No need to get into specifics, but we all know about the walk of shame. Turns out, corporations aren't immune to taking the proverbial shuffle home, still wearing last night's now-wrinkled clothes. Just ask Indeed, who's become Google's latest corporate conquest. Don't worry, it'll make sense, just have a listen. Also this week, Calendly gets in the employment game, the nursing shortage is real (but we have solutions) and Walmart tries to hypnotize the metaverse-lovin' youth of America (spoiler alert: it doesn't go well). Then it's time for a little Buy-or-Sell with TurboHire, Hofy, and Remofirst.
You're welcome.
PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION sponsored by:
INTRO (1s):
Hide your kids! Lock the doors! You're listening to HR’s most dangerous podcast. Chad Sowash and Joel Cheeseman are here to punch the recruiting industry, right where it hurts! Complete with breaking news, brash opinion and loads of snark, buckle up boys and girls, it's time for the Chad and Cheese podcast.
Joel (22s):
Oh, yeah. Taco Bell's bringing back a discontinued item and letting the people choose which one? Vote enchiritos everybody. Hey kiddies, you're listening to the Chad and Cheese podcast. This is your cohost, Joel "Gangsters Paradise" Cheeseman.
Chad (39s):
And this is Chad "It's the end of the world as we know it" Sowash
Joel (43s):
On this week's show, Indeed's Walk of Shame. Calendly schedules some hire time, and we take a little trip to Walmartland. Let's do this. Julio's dead man. Dude,
Chad (56s):
I saw that this morning. How old was he?
Joel (59s):
59.
Chad (1m 0s):
Oh, come on, dude.
Joel (1m 2s):
They said he went to the bathroom and never came out.
Chad (1m 4s):
It sounds like an Elvis kind of thing.
Joel (1m 6s):
Yeah, that's exactly what I thought. Like was eating fried banana sandwiches in the bathroom or what?
Chad (1m 12s):
Banana sandwiches.
Joel (1m 14s):
I don't know. I don't too, too young to go, Too young to go.
Chad (1m 18s):
I'm definitely too young to go, man. Yeah. Gangsters paradise. We need to be playing that today. It's gonna be on, it's gonna be on loop at the Sowash house, that's for sure.
Joel (1m 26s):
Yeah. You gotta, you gotta throw in some Amish Paradise by weird Al Yankovic in occasionally in that loop.
Chad (1m 32s):
So shoutouts!
Joel (1m 33s):
What you got, man, The world's crazy, right?
Chad (1m 35s):
The world is crazy.
Joel (1m 37s):
Well, this is really crazy, Chad. Yeah, my first shoutout goes to former Vice President Dan Quayle. Work with me here. You'll get it when I get done here. So.
Chad (1m 49s):
Okay.
Joel (1m 49s):
You probably saw in the news that NASA recently slammed, danced into an asteroid to see if they could knock it off course, which is totally crazy in its own like podcast show. But we're not in that lane. Well, we have Dan Quayle to thank apparently in 1991, the then VIP endorsed the idea for the federal government to buy telescopes to track potentially hazardous asteroids and use modified strategic defense initiative, anti missile weapons in orbit to destroy them. People laughed like they did with most things. Dan Quayle back in 1991.
Joel (2m 28s):
But.
Chad (2m 30s):
Potato.
Joel (2m 30s):
Here we are. Vox Media said quote, "by today's standards, Dan Quayle would basically be George Washington" end quote. Potato, potato, Chad. Here's the fellow Hoosier Dan Quayle for saving mankind.
Chad (2m 47s):
The world is fucking crazy this week, dude. We had that. We had Hurricane Ian hits Florida. People are fleeing Russia, not Ukraine. Citizens are fleeing Russia. Then we have Iran, this one where the morality police have stoked outrage. Here's, we actually had one of our listeners who's Iranian born, she reached out to us and we'll let her fill you in on what's happened.
Joel (3m 15s):
Yeah. She wanted us to said light on this issue. And we said, Absolutely. So here is Sepi describing the state of Iran.
Sepi (3m 24s):
Here's what's going on in Iran. A 22 year old girl named Mahsa Amini was arrested on September 13 by the so-called morality police for having some of her out of her scarf or not wearing a proper hijab. She was beaten by the police and was moved to a hospital where she went in a coma and died shortly after on September 16th. The Islamic Republic and the notorious morality police have been oppressing women for more than 40 years. Women and men who have had it with all the injustice and corruption of the regime are protesting against the regime for 10 days now, not just for the mandatory hijab, but for a bigger picture, to break free from a government, a ma-functioning system that has turned a rich, beautiful country to this poor state.
Sepi (4m 16s):
What's happening there is scary. Brave people of my country are fighting empty handed with an army that has all the weapon and zero mercy. They don't mind killing everyone just to stay in power. So far, 60 people have been killed and many arrested. The regime has shut down the internet to block any gates to the free world. Us that live away from our homeland are hoping that people around the world will be our voice. The strongest message we have for you is that Iran is not Islamic Republic. Please understand the difference and help us by sharing this message.
