Yuduyu, the Next-Gen Resume and Recruitment Platform

83% of employers say they have trouble finding candidates, yet over 2 billion job seekers are overlooked or underutilized. The culprit is the 538-year old resume: science says it’s inherently biased and not predictive of performance, affecting employers’ efficiency, productivity and retention.

Yuduyu’s Next-Gen Resume combines cutting-edge behavioral science with machine learning to map a job seeker’s aptitudes, traits, and values, then are transformed into data visualizations of potential - for free. For the first time, job seekers will use their mobile phones to gain deep insights into their value, careers that fit, and relevant educational programs yet retain ownership of their data.

Our pioneering Next-Gen Resume fits seamlessly into our Next-Gen Recruiting platform, providing the world with revolutionary tools to conquer the Future of Work. Yuduyu will make hiring faster, cheaper, and more efficient while creating entirely new data sets to advance scientific research and empowering underrepresented groups.

While 83% of employers say they can’t find talent, 2 billion people are underutilized or overlooked. Despite technological advancements, increased humanitarianism, and inclusivity efforts, countries are ignoring up to 50% of their human capital.

The disconnect between employers and job seekers is profound: we have an evolutionary need to feel valued and productive in our communities, so under- or unemployment results in emotional, mental, physical, and financial vulnerability. The more underutilized human capital a community has, the more economic instability, inequality, violence, and conflict it has.

The roots of this disconnect are in our 100-year old educational system and the 540-year old resume, both insufficient for the Future of Work. Roles are morphing at light speed, yet educational systems have barely budged. The half-life of a professional skill sank from 10-15 years to just five years because of technological advancements. Employers are hiring for previously non-existent jobs while using a traditional education as a measure of potential. 

Worse yet, scientists say, is using the inherently biased resume for hiring. They say it cannot predict performance and gives no clear indicators of talentand potential, yet is the basis of every single recruitment application and platform in the world today.

At launch, Yuduyu will target 45 million Americans between 15 and 25 years old of which 45% are unemployed and 17% are neither working nor enrolled in school. Of the 20 million students that enter college each year, 54% drop out the following year because of financing issues. Over half of graduates regret their educational choices. This group is a microcosm of over 2 billion people whose core challenge is identifying, developing, and showcasing their potential.

To connect these people with the careers and companies that fit authentically, Yuduyu must likewise resolve employers’ frustrations. Today 93% of CEOs want to change how and where they find talent, but report weak recruitment technology. Despite companies claiming to be “data-driven”, 70% of employers don’t use data when considering candidates.

We will also provide digital tools to the middlemen - education and training providers. Universities and colleges are losing students to more practical programs. Training programs cannot address employers’ increasing demands for the things that automation cannot do, e.g. excellent communication, critical thinking, and writing skills.

Yuduyu will provide the world with the first personalized, transparent, and fully digital recruitment platform built for the Future of Work.

Yuduyu’s pioneering new recruitment ecosystem begins with job seekers downloading our Next-Gen Resume application to their mobile, the gateway to our free assessments of natural aptitudes, traits, and values.

The assessment market today is unfortunately comprised primarily of tests either half-a-century old, or ones not developed by expert industrial-organizational scientists. High-quality tests are expensive and not experiential nor accessible by mobile phones, meaning this valuable science is not being optimized. 

Assessing capabilities before education or training increases the probability of fit and success up to 80%, so democratizing scientifically valid assessment testing through mobile applications will have a revolutionary impact. Once a job seeker completes their Yuduyu profile, they instantly discover the careers that suit them authentically. Our digital career journey maps integrate seamlessly with hyper-personalized education and training feeds, displaying timelines, milestones, and employer-vetted learning organizations customized to each user. 

A plethora of educational products exist, but for those facing economic challenges, chronic low self-confidence inhibits their motivation. To inspire and increase engagement, we are as enthusiastically design-led as we are efficiency-driven. Think of us as a mashup of Linkedin, 23&Me, and Instagram.

