1. “Due Diligence”. Recruiting is not a simple, centralized marketplace. Not globally. Not in the US. HR is not at its center despite all the hype and bluster. No one is. The fragments that make up recruiting are many and they operate as independent silos. Convergence is an illusion. There is a reason why you can go to dozens of conferences and, with few exceptions, never see people with similar jobs. The folks who get sourcing, the folks who sell SEO/SEM and the folks who do College Recruiting live on separate planets- just one example of many. The people who can even breathe the air of all these different planets are few- but you can find them. Most entrepreneurs coming in to this space with no prior staffing background and a great ideas take several years to figure this out- lots of ways to short cut this and SnapTalent was certainly trying by getting involved in activities with ERE that gave them feedback. Making sense of the info is another matter.

2. Noise Ratio. The number of people with great new ideas trying to get face/phone/internet time with a decision maker in a company is extraordinary. Could be 10-20 different folks every day. Day in. Day out. Week in Week out. Their messages are so similar- “we offer an integrated, global, end-to-end solution bolted to your existing enterprise-wide HR/ATS/CRM to channel passive/quality prospects into a candidate pipeline at lower cost/higher quality etc.”

That being said, Staffing will continue to evolve rapidly in the next few years and there is extraordinary money to be made (much more than the 10B figure mentioned). All the current ways that employers spend money on staffing are up for grabs….for anyone a) with the ability to collect good data from the right stakeholders and make sense of it and b) with the marketing and branding savvy to cut through the noise.

As an 11 year profitable survivor and market participant, I think the most unexpected aspect of our business to outsiders is the huge scope of what “recruiting” encompasses; from a young HR clerk somewhere to white shoe clubs and offices in NY, LA, DC, Atlanta, Dallas and Chicago…..

Unless your solutions are very horizontal, you are not going to gain a lot of share because the market is so wide. Gaining big share for solutions related to basic economic functions almost automatically requires a scaled business and a major investment.

David, I’m not sure I agree with “when when customers do not buy my product, it’s my fault”

They are not customers until they buy, and I think about prospects quite differently than I do about customers- but that’s just usage.

When a prospect does not buy, it may be nobody’s fault as there may not be any fault involved- it really depends on the fit and timing, neither being especially controllable on demand. The skilled marketer learns about both at the minimum cost to themselves and their prospects.

Further, I think it’s big of them to post this analysis of what went wrong in public, where other start-ups can learn from their experiences.

The last part of the Snaptalent note did rub me the wrong way though. I’m not going to claim that HR is the most empowered or innovative department in most organizations, but I have seen them adopt new technologies as they prove their value and how they can help them be more effective in their roles.

As an entrepreneur, I know that when when customers do not buy my product, it’s my fault for either not addressing their needs or for not communicating effectively how I can do so – not theirs for “not getting it.”

1. Lack of experience
2. Insufficient capital (money)
3. Poor location
4. Poor inventory management
5. Over-investment in fixed assets
6. Poor credit arrangements
7. Personal use of business funds
8. Unexpected growth
9. Competition
10. Low sales