How Fundraising for a Startup is like Hiring

 As a young 20-something entrepreneur (especially in the HR tech space), I've become intimately exposed to job searching and fundraising and noticed some interesting similarities. Generally the two are mutually exclusive, but not always, and in both cases you're looking for money and the giving party is looking for a return on that investment. Here are some interesting parallels I found. 
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1. Laws about where your money goes.  VC's don't need to file EEOC reports about the entrepreneurs they turn down.

• Hiring: There are strict laws about hiring - about discrimination, producing reports about those you review and reject, and so on - where such laws do not exist in the same way for investing (they exist around financial returns). No one will tell you who to hire, but you need to have a defendable reason for turning away a qualified candidate and you need to prove you never discriminated by protected class information - age, race, sexual orientation, and so on. 
• Investing: Investors don't need to show that they didn't discriminate in where they invested. It's a different type of situation- they might put $100K into a company whereas an employer might give an employee $100K a year - both are an investment in human capital but they're considered different. You may argue that one is income and one is an investment in a corporation and, while that is true, large investments pay salaries to teams and the investors expect to get their money back (preferably at a multiple) so in a way you could think of it as hiring a team to manage their money. 

2. Looking for a return. The return sought is different but exists in both cases.

• Hiring: When hiring, employers are looking to have employees generate a certain amount of money annually (unless they're in a cost center, like HR). Employers are looking for their employees to build, sell, or somehow create value for their company in a way that meaningfully impacts their bottom line.  
• Investing: When an investor backs a company they are putting in a certain amount of capital and aiming to receive a certain return after a certain amount of time. The return usually comes from a liquidity event, like the sale of the company to a larger company, an IPO, or dividends and without such outcomes the investment would not be considered successful.

3. Focus on people (ie. talent). Both hiring and investing looks heavily at people and their individual talents. 

• Hiring: Talent acquisitions are understandably focused on people - branding the company to attract certain people, offering perks to keep talent, nurturing the right culture, and so on. It's called "human" resources for a reason - and this group is focused primarily on the human capital within a company. Talent is what keeps companies growing, profitable, and innovative.
• Investing: Investors usually say that they invest first and foremost in the team because the concept can change and pivot and evolve and there needs to be a solid team in place to keep moving in the right direction. Investors look for great people attacking a big problem in a large market - with a heavy amount of focus on the team. Talent is what builds great companies and leads to them getting returns for their LP's (or for Angels, themselves).

4. Turnover/failure is expected. Employers lose employees, investors lose funds. 

• Hiring: A certain amount of turnover is expected within the first 18 months of hire and as millenials begin to make up more of the job market with their (our) nomadic ways ("the perpetual job seeker") that concept will certainly evolve. Turnover is essentially hiring failure. A loss of an investment in an employee and the need to replace a loss. 
• Investing: Venture Capital is an extremely high risk space. Fred Wilson (of Union Square Ventures) expects that "out of 20-25 investments in his fund, 5-10 will fail, 1 will be a home run, 4-5 will produce solid returns, and the rest will be a wash". A much higher level of turnover/failure is anticipated than with hiring, but early stage investing is certainly high risk, high reward. 

5. Fundraising feels like the interview process. An interestingly parallel process can be found between hiring and investing.

• Hiring: Employers generally receive applications from job seekers, consider their credentials, bring candidates in to be interviewed and evaluated, and eventually decide whether or not to make them an offer. 
• Investing: Investors are solicited by entrepreneurs, evaluate the team and concept through due diligence, bring the team in to pitch in front of partners and eventually the whole investment team, and ultimately decide whether or not to invest. 

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These were just a few examples of how hiring and fundraising seem similar to me. Hiring one person or even several people to work in an established company is certainly different from investing in a team to build something unique and innovative but the two concepts have some striking similarities. 


Let me know if you have any comments or points to add by commenting below! 


Phoebe Farber

phoebefarber.comphoebefarber.com
phoebe.farber@live.com

Help support our Crowd Funding campaign through Fund Anything!

Sharing your CareerApp Profile

Your CareerApp profile is a representation of who you are as a candidate. Be sure to complete your profile fully and share it with whomever you like. We made some recommendations below to help you share it effectively.

