Forward Thinker Award 2021: Let’s Meet the Finalists!

Get to know the 4 companies that will be pitching live on March 10th.

Applications for our 4th annual Forward Thinker Award officially closed on February 14th. With a record number of applications from across the world, including the United States, Taiwan, Canada, Italy, and Lebanon, we are excited to finally announce who the 4 finalists are. Picking the finalists this year was extremely hard, not only because of the extremely high quality of the applications but also because we are only selecting 4.

The 4 finalists — Claira, Seshie, SnapShyft, and Vidaly — each excelled at 3 common themes that we looked for across applications. They clearly demonstrated a broad societal impact and bold vision, placed specific emphasis on the data they are gathering, and distinctly articulated their personal journey to explain why they decided to start their company.

Claira

Based in Michigan, Claira is rewiring the hiring process by eliminating the traditional resume and job posting. Through their matching engine, Claira works to match workers and employers based on the skills they have and need. They help employers save time and money by avoiding having to sift through resumes and post on job sites, while workers are able to brand their skills and Claira works to show them opportunities they may not have found elsewhere.

Claira’s submission was unique and impressive because they creatively used a limerick in their video to highlight the team’s personality and their passion for rewiring the hiring process. By removing the resume and job posting, Claira is leveling the playing field for workers to showcase their skills and find opportunities.

Seshie

Based in Philadelphia, Seshie is enabling companies to host fun, engaging, and informational virtual team-building activities. The impact from COVID-19 over the last year has left teams struggling to feel connected, and that’s why teams are turning to virtual team-building activities. Through Seshie, you can book fun virtual activities like cooking, meditation, trivia, DEI, escape rooms, and many more.

We like Seshie because we believe in the future of the remote workforce. Prior to COVID, companies were already experimenting with remote working and satellite offices, but the pandemic has only accelerated this trend. Finding ways to keep your team connected and engaged as well as boosting employee morale is a challenge for remote teams, and that’s where Seshie comes in. As well, we liked how Seshie is helping these expert hosts adapt to a post-pandemic world, giving them a new way to share their skills.

SnapShyft

Based in Indianapolis, SnapShyft is helping employers find industry professionals to work on demand. Through their app, employers can find workers to work anywhere from one shift to a more permanent role. Their Staffing-as-a-Service software and mobile app help to eliminate the disconnect between qualified industry professionals with short-term availability and the businesses that need them. They are focused on events, hotels, restaurants & bars in order to enable businesses to get the staff they need when they need them.

We like SnapShyft because we believe in their vision of a marketplace for hiring on-demand staff. The need for on-demand staffing solutions continues to grow as the gig-economy grows larger, but it is often a challenge to connect reliable workers with respectable employers. In addition, we loved SnapShyft’s video where they gave us a peek into who they are and why they wanted to create this marketplace.

Vidaly

Based in Oklahoma City, Vidaly is an EdTech company focused on wellbeing education for children. They created a fun and engaging platform for children to learn about well-being while giving parents and teachers the ability to track and engage with them throughout their lessons. Parents can track their child’s progress, set goals for them, and reward them for learning. Teachers can engage and motivate students while easily implementing well-being education into their curriculum.

We like Vidaly because we resonate with the need for well-being education, especially in the aftermath of COVID. As students were forced into remote learning, kids were often impacted the hardest, missing their friends and the social environment of being in a classroom. Because of this, the importance of well-being education continues to grow and teachers are continuing to shift more resources into ensuring students are learning about well-being at a young age. As well, we were touched by Vidaly’s application video detailing why they decided to start this platform and resonated with the vision.

See it Live

Each company had its own unique part of the application that separated them from the rest and we are thrilled to have them as our finalists for our virtual pitch-off. In case you missed it, you can learn more about how each finalist will be scored and what’s at stake during the pitch-off here. We would love for you to join us virtually on March 10th to see them in action! You can register to attend for free here.