Chad (4m 55s):
It's amazing. If you take a look at pictures of Iran before 1979, when the Islamic Revolution happened, it looks like the United States. It's trendy, it's stylish. free. I mean, it's amazing over four decades, what has happened to Iran.
Joel (5m 14s):
Yeah, it's a beautiful country. Pictures of Tehran are just breathtaking and it's amazing. You know, things like this are equal parts heart wrenching, but also I think you feel sort of helpless as an American. And so, we're happy to share the message, but also, you know, I think in terms of if you want to be active around this, you know, write your member of Congress, your senator, you know, I know that Canada, for example, placed some, some restrictions on trade with Iran in light of this issue. I'm sure there are causes out there that help, you know, women that are escaping this situation. But yeah, it's sort of helpless as an American, and you feel like there's not much you can do. Obviously, we're not going to invade the country to, you know, free the citizenry.
Joel (5m 59s):
She brought up a good point in terms of, you know, the government has all the guns, you know, and like it or not, our country was, you know, founded on the basis of let's give everybody guns, which obviously leads to bad shit. But it also shines a light on this where, you know, if they're populous, you know, had arms, would it be different? Not an argument about Second Amendment, but it just a lot of people in other countries wonder why the hell America is why America is, and things that are happening around the world in places like Iran, shed light on why our founders wanted our public people to be armed. But anyway, that's my soapbox.
Chad (6m 37s):
I think it's important that we think about this from the standpoint of we just took rights away from women number one and January 6th. It's not easy to find this balance. And we're kind of teetering the United States as we look at Iran, as we look at it was Italy who just elected a very far right individual into government. So, you know, it's we have to be aware of this. We can't just sit in our HR rooms and just focus on what we do. We have to understand what's happening world abroad.
Joel (7m 9s):
I think it was Ben Franklin when asked what kind of government we would have, He said, a republic, if you can keep it. So it's a fine line between authoritarian governments and freedom.
Chad (7m 20s):
It is.
Joel (7m 21s):
Well, now that we've dragged everyone down to the emotional depths of hell, I'm gonna try to bring us back with some more lighthearted, shoutouts if I may.
Chad (7m 31s):
Some Chad and Cheese stupid shit.
Joel (7m 34s):
Our friends over in Manchester, England. <inaudible>, the Gorilla marketing extraordinaire, are added again, the job board that once since sent you and me, bikini briefs and condoms has now dressed up local statues and gave them signs that say things like, "Is your career standing stellar than me? Perhaps it's time to download <inaudible>". Then not quite as good as the truck with the sign that said, Download for a better BJ and better job under bj, but still a solid effort from our friends at <inaudible>. So shout out to them. And my last one goes out to a friend of mine named Brian Moore, who was a coworker at Jobing back in the day.
Joel (8m 20s):
He was so well loved. They actually had shirts made up that said, "be more like B. Moore. Anyway, I worked with him back at Jobing and he's one of the most positive dudes you'll ever meet. Anyway, he started a company called Anthym. That's Anthym with a y - it's a team building experience company. And they have been selected to present it at TechCrunch, Disrupt.
Chad (8m 42s):
Cool.
Joel (8m 42s):
One of only 200 companies to present at the Startup Battlefield. And they're the only Arizona based company to make the cut. So good things happen to good people. Shout out to my friend Brian Moore out there in Phoenix.
Chad (8m 56s):
Go get him.
Joel (8m 57s):
He deserves some free shit.
Chad (8m 58s):
That's right. And you do that at chadcheese.com. Go up to the upper right hand corner, click on free, or we'll talk about events in a minute. But there are plenty of things to do at chadcheese.com, especially win free shit.
Joel (9m 10s):
It's almost like Walmartland. There's so much to do.
Chad (9m 14s):
Don't jump ahead.
Joel (9m 15s):
I know I gotta tease, I gotta tease the audience of where we're going next. Well, some other people that deserve some free shit. We got some birthdays.
Chad (9m 23s):
Wait a minute before we get there, we gotta say free shit brought to you by Aspen Tech Labs who will drop beer at your front door. Textkernel. Two bottles of Whiskey kids, one from Chad, one from Cheese and JobGet is our Chad and Cheese t-shirt sponsor powering the coolest Chad and Cheese T-shirt yet! You're gonna love these.
Joel (9m 51s):
Yeah, they started shipping this week, Chad. So we should hopefully start seeing some social media gold and some fine looking people wearing the new Chad and Cheese t-shirts. And some of those people are celebrating birthdays this week as well. Let's get to them. So, as you know, our birthdays are sponsored by our friends at Plum
sfx (10m 11s):
Happy Birthday!
Joel (10m 12s):
Who have graciously decided to give one lucky birthday each month a bottle of premium rum! Rum with Plum! Everybody thanks to them for sponsoring our birthday Shoutout. So number one, Stella Cheeseman celebrates a birthday. Yes. My little girl celebrates 13 years on the planet this week and everyone tells me that has daughters that that 13 is when they hate you and they know more than you and you're the the nerdiest person in the world. So I'm really looking forward to my daughter despising me in light of her 13th birthday!
