FlashCast By PDB, With Phil Di Bella

FlashCast Ep240 GETAHEAD
[00:00:00] PHIL: Hi, you're listening to Phil Di Bella and this is FlashCast by PDB. And today I wanna talk about startups and, um, new businesses. And in particular, I've got, um, Sam from Get Ahead, who's kicking some massive goals. Sam, welcome to the. Thanks, Phil. What I wanna cover in the next 10 years using Get Ahead as a great example, is there's a lot of listeners that say, you know, how do I start a business?
[00:00:32] Uh, how do I go from concept to prelim to then execution? How do I get the right investors if you're looking for investors, et cetera. And I thought Get Ahead is, is is fantastic. I know so much about it. Obviously being in a one of, um, the early investors and, and mentoring you and working with you. And you're kicking so many goals.
[00:00:48] So I thought the listeners, uh, would be able to get a lot out of this, but using Get Ahead as the example. So first tell me in 10 minutes, so we keep it to 10 minutes. So we'll keep everything nice and concise. But, um, Sam, talk me through the concept first. So in 60 seconds, tell us about, get ahead so the listeners get an
[00:01:03] SAM: understanding.
[00:01:04] Exactly, so get ahead is Tinder for jobs is probably the easiest way to explain it. We match job seekers with companies and companies with job seekers based on their preferences, what they're looking for in a job and their experience. Um, you simply swipe left or right through the jobs or the job seeker, you match on the platform.
[00:01:21] You can also video interview on the platform. It's just a fast, transparent way to find jobs or job seekers that fit what you're looking. . So
[00:01:28] PHIL: of course it's for both employers. Mm-hmm. in, um, the fast retail market. Yep. So ho obviously hospitality, tradespeople, um, retail staff, anyone looking for that sort of stuff, and employers to post their jobs.
[00:01:40] Mm-hmm. and what's the cost for them? Nothing at this point. So completely free for that. So employers, zero risk, it adds obviously to their strategy to be able to promote their business. Yep. And we'll get into the template in a minute about problem solving and relevance. Mm-hmm . And on the other side, the employees target audience
[00:01:54] SAM: there.
[00:01:55] Uh, so employees, uh, are young school leavers, job seekers, retail, hospitality, trades, like you said, anyone looking for a job, really, especially people that hate writing resumes. There's no resumes involved. It's a digital profile. It's very, uh, Fluid, transparent and, and fun to create, to be honest. So it's, it's a fun young platform, um, for people looking for,
[00:02:17] PHIL: and it's all about speed, obviously speed, so low cost, speed, uh, and obviously very fast to do.
[00:02:22] Now, tell me the AI is, is where all the brains work. Obviously, the better you put the info, uh, the better the AI will match people. But the AI does all the work for people,
[00:02:30] SAM: right? Exactly. So when you create your profile, you'll set what you're looking for in a company. So it might be a, a dog friendly environment, it might be.
[00:02:38] You know you're available Friday, Saturday, Sundays, what, what you're looking for, women's ceo, anything like that. What our AI does on the backend is creates a code about you as a job seeker and a code about the company, and it will match you. So on the front end, all you have to do is literally swipe left or right, and we are on the back end making sure that you're connecting with jobs that fit your personality and what you're
[00:02:58] PHIL: looking for.
[00:02:58] Right? So if you're looking to employ or you're looking for a job or to upgrade your job, how do they get.
[00:03:03] SAM: Head to the up store and search for,
[00:03:05] PHIL: get ahead and go away. Now let's start from problems, relevance, and startups, right? Mm-hmm. . So obviously, talk us through the idea and what problem it solved Yep. At, at your concept
[00:03:16] SAM: stage.
[00:03:17] Yep. So initially it started out with me hating the, the job seek and process. Um, I hated having to write cover letters for every job that I applied for. I hated not hearing anything for, from jobs having to go. You know, 10 step applications or three interviews to not even know what the salary was on offer.
[00:03:35] I just found it an incredibly long, painful process. Um, so I saw a problem there. I'm, I'm a designer myself, um, by trade. So I actually went and just started designing the app of what I thought would be a dream job process, saw a. Gap in the market, particularly in hospitality, retail, those faster hiring industries, that there was nothing out there that was really solving that problem.
[00:03:59] I guess We established the problem first. We created the, the product that we believe would fix that problem, and then we reached out to people that had the networks and the connections in place for us to help accelerate that growth and, and basically cement. The issue that we had in place and come up with the solutions.
