Make It Ten: HeyJobs
We are back with another episode of Make It Ten, this time interviewing Marius Luther from HeyJobs. The AI-powered programmatic Talent
Acquisition Platform, which recently raised a $12 million Series A round, is an investment from our CV III fund. Enjoy reading!
#1 Marius, please introduce HeyJobs in less than 10 words.
HeyJobs aims to become the leading talent acquisition platform in Europe.
#2 What was the initial impetus or motivation to start HeyJobs and what is your vision with it?
HeyJobs was founded three years ago in response to Europe’s dramatically changing labour demographics. With the “boomer” generation nearing retirement, European employers are facing steep declines in available workforce. For instance, Germany alone is losing 500,000 workers annually.
Our vision is to match every jobseeker to the right opportunity and find the right talent for employers’ open positions.
#3 What company-related recent accomplishment are you most proud of?
HeyJobs was recently awarded Berlin’s Top Tech Employer based on Employee reviews on glassdoor and kununu. It makes us proud to be a role model of how a modern employer should act but the key now is to strengthen our culture and organization whilst scaling rapidly.
#4 Five years from now, what will HeyJobs look like? What will you be doing yourself?
We will be connecting millions of jobseekers with their next professional opportunity that truly fits their situation and hopefully helps them live a more fulfilling life.
#5 Can you name three adjectives that describe the working culture at HeyJobs?
Professional. Driven. Entrepreneurial. By the way, we are hiring.
#6 Can you name a detail that nobody really talks about but that is nonetheless crucial for the success of a company?
The combination of outstanding product/R&D and outstanding distribution/sales — which are two very different skills, but both needed to build a massively successful B2B company.
#7 Which technological solution are we still missing in our lives?
Co2 neutral teleportation instead of business travel
#8 What is worth spending time on other than HeyJobs?
My daughter
#9 Why did you choose Creathor as an investor?
I really liked and value their longstanding experience in venture capital going back to the early 90s. I believe it gives them the perspective and patience to back defining companies that can truly change the world.
#10 Make it 10! There must be something that you have always wanted to ask us. What is it?
Marius: If deal flow is so crucial to success, why do VC funds not incentivize lead flow / buy leads?
Cédric: At Creathor dealflow sourcing is incentivized for our actively involved advisory board. Apart from that, sourcing promising start-ups is one of the core disciplines of a VC. Personally, I welcome the idea that lead flow is not being incentivized. This would create an additional service-driven industry. Especially outside of the DACH region (e.g. France), start-ups hire advisory firms to raise Series A or sometimes even earlier money for them. For me this is usually not the right approach. A start-up should be capable of raising their first institutional round(s) without an advisor. It also shows you if a founder is capable of doing “sales”. Even though a fundraising process is always binding a lot of resources distracting the team from daily business, I see this as an important proof point of the founder’s execution skills. On the other hand we see several developments that online platforms are collecting more and more data and making capital seeking start-ups more visible. This will definitely have an impact on the sourcing processes of VCs in the mid-term future.
Thank you, Marius!
If you would like to learn more about our other investments and our current investment focus, please visit www.creathor.com and get in touch if you think we could be a match.
