JobGet Takes Aim at Jobcase
Who doesn't love a good underdog story?
The upstart hoping to make noise in an established market. That's why you'll love this weekly episode. Jobget looks to take on Jobcase and Snagajob with a new round of funding.
Fountain puts on the gloves to fight against the Old Guard ATS business.
Cornerstone OnDemand acquires an old business to supercharge a new one.
Buy-or-Sell with 1) CEIPAL, Wilco, and Canditech is full of startups looking to dislodge the status quo.
...and then there's Amazon, which really doesn't fit the underdog narrative, but hey, did you expect perfection from this podcast? Of course not. But we throw in some shrimp Po' Boys to make you feel better about life.
Enjoy.
PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION sponsored by:
INTRO (1s):
Hide your kids! Lock the doors! You're listening to HR’s most dangerous podcast. Chad Sowash and Joel Cheeseman are here to punch the recruiting industry, right where it hurts! Complete with breaking news, brash opinion and loads of snark, buckle up boys and girls, it's time for the Chad and Cheese podcast.
Joel (22s):
Oh yeah. Amazon's Alexa will soon be able to read the Velveteen Rabbit to me in the voice of my deceased grandmother. Nope. Not creepy at all. Hey boys and girls, you're listening to the Chad and Cheese podcast. This is your co-host Joel "gas tax holiday" Cheeseman.
Chad (40s):
This is Chad "going to get boosted again" Sowash.
Joel (44s):
Nice. And on this week, show Jobget says, workers of the world unite, Wilco isn't just a great band from Chicago and Amazon is running out of people to torture. It's the end of the world. As we know it and I feel fine. Let's do this.
Chad (1m 1s):
Oh yeah. I'm hopefully gonna feel fine after the shot. I got to get this shot before we take our trip to RecFest in London.
Joel (1m 10s):
Yeah. I got boosted before Belgium. So I feel like I'm all right. I don't need another one. I'm good.
Chad (1m 15s):
Oh you got four. Okay,
Joel (1m 17s):
Cool. I got two boosted because when they said over 50, get that fourth one, I was in line. Celebrated 51 with a nice shot in the arm.
Chad (1m 28s):
Give me that shot motherfucker.
Joel (1m 30s):
So you'll love this, you know, my son Cole turned 15. Yeah. And then you'll remember these days. So my man gets up at 10:30 in the summer, which is pretty much what I did. He eats breakfast, which is a pretty good like Jimmy Dean kind of bowl, kind of thing. And then, and then an hour later he eats lunch. Remember those days when you could just eat all day?
Chad (1m 53s):
Yes!
Joel (1m 54s):
And not gain a pound anyway, jealous. I am. Yeah.
Chad (1m 57s):
Well, I remember a football two, a days I would literally load, I couldn't eat enough. I mean, I was losing weight. I was eating so much, but we worked so hard, but yeah, those were the days you didn't look at a burger and gain fucking 10 pounds.
Joel (2m 12s):
That's my step mom would make these casseroles. I would eat half a casserole. I would drink an entire two liter of Coke. And then I would have some sort of like a piece of cake for dessert. And I was, you know, 32 waist.
Chad (2m 27s):
Too easy, too easy.
Joel (2m 29s):
Easy. All right. Enough for that nostalgia. Let's get, I don't know what? To shout outs?
Chad (2m 34s):
Shout out to you first. You hit it.
Joel (2m 39s):
Bryq. Ha. Remember Bryq. Alright. Firing Squad alum Bryq. That's BRYQ and CEO Markellos Diorinos. He received golf claps from both of us if you remember, has raised $4 million in USD in a pre-Series A round, in case you missed it. Bryq enables employers to create an ideal candidate profile. Then blindly screens, candidates on cognitive abilities and personality traits to match the ideal candidate profile. Hey, golf clap might be turning into a rousing applause here soon, and they're got 4 million reasons to do it. Bryq, shout out to you.
Chad (3m 19s):
Yeah. I don't know that four millions going to get them there to full applause for me yet, but congrats. And again, that's Bryq, B R Y Q that's
Joel (3m 29s):
Did I say K?
Chad (3m 30s):
I think you said I, either way doesn't matter. Yeah.
