6 ms·

Woo.io

104 points by mikevm 11y ago

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
chm 11y ago
I wondered how they make money, and it's covered in their FAQ. It seems they sell matches to companies. So MS has to pay to get matched to you, for example.
- rivalz 11y ago
  I think it's kinda like a LinkedIn recruiter account
pavlov 11y ago
LinkedIn profile required -- pass... (Maybe their business model is to be acquired by LinkedIn? This would make some kind of sense as a LinkedIn service.)
- mikevm 11y ago
  After getting the invite and signing up, I no longer see the link to my LinkedIn profile anywhere in my account. I'm thinking that they ask for the profile only to get the invite (maybe a verification step for them?)
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
vyrotek 11y ago
I'm more interested in this from the hiring side of things but I was curious to see the experience from the employee side. For something that emphasizes things being anonymous it sure does ask a lot of identifying questions about you that may deter individuals from signing up. It asks for: LinkedIn URL, Full Name, Country, Current Company, Current Position. I imagine the intent was that things would be kept anonymous in regards to your data being exposed to the companies looking to hire. But I can't help feel like individuals would feel more comfortable being a bit more anonymous with Woo.io itself.
minimaxir 11y ago
There really should be a rule that when a press logo is present, clicking on the logo brings you to the article mentioning the startup, especially since the site itself is relatively sparse. I could only find 2/4 of the press articles: http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/02/09/woo-lets-you-find-a-new-job-on-your-terms-anonymously/ http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/02/09/woo-lets-you-find-a... http://www.cmswire.com/social-business/new-platform-promises-to-woo-tech-talent/ http://www.cmswire.com/social-business/new-platform-promises... Both articles were released 7 hours ago, which implies that this is a coordinated marketing strategy and not organic buzz.
- amidudu 11y ago
  http://www.fastcompany.com/3056478/the-future-of-work/new-requiting-platform-uses-anonymous-profiles-to-help-tech-companies-fin http://www.fastcompany.com/3056478/the-future-of-work/new-re... http://siliconangle.com/blog/2016/02/09/startup-aims-to-turn-tech-recruiting-process-upside-down/ http://siliconangle.com/blog/2016/02/09/startup-aims-to-turn...
  - minimaxir 11y ago
    Thanks for that; I was wondering why they were not showing up in Google. So all 4 were released at the same time. I strongly question the use of a Early-Morning USA embargo.
    - mikevm 11y ago
      I actually heard about this startup from a friend at work today (we're not from the US). Decided to post on HN after work (my evening is your early morning).
    - hammock 11y ago
      >I strongly question the use of a Early-Morning USA embargo. Why?
      - minimaxir 11y ago
latchkey 11y ago
I tried to sign up to check it out and got some bullshit about... "Your request to join Woo's closed beta has been sent." I'd want to use this site as a hiring tool (and wanted to see what the experience is like from the person signing up), but if they aren't even allowing people to sign up without going through some 'beta' process, I can't see how they would have anyone using their site. Why is this at the top of hackernews?
- sbierwagen 11y ago
  Astroturfing.
  - bduerst 11y ago
    Something fishy is going on with new HN accounts created right after this was posted: https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=ajax_freak https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=ajax_freak https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=hws100 https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=hws100 https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=rivalz https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=rivalz
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - dang 11y ago
    Actually, this is an interesting case. It looks to me like the early votes were real, but then a bunch of later voters showed up to promote the story. Perhaps teammates got wind of their startup being on HN. All: promotional voting is bad on HN. It's against the rules, users hate it and are good at detecting it, and we penalize accounts and sites that do it. In this case, though, there clearly was some real community interest, so we've reduced the penalty on the story. Hopefully the thread can focus on the actual startup now.
    - sanderjd 11y ago
      Honest question: if in the future a company I work for is submitted to HN and I notice, should I really not upvote it? That seems like it would be a really unnatural reaction.
chrisabrams 11y ago
This seems similar to what Startup Digest did years ago with their Startup VIP program. If the focus stays on helping quality talent connect with quality companies, then it should do well.
amidudu 11y ago