Chad (10m 48s):
I think that happens more with mom than it does with dad though I think it's kind of flips from one to the other.
Joel (10m 53s):
I'll report back. We'll have ongoing ongoing reports of how my daughter feels about me on the show. Also family specific, my sister-in-law and also Canada's best employment lawyer, Casey <inaudible>, celebrates a birthday this month as well as our favorite European Lieven celebrates a birthday this week. So we'll have to have a drink or 10 in Paris to celebrate his birthday when we go to Paris this month. Kevin Grossman, Brett <inaudible>, another former Jobing guy, <inaudible> Chuck <inaudible> Liam McGuire. And our friend Daniel Fellows, don't call him Brian out of the UK celebrates a birthday.
Joel (11m 36s):
So congratulations everybody. Another trip around the sun.
sfx (11m 40s):
Happy Birthday!
Chad (11m 41s):
Excellent. So you already, you talked a little bit about going to Paris, but before we do that, before we do that Inspire HR is happening in Nashville this coming week. We're gonna be on stage, we're gonna be in the bars, we're gonna be on Broadway, you name it. We're gonna be all over Nashville. If you're in Nashville or even close! Message us and we can possibly get you hooked up with tickets.
Joel (12m 4s):
We can definitely hook you up with tickets. Who sponsors our travel? Chad, who do we have to thank for that?
Chad (12m 11s):
This little firm's been around for over 50 years for God's sakes, named Shaker Recruitment Marketing. I don't have my hat close to me, but Shaker Recruitment Marketing makes us feel good and look good as we travel, because we're gonna be going to Paris after Nashville. Unleashed World in Paris. If you haven't attended Unleashed in Paris and drop everything, go to chadcheese.com, click on the events in the upper right hand corner, get registered. There's actually a 20% discount there kids. Then you can catch the Vonq with the Chad and Cheese. We've got a rooftop pre-conference Unleashed party powered by our friends over at Vonq.
Chad (12m 52s):
Invites are limited. Invites are limited. So if you want to tip back a few drinks with the Chad and Cheese, hit us up on the dms and we can get you the registration link.
Joel (13m 3s):
I think we're gonna have our friends at <inaudible> send some condoms so no one catches the Vonq while they're in Paris. That'll be nice.
Chad (13m 11s):
We're gonna be on the floor at Unleashed.
Joel (13m 13s):
Face down on the floor, probably.
Chad (13m 17s):
More than likely. Chad and Cheese podcast pit is going to make a return, but it's also going to have Matt Alder, the Tech Talk podcast and also John Canard, who will be pimping out the Unleashed Cast podcast. Keith Sonderling, EEOC commissioner and Louise Riondel might be news for you. Joel, who is the co secretary to the Council of Europe's Committee on Artificial Intelligence. Man, can I get a fricking title there? Yes. Kids we're bringing the big guns to Paris to have big in real AI conversations.
Joel (13m 56s):
Well, if our friend Matt Alder, that British guy doesn't bring you some of the most peaty earthy charcoaly Scotch possible? I'm gonna be pissed off.
Chad (14m 6s):
I want some ABERFELDY. I want some ABERFELDY.
Joel (14m 10s):
Left, right?
Chad (14m 11s):
Oh, God.
Joel (14m 11s):
All right Chad, it's football season and you know what that means? It means fantasy football with Chad and Cheese. So let's quickly go over the leaderboard for the league sponsored by our friends at FactoryFix. All right, starting from first to worst. Here we go. Christy, "back to back" Kelly. That's right. She's been number one for two weeks going Rick "James" Gillum Ya boy "Cheesy does it". Jason "Bateman" Putnam. Serge "order me a double double from Timmy's Boudro" "Broadway Joe" Wilke, Chad "Powers" Sowash. I know you like that one. Christopher "Robin" Manion. Dennis "like Rat out of the cellar"
Joel (14m 51s):
Tupper, Dan "Aykroyd" Shoemaker, Matt "hamburger" Hill, Mike "D" Schaeffer. The only winless team, by the way, doing FactoryFix the football sponsor proud.
Chad (15m 3s):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Joel (15m 3s):
They should have had something in the closet that said, we cannot be last in this league, but here we are. Yeah.
Chad (15m 9s):
And just put this out there. I beat Christie last week, so she was number one, but I still gotta win off of it, so.
Joel (15m 16s):
Hmm. Now she, number one and number two face off this week. Yeah. So if she can hold her crown that's saying something.
Chad (15m 24s):
That's pretty solid.
Joel (15m 28s):
Get 'em Christie.
Chad (15m 31s):
TOPICS!
Joel (15m 31s):
Dude, what's up with Indeed?
Chad (15m 33s):
Okay, so I want you to picture this. Indeed wakes up with a bad hangover in a totally random room, peaks over and sees Google for jobs laying asleep right beside them. They cringe, get up trying their damnedest not to make any noise, to wake up Google for Jobs, grab their clothes and find their way out of the room. Indeed is experiencing the Google for Jobs walk of shame because every job site in the world has been in bed with Google for Jobs and Indeed was the star volleyball player who proudly said they didn't need to get in bed with Google for Jobs. And then at a point of weakness, it happens.