Joel (3m 33s):
B R Y Q. Yeah. That's part of their problem by the way.
Chad (3m 39s):
My first shout out goes to VR. You're going to love this. Oh, you're gonna love this. Yeah, dude, Julie, actually, she bought these tickets for the Van Gogh immersive experience, which is happening all over the country, all over the world to be quite Frank. And we went to Cincinnati. It's only about an hour, hour and a half away. And on this immersive experience, it is so fucking cool. They, I mean, if you haven't gone, you've got to go, but I've got to talk about the VR experience. I've used VR with games for a while and it's interesting. It's fun. It's cool. I hate the fucking headset on all the time.
Chad (4m 19s):
But when we did the VR experience for Van Gogh, you sat down, you put on the goggles and it started and it literally felt like you were moving. I was sitting in a chair and you could feel movement. Your brain was telling you that you were moving. It was one of the coolest experiences, immersive experiences I have had. And I was sitting in a chair in Cincinnati, downtown Cincinnati.
Joel (4m 47s):
So what do you do? Like you go, you roam through the starry night or something. The Van Gogh painting and other paintings.
Chad (4m 54s):
Yeah. He said, they take you through like the different landscapes that he painted and you see the actual landscapes. And then the painting actually pops up right there. So you can see that the painting kind of like in the actual landscape itself, but you're continuously moving. It's a 360 environment. It was incredibly cool. But the coolest part was the motion. When you felt like you, when you were moving forward or when the VR had you moving forward, your body was telling you, like you were feeling a little bit of G-Force. It was weird.
Joel (5m 27s):
Now did the chair actually move and did it kind of vibrate, like, you know, you've seen those like rollercoaster?
Chad (5m 34s):
No.
Joel (5m 35s):
You just, nothing moved? Just the whole thing in your head moved and you felt like you were moving around?
Chad (5m 40s):
Yeah. Your senses just felt like you were in motion, which was incredibly cool even though you weren't.
Joel (5m 48s):
So you're saying there's a chance. This VR thing might happen?
Chad (5m 51s):
There are practical applications. I'm just not sure what they are yet.
Joel (5m 56s):
Nice. Well, something that did happen, you might remember Valance and other firing squad alum. So back in may, we did by herself actually not fine. We did buy or sell on a show balance, came up. We said if it was, if it was a quick flip acquisition prospect. Yeah, we were in favor of it. So, so yeah, boom Greenwood, a digital banking platform for black and Latino individuals and business owners has just acquired the company. Once again, Tim Sackadomas, Sacket's got nothing on us in terms of the production, shut out to balance.
Chad (6m 30s):
Big shout out to Veritone that's right kids, the parent company to Pandologic, they acquire artificial intelligence, voice creator. VocaliD is that how you say that? VocaliD anyway, since Pandos acquisition, I've been incredibly interested in what the hell this Veritone thing is, especially this quote unquote you know, "operating system for AI". So we're able to actually dig in, we did an interview with Ryan who's the CEO, and he talked about, you know, all the different voice cloning and whatnot, as we continue to dig deeper, this acquisition is awesome. I see them expanding capabilities, expanding portfolio, but for us, I think it's incredibly exciting to take a look at what they're doing, not just in voice, but they're also starting to create somewhat right now, creepy avatars, but it's getting closer and closer to look real.
Chad (7m 29s):
I don't know what to say. Cloning voice, cloning avatars. It's pretty awesome and creepy at the same time.
Joel (7m 36s):
Dude. Are you okay? VR? Creepy avatar.
Chad (7m 38s):
I know.
sfx (7m 39s):
Doesn't anyone notice this? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!
Joel (7m 41s):
This has gone off the rails. Okay. Shout out to a couple people that love our show and have made some moves this week. First up is our friend Tyler Weeks, Marriott International's newest employee. He left Hired Score for big co as their VP of Talent Analytics. That sounds pretty cool. Shout out to our favorite Banff, Canada sidekick. Keep kicking that ass Tyler and to Evan White is now Senior Director of PR and Events at FactoryFix and FactoryFix loves them some Chad and Cheese. So Evan, hopefully we'll see you soon in Louisville. If you know, you know, keep up the great work guys.
