Breaking news: JobGet acquires Snagajob

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[00:00:43] Welcome to a breaking news episode of the Inside Job Boards and Recruitment Marketplaces Podcast.

[00:00:48] This is Steven Rothberg. I'm one of your two co-hosts. I'm the founder of College Recruiter,

[00:00:52] which believes that every student and recent grad deserves a great career.

[00:00:56] And I am joined here today by my co-host Peter Zulman of the AIM Group.

[00:01:02] Peter, we have to stop meeting so often.

[00:01:04] Yeah, you know, I don't think that's necessary. When we have a breaking news episode

[00:01:09] and we have somebody from the breaking news company, we want to do it.

[00:01:15] Oh, and I'm with the AIM Group. We provide business intelligence to recruitment marketplaces

[00:01:20] and job boards worldwide. Companies like JobGet.

[00:01:26] Tony Liu is the co-founder and CEO of JobGet, which today announced that it had acquired or it snagged a job.

[00:01:36] Oh, I see what you did there.

[00:01:40] The AIM Group has been around forever, 25 years, even before there were apps.

[00:01:45] And both companies are in the hourly worker field.

[00:01:49] Tony, why don't you give us the 15-second, the difference between the two is.

[00:01:55] Sure.

[00:01:55] And thank you for joining us.

[00:01:57] Well, glad to be here and great to hear that.

[00:02:00] You know, us being here and having this news gives you guys another chance to get together.

[00:02:05] So I would say that for us, you know, the biggest difference is probably we are,

[00:02:09] we're a newer player, but we're app first and we're focused on the hourly space.

[00:02:13] And snag a job has been around for quite a long time, but they are more on the, on the web first spectrum.

[00:02:19] Now you have about 80 million in your arsenal and snag a job has about a hundred million, according to their figures.

[00:02:28] In the due diligence, you obviously did some work on how much overlap is there?

[00:02:34] Is there a lot of overlap among your hourly workers or are they pretty much separate?

[00:02:40] How many are you going to come out with after you merge the database, so to speak?

[00:02:45] Yeah, it's a good question. For us, I think there are some overlap, but I would say that's probably less than 50%, 60%.

[00:02:55] And the reason for that is because, you know, we have a lot of our focus on more of kind of the Gen Z millennial type of audiences,

[00:03:02] whereas their database is across the spectrum of demographics.

[00:03:06] And the second thing is we've been very tailored focused on metropolitan areas where given kind of their reach and legacy,

[00:03:14] we've covered the spectrum in a lot of rural pockets where we don't have.

[00:03:19] So we see a lot of great synergistic fit there from both the geography and a demographic perspective.

[00:03:24] That's awesome. Because when I first saw the news to me, it looked like basically two direct competitors, you know, one older, one newer,

[00:03:33] newer one buying out the older one. It's not uncommon.

[00:03:36] And I was thinking it was like a more of a way of reducing competition.

[00:03:40] But this is nice to hear that it is kind of more of like a one plus one, maybe equals three.

[00:03:46] Was your primary motivation in acquiring Snagajob that additional reach, the lack of overlap in the user base,

[00:03:56] or was there technology or contracts with employers that was a bigger emphasis?

[00:04:03] I think there's probably three to four reasons here why we acquire them.

[00:04:06] You know, we actually had a conversation with them a year, probably like a year and a half back,

[00:04:12] when we first started this inkling of joining forces is, you know, we just have a very similar vision, right?

[00:04:18] So our ultimate vision is to improve lives and opportunities for hourly employers and hourly workers.

[00:04:25] Right. So I think that's probably the primary impetus there.

[00:04:28] We say, hey, we both share a very common vision. Why don't we do this together?

[00:04:31] Right. So that's kind of the first impetus for this.

[00:04:35] The second is kind of the demographic and the geographic synergies we see on both sides.

[00:04:42] I would say the third is probably data.

[00:04:44] They have a rich pool of data that spans 10, 20 years.

[00:04:49] And for us, we're very data focused in terms of providing that personal experience for both job seekers and employers.

[00:04:56] What I mean by this is, I mean, we recently launched sort of a for you page for job seekers and employers, where we cater the job discovery process of a job seeker to their actions on their clicks, their replies, their views,

[00:05:14] and the way to make sure that we bring forth lifetime, you know, the best jobs are suitable for them.

[00:05:19] And acquiring snag a job allows us access to an immense amount of data that's launched over the last number of periods.

