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How Hired.com Started a Fast-Growing Careers Marketplace

How Hired.com Started a Fast-Growing Careers Marketplace

How Hired.com solved a big pain point and used focus and urgency to get initial traction with their two-sided careers marketplace. For more information see http://www.mattcollins.net/2016/04/how-hired-com-started-a-fast-growing-careers-marketplace

Matt Collins

May 11, 2016
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  1. 1.1 IDENTIFIED A BIG PAIN POINT • Their entrepreneur friends

    were very frustrated: “can’t find good people to hire!” • Spending a lot ($$$) on existing solutions (e.g. recruiters, attending events) • Yet not happy with results L • => Opportunity!
  2. 1.2 BUILT AN MVP • Matt created wireframes, landing pages,

    ad copy, emails • CTO friend built simple first version • DeveloperAuction.com
  3. 2.1 FOCUSED TIGHTLY EARLY ON • Supply-side: • Developers only

    • Candidates from 5-6 companies only (Google, Facebook, Twitter, …) • Demand-side: • VC-backed Silicon Valley companies only • Focus => Easier to get liquidity with small amount of supply & demand
  4. 2.2 USED EMAIL TO GET INITIAL CANDIDATES • Emailed engineers

    with tempting (and novel) offer: • “find out how much you are worth” • “have companies trying to hire you with transparency up-front”
  5. 2.3 USED EMAIL TO GET INITIAL HIRING COMPANIES • 1.

    Emailed potential hiring companies directly • Poor response rate – didn’t work L • 2. Got investor friends to email companies in their portfolios • This worked! J
  6. 3.1 DEVELOPED AN INNOVATIVE, DIFFERENTIATED SOLUTION • Provided upfront transparencyto

    candidates about the compensation they could receive if hired.
  7. 3.2 BOOSTED LIQUIDITY BY INTRODUCING URGENCY • Started presenting batches

    of candidates to hiring companies for limited two week periods: • gave prospective employers a reason to take action • meant that strong candidates could end up with multiple offers on the table at the same time, allowing them to compare offers better
  8. 3.3 INVESTED IN BRAND • Spent $10k to $20k on

    a branding/naming consultancy • Spent around $125,000 on domain name Hired.com
  9. 3.4 FOCUSED ON SUPPLY-SIDE • For first 3 years… •

    Focused almost all their resources on attracting and improving the experience for candidates • (knowing that with the right candidates, prospective employers would follow)
  10. 3.5 USED FEEDBACK, EXPERIMENTATION AND DATA TO IMPROVE PROCESS •

    Talk to lots of customers and run user research feedback sessions • Test new approaches(some which work, some which don’t) • Very data-driven(data team, make data available to entire company)
  11. CONCLUSIONS • Identified a big pain point. • Focused tightly

    to get initial liquidity • Achieved growth by building one side of the marketplace -- attracted the other side for free