Joel (8m 23s):
Shout out to Tyler Weeks and Evan White.
Chad (8m 26s):
Good job guys.
Joel (8m 26s):
All right guys. As always, we got free shit. If you haven't hit up, Chadcheese.com? Hit the free link put in your information. We got t-shirts from Emissary. We got beer from Pillar and we got whiskey from our friends at Textkernel. If you haven't signed up yet, head out to Chadcheese.com, click the free link and sign up for your chance to kill your liver and make your summer fashion statement with a free Chad & Cheese t-shirt. And we've also got a travel. What's up for us with travel?
Chad (8m 58s):
Events. Hey, it's RecFest bitches. We've got RecFest coming up and again, they're now sold out. We're going to be out there going to enjoy the Disrupt Stage, emceeing all day we're going to have a cast of characters on stage with us, come and pitch a tent in the disrupt tents. And we'll see you in London. You gotta be excited for this one.
Joel (9m 19s):
I am excited. So I don't know if you saw this or talked about it when I was absent? But Liam Gallagher of Oasis. My favorite band played in Knebworth recently and someone who attended, pulled out a chunk of grass and put it on eBay to sell and the last I saw it was up to $65,000. So I'm wondering what a blade of grass from RecFest is going to garner on eBay? I might have to find out, I might have to find out? $65,000 for some grass!
Chad (9m 55s):
Idiots with too much money.
sfx (9m 55s):
Happy Birthday! kazoo!
Joel (9m 56s):
We got some birthdays to celebrate some fans out there that love the show that we're going to highlight taking another trip around the sun. Karen Wong is another year older Sepideh Nayeri super fan and recent beer drop winner. By the way, she's a recruiter looking for bilingual sales folks. So if you've got any hints for hit her up on LinkedIn, she needs a little advice on that one. Zack Martin celebrates a birthday, Shannon Pritchett Easy does it, shannon Pritchett at HireEZ celebrates the birthday and Carrie Corbin is also another year older.
Chad (10m 44s):
Happy Birthday!
Joel (10m 45s):
So again, for the fans of Chad and Cheese another year on the earth! We love ya.
Chad (10m 47s):
TOPICS!
Joel (10m 47s):
All right, but we got a lot of news this week. All right,
Chad (10m 52s):
We do, we do.
Joel (10m 54s):
Let's get the Jobget LinkedIn for shift workers. Yep Jobget a mobile app for hourly workers. An app that has been downloaded nearly 2 million times, by the way, has raised $52 million in series B funding, including 12 million in venture debt financing. This brings total raised according to Crunchbase at $54.4 million. More than 50,000 companies have used Jobget to post jobs, including home Depot and my favorite Taco Bell, notably Ryan Everhard formerly Chief Product Officer at Zip Recruiter has also joined as president. Chad, what are your thoughts on the Jobget news?
Chad (11m 34s):
I want to use this as a lesson for startups number one and a semi rant. So first and foremost Jobget is what Work Here could have been if WorkHere had anyone on staff who understood go to market and actually had brains for the business of recruiting. Okay. This is a great comparison of how two similar businesses, WorkHere dies and Jobget is starting to flourish. So seriously, founders and CEOs, you should be listening and watching the market for these types of stark comparison.
Chad (12m 14s):
So Jobget's CEO has a PE background, investment back banking, a management consulting background, but Jobget's partnership guy has deep understanding in the industry with experience at Monster, Simply Hired and Zip. And then their VP of Sales, Joe has history all the way back to NetTemps in 1998. Do you remember NetTemps?
sfx (12m 39s):
What did you say?
Joel (12m 40s):
NetTemps.
Chad (12m 40s):
I know man. Anyways, his experience also extends into Stack Overflow, HackerRank and Zip as well. So notice those two positions, partnerships and sales are extremely important to go to market and the combined experience and go to market for only those two positions speaks volumes. So tech matters kids. I don't want to say that it doesn't, but people matter even more. What are your thoughts about also the new entrance, the new president? Well,
Joel (13m 12s):
Yeah, having industry experts at the helm of your company and you just rattle off more than a few of them is obviously always a good idea and this is an exciting company that frankly, I didn't know a whole hell of a lot about until this news dropped. So number one, I mean, this is a huge opportunity in the U S alone. The number of workers that Jobget can touches more than 83 million in terms of the hourly opportunity. Number two, I think there is a room for a LinkedIn for those who aren't on LinkedIn. And if that sounds familiar, Jobcase has already kind of tried to take this mantle.
