In a recent interview, I was asked what I liked most about entrepreneurship. Depending on the time of day, the answer might vary, but what I do really enjoy, is creating jobs. It may sound cheesy, but actually it gives me great satisfaction to build a team, implement a vision and along the way, create jobs.
Hence, when I first heard that a couple of guys were launching a new venture, seeking to ease friction in the recruitment market, I got interested. Actually HR is not really my cup of tea, in particular when associated either with recruitment or payroll 
. What I really like is people development, which is often overlooked in companies. Anyways, I think I first read about JobMeeters (check their site for a nice virtual presenter) on Jacques Froissant’s blog; I knew most of the guys because they came at our last CGS dinner, and they actually say they met on their respective blogs, and that’s how they got the idea to launch a company together.
Their challenge is a big one and has many hurdles:
1) they need to compete with all the other traditional recruitement agencies for job postings. They say they will charge hald the usual price + a success fee. That might work, but companies tend to work with established firms or relationships. The team here is presenting next week at a very large HR convention, and I get that will get them a foot inside the doorstep.
2) Then they need to get their name, category and service in the mind of ‘coopters’, people that get paid by their platform for recommending friends. That may work with net savvy folks, but many people really are not yet online, and won’t have the reflex to go to their service. Building a brand is not easy and takes time. The team has described some ways they are considering, and I wish them well.
3) last, by not least, M. Froissant writes again that one of the Goliath of recruitement in the French market is also launching a similar service on the same day JobMeeters has decided to launch. David got a chance once, why not again ?
The model has already proven itself it seems in the US with a company called Jobster (who have recently raised $19.5m in series B financing). I don’t know much about them, but I can tell you I had fun chatting with the team of JobMeeters. I hope you do to, as on this episode, we talk to folks about to launch their service, and not to sucessful entrepreneurs who have sold out, or raised a B-series, or grown to 100 people; the very beginning of the journey, and we should praise them for starting a company together.
Note: Taped today, 10 October 2005, around 14:30 in Paris.