Employers access the Next-Gen Resumes exclusively on our Next-Gen Recruitment platform. Today employers write, post, and spray job ads everywhere, corralling thousands of applications into the (biased) resume parser that tells them who to interview, short-circuiting valuable talent. At Yuduyu, recruiters simply enter the title of the role, then we match them with pre-qualified candidates with the talents and traits that fit. Conquering the Future of Work means employers must overhaul how they perceive potential in order to create an agile and mutable workforce. Yuduyu is an affordable, all-in-one solution that aggregates data-driven tools to give a truly holistic view of the human behind the resume. Our platform not only makes recruitment 61-83% faster, but it is a stand-out leader in reducing bias in the hiring process. 

Yuduyu prioritizes privacy, enabling users to own their meta-cognitive data for the very first time. We will never sell their data, however, at the last step in our ecosystem they can choose to contribute their anonymized data to our game-changing research with leading scientists. Data on this scale, ethically collected, will exponentially advance behavioral, educational, and labor market research, providing a catalyst for the economic empowerment of underrepresented groups. 

Simply, you do you and we take care of the rest.

The first reason Yuduyu exemplifies innovation is that it is disrupting the very secretive monopoly of pre-hire assessment test providers. Today this market is comprised primarily of tests from the 1950-60s, or ones developed by non-professionals (individuals without a doctorate in industrial-organizational psychology and an expertise in psychometrics). There is a trend in HR Tech towards assessments based on neuroscience, but these companies are under increased scrutiny due to the lack of expertise and methodology. Additionally, there are no scientifically valid assessment tests that are design-led, mobile applications.

Additionally, the HR Tech industry is defined by many "one-trick ponies" (niche tools that have limited use cases) and its lack of modernity in user experience and user interface. A quick look at recruitment platforms is proof that there has been little evolution visually since LinkedIn's launch. Interestingly, only 13% of Generation Z is on LinkedIn because of the difficulty they have with the interface.

Yuduyu consolidates the most important recruiting tools into one platform while replacing the written resume with data visualizations of potential. This results in a faster, cheaper, and more efficient process for both job seekers and employers. Our innovative and ethical data collection will then be used in research to advance inclusivity and economic empowerment.

The purpose of Yuduyu is to economically empower underrepresented groups, increasing their financial and emotional fulfillment, bringing increased stability to their communities.

The Future of Work is dramatically impacting careers, jobs, and educational systems, leaving most people worried about how they will cope with the changes. Employers say they cannot find the talent they need, but 2+ billion people are overlooked or underutilized. Education and training organizations are morphing and blooming, only to make people more confused about which opportunities would suit them.

Employers still use the 538-year old resume to identify talent and potential, despite scientists emphasizing that they are not predictive of performance. Job seekers don't want to even fill out applications anymore.

Science says self-awareness of one’s strengths and abilities is the key to success, allowing us to make good choices about education and careers, yet there are no inexpensive, quick, and reliable means to discover one's potential.

By combining the value of assessment tests and the speed of machine-learning with a design-led recruitment platform, Yuduyu will attract and retain users better than any of its competitors, resolving many of their education and employment issues. 

Ethically collecting the data of these self-discovery and decision-making journeys on a global level will fuel Yuduyu's behavioral science research. We will then be able to provide organizations and governments with not only statistics, but unbiased and accurate predictive models to ensure optimal economic development in cities, regions, and nations.

We are launching in October 2020 with a beta planned for August and September. Currently we are developing the MVP and an extensive pre-launch campaign in order to have a very strong start.

Based on launches of similar products of similar value in the recent past, plus the varied expertise of our team, we estimate that within the first year we will be serving one million users. Similarly, assumptions show that with in five years we could easily have six million users. 

Our goal is to test and refine the product in English-speaking countries (North America, UK, Ireland, Australia, etc.) as quickly as possible, then expand. 

Since there are only approximately 200 I/O psychology scientist practitioners in the world that are able to create assessments valid for research and the vast majority are in the US, we must begin here. 

Before expanding to Germany and France, we will need to perform research and development on localizing Yuduyu's assessments to these cultures. This can be performed in collaboration with universities in those countries. With the considerable immigrant communities in these countries, it will be an ideal situation to test Yuduyu before expanding the Africa and Asia.

Once we have refined the English version, we hope to test in English-speaking African countries on a micro-level in collaboration with aid organizations and startups such as Andela. Once we have a French version, we could do the same for French-speaking African countries. However, we would need to be very careful that we collaborate with experts (such as at universities) to adjust any test content for cultural differences. 

