Let me introduce myself and my product (pre-BETA)

Introductions
#1

Hello Bootstrapers,

My name Is Rares and I am, in a random order, a web developer, managing partner at a development company, freelancer and lastly (cheated about the order here) a boostrapper wannabe. I`ve been reading this board for a few months, but I finally decide to post :smile:

For some time I was thinking about launching my own product, somehow hoping to cut a little out of the day-by-day stress caused by projects, various types of clients and so on.

It must have been at least two years juggling with all sorts of ideas for products, starting them and after a while deciding that is probably stupid and won’t work. Finally, sick of all the interviews Ive been to in the last decade, boths sides of the table, Ive decided upon a product and just went for it.

Today I built a landing page for it and even a blog I wish to keep updated. Also, I`ve started coding a SAAS-ready platform a while ago, which I intend to use in this project.

Long story short, I`d like to kindly invite you to visit my project homepage, http://matchbyskills.com/ and let me know what I should improve.

The product might not seem new, but I think that the algorithms behind it as well as the features developed (or planned) will make a difference in this market.

The business plan is not yet nailed, since I would like to first get a better knowledge of the market and potential users. Based on the market feedback, I could either trash it and reuse the SAAS platform for another project or, best case scenario, develop it further and bring good things for employees and employers alike.

Thank you very much for your time and I’m eager to hear/read your feedback.
Rares

P.S. The copy is not final, I just had some things up there for the initial feedback session. Nor is the mock-up of the mobile app, it`s still work in progress, but I was really eager to start this project.

1 Like
#2

Welcome! I’m glad you finally stepped up to post, and committed to a project. A couple of thoughts on this particular service:

You’ll need to attract BOTH employers AND employees. It’s a two-sided market, and those are notoriously HARDER to succeed with. Consider seriously whether you might want to start with something simpler, which has one, specific audience.

If you do take this path, you should make some tailored content on your site. Everything I saw on the home page sort of spoke to both audiences. Try a “For Job Seekers” (speak to their concerns, show their benefits, give them a call-to-action to sign up). And also the same type of stuff “For Employers”.

The world is full of job boards, but people do use them. I think there’s room for niches like “We’re the best site for jobs in the Energy Industry” or “We’re the board with all the top Javascript coders” or “We charge high fees so our candidates are the most elite Yoga gurus” or whatever.

I don’t think “better matching algorithm” will really resonate with most job seekers, or most employers. Frustrated job seekers think there are no good jobs out there, and frustrated employers think there are no good candidates. They don’t think they have a matching problem – they want volume.

Having said all that, I don’t know the job board or recruiting market at all. Clearly a ton of money gets spent in recruitment and hiring every year, and people always need jobs. Maybe someone else here can chime in with some actual experience in your area.

1 Like
#3

Hi @coreysnipes and than you for taking the time to read and reply.

I know about the challenges in two-sided markets, but I don’t see the point/way in having only one of them. I think it would be useless to have just employees, for example.

Copy is work in progress and in the initial design there were two columns for features, one for job seekers and one for companies. Should be updated pretty soon, hopefully today.

I was also considering building it for a specific niche, that being Web Development / Software as that is where I have the most experience. And maybe expand/duplicate later.

Once again, thank you very much for your feedback, a lot of valid points. Some of them I was already considering, but was to eager to launch the page before I finished writing the copy and more details :smile:

Thanks,
Rares

#4

Hi @rares, I’m also doing a jobboard and perhaps I was a bit lucky since I stumbled across a niche that was somewhat untapped in Germany (sustainability / social stuff, excluding green technology). I worked in this area for several years and I didn’t find a jobboard I liked.

People would tell me “Isn’t there jobboard X or Y for that?” It took a few years for it to really stick that it wasn’t green technology, but more like green management, green marketing, non-profit organisations, stuff like that. Now people tell me “So glad that your jobboard exists, because jobboard X or Y doesn’t cover what you have.” (It’s not the richest companies, but it’s exciting work.)

One advice is to really go for a niche. Webdev and software - at least in Germany - is a very large and brutal jobboard market. I would go even smaller than that. Some go as much as programming language level (e.g. PHP jobboards) or even framework (such as Laravel jobboard which is represented somewhere here on bootstrapped.fm).

Although perhaps in your case you might have to go large because your unique selling point is the algorithm and the matching?

Word of warning though, I’ve met a lot of startups in Germany working on what they say is THE algorithm that will make real big money in the jobboard market. But don’t forget that the big jobboards are also investing lots and lots of money into tech development (and sales).

If you want to compete on an algorithm basis, the question you should ask is: How will you make yours better than the others? What can you offer that others can’t?