Chad (16m 13s):
Indeed, not the Glassdoor backdoor, but Indeed is now officially listing jobs in Google for jobs.
Joel (16m 24s):
What?
Chad (16m 24s):
Yep.
Joel (16m 24s):
What?
Chad (16m 25s):
It's happening.
Joel (16m 26s):
That only took five years to get together. So yeah, for some context, Google for Jobs launches in 2017. Indeed famously says, we're not playing, we're taking our ball and going home. They've held pretty firm. There's been some conjecture that maybe their Glassdoor jobs are being over there. I love your backdoor Glass Door referenced by the way. How have we not used that on a title yet? And yeah, so one of our listeners let us know that, hey, Indeed Jobs are now being seen on Google for jobs. I did my own little research and by God they are there so Indeed has acquiesced and put their jobs up there. It's worth noting for the kids out there that in 2006, I believe Craigslist blocked Indeed Jobs or Indeed from indexing their jobs, if only Monster and CareerBuilder had done the same, Indeed may have not have become what they were.
Joel (17m 21s):
You know, I think that Indeed had to make a choice, you know, either keep spending huge amounts of money on TV spots and AdWords or succumb to Google. My guess is Indeed is feeling a lot of pressure as they raise prices to generate traffic and Google is at least a partial remedy for those expenses. I sense they're spending a lot on programmatic solutions as well. The likes of <inaudible>, for example, I think are getting checks from Google to promote their jobs. It also supports the notion to me that people have zero brand loyalty when it comes to job sites and it also supports the power of Google when people go to find a job.
Chad (17m 59s):
Yeah, yeah. Well I think it's interesting because Indeed's apply spot isn't like far to the left. If you take a look at it. Well, all the jobs that I've seen is they've been not at the number one apply spot because Google has this shitty, we're gonna allow everybody to have a button on the apply of the actual job description. And if Indeed I think was involved early, they probably would've had that number one spot. They would've been right there. But now they've waited and taken the walk of shame and their button's gonna be pretty much pushed far to the right for a while. I mean, the user experience, it hasn't gotten any better for Google for jobs, I mean, at least from the apply process standpoint.
Chad (18m 45s):
So I guess Indeed, as you'd said, needed to acquiesce because they needed more traffic. And the big question is for all of these other companies, these other vendors who have been in bed with Indeed for so long, how do they feel about this?
Joel (18m 58s):
You know, it's a good point that you mentioned the Google, I guess, placement or ranking in those results and yeah, it's like Indeed is a brand new site in regards to that algorithm, and they're gonna have to prove, which I think they'll eventually do. People will see Indeed, they know Indeed or recognize it. I think more people will click on that. I don't think Google has to change that much. They're fucking Google. They can have a substandard product and they're still gonna get people go, Oh, I need a job. Where do I go? Well, like I find everything else I go to Google. So as long as it's a a decent product, their review stuff isn't Yelp, their maps, you know, I mean, things they have aren't as good, but because they're Google, they can do that. And then, did you have a question there?
Joel (19m 40s):
Sorry, the cold meds are kicking in. I'm nursing a cold. Did you have a question in there?
Chad (19m 44s):
My question was, what do you think? Yes, I did. What do you think the other job board vendors think of now Indeed getting in play?
Joel (19m 51s):
I'm sure they don't like it. I'm sure that they think well Indeed spent all this money on ads. People do know their brand a little bit still, people are gonna click there. But I think LinkedIn has a strong brand, I think ZipRecruiter does. It's these sites that are like, you know, job Wolverine and shit that I'm just amazed that they're getting traffic like Job Donkey, let me go there. That always surprises me. So I think they're gonna be in there, but they're gonna have to compete with the LinkedIns of the world, the Dices, et cetera, that people know. But I don't, if I'm a job board, I'm not real happy about Indeed finally, you know, taking it in the, you know, what to then have their stuff on, on Google. I'm sure it was a fun day at Google though.
Chad (20m 32s):
Yeah, I wonder though, because Glassdoor's job feed is pretty much Indeed's job feed, so that means it's just replicated. So it's duplication. So if it's duplication, does that rank them worse because they're showing the same jobs? Does that rank them worse, or is Indeed pulling some Indeed type of trick, which I'm sure they can and they probably are to try to make their jobs look different. They're not, but to make their jobs look different than the Glassdoor version's.
Joel (21m 2s):
Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of those jobs are duplicates. I think companies just copy and paste. So the same job on ZipRecruiter, whatever is the same job on Indeed. So Google's just saying, Hey, the same job is on Glassdoor, it's also on Indeed. Oh, by the way, it's also on Monster. Like, you as the user can pick where you want to apply to that job. So I think it's a matter of who can give you the easiest, least friction way to apply to a job that's gonna win.
Chad (21m 30s):
They're all the same. You get a job distribution, you're in your applicant tracking system, you click post and then it goes poof. I mean the same fucking job everywhere, right? So yeah, I mean that's the hard part. Duplication is everywhere.