[00:05:28] And this is especially important to mention in the hourly space because our play is to focus on these hourly workers.

[00:05:34] And these hourly workers, they have a lot of latitude in terms of what industry we can work on, right?

[00:05:39] Yeah.

[00:05:40] And that's coming in as a computer.

[00:05:42] They might not know, but, oh, wow, there's a concierge job I can apply to.

[00:05:45] Or, hey, there's a warehouse worker I can apply to on the weekends.

[00:05:48] So us having that data and having that overlay in terms of mapping out the user's usage, their preference, their experiences, their careers, is a compliment to what we're doing.

[00:05:59] And having snag a job accelerates that.

[00:06:02] So, yeah, and I would say the last thing is probably, you know, they have a fantastic employer platform that they built out over the last 10 to 10 years.

[00:06:10] And they have a lot of automation because ATS integrations as well that we're excited to partner with them on.

[00:06:16] So I think there's a lot of fantastic synergies.

[00:06:19] Hey, everybody.

[00:06:20] I'm Lori Rudiman.

[00:06:21] What are you doing?

[00:06:22] Working?

[00:06:23] Nah.

[00:06:23] You're listening to a podcast about work and that barely counts.

[00:06:27] So while you're at it, check out my show, Punk Rock HR, now on the Work Defined Network.

[00:06:33] We chat with smart people about work, power, politics, and money.

[00:06:37] Are we succeeding?

[00:06:38] Are we fixing work?

[00:06:39] Eh, probably not.

[00:06:40] Work still sucks.

[00:06:41] But tune in for some fun, a little nonsense, and a fresh take on how to fix work once and for all.

[00:06:47] So how did it come about?

[00:06:49] You approached them.

[00:06:50] They approached you.

[00:06:52] Some broker came in the middle and said, hey, I got this site that I want to sell you.

[00:06:57] Or what came up?

[00:06:58] I know someone who knows someone.

[00:07:00] Yeah.

[00:07:01] So you know what?

[00:07:03] I would say the folks at Snag. are fantastic.

[00:07:06] First of all, I think the alignment and vision is there.

[00:07:07] So we just hit off right off the bat.

[00:07:10] You know what?

[00:07:11] I can't even recall the first time, but I've spoken with a couple of folks on Snag Team.

[00:07:16] We spoke with Keith, we spoke with Matthew, we spoke with Fabio, the previous chairman.

[00:07:22] And actually Fabio, very interesting background.

[00:07:25] He was the founder of, I believe, Elance and Odesk that merged into Upwork.

[00:07:31] So he became the chairman of Snag a job.

[00:07:33] And I had a conversation with him, I think probably a year, two years ago.

[00:07:37] And that was kind of also planted the seed back in the day as well.

[00:07:41] And I think this is, let's just make the perfect synergy there once we continue our conversation

[00:07:46] moving forward.

[00:07:47] And then met with Keith, their current CEO and just a very collaborative and synergistic process.

[00:07:53] So they've had more than $100 million in funding.

[00:07:57] You guys have had more than $52 million in funding over the years.

[00:08:02] I mean, they've been going for 25 years.

[00:08:05] How did the money work?

[00:08:06] Is this a straight acquisition?

[00:08:08] And what'd you guys pay?

[00:08:10] I know you told us, you can't tell us, but I got to ask anyway, right?

[00:08:14] Sure.

[00:08:15] And I'll kind of, if I come back to my earlier answer.

[00:08:17] So this is a private transaction.

[00:08:19] So at the moment, I've been advised not to kind of disclose the financial deal.

[00:08:23] Are the investors walking away happy in Snag a Job or are the investors walking away?

[00:08:30] I would say everyone's very happy.

[00:08:32] I mean, we have full buy-in from their investors and our advisors.

[00:08:35] I think this is just a one plus one equals three opportunity where they're all very excited

[00:08:40] for the future of JobGet and what we can leverage these Snag a Job assets.

[00:08:44] So I would say everyone's quite happy in this.

[00:08:45] Peter was asking about sort of like the money part of it.

[00:08:49] I want to also ask about the people part of it.

[00:08:52] Whenever two organizations come together in a former life, I've worked for a Fortune 50

[00:08:56] company that at the time I was there was doing a ton of divestitures and some acquisitions.

[00:09:02] There's always going to be some redundancies.

[00:09:04] There's always going to be cases where like leaders of one organization leave.

[00:09:08] Sometimes it's their choice.

[00:09:09] Sometimes it's not.

