Skyworker: How are the startups doing?
Tell us about your startup for those who hear about it for the first time
Skyworker is a recruiting marketplace for the IT industry. IT specialists called us “Tinder with vacancies”. Here they always see how many companies want to hire them on their terms. Developers only have to choose between two buttons “Yes, let’s talk” or “Not interesting”. This decision is easy to make because Skyworker has already asked for all the important information for recruiters. In this format, the platform generates a steady stream of job interview candidates for companies and recruiters do not need to do routine work.
The chilled-out “yes” or “no” decision format has become so prevalent for IT professionals that now Skyworker is gathering the most active candidates in the market, 73% of offers are answered by candidates, and we have achieved 300% growth in a month.
What was the story of the startup? Where did this idea come from?
The idea of Skyworker came after 3 years of developing our own recruitment agency. Almost every working day there was an idea “what the hell?” Why in a world where people launch rockets into space, do we have to spam candidates every day with messages that they ignore in 90% of cases? ” This was the case with all IT recruiters and no hiring platform offered anything new.
We had the experience of both developers and recruiters. This experience made our team fall in love with the field, but working with those old methods meant extremely irritating the candidates and spending their last nerve cells. We decided to make a platform in which hiring will not irritate anyone. Thus Skyworker began.
Why did you choose such a name?
Skyworker is not just a name, it is a type of person!) In our recruitment agency, we started to divide people by type according to their attitude to their career.
- The first type is Waterworker: people who choose to go with the flow. Wherever the wind blows, that’s where they go. They have no desire to strain against the current.
- The second type – Earthworker: people who like to stand firmly on their feet. They make great efforts to enter the comfort zone, and when this zone is reached, they no longer rush to new achievements.
- The third type is Skyworker: people who strive higher and higher and do not know the limits of development. They enjoy gaining new experience, new knowledge, new achievements. They do not stop and it is for such people we make the Skyworker platform – a place where they will not miss new opportunities. At Skyworker, they easily control the entire market.
The fourth type – Fireworker: people who are passionate about their own business – entrepreneurs.
Last year you received a grant from the USF. What has changed since then? Tell us about the success of the team
During this time, Skyworker began to receive messages from users-developers: “I have not received such a buzz for a long time as I enjoy on your platform”. Also, we received feedback from customer companies: “Skyworker works wonders.”
- We raised the pre-seed round of investment a year ago with the company value at $ 1.5 MLN;
- Gathered 450+ international client companies;
- Received 10,000+ users among developers with the highest activity in the market;
- Reached a growth rate of 300% per month.
Are you planning to scale? What markets are you considering for expansion?
We like to talk more about the results in public than about the plans. The only thing we can say is that Skyworker is not going to slow down. At present, our clients are already international companies and there are more and more of them. Significant news is planned soon, which we are not disclosing now.
How are you finding working with the Fund?
The Fund gave us a serious “safety cushion” to start. They believed in us and it coincided with the period when Skyworker started to win with this idea at international startup competitions. It was a whole mess of stuff and the grant from the Fund was a support for us in the desire to work harder. Glad we had met the expectations.
Tips for those who are just starting or dreaming of founding their own startup
Talk to potential customers before you have something to show them. No matter how much experience you have in the field, if you do not talk to customers, then most likely you will make a product that only you will need. Skyworker is so fast because we are in touch with recruiters and developers every day. They turn their souls inside out, tell their stories, and our task is to make their future stories with the help of our software be only in positive colors. Read the book The Mom Test, it is worth starting with it before going to talk to potential customers.