• Business Cards

It's always a good idea to have personal business cards printed up to share with interviewers or just people you network with. Business cards offer your name, address (sometimes), phone number, picture (sometimes), email - and can also include your CareerApp profile. This is a great way to share your information as you meet someone and refer them to your profile to learn more. 

• Email signature

Email signatures are one piece of professional communications. You'll notice that many professionals have email signatures with their name, title, company, phone number, website, and email. As a student, you should also have an email signature. This can include your name, school, major and estimated graduation date, phone number, and link to your LinkedIn and CareerApp profiles. This way the people you are emailing and easily click through to your profile. 

• Resume header

Your resume is a key piece of your job application. You need to make sure this one page document is polished and contains the highlights of everything that is important about you as a candidate. The header of your resume should include your name (in a larger, bolded font), email, phone number, address (maybe), as well as your CareerApp profile link. Resumes are generally quickly reviewed and by adding your profile here, employers can learn more about you once you pique their interest. This profile can help you stand out in their eyes. 

• LinkedIn profile

LinkedIn is a professional social network that every new grad (and professional) should be on. Your LinkedIn profile is like a digital resume and many recruiters and hiring managers have begun to look for student talent via LinkedIn. In your profile you have the option of listing up to 3 websites on your profile. Be sure to list your CareerApp portfolio link here to have employers and those in your network to see more about you as a candidate. 

• Twitter profile

Twitter can be a great professional tool, especially if you're looking to get into writing, public relations, marketing, and communications. Your Twitter activity can show that you have meaningful thoughts, make thoughtful contributions, and have clout among your peers. Many employers will look to your Twitter feed to get a sense of who you are as a social being, and because of that your Twitter Profile is a great way to share your CareerApp link. 

5 Marketing Tips for New College Grads

As new grads you almost by definition are lacking years of work experience – and since a resume is so heavily focused on just that, how do you show your whole self to employers?\

Employers want to hire and invest in someone with the right skill set and attitude. Jobs you’ve had to this point might or might not be what you want to do with your life – but you probably excelled in a group, or class, or activity you were passionate about. As a new grad you will need to pull from all of your life experiences and show employers your potential.

Showcase your passions – whatever they may be.

Employers want to know that you have that spark in you to see that you can bring that passion to work. Discuss your soft skills in terms of any activity you really excelled at and/or showed leadership in. Describe your transferable skills in a way that would be helpful in a professional atmosphere. Make that recruiter excited about you!

Network.

Networking is a big buzzword and an intimating prospect in some respects. To network really means to speak with strangers and move out of your comfort zone. Networking takes multiple forms from cold calling/emailing, to attending big events, to following and responding to the work of thought leaders, and more. Meeting new people opens doors in ways you could never imagine.

I’ve had plenty of instances where I met someone without a specific purpose but they turned around and made a great introduction or offered insight into what I was doing. I always go to as many events as I can and speak to whoever will speak with me. I’m always learning and expanding my “network” and you never know who can help you or offer that crucial warm introduction and vouch for you.

Be articulate.

Our generation gets a bad reputation for not being good writers and communicators. While your future job might not include a lot of writing – being able to succinctly say what you mean, write without typos or grammatical errors, and use the proper tone is essential anywhere.

Proofread all of your emails, stop and think about what you want to accomplish when you reach out to people, and be aware of how you communicate with others. Being articulate shows a great deal about your character and give a professional appearance.

Have a portfolio.

Many employers look for past work or achievements when they go to hire. The type of portfoliothat is appropriate for you depends on what your academic and career interests are.

Many computer science students use GitHub to share their code and past projects, Art students may use Behance, Carbonmade, or another type of portfolio to share their past works, and English/Communications students may use blogs. A well-crafted portfolio is a great way to show what you’ve done and to stand apart.

Have a [positive] web presence.

Web presence is a loaded term.  On one hand, you want to protect your personal profile on sites like Facebook and Instagram while sharing those pieces of you that you want employers to see and can help your job search.

