Tech
A Googler who quit amid mass layoffs says hiring is ‘broken.’ Check out the pitch deck he used to secure $1.3 million for his startup Candidate.fyi.
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- Recruiting is broken, according to a Googler-turned-entrepreneur.
- Chris Connors quit Google in 2022 to found HR tech startup Candidate.fyi.
- The startup has secured $1.3 million in pre-seed funding from SuperAngel.Fund.
A Googler who quit the company just before mass layoffs has raised $1.3 million for his HR tech startup, Candidate.fyi.
New York-based startup Candidate.fyi came out of stealth mode in February, and aims to redress the “broken candidate experience,” said cofounder Chris Connors, who left Google in 2022 to set up the company with his brother and company CEO Kyle Connors.
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Connors resigned from Google at the end of 2022, shortly before the tech giant announced it would cull staff, and as layoffs hit the broader sector.
Since January 2023, Google has laid off around 12,000 employees — around 6% of its total workforce.
Connors said the broader layoffs spree influenced his and his brother’s decision to form a startup “earlier than expected.”
This was “definitely a bold move,” Connors told Insider. “The idea of Candidate.fyi had been brewing for a while, and the experience of mass layoffs … made me realize the urgency of addressing the broken candidate experience.”
The startup’s goal is to transform how interviews are conducted at companies. It includes tools that make it easier for the company to audit and track the general content it would give to candidates, such as FAQs and information on company benefits.
The platform also aims to take the burden off existing employees, who would otherwise spend a lot of time preparing candidates for interviews. Instead, applicants are given access to a portal which provides them with all the tools they need for the job application process, such as a progression timeline for their application, as well as sample questions.
Candidate.fyi operates on a business-to-business basis and counts the likes of AI unicorn Synthesia and Madhive among its clients.
Connors said Google gave him useful skills to become an entrepreneur. “I learned the importance of innovation, data-driven decision-making, and creating products that truly benefit users,” he said.
The round was led by SuperAngel.Fund, along with high-net-worth individuals such as the founders of Yext. With the fresh funding, the startup plans to “invest into research and development to help tackle the different areas of candidate engagement,” said Kyle Connors. “A big area here is candidate scheduling. Our plan is to become the all-in-one solution for candidate engagement.”
Check out the 12-slide pitch deck the founders used to secure the fresh funding.
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