For some job seekers, LinkedIn just doesn’t cut it as a method to show off their past accomplishments.
That’s why MyUnfold thinks it has something better for 20-somethings to land a job. The 12-man Seattle startup launched its beta today to help young professionals establish themselves more effectively to potential employers.
The platform allows users to showcase their experience and qualifications in a number of ways and features some social networking elements that allow fellow MyUnfold users to validate each other’s work.
We caught up with 28-year-old co-founder and CEO Mark Monroe to learn more about the company for the latest edition of Startup Spotlight.
Explain what you do so our parents can understand it (in a Tweet-sized statement): MyUnfold revolutionizes the way that applicants and employers find each other.
Inspiration hit us when … Our two co-founders identified that their age group was not being served by the current job market or recruitment industry. Mark realized, while hiring new engineers, that all incoming resumes looked the same. Yujin struggled to secure employment even though he thought that his internships, grades, and other experiences qualified him. Our mutual frustration led to the conception of MyUnfold, and they realized that their idea could be a game-changer.
VC, Angel or Bootstrap (And Why): Bootstrap. We were lucky to build together a great team that is as passionate about this as our founders. We wanted to be certain that everyone involved would share our vision. Also, we started creating MyUnfold through our team and are now looking for funding.
Our ‘secret sauce’ is: Our validation technology. Instead of employers having to take the applicants’ word on their skills and competencies, MyUnfold uses our unique algorithm to validate (or not) users’ aptitudes on their portfolios.
The smartest move we’ve made so far: Developing our team. We couldn’t do everything that we are doing if we didn’t have such dedicated contributors. Most of our team is built off the exact type of people that MyUnfold is meant for.
The biggest mistake we’ve made so far: Spending so much time strategizing on things that we could have been executing on. Strategizing was nice, but now that we’re executing we’ve learned so much more than those times sitting back and playing armchair CEO.
Would you rather have Gates, Jobs, Zuckerberg or Bezos in your corner: Bezos, because we strongly identify with his approach with his teams at Amazon. He is supportive, but wants each individual to be innovative on their own also. We don’t want our team members to be pawns; we want them to be driven on their own accord and hopefully, their passion is MyUnfold.
Our world domination strategy starts when: HR departments and recruiters use MyUnfold either as a supplementary tool or as the foundation for their hiring process. We are going to cut out all of the unnecessary waste of man hours by isolating and providing perfect matches — the exact job for the perfect applicant.
Rivals should fear us because: We have a truly unique product that has limitless potential. Our platform allows us to move into several industries in the future and have a large impact. We’ve planned a long-term future including what industries we want to change with MyUnfold and how we are going to be strategic in doing so.
We are truly unique because: Our secret algorithm, but also our platform. Our platform allows users to create something that is unique to their experience. They can show their stories through pictures, videos, recommendations, works of authorship, and people they’ve collaborated with.
Not only can they show it, but they can start validating skills through the people that they’ve interacted in their experience, and also through online tests and games given to them by third parties. Though for right now, we’re launching our beta and these feature will come very soon in the future.
The biggest hurdle we’ve overcome is: Creating a team. It is hard to find people who are truly passionate and believe in the product as much as the founders. To have those people who want to contribute to how MyUnfold grows and see their contributions come to life is a blessing.
What’s the one piece of advice you’d give to other entrepreneurs just starting out: Build out your team really well and carefully. This is going to be the backbone of your company as you slowly build out and start to scale. They’re your biggest cheerleaders to make sure that you succeed.
