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How do you plan on making money? My concern would be that you need to be extremely upfront about what data you're collecting and if you're selling it back to th

How do you plan on making money? My concern would be that you need to be extremely upfront about what data you're collecting and if you're selling it back to these companies whom the person interviewed with (even if anonymized). This is a very personal exchange between an employee and employer that could have significant impact on employment negotiations. For example, I might not want employer A, knowing that I'm also interviewing with employer B/C/D, unless I choose to use it for negotiation. This could be used to target folks into lower paying jobs if they don't have prospects, multiple offers, etc. I'm not trying to be harsh here or blow up your idea. Maybe it's a totally free app. I'm not sure. But, if you are selling user data, you could be inadvertently increasing companies bargaining power through hidden knowledge of what someone is doing too. If a company uses this added data on me, and gets me to take an offer that's 30k less per year, and I stay there 4 years, that ends up costing me 120k over 4 years (30k*4y) all for using an interview note taking app.

ohsik 8y ago
Thank you for the comment! To be honest with you, I didn't expect to get this much traction but that's something I have been thinking about a lot lately for the future of the product. I'm still not sure the exact path of monetizing the product yet but I know I want After Interview to help people to get the job they want rather than selling data to companies. Currently, companies can claim their company pages but exchange for uploading a company logo, description and maybe job listing.
- rjpr 8y ago
  On your FAQ page you say "This will require a monthly subscription fee for companies". What does the company get in exchange for the monthly subscription fee?
  - strken 8y ago
    You could use the fact that a candidate has been verified to have interviews at a FAANG to let other tech companies poach them. Maybe a footer saying "Have you considered ACME Corp? (sponsored)" with a bidding system based on where they're interviewing or have interviewed. Would HN consider that an invasion of privacy?
    - richardwhiuk 8y ago
      Yes.
    - tylerhou 8y ago
      Not a violation of privacy if you get the users’ consent first. And I’m sure that there are people who would actually want this as a service.
- WestCoastJustin 8y ago
  Yeah, totally makes sense. Just trying to play devils advocate here as it was the first thing that came to mind and the more I thought about it they worse it got. Likely something you could address is the privacy/terms section if it ever gets to that point. You could also flip it around, and help folks get a leg up on companies, in that you could say folks that interviewed with A/B/C choose A. You might even collect data like glassdoor on this webdev vs devops gets 150k per year for a similar job. Maybe interview-to-offer timelines, like how many interviews it takes, and typically takes 6+ months to get hired here. I'm not sure. I'd just focus on giving potential employees an advantage vs employers. As, employers typically already have a massive advantage for folks just entering the job market.
- nell 8y ago
  If enough people join, you can track response times, candidate experience, offer etc and surface data about that for paying customers. I haven’t looked at your product, but the premise is very real. It would be good to know what companies to apply for based a bunch of variables. In theory Glassdoor could build that, but their interests are not best aligned to the candidate.
- ryandrake 8y ago
  Is there an offline-only mode that does not access a server or collect data? I could see using this as a local-only way to keep organized without needing any cloudy features.
- fillskills 8y ago
  Can I speak with you about this? I have been working on this market for a bit and have some product ideas that might be useful to you. Email me :)
- stevehawk 8y ago
  What are the odds you mentioned this product on here like a year ago and they this sprung out of your own job own hunting? This feels familiar but I can't place why.
- d--b 8y ago
  > help people to get the job they want rather than selling data to companies I think that's better indeed. If the model is to sell data to companies, it may feel to the user that you're telling companies which companies they're interviewing with, etc.
Malic 8y ago
Honestly, if this were to take off, I could see Microsoft/LinkedIn having some acquisition interest.
- enahs-sf 8y ago
  even if it doesn't, those guys love a good acqihire.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
cik2e 8y ago
SaaS with a strict privacy policy should do it for most customers. You could have varying levels of privacy at different price tiers. E.g. a free tier where some PII is sold and go from there.
redmattred 8y ago
One potential idea is a "pay it forward" model where you're asked to pay for someone else using the service, but only after you have successfully found a job. When a job seeker signs up they would see that their subscription was paid by someone else and it will instantly build goodwill/stickiness for the product. It's generally hard to monetize from job seekers since they don't have an income in many cases, but many would be happy to once they land a job and may even choose to buy a subscription for personal friends/family who are looking for a job. Similarly companies could also pay to buy X # of subscriptions for job seekers to attract people to their jobs and build goodwill/positive employment branding. Could make for a good viral loop, could drum up some great PR, and help a lot of people