Chad (13m 52s):
Yep.
Joel (13m 53s):
So to me, this is really interesting in terms of it's a tale of two apps, meaning mobile. And I think that where Jobget thrives is their ability to drive people to their mobile app and actually be a mobile app that's usable, not just an app, that's like search for a job and we're done right. There's a lot of community here. There's a lot of advice, et cetera. So if you look at the numbers Jobcase has 189 reviews on the Apple app store and 50,000 downloads on Android Jobget in comparison has some 4,000 reviews on the app store and 500,000 downloads on Android. So you're looking at 10X in terms of how much better they've been at penetrating that market.
Joel (14m 37s):
Now I will also say that in my research, I found that Snag a Job who we give a lot of shit to has 141,000 reviews and 5 million downloads. So just to summarize that 50K downloads for Jobcase, 500 for Jobget and 5 million for Snagajob. So maybe we should be giving Snagajob a little bit more love, but to me again, great opportunity Jobget has a lot of the great pieces. They're focused on mobile. If you go to their website, it's like go to the app store and download the app. If you go to Jobcase, there's not even a link to their app on Android or Apple.
Joel (15m 18s):
Now they have a mobile screenshot, but nothing in terms of a link to download the app. So I think Jobcase is missing some real opportunity to drive more engagement in that space. So to me, that was really the story. If you're going to connect with an hourly workforce, you have to be mobile and Jobget is, is kicking Jobcase's ass right now in terms of that discussion.
Chad (15m 41s):
Yeah. Well, you take a look at the hourly market right now. You mentioned Jobcase, Snagajob, I mean, they've been around forever and I don't know if they've found their way or they've lost it, found it, lost it again. I mean, it's just like, they don't know what the fuck they're doing. ZipRecruiter, Indeed, CareerBuilder, AMS and their hourly platform. I believe all of those platforms have great promise. Well, I mean all but CareerBuilder, but they're generality for the most part is a lack of focus to the hourly space. And in this case Jobget, I mean, again, upon they get it.
Chad (16m 23s):
And I think having the expertise on staff, being able to focus on, go to market and getting this cash, I think it's a great leg up for them, but again, founders, if you're looking at start comparisons again, look at the market, see how some are navigating through it and some are just fucking, they're crashing. Yeah.
Joel (16m 45s):
Yeah. I, I didn't mean to highlight Snagajob too much. I mean, let's be honest. They were probably the first app ever made for any position. And when apps first came out, everybody downloaded everything. Cause it was kinda cool. So, I don't mean to highlight Snagajob all that much. I think they're kind of a legacy product that a lot of people, you know, downloaded many years ago, but I do think mobile is going to be key if you're going to really tap into the hourly market because a lot of these folks live and die on their mobile devices.
Chad (17m 17s):
Yeah. Agreed.
Joel (17m 17s):
All right. Let's get to Fountain! Another big news stories. So Fountain, a hiring platform for high volume hiring. Here we go with that high volume shit again, has announced intention of it's November 2021 series C round by $100 million, bringing the total to $185 million and it's grand total to $218.9 million. According to Crunchbase, the company says it has experienced a 10 X increase since its series B in September of 2019 with business tripling year over year from 2020 to 2021 and is on pace to almost triple again this year and employee head count is growing by more than 300%.
Joel (18m 3s):
Since its founding in 2014, Fountain has processed over 68 million applications and help to hire more than 9.2 million workers in more than 75 countries worldwide. Chad, can this Fountain keep the good times flowing or is it about to run dry?
Chad (18m 24s):
So Fountain, founded in 2014. The first build was just a better interview system, that's all they did. But over time they started to notice a huge gap, a larger addressable market when it came to hourly, when it came to high volume. So they made that pivot. Here's the thing within that pivot, they broadened up the technical scope, but then they closed in more on the hourly and the high volume because there was a huge gap in the market. I don't know how many applicant tracking systems over the years have said that they can quote unquote "cater to high volume", but they really couldn't.
