Gild
Careers at Gild
Mission
Gild’s mission is to innovate and bring meaningful change to the imperfect ways people are hired today.
History
Sheeroy Desai’s first job was at an IT services firm called Cambridge Technology Partners. He began as an engineer but quickly moved into product management and development. Eventually he and five co-workers left and launched a startup called Sapient, where he spent 17 years. He took the company public and it survived the dot-com bust, growing to 5,000 employees. The whole experience left him exhausted and desiring a change, so he left with the goal of starting small again.
At first he was unsure about what area to focus on. However, in reflecting on his experience overseeing Sapient’s growth, he realized that he wanted to improve the way companies hired staff. He believed that underlying recruiting processes hadn’t changed in the past century and were outdated, primarily relying on resumes, LinkedIn profiles, and/or interviews as barometers of fit. He wanted to transform talent acquisition from the ground up, focusing more on quality than quantity.
He got together with a colleague, Luca Bonmassar, and they initially decided to target the software engineering hiring process. Their strategy was to use the same technologies that helped drive innovative sites such as Facebook, Netflix, and Amazon. This involved utilizing data science and predictive analytics to integrate intelligence into all stages of the recruiting process. The ultimate goal was to be able to hire the right individual for the right position at the right time.
They developed Gild, a smart platform, and launched it in 2011. It is an integrated solution that features a database of job candidates. The system includes information on their public activity and ensures that all details are accurate and up-to-date. It also provides ratings and recommendations based on a recruiter’s specified criteria. Based on its promise, Gild was able to obtain funding from many high-profile investors, including Globespan Capital Partners, Baseline Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, and Correlation Ventures. Its customer base now includes over 1200 enterprise firms.
Benefits at Gild
Business model of Gild
Customer Segments
Gild has a mass market business model, with no significant differentiation between customer segments. The company markets its solution to organizations of all sizes and industries who want to enhance their recruitment process.
Value Proposition
Gild offers three primary value propositions: accessibility, convenience, and brand/status.
The company creates accessibility by providing a database with over 100 million potential job candidates. It also allows recruiters to publish job requisitions to thousands of hiring sites with one click, broadening the reach of their efforts.
The company offers convenience through features such as automatic availability and skill updates and duplication management. Its recommendation engine provides insight into why it thinks particular candidates are strong, what they are good at, and why they are in high demand.
The company has built a well-established brand due to its performance. It has several major corporations as clients, including Microsoft, Progressive Insurance, HBO, Facebook, FitBit, TripAdvisor, Gainsight, TD Bank, BuzzFeed, Shutterstock, Groupon, and First Citizens Bank.
Channels
Gild’s main channel is its software platform, through which it acquires many customers. It also relies on its direct sales team for this purpose. The company promotes its offerings through its social media pages and events such as webinars.
Customer Relationships
Gild’s customer relationship is primarily of a self-service, automated nature. Customers utilize the service through the main platform while having limited interaction with employees. The company’s website features a “Library” section with resources such as articles, reports, webinars, and infographics. It also includes a blog with posts offering advice about the hiring process. That said, there is a personal assistance component in the form of phone and e-mail support.
Key Activities
Gild’s business model entails maintaining and enhancing its platform for its customers.
Key Partners
Gild invites third parties to partner with the company in order to facilitate the promotion and sale of its products. Possible activities include developing a custom application for its platform and investigating new business options. No information is available regarding specific existing partners.
Key Resources
Gild’s main resource is its proprietary software platform. It also depends on its human resources in the form of its technology staff members, who make improvements to its platform; its sales/marketing staff; and its customer service employees, who provide support to clients. Lastly, as a relatively new start-up it has relied heavily on funding from investors, raising $25.9 million from nine investors as of June 2014.
Cost Structure
Gild has a cost-driven structure, aiming to minimize expenses through significant automation and low-price value propositions. Its biggest cost driver is likely sales/marketing, a fixed cost. Other major drivers are in the areas of administration and customer support/operations, also fixed costs.
Revenue Streams
Gild has one revenue stream, the subscription fees it charges for access to its database. It offers the following pricing options:
Basic - A month-to-month plan targeted at organizations with low hiring needs that focus on candidates in a narrow geographical range.
Standard - A month-to-month plan targeted at organizations with short-term or fluctuating hiring needs; it features unlimited profile access and searching.
Preferred - A three-month plan targeted at organizations with high but short-term hiring needs; it features unlimited profile access and searching.
Specific rates for each tier are not made public. However, some sources say that pricing can be as high as $700 per month.