No tech product that we know of has attempted to create design-led mobile applications with scientifically valid assessment tests on this scale. Much of the above depends on funding and collaborations with aid organizations and governments. Cambridge University told our team that the data we obtain will be incredibly valuable not just to job seekers, employers, and educators, but to the scientific world.

The primary barriers are financial. The reality is that raising funding as a female founder is extremely challenging and the wait has been long. After the launch in October, we aim to raise at least $3 million dollars in the spring of 2021. We hope to avoid raising excessive venture capital as we have five revenue streams and the possibility of social impact grants.

Our founder is a native San Franciscan and has an extensive network there, as well as many Yuduyu team members are from leading tech companies. With traction, we hope that funding will be less of a barrier.

The legal issues around recruitment exist, but our legal advisor is a partner at a high-profile law firm in Silicon Valley, so we feel that we are in good hands.

Localization issues will exist but there are many experts on that in the world. There are few experts in assessment testing with localization expertise, but considering the enthusiasm of I/O psychologists that we speak to, we believe that many professionals will be excited to work with us.

Market barriers will be numerous in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Naturally consulting experts along our journey would prepare us for expansion to these countries. 

Normally scaling teams is the most difficult part of growing a startup, next to raising funding and obtaining traction. We hope that with our tenacity and dedication to building an outstanding product we will continue to attract exceptional talent to guide us through the challenges.

The solutions to these barriers are already listed in the previous question.

Yuduyu will launch its beta in the US and Canada in August and September with the launch in mid-October. 

Based on the team's experience, it is likely that English-speaking countries will quickly discover Yuduyu's usefulness. We will target the UK within the first year, potentially allowing Australian users to find us quickly.

In Year 2, we will target France and Germany, which from our professional experience, means that we could find significant downloads in the Netherlands.

In Year 3 we will target Japan as they have considerable employment and education issues to tackle and Japan and Korea are good ports of entry to Asia. 

We performed four years of research in Europe and the US in six languages to explore the individual job markets, educational systems, and economic issues. We also speak significant time meeting immigrants from countries such as Syria, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Taiwan, and various African countries. 

It was very clear that despite considerable differences between job seeking and employers in these countries, they share many commonalities. We believe that the human's evolutionary needs, psychology, and experiences are the same, even if the culture and language is vastly different. Interestingly, job seeker and employer pain points did not differ much, either.

Because our founder has lived in eight countries and speaks seven languages (five fluently) she has an excellent grasp on market opportunities. In addition, her professional career has been with leaders of high-profile multinational companies, so she has significant experience in localization and international business development.

After launching in North America, it would be most natural to open the app to the UK. We would follow this with Germany and France, where our founder lived for decades. A social impact outsourcing company in the Philippines has asked us to launch there or at least allow them to license the product within our first year, so we will explore that, too.

Full-time staff: Founder/CEO

Part-time staff: three interns

Contractors:

• an industrial-organizational psychology scientist-practitioner
• a junior industrial-organizational psychologist
• a tech lead/data science specialist
• two software engineers
• a creative director

Advisors (10-20 hours per month):

• Product & Design Advisor (20 years of experience at leading tech companies)
• Scientific Advisor:  industrial-organizational psychology scientist-practitioner (17 years of experience)
• Marketing & Communications Advisor (25 years experience with leading tech and entertainment brands)
• HR Tech Advisor (20 years of experience with market leaders)
• Corporate Strategy Advisor (35+ years experience as C-Suite in tech and telecom)

Our founder, Kristina Svensson-Piavent, has spent over 20 years working for high-profile entrepreneurs, executives, and multinational companies, primarily in operations, marketing, and communications. She has Swedish and American citizenship, has lived in eight countries, and speaks seven languages (five fluently). 

As she did not have the opportunity to go to college, she faced challenges being recognized for her unique talents, grit, and work ethic. Kristina always had a fascination with assessment tests and after her first startup failed, she explored the connection between our evolutionary needs, careers, education, and the Future of Work. She spent four years in Europe and the United States interviewing students, job seekers, employers, and HR experts in addition to intensively researching those subject matters. She sought pre-seed funding in Berlin, Germany, but when she realized that Yuduyu was too early for Germany, she moved back to the US with the sole purpose of finally building the Next-Gen Resume and Recruitment platform. 