Hi, I'm Ami and Iam the founder & CTO of Woo. Thanks for adding us to hacker news :) The service is currently by invitation only because it's important to us to get the right techies on-board and keep our service quality. However this community is definitely unique and special so here is an exclusive invite which you can use to bypass the invitation request. Feel free to share your feedback! https://woo.io/eng/useinvite?token=1085A2AA0E9B89D90AF94BCD0596458E https://woo.io/eng/useinvite?token=1085A2AA0E9B89D90AF94BCD0...
- fweespeech 11y ago
  You need to include "Remote" as a location. :p Also, you should allow "Other" to be the only location used. I had to pick an irrelevant location to get the profile to go through.
  - Kiro 11y ago
    Or they only support the US atm? That's how I interpreted the error message I got when picking something outside of the autocomplete list (which also was US only).
    - fweespeech 11y ago
      Well, I'm looking to relocate if I was to change jobs so my current location is the question they implied/asked for and the target location is a different city. I could change it but then people would be unaware I'd need to relocate. Basically, the only reason I'm looking for a job is because my current employer has blocked me on relocating to one of our other locations.
  - amidudu 11y ago
    We really want to support remote location and will add more locations outside the US soon. About the "other" location, you're totally right, will be fixed soon :)
- victor9000 11y ago
  is there a way to update your email address? I started with my backup email, now I like the service and want to use my real address.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
hws100 11y ago
Really like the idea, simple ui, yet clean, the onboarding was very smooth. Now let's see what I get...
ajax_freak 11y ago
Wow thats really amazing! I will try it out next time I will find a job!
bentpins 11y ago
Would be nice if it was clearer that it is only taking a US address at the moment (I think)
boondaburrah 11y ago
Since cost of living and rent varies widely by location, it'd be much nicer if I could set multiple expectations of salary. You'd have to pay me more for me to be willing to move to SF, for example, but I know I can expect less if I'm working on the east coast, or say, Tokyo, where programmers aren't as 'hot'.
alexandercrohde 11y ago
I opened this link, thought the site looked interesting. Scrolled down, saw "Yahoo," "Microsoft," and a bunch of companies I've never heard of. Interest went from 70% to 0. Yahoo is not "Top Tech," it is a corpse of a company that has recently layed off tons of staff, has dim prospects, and has recently been accused of sexism. And the fact that you call it "Top Tech," demonstrates to me that the site lacks integrity.
- ultramancool 11y ago
  Like it or not, Yahoo still runs several extremely popular services including Tumblr, so I don't think its that disingenuous to call it a top tech company.
  - alexandercrohde 11y ago
    Yahoo owns Tumblr, but it runs independently. If the Tumblr portion of Yahoo is hiring they should (and I suspect would have) put their logo up. And no, Tumblr is not "top tech" either. It may be more than a dying husk, but it's 2 tiers below "top tech."
ishener 11y ago
The basic idea is brilliant. Put an anonymous resume out there, and get approached by companies who already agree to your salary expectations... I do agree though that something is not very enticing about that homepage and wording (or lack thereof...)
dmxt 11y ago
I'm not particularly happy that they didn't openly say that subscription is for participation in closed beta. I'm glad that I read comments before signing up. Almost all websites with closed beta subscription clearly tell you before you sign up. Interesting fact: This woo.io is posted right after "the woo guy", on Super Bowl sunday, who screamed "woooooo" every few seconds near CBS TV camera/microphone for everyone on the nation to hear. Edit: Beta invite bypasser is posted somewhere in the comments.
- amidudu 11y ago
  Here is an invite: https://woo.io/eng/useinvite?token=1085A2AA0E9B89D90AF94BCD0596458E https://woo.io/eng/useinvite?token=1085A2AA0E9B89D90AF94BCD0...
bduerst 11y ago
How does this recruitment service differentiate from Hired.com? Your landing pages are eerily similar.
- gingerrr 11y ago
  This is the biggest question I have as well. Will be interesting to see how they differentiate themselves, Hired has been providing this anonymized, salary-first hiring platform for a few years now. I hate to ask how Woo plans to "disrupt" the existing market, but...
beau26 11y ago
I guess I don't really see the value to businesses. People have an awful tendency to (a) overrate themselves dramatically and (b) have wildly unrealistic expectations for what they're worth and what's out there. So you wind up with a bunch of "10/10" Ruby engineers who think they're worth 150k, when the reality is that they're probably 7/10 guys that are worth 2/3s of that.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
meetsamir 11y ago
Nice. Will it work?

