Elevator Pitch: Shortlyster

Elevator Pitch is a regular feature on Lifehacker where we profile startups and new companies and pick their brains for entrepreneurial advice. This week, we’re talking with Rudy Crous, co-founder and CEO of HR tech startup Shortlyster.

In 128 words or less, explain your business idea

As a Corporate Psychologist I saw the challenges that businesses face every day when making a bad hire. It was clear to me that the implementation of poor recruitment practices lead to bad hiring, which is the single biggest cost to businesses today.

My Co-Founder, Carl Hartmann and I created Shortlyster to help businesses make better hiring decisions at the very beginning of the recruitment process. Our intelligent hiring optimisation platform matches and ranks candidates on how well they behaviourally fit with your company’s culture alongside the required skills and qualifications. By using smart data and science, we can instantly provide the hiring manager a qualified and engaged candidate shortlist that are more likely to succeed long term in the role.

What strategies are you using to grow and finance your idea?

Our first strategy was to create our Minimum Viable Product (MVP), which we spent a lot of time perfecting. We decided to spend time building a strong, reliable product from the start rather than launching with something that we would eventually need to go back and completely rebuild. It was because of this that we were able to raise our initial seed capital by way of SAFEs (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) and venture capital.

How do you differentiate your business from your competitors?

Shortlyster brings forward the right talent who fit the job, the team, and the company culture at the beginning of the recruitment process. No other recruiting software tool screens, ranks and matches in real-time on 3 levels;

  1. Organisation – company culture, job and personality fit
  2. Skills – expertise and experience level
  3. Qualifications – required education or knowledge

What’s the biggest challenge facing your business?

Research shows that there is almost no correlation between what is written in a candidate’s CV and how they perform on the job or how they fit within a business. Our biggest challenge is educating hiring managers to understand the importance of culture fit and team fit in driving job performance. In addition to this, that technical skills and qualifications are transferable across different job positions and industries. Having a more holistic view of a candidate and their full potential will ensure that they’re more successful in the role and the business will achieve its objectives in the long term.

What one phone, tablet or PC application could you not live without?

Slack. With team members located across the world, it’s a great tool for team communication and collaboration.

What’s the best piece of business advice you’ve ever received?

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right” – Henry Ford


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