Joel (21m 44s):
Yeah. And I think we both thought for a long time that the corporate site will be where most people end up and that's who they're competing with. So yeah, I haven't seen a date on that. Maybe we can get our friends over at what's the site that optimizes job postings?
Chad (21m 60s):
Shit,
Joel (21m 60s):
We'll put in the show notes. Everybody.
Chad (22m 4s):
Jobdescription.ai. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Joel (22m 5s):
Was that their url?
Chad (22m 6s):
Yeah.
Joel (22m 6s):
That's their fun url. I think that's all right. You're ready to move on from Indeed?
Chad (22m 11s):
Yeah, we need the sound effects.
sfx (22m 14s):
woosh.
Chad (22m 15s):
There it is.
Joel (22m 17s):
All right. Scheduling software Calendly has acquired San Fran based Prelude terms of the deal were not disclosed. Prelude says they "transform how companies approach hiring strategy by modernizing every candidate touchpoint from communications and prep to scheduling and logistics to interviewing". Over 10 million users across 116 countries are already using Calendly to schedule meetings. So it's safe to say Prelude is about to have a few more users in the near future. Chad, Calendly is getting into our space. Your thoughts?
Chad (22m 52s):
Yeah, so, so basic scheduling, here's my link, find a time. That's easy. But interview scheduling is more complex and, and something Calendly couldn't really get right. I mean, many HR tech vendors built their own versions because Calendly couldn't effectively support enterprise customers. Prelude has figured all of that out and they are integrated with G Suite, Office 365, Microsoft Office from a calendar client standpoint. And then you take a look at iCIMS, Workday, Lever, Greenhouse from a core talent platform standpoint. So this is a very good move for Calendly. And if you take a look at it, this is very, very close to the CandidateID in iCIMS, CandidateID, you're taking a product to thousands of people where there should be just quick traction from a startup standpoint.
Chad (23m 45s):
Same thing's gonna happen here. You have all these organizations that are buying into using Calendly. Now they go ahead and they start buying into Prelude from an HR and interviewing standpoint. So I think it's pretty amazing. The question is, what happens to the goodtime.dot.ios of the world? Good Times taken nearly $17 million in funding. Prelude took about $2.4. Now Calendly, a company with $350 million in total funding and 3 billion valuation. This is the unicorn thing right here.
sfx (24m 23s):
Pink fluffy unicorn.
Chad (24m 24s):
They, they're really not gonna be coming after the good times of the world. I mean, they're kinda like the T-Rex in Jurassic Park where they just step on shit and kill it. I mean, that's just really what's gonna happen here.
Joel (24m 36s):
You know, I think this had to be either data driven or user driven. Either. Calendly had to know that a lot of their meetings that were being set up were job interviews, which I'm sure that they are. I'm sure a ton of small companies or small businesses use Calendly to schedule meetings because it's so intuitive and easy and ubiquitous. Or it was users saying, Hey, you know what? It'd be great if you guys could help us with our employment interviewing and having some sort of, you know, product like that. So yeah, I think they got user and or data feedback and said, Hey, let's go shopping. And they looked at a Good Time at $17 million in funding and Prelude at $2.4 million and said, Hey, equal kind of tech, like we can plug this in really quickly and do it really nicely.
Joel (25m 23s):
An email went out that said, "you can expect to see Prelude's product ultimately merge into Calendly's platform". If that happens. I think that this really becomes, this is a home run opportunity, Aaron Judge style for Calendly to get in our space in a good way. If I'm Good Time or any others, I'm calling up every Calendly competitor and saying, Hey, they're getting in the game. What do you guys think? The downside is, if I ask you to name a Calendly competitor. Can you? I can't. They're not. I mean, I Googled and I thought, I've never heard of any of these companies. So Good Time is in a bad time, a bad place in terms of where they're gonna go from here, but at least they have a business that is acquirable is just a matter the the price tag.
Joel (26m 10s):
But yeah, I think this is good for Calendly. It's one of the more interesting stories in our space. There aren't a lot of companies that do sort of general either marketing or business stuff that just dives into recruitment. The ones that do usually fuck it up and fail. So, we'll watch this closely, but for me, Calendly, this is a good move and probably driven by data and users begging for it.
Chad (26m 32s):
Yeah, I was talking to a friend about this and wanted his opinion and he said it'll be interesting because there are two ways to go here for Calendly. Calendly grew through their freemium model. Everybody getting a chance to kinda like, feel it, touch it, taste it, and then buy into it from a business suite standpoint. Will they go that way or will they just go ahead and since they've, they've established who they are and the tech will, they just go straight to mid-market and enterprise? I think it's the latter. I think they're gonna go straight to mid-market enterprise and then just start crushing it.
Joel (27m 8s):
Yeah, they'll take all the people and enterprise accounts that use Calendly today and say, Hey, have you heard about Calendly Recruits or Calendly interview scheduler something? And just try to move as many people over to that as possible. So they have a huge client base. I'm sure a lot of people would be fine with the user experience of Calendly and plug that into a recruitment process. So yeah, I think good on them. It's gonna be fun to watch. Welcome to the Thunder Dome Calendly, welcome to the Thunder Dome. So let's take a quick break and digest all this shameless walking and competing and we'll talk a little buy or sell, which I know all of our listeners love.
