Introducing Interchange
LA’s Free Early-Stage Tech Startup Job Board
By: Nick Kim and Brittany Walker
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Last week, the LA Times reported on initiatives in Los Angeles that are designed to improve diversity, equity and inclusion in tech and venture capital. Led by PledgeLA, these projects are designed to make LA the most diverse technology ecosystem in the country.
Today, we announce Interchange, the home of LA’s early-stage tech jobs. In partnership with PledgeLA and the City of Los Angeles, we’ve launched Interchange to simplify the job search for high-quality tech opportunities at startups across Los Angeles. With widespread layoffs throughout the industry and a rapidly evolving funding environment, it’s more important than ever to connect people with companies who are hiring.
Interchange is local and free for the tech community
Interchange is LA’s first free job board for tech startups, bringing the highest quality talent and job opportunities together in one location.
Interchange is local
Interchange has been designed by the LA community, for the LA community. With the help of almost the entire tech investing community in LA, we are committed to attracting top companies and top talent to our city, as well as supporting those who already call LA home.
Interchange is free
We set out with the goal to demonstrate the breadth and quality of the LA technology ecosystem. By making Interchange free for all, we create access to high-quality opportunities across the LA tech ecosystem. We showcase the startup companies that have chosen to make LA their homes and entice the best people to stay in or come to LA to build their careers in technology.
Interchange is for tech startups
Interchange centralizes top tech startups in LA at the early stages of growth. With this audience in mind, we curate the list of promising companies to include a wide spectrum of industries and sectors. Our hope is that these companies match with the diverse pools of talent looking for high-growth tech opportunities in LA.
In short, Interchange is bringing an unprecedented level of transparency to the LA ecosystem that will remove the fundamental mismatch between job seekers and employers that both sides have felt for too long.
How It Works
Interchange is easy to use for startups and job seekers alike. With the help of Getro, we’ve already sourced nearly 1,000 jobs on the platform and we’re welcoming new additions all the time.
Job seekers can choose to browse and directly apply for these opportunities, or they can join our talent network and wait for the right job to come to them. The talent network also offers a built-in referral system that job seekers can use to vouch for friends, colleagues, and co-workers, supporting one another as members of the Interchange community.
Building an inclusive tech ecosystem
We hope that Interchange becomes a starting point for the promising talent that might have previously had less access to opportunity. This free platform is specifically designed to increase access for those communities who have previously been marginalized or underrepresented in tech jobs.
How Interchange supports access
Early-stage tech startups are cash-constrained and often don’t list jobs on expensive platforms. Instead, they list opportunities on their own job boards and rely on their existing networks to fill the top of their hiring funnels. For underrepresented people looking for high-growth opportunities in tech, this often means they never see the best jobs before they’re filled.
Interchange is a totally free job aggregation platform that creates transparency and access to these competitive roles. It allows job seekers to see the high-quality tech jobs that are available in LA as soon as they are listed, and it gives them direct access to the companies that are hiring.
By partnering with PledgeLA, we ensure that more people from marginalized or underrepresented backgrounds are aware of this platform. Our goal is for all communities in LA—especially those who are underrepresented in tech—to have access to the opportunities at venture-backed tech startups.
Summary / Conclusion
One of Crosscut’s founding principles since launching in 2008 has been supporting the overall growth of the LA tech community. As one of the earliest seed-stage venture capital funds in the ecosystem, we’ve had the privilege of building our firm alongside LA’s tech startups for more than a decade. Today, it remains our mission—and our responsibility—to continue fostering this community in every way we can.
Launching Interchange was a natural next step as stewards of tech entrepreneurship in LA for the past twelve years. It has come as no surprise that the broader LA tech ecosystem has rallied around this cause, and we’re grateful for the Mayor’s Office, the Annenberg Foundation, dotLA, and the 30+ LA-based venture capital funds who joined us as community supporters.
That’s just what LA does.
If any or all of this resonates with you, consider joining us on Interchange.
You can follow more of our work @nickbkim and @walker_vc
Thank you
Huge thank you to Marianne Bulger for the inspiration to launch this project. She laid the groundwork for Interchange with her work on Prospect in Canada, and we couldn’t have done it without her.
