Seattle-based Elevator launched a new platform this week that’s designed to take poaching to a whole new level, making it possible for recruiters to hire entire development teams away from other companies in one fell swoop.
The idea? Employees are more productive when they’re part of a team they’ve worked with before. So next time you leave a job, Elevator says you shouldn’t have to start all over again.
“If you’re ready to go, why should you have to leave your team?” Elevator co-founder and CEO Mike Anderson said. “Who does the team really belong to?”
Elevator officially launched on Tuesday, and more than 1,100 users — creating 500 teams — signed up within the first 72 hours.
Anderson said most people using the service right now are software developers. Some are friends who work together at major tech companies, others are entire startups looking to be “acquihired,” a term that refers to buying a startup simply to hire its employees.
Everyone builds their own profile, enters their resume information and links their account to anyone they want to work with. Elevator then goes through by hand and matches teams up with employers looking for specific skill sets.
If they find a match, everyone quits their jobs at once, moves across town and keeps working together at the new company.
Anderson acknowledges the service will drive some HR departments crazy, but he said it works out great for the developers.
“There’s a lot of power in teams,” Anderson said. “They know as a group they can build and ship products on day one.”
Anderson previously launched Belief marketing and advertising agency. He had the idea for Elevator when a larger firm tried to buy his company, offering to pay a premium in order to acquire the entire team.
Anderson didn’t sell, but he did step away from Belief about eight months ago in order to launch a startup that would enable that kind of group hiring. Naturally, he started his new business with his same team from Belief, bringing on Belief’s lead web developer Steven Stevenson as CTO and Belief CEO Jesse Bryan as a cofounder.
Brian Howe, the founder and CEO of coworking space Impact Hub Seattle, also recently joined the Elevator team as COO and co-founder.
