Kauzu Targets Entry Level Job Seekers With Smartphone And Basic Phone Apps

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With all this innovation and startups targeting the job market there’s one job market that still remains horribly under served. The entry level or basic jobs market hasn’t had its own app or platform until now.

Chicago startup Kauzu, is taking advantage of the open space in the entry level jobs market. Grocery stores, retail jobs, call center jobs, fast food, crew work and other types of jobs can connect to local employees using one of two apps created by Kauzu.

Kauzu offers a smartphone app that allows users to view jobs on a map and find jobs in close proximity to their homes. They’ve also created a basic phone app that allows job seekers wuthout smart phones to text their zip code and get job listings close to them as we’ll.

We got a chance to interview Mitch Schneider, the founder and CEO of Kauzu. Check out our interview below:

 

What is Kauzu?

Kauzu transforms how entry-level jobseekers and employers connect, with hyperlocal tools that address the specific needs of this underserved, two-sided market. We help employers hire local, finding them better staff and strengthening their communities.

In layman’s terms, how does it work? (In other words how would you explain it to your grandmother)
For jobseekers, we’ve introduced two free mobile apps—one for smartphones, and one for basic phones—that pinpoint open job listings by the jobseeker’s location. The smartphone app (Kauzu.Jobs) displays listings on a GPS map, and the basic phone app (Kono) lets users text their location and receive a list of nearby job postings. Both help lower-income jobseekers find jobs closer to home or school—jobs they’re more likely to stay and grow in.
Our employers’ tool (Kauzu.Biz) not only posts listings on both free jobseeker apps, it makes the hiring process more efficient and effective with application filtering, built-in jobseeker communications and advanced analytics.


Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?

CEO & Founder Mitch Schneider served in founding and leadership roles in various sectors, including corporate, small business and nonprofits, with expertise in project management, IT consulting, capacity building, and business development.

Where are you based?
In the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago.

What’s the startup scene/culture like where you’re based?

We’re a bit removed from the heart of the Chicago startup community, which is in River North, but we have better restaurants.
The Chicago startup scene is still small enough so that it seems like everyone knows each other, but it’s growing by leaps and bounds. A few years ago, Chicago startups had to go to other cities to find incubators and accelerators, but now startups from all over North America are coming here to join Excelerate Labs or Impact Engine. The success of Impact Engine’s first cohort suggests Chicago might soon be the hot spot for social entrepreneurship.

How did you come up with the idea for Kauzu?
During Mitch’s experience with non-profits, he saw how so many social problems could be traced to unemployment and underemployment. But the tools available to help people in our hardest-hit communities find jobs—and to help businesses find staff—were just awful.
Lower income jobseekers have several barriers to employment, but transportation was one we felt we could address. It’s expensive to be poor. Why not create tools to help people find jobs they can get to without buying gas or transit fare?

How did you come up with the name?
Kauzu is Esperanto for “cause.” We’re a social venture, committed to helping communities through a sustainable, revenue-generating business model.

What problem does Kauzu Solve
For jobseekers, Kauzu helps overcome the expense and time commitment of commuting to an entry-level job.
For employers, Kauzu helps cut turnover by finding staff who live nearby—workers who are more likely to stay in their jobs. Since transition expenses cost businesses an average of $3500 to replace a single minimum-wage employee, even a small improvement can make a big bottom-line difference.

What’s your secret sauce?
One word: hyperlocal.
Pinpointing jobs by location benefits both the jobseeker and the employer, but it also helps Kauzu forge partnerships with non-profit workforce development agencies, chambers of commerce, city colleges and local politicians—groups dedicated to strengthening their communities by connecting local residents and businesses. Our partners have been instrumental in getting our tools into the hands of the people who need them.

What are some milestones you’ve achieved?
Product Launches:
· Kono, August 2012
· Kauzu.Jobs, August 2012
· Kauzu.Biz, August 2012

Startup Pitches
· Technori Pitch, September 2012
· Built In Chicago Launch, October 2012
· TechCocktail Chicago, November 2012
· Funding Feeding Frenzy Chicago, December 2012

Endorsements
· 28 Chicago City Council Alderman
· Four Workforce Development Agencies
· Six Chambers of Commerce
· Three City of Chicago Colleges and the City Career Services Center

What’s your next milestone?
Our first paying clients will be huge, but we’ll be even more excited when we can document the first hiring made exclusively through Kauzu—when a listing from Kauzu.Biz connects with a jobseeker on Kauzu.Jobs or Kono.

What’s one challenge you’ve overcome in the startup process?
We won a significant award in January, 2012, but the funding that came with it failed to materialize. We had to pivot virtually overnight from a funded operation with staff—and a product launch days away—to a bootstrapping crew of volunteers and believers.
The shift forced us to re-evaluate our priorities and focus on partnerships, and the community connections that followed actually helped us build better tools.


Who are some of your mentors and business role models?

We’re a little myopic on this because, no matter how brilliantly someone did something before, it never seems to translate to what we’re doing now. We network heavily and read as much as we can, but there’s no single source that we can point to as our greatest inspiration or guide. That said, we’re grateful to CEO advisor Glenn Gottfried, a terrific board of advisors and a great set of partners and friends who guide us, drive us, and occasionally buy us coffee.

What’s next for Kauzu?
Once our first three products are established, we’ll expand in two ways. The first is geographical—we’d like to introduce our tools in two more Midwestern cities. The second is a new product—a hiring portal for seamless, maintenance-free integration with current business websites. We see this as a cost-effective way for small-to-medium businesses to engage jobseekers and boost brand awareness without having to manage the technology themselves.

Where can people find out more and what is your Twitter username?
Learn more at www.Kauzu.com. On Twitter we’re @KauzuInc.

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