104 points by mikevm 11y ago

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

chm 11y ago

I wondered how they make money, and it's covered in their FAQ. It seems they sell matches to companies. So MS has to pay to get matched to you, for example.

rivalz 11y ago
I think it's kinda like a LinkedIn recruiter account

pavlov 11y ago

LinkedIn profile required -- pass... (Maybe their business model is to be acquired by LinkedIn? This would make some kind of sense as a LinkedIn service.)

mikevm 11y ago
After getting the invite and signing up, I no longer see the link to my LinkedIn profile anywhere in my account. I'm thinking that they ask for the profile only to get the invite (maybe a verification step for them?)
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

vyrotek 11y ago

I'm more interested in this from the hiring side of things but I was curious to see the experience from the employee side. For something that emphasizes things being anonymous it sure does ask a lot of identifying questions about you that may deter individuals from signing up. It asks for: LinkedIn URL, Full Name, Country, Current Company, Current Position. I imagine the intent was that things would be kept anonymous in regards to your data being exposed to the companies looking to hire. But I can't help feel like individuals would feel more comfortable being a bit more anonymous with Woo.io itself.

minimaxir 11y ago

There really should be a rule that when a press logo is present, clicking on the logo brings you to the article mentioning the startup, especially since the site itself is relatively sparse. I could only find 2/4 of the press articles: http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/02/09/woo-lets-you-find-a-new-job-on-your-terms-anonymously/ http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/02/09/woo-lets-you-find-a... http://www.cmswire.com/social-business/new-platform-promises-to-woo-tech-talent/ http://www.cmswire.com/social-business/new-platform-promises... Both articles were released 7 hours ago, which implies that this is a coordinated marketing strategy and not organic buzz.

amidudu 11y ago
http://www.fastcompany.com/3056478/the-future-of-work/new-requiting-platform-uses-anonymous-profiles-to-help-tech-companies-fin http://www.fastcompany.com/3056478/the-future-of-work/new-re... http://siliconangle.com/blog/2016/02/09/startup-aims-to-turn-tech-recruiting-process-upside-down/ http://siliconangle.com/blog/2016/02/09/startup-aims-to-turn...
- minimaxir 11y ago
  Thanks for that; I was wondering why they were not showing up in Google. So all 4 were released at the same time. I strongly question the use of a Early-Morning USA embargo.
  - mikevm 11y ago
    I actually heard about this startup from a friend at work today (we're not from the US). Decided to post on HN after work (my evening is your early morning).
  - hammock 11y ago
    >I strongly question the use of a Early-Morning USA embargo. Why?
    - minimaxir 11y ago

latchkey 11y ago

I tried to sign up to check it out and got some bullshit about... "Your request to join Woo's closed beta has been sent." I'd want to use this site as a hiring tool (and wanted to see what the experience is like from the person signing up), but if they aren't even allowing people to sign up without going through some 'beta' process, I can't see how they would have anyone using their site. Why is this at the top of hackernews?

sbierwagen 11y ago
Astroturfing.
- bduerst 11y ago
  Something fishy is going on with new HN accounts created right after this was posted: https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=ajax_freak https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=ajax_freak https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=hws100 https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=hws100 https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=rivalz https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=rivalz
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- dang 11y ago
  Actually, this is an interesting case. It looks to me like the early votes were real, but then a bunch of later voters showed up to promote the story. Perhaps teammates got wind of their startup being on HN. All: promotional voting is bad on HN. It's against the rules, users hate it and are good at detecting it, and we penalize accounts and sites that do it. In this case, though, there clearly was some real community interest, so we've reduced the penalty on the story. Hopefully the thread can focus on the actual startup now.
  - sanderjd 11y ago
    Honest question: if in the future a company I work for is submitted to HN and I notice, should I really not upvote it? That seems like it would be a really unnatural reaction.

chrisabrams 11y ago

This seems similar to what Startup Digest did years ago with their Startup VIP program. If the focus stays on helping quality talent connect with quality companies, then it should do well.

