How a “chance meeting” at a co-working space led to Gen George securing a million-dollar deal – StartupSmart
It was a chance meeting at a Fishburners event for female entrepreneurs that eventually led to Gen George securing a multi-million dollar deal for her latest venture.
At the event George was introduced to assistant innovation minister Wyatt Roy, who would later bring her on a study tour in Israel.
During the trade mission, the OneShift founder met the chief executive of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland (CCIQ) Stephen Tait.
Now the two have signed off on a deal that’s set to inject several million dollars into George’s new venture, job matching platform Skilld.com, which officially launched in January.
“Every one of CCIQ’s 20,000 plus members will now get access to annual member subscriptions to Skilld or OneShift,” George tells StartupSmart.
Attracting more than 12,000 businesses and 40,000 candidates across Australia, the site looks set to turning over at least $5 million by the end of the year.
Skilld.com enables employers to find talent in their area “on-demand”, she says.
“It’s Tinder for talent essentially,” George says.
She says that taking this approach significantly reduces the cost and time of recruiting and job seeking because it eliminates the need for resumes.
“It’s about creating an intuitive platform that allows people to move around the world and find work when they need it,” George says.
George says this creates a more accessible and cost-effective way for a diverse range of businesses to find great talent.
“Tech allows small businesses to do things that they were never able to do,” she says.
With CCIQ representing 20,000 members in hospitality, retail and the broader small business community, George now looks forward to expanding their services across additional industries.
“For us it’s being able to scale quicker than we were expecting,” she says.
“We can access thousands of Queensland businesses in one hit, our candidates can get into jobs quicker.”
Its sister site OneShift launched three years ago and has grown to a network of more than 660,000 users and 40,000 businesses.
George is now planning for international expansion and hopes to be in at least one other country within the next year.
With her eyes set on “global domination”, George is in talks with several potential partners and is exploring integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning.
“We want to predict where talent is needed and what’s going to be needed,” she says.
Looking back at her journey, George says one of the biggest lessons she’s learned as a startup founder is to always find a way to add value for others.
“Create a strong relationship upfront from both sides on what you’re trying to achieve in the long-term,” she says.
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