Joel (27m 48s):
Buy or sell time Chad. Buy or Sell time. You know the rules, but if you don't, we take three companies that got funding this week. We'd rate a summary and then Chad and I will both either buy or sell that company. Are you ready?
sfx (28m 4s):
Hell yeah!
Joel (28m 5s):
All right. First up, we have Hofy. London based Hofy, and I'm assuming that's how you pronounce it. I did some, some YouTube searches and didn't find any sort of what, but I'm guessing it's like holy with an F. So it's Hofy. Anyway, London based Hofy has raised $15 million in series B. This brings total funding to $30.2 million found in 2020. The company provides office equipment to remote hires. They promise to manage the entire life cycle of your remote equipment from delivery to recovery, all in one place. Hofy will use the funds to expand their team to 120 employees by the end of the year, up from around 85 today.
Joel (28m 44s):
Knock, knock. Here's your at home office. Chad, are you a buy or sell on Hofy?
Chad (28m 51s):
Dude, I can hear IT Departments all over the world now praising Hallelujah. So when you said holy for Hofy, Yeah, no, I totally get it. Holy shit. Yes! Do you understand what a huge pain in the ass is for huge enterprise organizations to onboard new employees with equipment, maintain the equipment, and then provide the process to return the equipment? Dude, it sucks not to mention how much this sector of work increased during the pandemic and as remote gains. So will this company. So Hofy is what they like to call an equipment as a service platform. Again, it's a fucking pain in the ass to buy, manage equipment.
Chad (29m 35s):
And I've always said companies are looking for platforms that relieve them of said pain. Good timing. It would've been better timing three years ago, but still good timing. Smart vision, remote isn't going away. And their website, it was surprisingly sexy. It's a buy for me.
Joel (29m 52s):
So in addition to looking to YouTube, I tried to find how to pronounce this company and I ran across the Urban Dictionary, which I tend to use more than the actual dictionary. And it says that Hofy is a short and form of whore, for sure. Or as the kids on the street say hoe for show or simply Hofy. So I'm not sure if they thought about that when they named the company, but the name is a little bit suspect now. What about the product? Well, if you believe a large part of the workforce today and the future is going to be work from home and we both do, then standardizing the at home office for workers anywhere in the world is a pretty valuable service.
Joel (30m 35s):
I don't know much about the office furniture and equipment space, but this seems like a can't miss in today's environment. There's surfing a wave that is a can't miss wave. So for me as well, Hofy is a buy.
Chad (30m 52s):
It's a two thumbs up kids.
Joel (30m 54s):
All right, TurboHire the most nineties tech brand I've heard in a while. By the way, let known fact, East Band, my old job board employer was almost called Cyber Hire instead of Job Options, which it later became. Anyway, memory lane people. Memory lane. India based TurboHire has raised $2 million in a pre-series A funding round. This brings total funding to $3 million. Founded in 2019, the company provides an AI powered recruitment automation platform. TurboHire will use the funds to ramp up the product and boost revenue across the globe. TurboHire employs 78 folks. Chad, are you ready to get behind the wheel and buy TurboHire?
Joel (31m 33s):
Or are you driving that thing in the ditch?
Chad (31m 37s):
How many times have we heard the words AI recruitment automation platform in the last two to three years?
Joel (31m 46s):
A few.
Chad (31m 47s):
Yeah.
Joel (31m 47s):
A few.
Chad (31m 48s):
So here, here's a quote from Deepak Agrawal, co-founder and CEO of TurboHire. Quote, "When it comes to recruitment automation, we do not focus on what has been done by others so far. Rather, we focus on redefining what's possible." end quote. What the fuck does that actually mean? Other than I have no clue what my own company does. This theme carries on as TurboHire has questionable support. The mentors in this release that TurboHire listed aren't from our industry and I'm doubtful they even understand what a go-to market strategy looks like for such a slow to adopt space like ours.
Chad (32m 32s):
TurboHire has clients globally, including India, UK, US, Sweden, Singapore, Australia, Indonesia, and more claimed by the statement, there's no real message. The site is a mess. No real experience on the team, no real focus on a region or even country in which they want to penetrate. Deepak, you have $3 million and you're going directly against unicorns like Eightfold. As you can tell, this is probably I think one of the worst startups we've seen in Buy or Sell in 2022, which is why it's gotta be a sell.
Joel (33m 11s):
All right, so again, with the name, they couldn't even acquire the domain, TurboHire.com, it's TurboHire.co. If you go to their accolades page, which you touched on, they have quotes from trusted business sources like Jewish Life News, Telling Ghana Today and Inc 42, which I think is the company that the band Level 42 created after their music career ended. And if you click on any of these endorsements, it doesn't link you to the actual story in the publication it just keeps you on the same accolades page on TurboHire. There's no transparency and pricing. There's lots of competition that you mentioned.