I founded a company that is building CareerApp as the “Common App for jobs” that allows you to create a robust profile and really showcase yourself to employers. You can share your profile with employers and apply to jobs with one click to help your job application process.

Make sure that you’re more than a piece of paper to an employer and show your full, dynamic, well-rounded self in a polished and professional way.

Todays’ guest post comes from Phoebe Farber. Phoebe is a Senior at Northeastern University in Boston and the Founder & CEO of Prospective Plus, which has built CareerApp.me – the Common App for Jobs. Connect with Phoebe via @PhoebeFarber, @CareerApp, or phoebe @ careerapp .me.

Our Founders Story- How CareerApp came to be

I’ve known that I wanted to go to school for business since I was in about second grade. Business has always intrigued me and I’ve been trying to find my place within that spectrum since then. When I was applying for college every time I spoke with someone about being a business major they recommended Northeastern University because of its co-op program. Since I graduated in 2009, as the country was going through hard economic times, getting a year and a half of work experience before I graduated sounded like a really good idea.

I entered Northeastern as a Business Major concentrating in Entrepreneurship but second guessed that as I was told that I needed a more “functional” concentration like Marketing. As I continued my degree I came full circle when I came up with what I thought was a really interesting idea. I was applying for my second co-op and just spreading my resume around. Even with what I considered a polished resume and the experience I had – I was still getting passed over for interviews for amazing positions.

I had an immensely frustrating week where I had 6 interviews in 4 days with no offers so I started applying to jobs on career portals and searching through job boards. After a couple of hours I was left with headache and confused about why we needed to fill out different applications for each job. This issue was solved for college applications when the Common App came about and I couldn’t understand why that couldn’t be done for entry level jobs.

I spent the next year doing research and learning as much as I could – about everything. I read books, articles, and blogs and spoke with anyone who would talk to me. I played the “student” card a lot and went to events for discounted prices and asked for advice and was a sponge. There’s an entire entrepreneurial community in Boston (and the country) and there was so much information to take in. I learned a lot about HR tech, as well as equity, website development, good UX/UI design, our legal needs, accounting, pitching, and more. While there’s certainly more that I don’t know than do know – I’ve loved learning more and think that I’m getting closer to figuring out where I belong.

My company, Prospective Plus, is building CareerApp as the “Common App for jobs”. We allow candidates to create a single, strong job application and can apply to multiple positions with one click. Our focus is to allow new grads to showcase their past achievements and positive traits, in and out of formal work experience, and express their potential. Employers then receive a robust application and also have the opportunity to search the candidate pool to find candidates. We don't believe that a resume is enough and we're addressing pain points for candidates and employers. 

We also just started working on a Career Fair tool built around our central idea. The goal is to help employers and candidates connect before, during, and after a career fair. This idea has a mobile and web component, would eliminate the need to pass around paper resumes at the event, would get companies and candidate on our site, and would give recruiters access to career fairs they couldn't attend in person. 

We’re still early and building and growing and fundraising- but we’re a passionate team that believes in this company. So despite the ups and downs that come with entrepreneurship and despite the fact that I have no idea what my future holds – I’m excited to continue down this path a see where it takes me.

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Phoebe Farber is a Senior at Northeastern University in Boston and the Founder & CEO of Prospective Plus, which has built CareerApp.me - the Common App for Jobs. Connect with Phoebe via @PhoebeFarber, @CareerApp, or phoebe@careerapp.me .

Guest Blog for CornontheJob.com - Why Standard Applications are Broken for New Grads

Why Standard Applications are Broken for New Grads

Phoebe Farber is a Senior at Northeastern University in Boston and the Founder & CEO of Prospective Plus, which has built CareerApp.me – the Common App for Jobs. Connect with Phoebe via @PhoebeFarber, @CareerApp, or phoebe@careerapp.me .

As a new grad you may not have much formal work experience or great connections that can land you a job. So you’re stuck doing some soul searching to figure out what you want to do and where you want to live while scouring job boards and company career portals trying to find something that fits you. But applications today are redundant, time consuming, and frustrating.

