Please Validate My 1M Idea
Hello Peeps!
This posts speaks about my youngest business idea. I would love to get some feedback on it.
To start some background information to understand the value proposition of the business.
In Switzerland many companies are looking for temporary employees mostly in manuel jobs like painter, mechanics, etc.
These companies are going to a "head-hunter" which reaches out to some employees which are looking for a job.
This process takes quite a long time since the head-hunter is calling the employees, maybe the are interessted maybe not. maybe they live to far away, or they got already another job.
The entire process is payed by the company which looks for an employee.
Now to the idea
An webpage where employees can create their own profile including their CV etc. Companies can also create their profile and looking directly for the perfect match. The companies pay monthly fees and have access to all the available employees.
What do you think about the idea?
Eliminating the "man in the middle" always has big potential! I think your idea definitely has potential (if there isn't something similar out yet, what i don't know) but the problem will be getting traction in the first place. How would you convince people to join "just another job-seeking portal" before you are full of employers? And how do you find & convince employers to actually pay for your service (before you have tons of people with CVs on the platform)?
Good luck anyways, Giancarlo! 🚀
thanks for hints.
you addressed the right kind of problems. I don't know yet how to convince the people.
First, I am going to work on a MVP. If there is a marked for such a platform, then it's just a matter of time until some people are going to use the platform.
We will see
Do painters even have CVs? Do they write them with a brush on a wall of a building? :)
How do the headhunters find those labourers?
Is it labourer or employer market?
How do labourers find work these days?
I'm working on a similar problem for software engineers. The difference is, coders are easier to find.
Check out my Product https://www.indiehackers.com/product/open-directory-of-software-developers
Yes they do have CVs :D
Usually headhunters do not find them. Employees are looking for a job and the easiest way to find a job is to go to such an headhunter (these are everywhere).
And companies which have vacancies are also going to the headhunters and tell them what kind of employee they are looking for.
So the only task of these headhunters is only to connect the firms to the employees. (basicaly it's a modern way of slavery)
My platform should provide the exact same service, with the only difference that no headhunter is involved.
I am checking out your product. Would like to have a private conversation on twitter.. Do you have an account?
What you described is not a head-hunter. It's an old-fashioned recruiting agency. They build their networks, they know people, they have both sides of the market.
Have you spoken to employers? Are they happy with the status-quo? What is their biggest complaint?
Sure, happy to talk. [email protected]
Worth considering that the issue could could very well be that there is a shortage of manual/trades labor (true in many developed countries) and NOT a lack of web app that connects businesses to manual labor. Although lot less sexy than coding one up, the real opportunity could be actually starting a service company that hires/trains tradesmen and actually bids on contracts. With everyone focused on coding this and that - bound to be a mismatch between digital and physical job demand sooner or later.
True story.
However, usually trademen are looking for jobs in the internet. Companies are writing there job offer somewhere on the internet. The goal is to turn this around, companies can search for their trademan in the internet if I create such a platform.
I am not sure if there is a market for that, as far as I know there is no such platform in Switzerland yet.
Could definitely be an opportunity. Best of luck!
There are few sites which do something similar : www.mybuilder.com, www.ratedpeople.com. Not sure if in Switzerland similar sites exist.
The difficult part , as someone already mentioned , is to signup both tradesmen and companies to establish a market with a reward system. Happy to discuss further
Yes that's going to be the hardest thing. Do you have an idea how to handle that?
well there is one company called the urban company
So, Linkedin?
But the main problems are competition and the egg-and-chicken problem.
I think Linkedin is focusing mainly on higher education jobs.
The most people working on basic jobs do not use Linkedin.
I agree with the egg&chicken problem. I think a strong marketing would help.
The good news: there's definitely demand for such a site, as is shown by existing online job marketplaces such as UpWork, Fiverr, and more
The bad news: there is very entrenched competition in this space. Plus, you have the two-sided marketplace problem, where companies would only be interested if there are plenty of freelancers using the website, and freelancers would only be interested if there are plenty of companies using the website.
What would differentiate your hypothetical website, from existing online job markets such as Upwork & Fiverr? Is there an underserved niche that you can tailor the website to? How will you convince an initial cohort of both companies and freelancers sign up?
Thanks for the feedback.
I don't know Upwork yet, but Fiverr is a freelancer platform.
I would build a plattform not for freelancer, but for employees like electrician, painter, mechanics etc. these people do not work as freelancer, but are looking for a contract.
At the moment the process to hire someone through such a head hunter is complicated and these head hunters are making their money of their life.
Which such a platform the costs for hiring companies could be reduced and the process optimised.
The struggle of two sided marketplace is real.
Ah, a platform for tradesmen; that's more specific. In New Zealand we have two such websites:
It would be worth checking if there are similar websites in Switzerland. There may well be a gap in the market for you...
Thanks!
yes there is a gap.