Joel (33m 52s):
This is why sourcing is now erase to the bottom and becoming a commodity. TurboHire is a turbo turd. This is a major sell for me as well.
Chad (34m 2s):
I wonder if turboturd.com is available? Because they could actually buy that.
Joel (34m 10s):
Probably is.
Chad (34m 10s):
And actually use that. Yeah.
Joel (34m 13s):
All right, Remofirst.
Chad (34m 15s):
Oh God.
Joel (34m 17s):
San Francisco based Remofirst has raised $14.1 million in a seed round. This brings total funding to $14.4 million. Founded in 2021, Remofirst helps companies build global remote teams in 150 countries by allowing them to hire talent in countries where they do not have an entity. Remofirst's services include onboarding, payroll, benefits, taxes, and local compliance. Stop me if you've heard this one before. Remofirst will use the funds to expand its team and its global footprint. Remofirst employs 37 workers. Chad, buy or sell Remofirst?
Chad (34m 56s):
Wow, we just talked about Atlas raising $200 million in this space last week. And a quick reminder, remote.com has about $500 million in funding, Oyster about $225 million in funding and Deel around $680 million, just to name a few kids. And now Remofirst wants to join the party with $14.1 million. Is there market validation? Yes. Hell yes. Is their market saturation? I say also. Hell yes. Where do funders actually perform their market due diligence these days? Jesus, anyways. This is obviously a great space, but it's a space that is crowded with unicorns.
Chad (35m 42s):
It's a space with several 800 pound gorillas and as I continue using animal metaphors, I see Remofirst as a sacrificial lamb. The CEO and COO are idea guys, you can tell they have a lot of ideas. They've spun out a lot of companies, but they're not business leaders. At least in my view, late to the party makes you a meal in this case kids. So it's a sell for me.
Joel (36m 7s):
All right. We said last week that a lot of the global hiring platforms getting money today is largely the dumb money that didn't get in on the Deels, the Remotes, the Oysters, and the others. I think the same thing with these guys. Their CEO said, "Remofirst is the most cost efficient provider, which fills a crucial gap with current market conditions." However, pricing for everyone is by employee. So I'm not sure how that will go. Granted, Remote is $599 per seat Deel, however, is $99 per seat, which is cheaper than Remofirst. Oyster has a light version at $29 per seat.
Joel (36m 51s):
Those are for contractors, and I think it's only $199 for the regular seat. So Remofirst is $199 per seat. Is that really a differentiator? Like their CEO has said. Remofirst should be called Repofirst because they're going to have trouble making those loan payments. I too am a sell on Remofirst. All right, Chad, let's talk a little nursing crunch, shall we? A new report from Shift Med, an on-demand workforce marketplace for nurses, paints a pretty dark future for the nursing profession with nearly two-thirds of nurses indicating that they are likely to leave the profession within the next two years.
Joel (37m 37s):
That's a significant increase from the 49% that reported the same intention in 2021. What's more, more than half of nurses surveyed, 52% say there is a considerable or severe staffing shortage at their workplace with nearly all nurses, 99% reporting a staffing shortage of some degree, and nearly half reported that they're concerned patients aren't getting the adequate care needed, while 40% report a negative impact on their own overall mental health. Baby boomers aren't getting any younger, so this is kind of a big deal. Chad, what's your take?
Chad (38m 14s):
That is kind of a big deal, but first off, let's say the sample size was 500 people against, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, the nursing population is 3.6 million who are actively employed. So take it with a grain of salt, although there is a problem, don't think that there's not a problem. We have 203,000 new registered nurse positions created each year. And let's be clear, kids, this could, again, I don't want to go down into a deep dark hole, but this could be a national crisis, national healthcare crisis. What kind of measures do we need to actually put in place to curb this? I mean, I appreciate the survey and the research, but as we see this coming kind of like, you know, I don't know, warming weather and those types of things, what the fuck do we do about it?
Joel (39m 3s):
Bring on the bots. I say bring on the bots.
sfx (39m 6s):
Shall we play a game?
Joel (39m 7s):
So I have aging parents, one that passed away a few years ago. They both spent time in the hospital as well as one of them in assisted living. And I can tell you it's no fun being in the hospital. Like job seekers putting their resumes down the black hole, patients can feel ghosted, just like job seekers when nurses don't show up for hours on end to check in on patients. And just like job seekers, Chad, who would rather talk to a chat bot than no one at all. I think it's gonna be the same for patients. They'd rather see a robot come in, say hi, check on them, get their temperature, their vitals, see if they need anything, and then check out.
Joel (39m 49s):
It's the augmentation of the nursing profession I think that is going to take hold, just like we're not gonna see the end of recruiters, but we're gonna see the dawn of the augmented cyber robo cop like recruiter. We're gonna see that with nursing. There's gonna be some super nurses that know how to manage the robots and who needs help and who doesn't. They're gonna have their time much more efficiently monitored. Robots don't get tired, they never get down and depressed. You can do a lot of basic checking activities that waste a nurses time. Frankly, this company is a gig marketplace for nurses to sort of select their time and they spend a lot of time talking about how that's the solution to the nursing shortage. I think it's a piece of it for sure, and I think if you can bring out retired nurses to like do a few hours a week, I think that that really helps the situation.
