30 Days → IBM Partnership: The Bhuma Story
How we abandoned Kleeen Software, built Bhuma in 30 days, and became IBM's strategic partner for watsonx
“We need to be the best at something specific, not good at everything.”
Srini Gurrapu told us this when Mario and Sebastián invited me to completely reimagine their product. One year later, IBM chose Bhuma as a strategic partner for watsonx.
TL;DR
- Kleeen Software existed but was too complex to use
- 30 days to build Bhuma from scratch
- First prototype caught cybersecurity companies’ attention
- Ended up as IBM watsonx partner
The Real Problem with Kleeen
Mario and Sebastián reached out in 2022 with a radical proposal: abandon Kleeen Software and build something completely new.
Why Kleeen wasn’t working:
- Brutal learning curve (even for experienced devs)
- As a power user, I could barely deploy a handful of dashboards
- 20+ colleagues shared the same frustration
- It was “low-code” but required learning tons of new concepts
The numbers confirmed it:
- 73% monthly churn rate
- 12 minutes average platform time
- 0.3 completed dashboards per user
The Research That Changed Everything
I dove deep into tools like Retool, Appsmith, and others.
What I discovered:
- Retool: Terrible UX, too coupled to their standards
- Appsmith: Limited product, little flexibility
- Competition overall: Everyone copying each other
My key insight: Nobody specialized in modern data lakes. Everyone tried to be the generic “Figma for apps.”
The opportunity: Build something specific for data engineers who hate adapting generic tools.
The 30 Days That Created Bhuma
The Challenge: Zero to Working Prototype
This wasn’t about iterating on Kleeen. It was about creating a completely new product that solved real pain points.
Week 1-2: Research + Concept
- 50+ interviews with frustrated developers
- Analysis of why Kleeen failed
- Conceptualization of new UX architecture
Week 3-4: Intensive Prototyping
- Complete rebrand (including the “Bhuma” name)
- UX redesigned from scratch
- Specific but flexible and friendly onboarding
- Real-time by default
The moment of truth: Session time jumped from 12 min → 45 min in early demos.
BhumaCopilot: Perfect Timing
It was December 2022. ChatGPT had just exploded, but we already had a different vision.
My conceptualization:
❌ Not: Another generic chatbot
✅ Yes: Lakehouse-specific copilot
The difference:
- Assistant that understands your specific architecture
- Automatically generates optimized queries
- Suggests visualizations based on data type
I designed the complete flows. The engineering team implemented them quickly and efficiently.
The Breakthrough: Cybersecurity Companies
The unexpected revelation: Generic data engineers weren’t the first to get excited.
It was cybersecurity companies that saw the potential:
- Developer value vs traditional tools
- Flexibility for specific use cases
- UX that didn’t require intensive training
This validated that we’d found real product-market fit.
2023: From Prototype to IBM Partner
Srini led a strategy of community building > traditional marketing.
Global meetups:
- San José, CA
- San José, Costa Rica
- Bengaluru
- Hyderabad
My contribution:
- Collaborated on visual branding for each event
- Each meetup had specific themes for developers
- Designed materials to maximize “aha moments”
The result: Multiple events and meetings that caught IBM’s attention.
The IBM Partnership
Why IBM was interested:
They didn’t just see the product. They saw the team’s potential.
- Perfect integration with watsonx stack
- Focus on enterprise data lakehouses
- BhumaCopilot complemented watsonx.ai
- Team that could execute complex visions
My role: Collaborated on demo design for enterprise clients.
The outcome:
- Bhuma = preferred interface for watsonx.data
- Direct access to Fortune 500
- Co-development with watsonx team
- Validation by tech giant
Lessons Learned
✅ What worked:
1. Courage to start from zero
Abandoning Kleeen was the right decision
2. Specialized vision
Data lakehouses > generic tools
3. Team execution
Mario, Sebastián, Alonso, Lau and I executed Srini’s vision
4. Right timing
Cybersecurity companies needed exactly this
💡 Key insights:
- Sometimes you need to kill your darlings
- 30 focused days > months of incremental iteration
- Companies buy teams, not just products
- Specialization beats generalization
Personal Impact
This project taught me that real transformations require:
Courage + Clear vision + Team alignment + Intense execution
Bhuma’s creation proves you can completely reinvent a product in weeks if the team aligns behind a clear vision.
For You
If you’re considering a radical transformation:
- Have courage to start from zero (vs iterating on what’s broken)
- Find your ultra-specific niche
- Execute with extreme intensity
- Build the right team (IBM bought the team, not just the product)
Working on something similar? Let’s connect: jlopezlira@gmail.com
If this resonated with you, share it. Someone else is struggling with the pivot vs iterate decision right now.
Infinite thanks to Mario, Sebastián, Alonso, Lau and especially Srini for that vision. Success was 100% team effort.