Quick Answer (TL;DR)
Allan Grant is the Founder & CEO of Hired, a series b+ HR Tech SaaS doing $1M+/mo. Their top advice: ""
| Revenue | $1M+/mo |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2012 |
| Team | 50+ people |
| Funding | $10M+ |
| Growth | Sales |
| Industry | HR Tech |
The Origin Story
Allan Grant started Hired in 2012 because he was frustrated with how broken the recruiting process was for everyone involved. Having been through multiple job searches and worked with recruiters, he saw how much time was wasted on both sides with mismatched opportunities and poor communication. The idea came from wanting to flip the traditional model and put candidates in the driver's seat, letting companies compete for talent instead of the other way around.
If you're figuring out your go-to-market, the TAM Calculator can help size your market, and the PMF Calculator helps measure product-market fit.
Biggest Win
The biggest breakthrough was when the team figured out how to make the marketplace work at scale while maintaining quality on both sides. Getting major tech companies to trust Hired with their hiring needs took years of relationship building, but once brands like Facebook and Uber were using the platform regularly, everything changed. That credibility opened doors to enterprise clients and helped build the sales engine that drives growth today.
The Hardest Lesson
Grant learned the hard way that marketplace dynamics are incredibly complex and you can't just build it and expect people to come. The team spent the early years trying to balance supply and demand while maintaining quality, and there were times when they had too many candidates and not enough jobs, or vice versa. The key was realizing they needed to be much more hands-on in curating both sides of the marketplace rather than letting it run completely algorithmically.
Tool Stack
Hired is built primarily using modern web technologies, with a strong focus on data analytics to match candidates with the right opportunities. The sales team relies heavily on CRM systems and outbound sales tools to build relationships with hiring managers and talent acquisition teams. The company also invests significantly in internal matching algorithms and candidate assessment tools to maintain the quality that differentiates it from job boards.
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Key Metrics
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Advice for SaaS Founders
Focus obsessively on solving a real problem that you've experienced yourself, because you'll need that deep understanding to push through the inevitable challenges. In marketplace businesses especially, don't underestimate how much manual work and relationship building is required in the early days. Build your sales capabilities early and invest in people who can tell your story effectively to both sides of your marketplace.
Explore our HR Tech industry playbook for frameworks and metrics specific to this industry.