Joel (40m 38s):
But I do think just like the service industries of restaurant work and warehousing, the robots are coming to a hospital near you, and I think a lot of patients will be happy to see robots come and check in on them.
Chad (40m 52s):
Yeah, I really believe that we have to harken back to the days when we had vocational schools and high schools and local healthcare systems need to start training earlier. I think it's too, too easy for us to not identify that, hey, here are gaps. We have skills gaps. Okay, whatever. We need to be able to start filling those gaps at a much younger age and start getting kids focused on doing things that they want to do without perspectively having to go to a four year college degree, being able to train as a phlebotomist right outta school like my daughter did, and then, you know, go ahead, and catapult into the nursing profession or something else in the healthcare system.
Chad (41m 39s):
I really believe that we have missed the boat in driving the whole college education piece when we need plumbers, carpenters and nursing.
Joel (41m 45s):
I'm spitballing here, but this just came to mind. Why don't we just load up a bunch of Greyhound buses at the border of Iran and say, all right, who wants to come be a nurse in the US? Load it up, let's go. We could also cure our teaching shortage crisis maybe in the process. Anyway, that's just me. Coming up next kids. I gotta take a break, take some meds or something. Man, my head is floating and we'll talk about Walmartland. All right, Chad, this one's from CNBC. Walmart is entering the metaverse with not one but two experiences, Walmartland and Walmart's Universe of Play.
Joel (42m 33s):
They're building these on the platform roadblocks, which my kids love. I can't really understand it, but I get it. The retailer is experimenting with other ways to reach shoppers, including shoppable recipes, live streaming events, and an augmented reality feature for furniture. Yippy! Walmart's marketing chief William White said the company will use Roblox as a testing ground as it considers other moves in the metaverse and beyond because nothing excites the Roblox demographic like a trip to Walmartland, right? And this was underscored by a video shared on Twitter that showed the Walmart CMO on a digital stage playing too, get ready for this one person in the audience, one person for a Walmart Metaverse event.
Joel (43m 16s):
Chad, I got nothing.
Chad (43m 18s):
I think there's, there's way too much vanity here for William White who's he actually trying to reach out to? Who's he trying to touch, right? It's not old white dudes like him. So why turn himself into a Roblox <inaudible>? Why not maybe, I don't know, have one of your kids actually give the presentation? How cool is this talking to their people or what have you? Or find somebody who actually works at Walmart, who is a Gen Z, which is really the major focal and target point right here. And have those individuals be the ones who are carrying the message? I mean, I think this is a huge, huge disconnect for Walmart. They put a lot of money into this.
Chad (43m 58s):
This is, I don't think it's a failure, don't get me wrong. They're just launching it. But if they understand and he's the fucking CMO, he's gotta understand that his voice isn't the one that the individuals who are using this platform want to hear. As soon as they get that, I think they will get some traction because people like to buy shit in in the metaverse. If you go to, I think, oh shit, PlayStation, they make millions of dollars a day off of in store app buys. So I mean, it's there, the market's there. But the thing is William, dude, you're not the guy.
Joel (44m 34s):
Yeah, when I think of William, I think of Will.I.Am and our friends at Intel who decry the moment when will.I.am became the spokesperson for Intel computer chips. Companies who try to get a cool factor because they have someone that's a pop culture icon, whether it's Kanye with Gap, will.I.am with Intel usually fall flat on their face and it works the other way when companies try to set up shop in places where the cool kids hang out. Walmart is one of the least cool brands I could think of. So for them to be in whatever Roblox, Metaworld, Walmartland, if I'm 18 years old, the last place I ever want to go is some place called WalmartLand.
Joel (45m 17s):
They should have made a separate brand, some sort of metaverse store that was sort of hip, not have Walmart.
Chad (45m 23s):
Good point.
Joel (45m 23s):
Associated with it whatsoever. They could still sell products under a different brand. So this was hubris of a big company thing. Well, if we just set up shop in the Metaverse, the kids are gonna come. And as we saw by the video shared on Twitter, one person showed up to this announcement. It's really sad. And it's a lesson that big companies never learn. Unlike Taco Bell, who listens to the people, democracy rules at Taco Bell, who's hungry for Quesarito everybody?
Chad and Cheese (45m 59s):
We out.
OUTRO (45m 53s):
Thank you for listening to, what's it called? The podcast with Chad, the Cheese. Brilliant. They talk about recruiting. They talk about technology, but most of all, they talk about nothing. Just a lot of Shout Outs of people, you don't even know and yet you're listening. It's incredible. And not one word about cheese, not one cheddar, blue, nacho, pepper jack, Swiss. So many cheeses and not one word. So weird. Any hoo be sure to subscribe today on iTunes, Spotify, Google play, or wherever you listen to your podcasts, that way you won't miss an episode.
OUTRO (46m 37s):
And while you're at it, visit www.chadcheese.com just don't expect to find any recipes for grilled cheese. Is so weird. We out.