This is a silly idea that continually gets reinvented.
The people who reinvent it think "Wow! How can this not exist? It's such a good idea and we're first to market!", failing to realise that they didn't find another competitor because so many other people have built the EXACT SAME THING and failed and shut it down.
My personal version of this stupid concept was http://www.jobbountyhunter.com (hey the domain is available! snap it up!) and here was our version two - even better! http://web.archive.org/web/20090317010055/http://jobbountyhu... which I failed at about six years ago. We even went back for a second bite, rebuilt it and wasted more money thinking it would work if third party website published the job ads and collected some of the bounty. Strike two!
In my hometown, in my personal network of connections alone I know of two other people who built the EXACT SAME THING too, and also failed. I am certain there have been many other attempts and others will continue to build this thinking it's a good idea.
It's a stinky idea at its core because people don't like selling their friends and acquaintances. If you are the entrepreneur who built this then save your time and money, shut it down now and build something else whilst you have the time and energy and money.
Andrew, thanks a lot for sharing your feedback and personal experience attempting a similar service.
You mentioned that "It's a stinky idea at its core because people don't like selling their friends and acquaintances." Was the biggest challenge finding people interested in making referrals?
Your caveat is well-taken. It seems like quite a number of startups, unsuccessfully, have tried to get this model to work. Most notably Top Prospect, which I believe is now defunct:
Agreed. Important that one should look at not just existing competitors but also failed competitors while doing market research for startup ideas. However, knowledge of failed startups is a bit difficult to find, especially the knowledge of their reasons of failure. In my experience, veterans and VCs are great help here as they embody this knowledge by virtue of their long experience in the industry.
but when you did it, it wasn't called "crowdsourcing". ;)
I think it's generally not a great idea because people don't know how to sell their network. They may be able to sell their friends, but anyone in an extended network? Probably not - the other party is likely better at selling themselves than I'm going to be.
I've got to say there is also a much more effective market if I'm willing to offer connections. Existing recruiters offer fairly substantial referral fees in certain cases. Recruiters can get 25% of 1 years salary: it's not hard for them to offer 5% when they get stuck on positions If I can get $5K on a 100K job, your referral bonus better be really good to get me to spend the effort.
I'd like a job please at a recruiter that earns a 25% fee. I've never heard of one. Certainly recruiters might ask for that but no employer I know of would ever pay it.
The people who reinvent it think "Wow! How can this not exist? It's such a good idea and we're first to market!", failing to realise that they didn't find another competitor because so many other people have built the EXACT SAME THING and failed and shut it down.
Here's the last time I said the exact same thing: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7631094
about this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7628532
My personal version of this stupid concept was http://www.jobbountyhunter.com (hey the domain is available! snap it up!) and here was our version two - even better! http://web.archive.org/web/20090317010055/http://jobbountyhu... which I failed at about six years ago. We even went back for a second bite, rebuilt it and wasted more money thinking it would work if third party website published the job ads and collected some of the bounty. Strike two!
In my hometown, in my personal network of connections alone I know of two other people who built the EXACT SAME THING too, and also failed. I am certain there have been many other attempts and others will continue to build this thinking it's a good idea.
It's a stinky idea at its core because people don't like selling their friends and acquaintances. If you are the entrepreneur who built this then save your time and money, shut it down now and build something else whilst you have the time and energy and money.