Chad (19m 4s):
They had no real framework or apparatus to get hourly workers in quickly, right? They just didn't cater to them well. Fountain very simply saw that and they went after it and obviously it is working damn well for them. So, this is a big applause for any organization, once again and founders. These are the things that you have to look at. You have to look at market validation, but also gaps in the market who are not yet
Joel (19m 31s):
I'm forgetting what their name was before Fountain. It was like Onboard IQ or some crazy shit?
Chad (19m 37s):
Jump something?
Joel (19m 37s):
How often do we talk about these, you know, a hundred million plus dollar recipients, an investment being in the right place at the right time? Well, hello Fountain since being founded in 2014, well hello great resignation. Hello. COVID, you know, we're talking desperate employers spending whatever it takes to find warm bodies to fill seats, particularly in these high turnover industries. These guys promise to automate the finding, qualifying and hiring of hourly workers. And that's obviously an appealing message for a lot of employers who are suddenly really interested in writing blank checks to companies that can help them put warm bodies into seats.
Joel (20m 18s):
So as far as I can see, let the good times roll. These guys have raised money at the right time. What happens to them in longer term, I think is going to be interesting. Is there an IPO in the future? Look, they've got robots to deal with. They've got recession around the corner and they've got, you know, the gig economy to kind of deal with longer term. So, you know, I think, I don't know what the runway looks like for success for these guys, but it's going to be fun to watch. I mean, they've picked an interesting niche that's going to go through a lot of volatility in the next decade. So to me, it's like raise the money, go public, make that bank. And then, you know, let the chips fall where they may with robots and recessions and gig economies.
Chad (21m 1s):
Well, as we talked about all of those brands before, as we were talking about Jobget, none of those platforms for the most part, other than Hourly, AMS's Hourly, does what Fountain does. Right? They might attract the right people, but they don't actually get them into a seat quick.
Joel (21m 21s):
Yep.
Chad (21m 21s):
And that's what you need. You need an attraction strategy, then you need an actual nice fluid and quick way to get those individuals into seats, on lines, wherever they are before your competitors actually take them off the market.
Joel (21m 35s):
These guys are definitely scratching employers where they itch, right? If you can automate finding people, qualifying them, you know, pre-screening them and then actually hiring them and onboarding them. Then like that's a message that's made of money these days. And these guys have kind of perfected that. So their marketing is right on as well. Just like buying fountain.com. Talk about a nice, nice, url.
Chad (21m 58s):
So smart. It was jump something.me. I can't remember what their last name was?
Joel (22m 4s):
Or something I thought IQ was in there.
Chad (22m 7s):
I can't remember.
Joel (22m 8s):
So many companies, dude.
Chad (22m 10s):
Yeah.
Joel (22m 10s):
We're brilliant for just keeping up with any of them. All right. Let's talk about SumTotal. One, at least, your boy, Josh Berson, isn't as excited about. So Cornerstone on Demand as entered into an agreement with Skillsoft to acquire SumTotal, a learning talent and workforce management solution for complex, highly regulated organizations, such as Capgemini and Edward Jones, the price tag $200 million. Commenting on the announcement, Himanshu Palsule, CEO of Cornerstone said, quote, "Together we will continue our mission in helping organizations and their people to develop future proof skills, flexibly, grow their careers and achieve shared success"
Joel (22m 56s):
end quote. Your boy, Josh Berson was bearish on the news and said, quote, "the SumTotal technology stack is old and the learning management system market has moved on. Companies no longer really want their LMS to operate as an employee facing system and new platforms like EdCast, Degreed and Microsoft, Viva learning are taking over" end quote. Chad, are you on team Berson on this one or are you lacing up for a slam dunk on your favorite pundit?
Chad (23m 26s):
Let's go back in history just a little bit. Skillsoft was acquired by Charter House Capital, a PE firm out of London for $2 billion in 2014. You know, at being acquired by a PE firm means right? Skillsoft then acquired SumTotal a little bit later in 2014 after the Charter House acquisition. So I see the big change happening just last December of 2021 when Skillsoft bought Code Academy. I believe Skillsoft and Charter House, see the future in dollars in coding, which is why it makes sense to sell SumTotal. For Cornerstone it's about consolidation, more content and a bigger profile or portfolio of customers.