amidudu 11y ago

Hi, I'm Ami and Iam the founder & CTO of Woo. Thanks for adding us to hacker news :) The service is currently by invitation only because it's important to us to get the right techies on-board and keep our service quality. However this community is definitely unique and special so here is an exclusive invite which you can use to bypass the invitation request. Feel free to share your feedback! https://woo.io/eng/useinvite?token=1085A2AA0E9B89D90AF94BCD0596458E https://woo.io/eng/useinvite?token=1085A2AA0E9B89D90AF94BCD0...

fweespeech 11y ago
You need to include "Remote" as a location. :p Also, you should allow "Other" to be the only location used. I had to pick an irrelevant location to get the profile to go through.
- Kiro 11y ago
  Or they only support the US atm? That's how I interpreted the error message I got when picking something outside of the autocomplete list (which also was US only).
  - fweespeech 11y ago
    Well, I'm looking to relocate if I was to change jobs so my current location is the question they implied/asked for and the target location is a different city. I could change it but then people would be unaware I'd need to relocate. Basically, the only reason I'm looking for a job is because my current employer has blocked me on relocating to one of our other locations.
- amidudu 11y ago
  We really want to support remote location and will add more locations outside the US soon. About the "other" location, you're totally right, will be fixed soon :)
victor9000 11y ago
is there a way to update your email address? I started with my backup email, now I like the service and want to use my real address.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

hws100 11y ago

Really like the idea, simple ui, yet clean, the onboarding was very smooth. Now let's see what I get...

ajax_freak 11y ago

Wow thats really amazing! I will try it out next time I will find a job!

bentpins 11y ago

Would be nice if it was clearer that it is only taking a US address at the moment (I think)

boondaburrah 11y ago

Since cost of living and rent varies widely by location, it'd be much nicer if I could set multiple expectations of salary. You'd have to pay me more for me to be willing to move to SF, for example, but I know I can expect less if I'm working on the east coast, or say, Tokyo, where programmers aren't as 'hot'.

alexandercrohde 11y ago

I opened this link, thought the site looked interesting. Scrolled down, saw "Yahoo," "Microsoft," and a bunch of companies I've never heard of. Interest went from 70% to 0. Yahoo is not "Top Tech," it is a corpse of a company that has recently layed off tons of staff, has dim prospects, and has recently been accused of sexism. And the fact that you call it "Top Tech," demonstrates to me that the site lacks integrity.

ultramancool 11y ago
Like it or not, Yahoo still runs several extremely popular services including Tumblr, so I don't think its that disingenuous to call it a top tech company.
- alexandercrohde 11y ago
  Yahoo owns Tumblr, but it runs independently. If the Tumblr portion of Yahoo is hiring they should (and I suspect would have) put their logo up. And no, Tumblr is not "top tech" either. It may be more than a dying husk, but it's 2 tiers below "top tech."

ishener 11y ago

The basic idea is brilliant. Put an anonymous resume out there, and get approached by companies who already agree to your salary expectations... I do agree though that something is not very enticing about that homepage and wording (or lack thereof...)

dmxt 11y ago

I'm not particularly happy that they didn't openly say that subscription is for participation in closed beta. I'm glad that I read comments before signing up. Almost all websites with closed beta subscription clearly tell you before you sign up. Interesting fact: This woo.io is posted right after "the woo guy", on Super Bowl sunday, who screamed "woooooo" every few seconds near CBS TV camera/microphone for everyone on the nation to hear. Edit: Beta invite bypasser is posted somewhere in the comments.

amidudu 11y ago
Here is an invite: https://woo.io/eng/useinvite?token=1085A2AA0E9B89D90AF94BCD0596458E https://woo.io/eng/useinvite?token=1085A2AA0E9B89D90AF94BCD0...

bduerst 11y ago

How does this recruitment service differentiate from Hired.com? Your landing pages are eerily similar.

gingerrr 11y ago
This is the biggest question I have as well. Will be interesting to see how they differentiate themselves, Hired has been providing this anonymized, salary-first hiring platform for a few years now. I hate to ask how Woo plans to "disrupt" the existing market, but...

beau26 11y ago

I guess I don't really see the value to businesses. People have an awful tendency to (a) overrate themselves dramatically and (b) have wildly unrealistic expectations for what they're worth and what's out there. So you wind up with a bunch of "10/10" Ruby engineers who think they're worth 150k, when the reality is that they're probably 7/10 guys that are worth 2/3s of that.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

meetsamir 11y ago

Nice. Will it work?