ohsik 8y ago

Thank you for the comment! To be honest with you, I didn't expect to get this much traction but that's something I have been thinking about a lot lately for the future of the product. I'm still not sure the exact path of monetizing the product yet but I know I want After Interview to help people to get the job they want rather than selling data to companies. Currently, companies can claim their company pages but exchange for uploading a company logo, description and maybe job listing.

rjpr 8y ago
On your FAQ page you say "This will require a monthly subscription fee for companies". What does the company get in exchange for the monthly subscription fee?
- strken 8y ago
  You could use the fact that a candidate has been verified to have interviews at a FAANG to let other tech companies poach them. Maybe a footer saying "Have you considered ACME Corp? (sponsored)" with a bidding system based on where they're interviewing or have interviewed. Would HN consider that an invasion of privacy?
  - richardwhiuk 8y ago
    Yes.
  - tylerhou 8y ago
    Not a violation of privacy if you get the users’ consent first. And I’m sure that there are people who would actually want this as a service.
WestCoastJustin 8y ago
Yeah, totally makes sense. Just trying to play devils advocate here as it was the first thing that came to mind and the more I thought about it they worse it got. Likely something you could address is the privacy/terms section if it ever gets to that point. You could also flip it around, and help folks get a leg up on companies, in that you could say folks that interviewed with A/B/C choose A. You might even collect data like glassdoor on this webdev vs devops gets 150k per year for a similar job. Maybe interview-to-offer timelines, like how many interviews it takes, and typically takes 6+ months to get hired here. I'm not sure. I'd just focus on giving potential employees an advantage vs employers. As, employers typically already have a massive advantage for folks just entering the job market.
nell 8y ago
If enough people join, you can track response times, candidate experience, offer etc and surface data about that for paying customers. I haven’t looked at your product, but the premise is very real. It would be good to know what companies to apply for based a bunch of variables. In theory Glassdoor could build that, but their interests are not best aligned to the candidate.
ryandrake 8y ago
Is there an offline-only mode that does not access a server or collect data? I could see using this as a local-only way to keep organized without needing any cloudy features.
fillskills 8y ago
Can I speak with you about this? I have been working on this market for a bit and have some product ideas that might be useful to you. Email me :)
stevehawk 8y ago
What are the odds you mentioned this product on here like a year ago and they this sprung out of your own job own hunting? This feels familiar but I can't place why.
d--b 8y ago
> help people to get the job they want rather than selling data to companies I think that's better indeed. If the model is to sell data to companies, it may feel to the user that you're telling companies which companies they're interviewing with, etc.

Malic 8y ago

Honestly, if this were to take off, I could see Microsoft/LinkedIn having some acquisition interest.

enahs-sf 8y ago
even if it doesn't, those guys love a good acqihire.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

cik2e 8y ago

SaaS with a strict privacy policy should do it for most customers. You could have varying levels of privacy at different price tiers. E.g. a free tier where some PII is sold and go from there.

redmattred 8y ago

One potential idea is a "pay it forward" model where you're asked to pay for someone else using the service, but only after you have successfully found a job. When a job seeker signs up they would see that their subscription was paid by someone else and it will instantly build goodwill/stickiness for the product. It's generally hard to monetize from job seekers since they don't have an income in many cases, but many would be happy to once they land a job and may even choose to buy a subscription for personal friends/family who are looking for a job. Similarly companies could also pay to buy X # of subscriptions for job seekers to attract people to their jobs and build goodwill/positive employment branding. Could make for a good viral loop, could drum up some great PR, and help a lot of people