ages and ages, um, amongst the team and everyone having different ideas.
Whereas Bookster itself, I think I just came up with it.
Uh, people thought it was okay, and we just went with it. Minute 18
- I, I don't think there was an awful lot of discussion about it, really.
There was just a general consensus.
Oh, that seems all right.
That that works.
Yeah.
So it was, yeah.
Um, And it's, but just for clarification, it's not Book Star, it's Bookster with an er.
Yeah, That's right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And, uh, we are not a Romanian company doing some things to do with books, which there is a Bookster in Romania that does that.
There, there's also, uh, a company, or maybe not a company, but, um, there are tweed suits, I think that were made by a company called Bookster as well.
So we, we get those sorts of inquiries.
Right.
I'm afraid, I'm afraid, if you've got this way through the podcast and you're hoping for me to tell you where you can get your tweed suit from, you're in trouble.
That's right.
People all over the world wondering why we're not talking about waist sizes and things like that. Minute 19
- That's right.
Yeah.
I think at this point probably a good time to wrap up, uh, and say thank you for your time, Robin, and, um, look forward to future episodes with you.
Thank you.
Speak to you later.
Goodbye.
Right.
Well thank you for joining us on this episode of the podcast.
Uh, we hope you enjoyed it.
Um, if you have, please leave a favorable review, that would be very nice.
Um, we are gonna be back with future episodes and, uh, discovering and learning more about running, uh, Bookster, but also the lessons that can be learned for other businesses, whether it's a software company or a small to medium sized business.
Everyone goes through the same problems and issues, and I think it's gonna be an interesting journey to learn about bookstores.
If you have any questions, uh, for us on the podcast, please drop us an email at podcast@Booksterhq.com. Minute 20
- That's podcast@bookstorehq.com, and we will read out the questions and endeavor to answer them the best we can in future episodes.
So once again, thank you very much for listening.
Hope you enjoyed it, and we'll see you again very soon.
Bye-Bye.
My name's Simon, and I know nothing about writing software or building booking platforms, but luckily on this podcast, I'm joined by Robin Morris, co-founder and CEO of Edinburgh based software company Bookster.
And over the course of this series of podcasts, I'm gonna endeavor to learn all I can from Robin and the Bookster team about running a successful SaaS software company.
More Episodes of The Bookster Podcast
- Epsiode 9: Generally specialists 15th Aug 2024
- Epsiode 8: Are we agile? 10th Jul 2024
- Epsiode 7: Bad people on the internet 18th Jun 2024