[00:09:10] Matt, what are you envisioning for the next say six months or so in terms of the staffing

[00:09:15] of the two organizations?

[00:09:17] Hmm.

[00:09:18] It's a great question.

[00:09:19] So first of all, I will say through the interactions with Snag a Job, they have a ton

[00:09:24] of talented folks who we respect and admire.

[00:09:27] And to your point, you know, there are some overlaps in terms of skill sets.

[00:09:30] So in terms of how we envision over the coming months is from an exec team perspective,

[00:09:36] we'll be kind of leading the charge and continue to build Snag a Job.

[00:09:38] And under the JobGet family, we will have a few of their execs coming over as advisors.

[00:09:45] And then we can see if we can shape into a full time role for them.

[00:09:48] In terms of their team, we are trying to bring as many folks from their team as possible.

[00:09:52] In fact, today, you know, we're going through awkward conversations.

[00:09:54] So fingers crossed on that.

[00:09:56] But, you know, they have a lot of folks who are with Snag a Job currently, a lot of them

[00:10:00] are 10Xers.

[00:10:01] They have fantastic relationship with either their partners, clients.

[00:10:05] So we love to kind of bring as many folks as possible from Snag a Job.

[00:10:08] I want to take a break real quick just to let you know about a new show we've just added

[00:10:13] to the network.

[00:10:14] Up Next at Work, hosted by Gene and Kate Akil of the Devon Group.

[00:10:21] Fantastic show.

[00:10:22] If you're looking for something that pushes the norm, pushes the boundaries, has some really

[00:10:27] spirited conversations, Google Up Next at Work, Gene and Kate Akil from the Devon Group.

[00:10:36] And I can second your praise of the Snag a Job people.

[00:10:41] College recruiters has worked in different ways with them, a number of ways over the years,

[00:10:45] as is the case with Job Get.

[00:10:47] And that's one of the reasons why I was excited to see the deal.

[00:10:49] That's right.

[00:10:50] Yeah.

[00:10:50] Not like two awful organizations getting together and thinking that they're going to create

[00:10:55] like unicorns and rainbows.

[00:10:57] Oh, do we know of any of those?

[00:10:59] Like that was a breaking episode we had, Career Builder and Monster.

[00:11:03] Yeah.

[00:11:04] There was something about putting two picks together or Kmart and Sears and expecting

[00:11:10] to get something along those lines.

[00:11:13] But Peter, I think we have like one more minute.

[00:11:15] Do you want to grab the last question?

[00:11:17] Just to mention a few things.

[00:11:19] Number one, this is your third acquisition in about 18 months.

[00:11:22] Number two, you're planning to maintain the Snag a Job brand and their product and software.

[00:11:30] And you're planning to eventually merge databases and have all those people work, have the opportunities

[00:11:40] to both sides.

[00:11:42] Is that accurate?

[00:11:43] Yeah.

[00:11:44] Thanks for checking with that.

[00:11:45] So I think you are directionally correct.

[00:11:47] I think our plan is to keep the Snag a Job entity operating as a standalone entity for the foreseeable

[00:11:53] future, given that they've built a great product, great relationship with their customers and

[00:11:58] clients.

[00:11:58] We don't foresee any major changes there.

[00:12:01] What we will be bringing is extra resources, extra investments to kind of make that even better

[00:12:05] experience and also kind of cross-pollinate our best jobs and assets across the board as well.

[00:12:12] So that is kind of the plan there.

[00:12:14] And yes, this is our third acquisition.

[00:12:16] And we're excited because we're at a very strong inflection point of our journey where

[00:12:22] we're seeing great growth despite a tough market out there.

[00:12:25] And I think this is the perfect time to double up and scale the business.

[00:12:30] We really appreciate that you took the time on kind of a busy day, although by now all

[00:12:36] the dust is pretty much settling except people are just finding out.

[00:12:40] Thank you for taking the time.

[00:12:42] We appreciate it.

[00:12:44] And we'll talk again soon.

[00:12:46] We thank you for doing this and good luck with the acquisition.

[00:12:51] Steven, any parting words?

[00:12:52] I would like to just repeat the joke.

[00:12:55] Congratulations on having snagged that job.

[00:12:58] Well, I appreciate your time as well.

[00:13:00] And I really enjoyed this.

[00:13:02] So thanks so much.

[00:13:03] Thanks, Tony.

[00:13:04] Have a good weekend.

[00:13:05] Take care.

[00:13:06] Cheers, guys.