Chad (24m 14s):
I just wonder if Cornerstone is going to make SumTotal adopt the new cat anus logo. That's the big question.
Joel (24m 25s):
I totally forgot about that. Oh shit this is why we don't share notes before the show. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Total client grab, in my opinion, Cornerstone owns EdCast the newcomer to this space. SumTotal has some really large clients so this makes financial sense. If they can retain SumTotal's existing client base and keep them from going to the competition, which by the way is heating up, as we mentioned in the summary, then it's a move that makes a lot of sense. I mean, $200 million will buy a lot of beer, but if it keeps your competitors at bay and keeps the clients that are there in the kitty, then I'd say it's probably a good move.
Joel (25m 6s):
Particularly after buying EdCast, you really want to hyper grow that thing with customers. Drop $200 million on SumTotal and you can do that.
Chad (25m 22s):
Agreed.
Joel (25m 22s):
Let's take a quick break and we'll be right back with a little buy or sell.
Chad (25m 29s):
Buy or sell!
Joel (25m 31s):
Buy or sell.
sfx (25m 32s):
MA THE MEATLOAF! FUCK!
Joel (25m 32s):
Yes. All right, let's do this CEIPAL not C-PAP it's C E I P A L and it is pronounced CEIPAL cause I looked it up on YouTube. AI powered talent acquisition automation platform, CEIPAL has raised $16.5 dollars in its Series B around with an additional $4.5 million in debt financing for a total of $21 million. They currently serve 120,000 recruiters and plan to fuel a regional market expansion, particularly within the US, UK and India, with the new funding. They have a global team of 450 employees and plan to grow to more than 1000 global employees in the next 12 to 18 months.
Joel (26m 20s):
Chad, are you a buy or sell on CEIPAL?
Chad (26m 22s):
So the CEO has vendor management solutions background, right? That's awesome. But they're trying to take on VMS, ATS, CRM, and a bunch of other point solutions. Last but not least, I was introduced to CEIPAL a little over a year ago and I haven't heard a marketing peep since. I mean, generally you get that targeted by cookies or something like that, at least. Right? None of that. I hate the brand. I hate the logo. I hate the colors, the message, the focus. I mean, they literally are way too broad not to mention the CEO, is a CEO and founder of 2 companies. Right? I don't know how you can be less focused.
Chad (27m 4s):
I would love to see a company like this kick ass and take names, but they do have a lack of industry experience, other than the VMs side, and obviously discipline. So for me, it's an easy sell.
sfx (27m 16s):
Oh, hell no.
Joel (27m 17s):
All right. Yeah. I'm going to echo a lot of those sentiments. Too much competition, they want to be everything to everyone. I encourage you to go to the website and just get overwhelmed with all the shit that they apparently do. And they're selling it as almost a poor man's option. They claim to be a quarter of the price of similar solutions and that's rarely a recipe for success, everybody. If they were hyper-focused like you said, and I thought about our friends at Recruit CRM who's super focused on staffing agency.
Chad (27m 54s):
Yes!
Joel (27m 55s):
To me, that's the way to go, but they are not focused at all. They are everything to everybody and in doing so, they are nothing to nobody. So for me, that's a big, big, big sell. Next up is Wilko.
Chad (28m 13s):
Wilko.
Joel (28m 14s):
Wilko an upscaling platform for software developers has raised $7 million in seed funding. On Wilco's platform developers join a fantasy tech company, a game-like experience designed to accelerate their professional growth. At their new "workplace" that's workplace in air quotes, engineers go on quests that challenge them to navigate complex lifelike scenarios while utilizing real tools and technologies. The individual quests and Wilco are designed to build soft skills in a virtual world where today they are only learned in real time. Chad, are you a buyer sell on Wilco?
Chad (28m 48s):
So I have to say doing these buy or sells I get bored as fuck because most of these vendors, week after week after week are the same regurgitated look, feel mission statements, blah, blah, blah.