We’re building LinkedIn for emerging professionals, starting in the US and also in the UK.
We’re also focusing on technology-oriented careers.
But let us be clear, this does not strictly mean for super technical people like engineers or data scientists. If you’re working with digital design, we’re for you. If you’re expanding your skills with Microsoft or Adobe tools, we’re for you. If you’re taking technical sales training, we’re still for you.
Endevr is focusing on two main things: Emerging Professionals (think: entry to mid-level positions, and recent grads), and Technology (as a vertical, not industry).
But don’t let us decide if Endevr is or isn’t for you. Read on to see what we’re building, the opportunity we’re seizing, and you can decide for yourself if it’s worth joining Endevr. Read our story here.
Others have said we’re “unbundling” LinkedIn, sort of how eBay and StubHub unbundled Craigslist. What does that mean? Put it this way, Craigslist grew to provide so many services and verticals that it became the jack of all trades yet master of none. So, companies like eBay spun off and focused on their respective vertical, as did StubHub, and a few others.
“Many people have written about the slew of unicorns created over the past decade by savvy entrepreneurs who picked off categories from Craigslist. Airbnb picked off “vacation rentals” and “shared rooms’ ‘. Tinder picked off “personals”. At StubHub, the company I founded, we picked off the “tickets” category. These companies all built valuable marketplaces by focusing on a specific vertical within Craigslist.” — Jeff Fluhr [published 5/7/19].
Jeff Fluhr, the creator of StubHub, predicted something similar in May of last year in a Medium article titled “LinkedIn is the next Craigslist.”
“That same unbundling that happened to Craigslist is now about to happen to LinkedIn,” Fluhr wrote. “While LinkedIn will remain a valuable property… it will give way to a number of vertical specialists who go deeper into solving problems for a particular job category.” — Jeff Fluhr [published 5/7/19]
So why exactly is LinkedIn ripe for this unbundling? Well just like it happened to Craigslist, many experts believe that LI has grown beyond its core function and now has left room for new companies to emerge stronger and well-focused in a niche that LI may only pay partial attention to.
But why else? Why Endevr? Why now? Over ¾ of businesses are continuing to report that the emerging workforce still is not at the level of qualification or certification that is truly needed to fulfill the rapid growth of technology adoption across all industries. Not only that but there’s a massive lack of diversity and inclusion in technology — racially and gender. And it doesn’t stop there, over half of the recent grads are reporting that they do not feel well-prepared for the career that lies ahead of them.
Endevr touches on all of those problems. We target the lack of qualification/certification at its core by offering a modern supplement to traditional schooling. We target the lack of diversity and inclusion through our direct engagement in underserved communities and transparently discuss our AI strategy with ‘DIE’ economic development teams. We help build a sense of confidence amongst emerging professionals coming out of school (or no college, we know college isn’t for everyone) and into their careers.
The diagram below reveals how widespread and seemingly thin these functions and features are, leaving room for Endevr to capitalize on and service users better.
Who are these “experts” that feel this opportunity is Endevr’s for the taking, just like we do? Well, the investment world has something to say about it. Many VCs have been predicting this unbundling of LinkedIn for a couple of years now, dating back to pre-2019. One of these VCs, Harry Stebbings of Twenty Minute VC, sent out a tweet that received both support for and argument against this position. Here’s what Harry has to say about LI:
“The unbundling of Linkedin will create 20+ companies worth $5bn+,” he wrote. “Heavily segmented, heavily verticalized, with highly specific functionality for each vertical. Let the unbundling of Linkedin begin…”
Ok, so does this mean that we’re just copying what LinkedIn already offers? No, but we are capitalizing on what’s worked well and making better what hasn’t.
Endevr users can still instantly message their network, invite friends and colleagues, rely on their own profile as a source of professionalism, and reach out to credible companies like Coursera or Junior Achievement. And that’s simply what you can do now, like literally right now.
And there’s more. When you register on Endevr for free, you tell us what industry you’re interested in (FinTech, AdTech, EdTech, HealthTech, etc.), you tell us what soft skills you already have, and you can tell us your last level of schooling. These awesome things about you plus a few other key points help us match you with a tailored education path suited for your career goals.
So just to recap: you tell us about yourself professionally, our AI algorithms do their magic, and we curate your personalized career path that will take you places higher in your career than you could have ever imagined.
And … There’s still more to come.
Endevr users will soon be capable of joining exclusive communities to interact with friends and colleagues within your network and outside your network. We know that growing a professional network related to your career journey is just as important as the skills you will obtain through Endevr’s education management.
“We often think about networks as something you either have or don’t have, but they can be built and grown at any time.” — Ryan Roslansky, LinkedIn CEO [source]
The best part is that everything is free.
Endevr is a completely free platform where you can access all of these great features and tools just mentioned. At the start of 2022, we have plans to roll out Endevr Pro which will be a low-cost paid subscription, unlocking access to things like analytics and various job-related tools.
So you see, we’re not unbundling LinkedIn by being a copycat, not at all.
We’re hyper-focusing on the right audience, in the most growth-prominent verticals, leveraging the needed features, and setting ourselves apart through our inclusive user experience and aggregation of a personalized education path.
And on that last note regarding “aggregation of a personalized education path,” we get it sounds kind of buzzwordy. Allow us to clarify with the help of LinkedIn’s CEO.
“But in an era of constant change, you don’t need to have it all figured out at once, and I wish I had known that earlier in my career. Your job and what you want to do will likely change in five years, three years, or even next year.
You may have a career pivot (or a few), take time off, have setbacks, grow tired of some skills, and discover you’re passionate about new ones.” — Ryan Roslansky [source]
Okay, so how does that^^ have anything to do with our platform? Well, we know not every step of the way in your journey needs or even should be an intensive course or certification. Sure, we will provide a handful of those in a strategized and sequential order (even some from LinkedIn Learning), but there are many other resources that Endevr can and will aggregate. These resources being podcasts, short blogs, an instructional video, an article, etc. Simple yet effective resources will play a major role in your growth.
We know there is a long road ahead of us. We know this won’t be easy. We know we’re David.
We also know there is an opportunity for Endevr to serve you more effectively than LI has been able to, and we’re here to say “give us the chance and join Endevr for free at www.joinendevr.com”.
No credit card is required for sign up. Free, just like that annoying yet memorable TurboTax commercial.
Now is a great time to be alive. Why? Well for a laundry list of reasons, but for all of our recent graduate users, the job market is hot. Just ask the CEO of LinkedIn himself.
“Data from our 2021 Grads Guide to Getting Hired shows the hiring rate for fresh college grads returned to pre-COVID levels in October 2020, which suggests that all of you are heading into a healthier job market with more options for flexibility and remote work.” — Ryan Roslansky [source]
And if you wanted to go one step farther and get involved with Endevr, well here are some ways that you can:
- We are conducting market research on how people learn best and how often. That survey can be taken here and it’s less than three minutes of your time.
- We are hiring a Full-Stack or Backend Engineer (preferably knows PHP//CodeIgniter/Laravel or Python//Django). Contact us here if this is you.
- We are raising our Seed round right now through the rest of 2021, if you’re an Angel, VC, or PE, contact us here, please.
Fun Fact: Our presence has been established in South Florida (Naples and now expanding into Miami and Tampa), and we also serve some international countries such as Canada, UK, and France.
Fun fact: we are a remote-first company meaning we have no official HQ, just multiple coworking spaces across South Florida and in the UK.
