The average American holds 10 jobs before reaching the age of 40. If this tells us one thing, it’s that we don’t know what we want from our job. But what if we could try our jobs before committing to the position? With Betagig you can do just that. The online platform lets you shadow your job before accepting the offer to insure job compatibility. Betagig gives you the ability to make a more informed decision on how you use a third of your day. If job satisfaction is a value of yours, we suggest using Betagig to insure the best results.
LA TechWatch spoke with cofounder and CEO Nicki Klein about Betagig and how they secured their second round of funding.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise? We just secured $1.6M in Seed funding from Altpoint Ventures.
Tell us about your product or service. Betagig is an online platform that allows users to job shadow future careers, creating the world’s first “try before you buy” workplace experience. A common trend among students includes reluctantly choosing a major and career path, resulting in their apathy and disillusionment in the workforce. As a result of this flawed career-choosing pattern, millennials have adopted a proclivity to “job-hop” around the market, causing increased turnover within companies, which can easily be prevented with job shadowing. The program is accessible to adults regardless of their prior work experience, but is especially aimed toward college students, recent graduates, and those looking to change careers.
What inspired you to start the company?
Melissa Hargis and I were both career changers multiple times. I changed my college major 8 times and my career 4 times. So the idea of finding something we loved to do was obviously important to us and we found out that this was an issue so many people today struggle with. One day we were walking through Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, and Melissa said “wouldn’t it be great if you could change lives with someone for a day” and I said, “No it would be cool if you could swap careers with someone for a day” and the idea flourished from that conversation.
How is it different?
Betagig is the world’s first job shadowing platform. Job shadowing has always existed and it happens everyday, but it has always been a chore to seek out opportunities. This platform streamlines the process and it really is the first of its kind.
What market you are targeting and how big is it?
We are targeting the recruitment industry, which is a $124B market here in the US and $440 billion worldwide.
What’s your business model?
Our business model is two fold. The first is the free service. For companies, the service is free to use and participate in and they only pay if they hire a candidate. The second is a SaaS model.
What jobs are people seeking to shadow the most?
We have seen the most requests in the entertainment, health and tech industries.
What was the funding process like?
For me, being a female, a first time founder and a founder with a moonshot idea, it was long and difficult .
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
Again, being a female and a first time founder. It’s essentially a numbers game.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
One of the main reasons was how the state of the current job market is today and how technology can have a great impact on that. There are not a lot of startups in the HR space right now. In addition to that, it was a big ticket in the presidential election so their is clear need for change and improvement in this space. Nicki also took feedback from every investor on her pitch and vastly improved it over time with each new investor she spoke with.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
We will be piloting with a large company in Los Angeles soon, as well as launching with a local community college that we are in contract with. Furthermore, we are completing the hiring of our team.
What advice can you offer companies in Los Angeles that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Fake it til you make it and keep the passion alive.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
We will be growing and scaling very rapidly.
What is your favorite restaurant in LA?
The Misfit in Santa Monica
