Shiner Profiles: The Hire Syndicate

By: leora | Published: January 28, 2010 | Filed under: Shiner profiles, Sunshine Suites

Company name: The Hire Syndicate
Founder: Allen Ackerman
Date Founded: 2009
# Employees: 1+ freelance contractors
Resident of Sunshine Suites since: Almost 2 years

First can you tell me a bit about your company?

The Hire Syndicate is the result of a need I felt as a recruiter.  I founded my current recruiting company in 2004 and wanted to be on my own, which meant relying on my network to find candidates for open requisitions.  I found that broadcasting new requisitions to my network was a time-consuming and inefficient process – I didn’t want to feel like I was clogging email boxes, and on the other end, juggling disparate email responses.  So, I thought up a platform where open requisitions could “live” all in one place, and that would provide instant, yet subtle alerts to new activity.  That is The Hire Syndicate, which I started in earnest, last summer (2009).

In a nutshell: The Hire Syndicate is a web-based application for professional recruiters, who create Pods with colleagues to share split placement opportunities.  It has extensions for real time recruiting, like our Widget and mobile apps.  We’re currently in beta – we invite folks to try us out, it’s free – and are working towards a Q3 release.

What is the most useful thing you have learned that has helped you with your business?

I don’t know if this is the most useful thing I’ve learned, but it served as a great reminder: a couple of weeks ago, there was this “Collection of Startup Advice in Three Words” floating around the web, and one that continues to stick out is “support customers maniacally.”  It’s so important, and reinforces my belief that it’s a good thing that I take the time to connect with each new member of The Hire Syndicate, at least in these early stages.

What challenges have you faced and continue to face and how are you addressing them?

Resource scarcity.  But that’s nothing new – I try to be creative in meeting immediate needs and planning for foreseeable needs.  One general rule that I go by in addressing challenges is just to continue learning – for instance, learning from other entrepreneurs about how they manage their businesses, more about venture capital and/or alternative financing streams… the more you know, the better suited you are to handle the challenges.

By the way, one resource we’re looking for is a .NET developer/Lead Architect so if any one knows a great Lead, let me know!

How has Sunshine helped you and your business?

The Sunshine community is an incredible asset.  To have a group of savvy entrepreneurs to bounce ideas off of and solicit advice – at one’s fingertips – is an immense resource. Plus, the cross-pollination opportunities (facilitated by Sunshine Suites’ many networking events, of course) is great.

Where do you hope to be in 6 months and 1 year in terms of growth or position?

Our goal is to have positive cash flow by January 1, 2011.  It’s funny we’re just starting to do business modeling now, but my gut says that this goal achievable.  Oh – and for any potential users, know that we are planning on a “freemium” model – basic service for free and advanced functionality for a nominal fee (like LinkedIn).  We want it to be an indispensable asset for split fee recruiting.

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