Despite the debate, the resume is not dead and is still the focal point of many job applications. Investing the time in polishing your resume is time well spent but as more employers want to see you differentiate yourself from the crowd you need to showcase your achievements, awards, past performances, leadership roles, and more as you apply for jobs. As a job seeker in a competitive market you need to be able to put the best parts of your professional self on display and below I listed a few suggestions.

1. Have references ready:  References allow employers to see you as a well-rounded person and hear about your skills, work ethic, and more from a third party perspective. References don’t always have to be a past employer; they can be a professor, coach, adviser, or anyone who can provide a solid reference. Not all employers will want references, but be sure to have 2-3 people who have already agreed to be a reference to you and include their information whenever possible in an application.

2. Build a portfolio: Many employers look for past work or achievements when they go to hire. The type of portfolio that is appropriate for you depends on what your academic and career interests are.
Many computer science students use GitHub (github.com) to share their code and past projects, Art students may use Behance (behance.com), Carbonmade (carbonmade.com), or another type of portfolio to share their past works, and English/Communications students may use blogs. A well-crafted portfolio is a great way to show what you’ve done and to stand apart.

3.  Create a [positive] web presence:  Web presence is a loaded term.  On one hand, you want to protect your personal profile on sites like Facebook and Instagram while sharing those pieces of you that you want employers to see and can help your job search.

To deal with my first point, there’s a great company called BrandYourself (brandyourself.com) that helps you maintain your personal “brand” online and make sure that when someone Googles your name they find YOU.

To my second point, I founded a company that is building CareerApp (careerapp.me) as the “Common App for jobs” that allows you to create a robust profile and really showcase yourself to employers. You can share your profile with employers and apply to jobs with one click to help your job application process.

As a job seeker you will need to be proactive, prepared, and motivated. As a new entrant to the workforce you’ll need to be creative about finding jobs, discovering what is a good fit for your personality, skill set, and interests, and making yourself stand out to get hired.  Be sure to put your best foot forward and prove that you’re more than a piece of paper.

30 great resources for Student Entrepreneurs!

I just wanted to put together some great resources for student entrepreneurs. Feel free to comment to mention any I missed!

NEWS:

• Under30CEO

Great, relevant articles for young entrepreneurs.

• Twitter 

Follow thought leaders and branding yourself.

• BostInno

Great articles about everything.

• Seth Godin's blog

Seth updates his blog daily and is a mktg. guru.

• Newsle

Import your contacts and get updates when people you know are in the news.

FINDING FOUNDERS:

• CoFoundersLab

Search by area, skill set, what they're 
looking for, etc. to find a cofounder.

• VentureCrowd 

A spin off of the Center for Research Inno. at
NU. Create a profile and find team members.

TOOLS:

• Yesware

"Email for Sales People". Try it for free with Gmail.

• Goodwin proctor Founders Workbench

Find great, free legal resources.

• Fiverr

People post what they'll do for $5. Find people 
to promote your site, do design work, etc.

• E-powerhouse

Great resource for entrepreneurs.

• Odesk

Oursource your work.

• LinkedIn

Create a professional profile and connect with
people you've networked with. 

EVENTS:

• Venture Cafe

Based in the Cambridge Innovation Center. Great events. 

• Mass Innovation Night

Monthly meetup where companies pitch. 

• Boston New Tech Meetup

Monthly meetup where companies pitch. 

• Greenhorn Connect

Great resource, I love using their calendar.

COMMISSIONS:

• Commission Junction
• Click Bank

ORGANIZING:

• PivotalTracker
• Dropbox
• Google Drive
• Google Analytics

RESEARCH:

• Cision
• Factiva (in the NU library resources section)

FUNDING:

• Start Garden
• Rough Draft

LEARNING:

• Intelligent.ly (classes are free for college students, email to ask about it)
• NU eClub (and their iTunesU page)

FREE BUSINESS CARDS:

• Scroll down in this blog for the coupon. 

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Phoebe Farber is the Founder & CEO of Prospective Plus, which has built CareerApp.me - the Common App for Jobs. She is from NY but is currently based in Boston as she attends Northeastern University. Feel free to reach out to Phoebe at phoebe@careerapp.me .