Once she arrived, Kristina quickly onboarded expert advisors in Product, Design, assessment testing, HR Tech, Marketing, and Communications. While raising her two daughters on her own, she worked seven days a week on freelancing and Yuduyu. It was incredibly  difficult not to give up due to her financial situation and exhaustion, but her advisors and team pushed her to keep going, saying it was just a matter of time.

According to many scientifically valid assessments, Kristina is in the top percentile of visionary thinking, systems thinking, openness, conscientiousness, achievement-striving, and adaptability. 

We are not currently working with any organizations because we do not yet have a beta for them. We have spoken to community organizations and US Aid, plus numerous companies around the world who are fascinated and keen to collaborate, but we need to wait a couple more months to develop strategies with them.

At the top, we are a B2C organization aiming to serve over 2 billion job seekers around the world. Our product is a Freemium model, allowing them to access the core tools at no cost. They will discover their untapped talents to driving their career development and job placement, in turn creating our proprietary data sets. The premium levels will launch after about one year of operations and will be low-cost coaching sessions.

Yuduyu is also a B2B company offering SaaS "Next-Gen Recruiter" subscriptions to the 200 million employers in the world. They will have exclusive access to the database of our pre-qualified candidates and their Next-Gen Resumes, as well as other recruitment and employer branding tools. ($129 to $1000 per seat).

Our  B2B services will also extend to the world's estimated 20,000 education and training providers through our Affiliate Marketing program. Our hyper-personalized education, training, and self-development feeds will bring us commissions of 30-50% (industry standard).

Lastly, we will have B2G revenue from three streams: 1) a license to our "Next-Gen Recruiter" platform; 2) a license to use our Career Journey Map for US government employees (proposed by a former member of Obama's White House team); 3) research papers based on our proprietary data points for economic development of a city, region, or nation (e.g. the US spent $16 billion on unemployment programs in 2017). 

Yuduyu is raising $600,000 from angel investors in the next two months and closing on approximately $300,000 at the moment. We are also applying for small grants from social impact organizations, as well as entering startup and social impact competitions.

Based on market research and expert opinions, we can generate revenue from our business model immediately after launch (October 2020). However, in order to scale quickly and onboard the necessary team members to ensure a quality product, we will need venture capital and large grants from social impact foundations and organizations. We have fully researched our competitors and related tech products and are absolutely confident that we can raise significant amounts of funding.

Our revenue model is listed in the previous question. We have three-year financial projections available, if required.

We are applying to the Digital Workforce Challenge because, firstly, validation by your organizations would be a great reward for our team after years of hard work, as well as the recognition would augment our passion and determination.

Receiving a financial award would definitely assist us in building our our pre-launch campaign and product faster. Mentoring sessions and access to media opportunities would also be extremely beneficial.

We would be thrilled to get feedback and suggestions from the competition judges, ServiceNow, and the Solve team. Clearly they are all experts in their domains and we would be grateful for the chance to speak to them.

Lastly, we would be grateful for any opportunity to meet and discuss Yuduyu with individuals or groups from MIT, also in order to ensure that Yuduyu grows quickly to assist more people, faster.

We are big fans of the MIT Media Lab and as we are determined to combining high standards of design, science, and technology, we would be very excited to speak to interdisciplinary experts or teams there. 

From a philanthropic perspective, we have spoken to a few people at US Aid, but we are too early for the moment. We think that Yuduyu could interest the Omidyar Network. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, and many more in that sector.

Although Yuduyu will assist all sizes of companies find their diamonds-in-the-rough, developing partnerships with multinational corporation who recruit thousands of entry-level employees each year would be very beneficial at the the beginning in particular.

Yuduyu looks forward to collaborating with small local organizations that assist low-income families, returning citizens, the homeless, immigrants, refugees, and the like, giving us immediate feedback on our product and how to continually improve.

Finally, we are actively beginning partnerships with high schools and colleges in the Washington DC area in order to help young people navigate the educational and career opportunities that await them.