[00:04:16] Now you
[00:04:17] PHIL: see that for the listeners, those of you that are starting a business or wanna start a business or have started, you see how Sam talked about solving a problem first, then building a product that solves that problem, then surrounding himself with the right people Talk. Me through the funding side because one thing I'm sick of hearing is all these people that I'm going out to raise capital.
[00:04:34] Mm-hmm. , I'm gonna go raise money, I'm gonna do this. And it comes from somebody who started a coffee company in 2002 with $5,000 and exited for a 60 million package 15 years later without raising any capital. Yeah. From anyone, but except blood, sweat, and tears. Talk me through the capital raise side
[00:04:49] SAM: of it.
[00:04:50] Yep. So the first thing I did was actually sell everything I had, uh, even sold my car. I moved home and my parents for the first few months, I, I literal. Put my back against the wall and set myself up to succeed for, well, not succeed, but to be able to survive, um, for the first 12 months. So I did everything I could to make sure, you know, I had no distractions.
[00:05:11] I, I quit my job, sold everything I had, and, and basically committed. Solely and entirely to succeed in this project or put in everything into it that I possibly could. That was my first step. I got as far as I could with that until we started to get a little bit of traction. Can
[00:05:26] PHIL: you back yourself and put your own money in?
[00:05:27] Which is a great lesson for some people.
[00:05:29] SAM: Yep. And then started at that point, um, got as far as we could with the product. Saw that the problem was a massive problem and that the market was significantly huge as well. And basically reverse engineered that. So we worked out. In, in order for us to actually get this product to the people that we're trying to help, we need X amount of dollars.
[00:05:48] The next step from that was, okay, there's a lot of dollars out there. How can we bring in dollars that will also benefit the company from a speed of growth factor? So people that could benefit with doors open, um, opening doors, um, introductions, businesses, and basically getting the ball rolling. So that, that's what we did.
[00:06:08] Um, I went out, got a couple of investors on. Bought some capital to the table and basically, you know, put a bit of security behind the concept, um, and gave us the, the opportunity to grow and accelerate the products and get us into market. So you see that
[00:06:22] PHIL: funding part, Sam firstly backed himself. He put his own money in showing proof of, um, support and concept, not gambling with other people's money first, but his own money.
[00:06:31] He. chose the right people to choose, which I talk about being a functional investor. Mm-hmm. . So find functional investors that can add value, not somebody that's gonna tip in money and then wanna return straight away cuz it's not gonna happen. Mm-hmm. , especially where most businesses will fail. That's the reality of it.
[00:06:46] Yep. And the P period of making money is five to 10 years. Um, so you don't want people that wanna return straight away. So Sam went out and chose functional investors. And then the last part that you see touch on that Sam took enough money to do what he needed to do. He still ran the lean business.
[00:07:01] Mm-hmm. . Now, unfortunately, I see a lot of people out there wasting money and I've unfortunately myself invested in some people that, um, had a great start. And then fall over because they just wanna waste money. And I find that it's because of two things. One, they don't have enough skin in the game themselves.
[00:07:14] Two, they don't have functional investors around them. Um, so these are two things that Sam's done extremely well and the messages are very clear for our listeners using Sam and get ahead in how they've achieved. So, Talk us through the last week. You've had amazing exposure in Australia, Forbes Magazine.
[00:07:30] Today's show, Apple's about to do a feature. Obviously not only a byproduct of what happens when you get everything right and build a brand, but why are these people so engaged with Get
[00:07:38] SAM: Ahead. . Yeah. I, I think it really comes down to the brand and, and the audience and the product that we've got and the fit that it has to that audience.
[00:07:46] The young job seekers are, have really flooded into it and, and also middle-aged and older, actually. It depends really on where we market the product. Um, but we've had a huge uptake from particularly our social marketing. So TikTok mainly, um, Instagram and, and job seekers just gelling so easily to the platform and having to create digital profiles and that creativity, I think.
[00:08:08] Well, I, I'm, I'm blown away with the creativity that the younger audience have on their own social platforms and social networks, so it's been a really smooth transition for them. From that, we've managed to grow quite quickly, organically. We've attracted Nike, Samsung, uh, Wyndham, hotel groups, obviously Coffee Commune, um, some really exciting brands.
[00:08:27] And from that we've, we've been very fortunate to get some great press. Um, like you said, last week we had today's show, career Mail, Forbes. Yeah, apple coming up this week. So it's been really exciting and, and good times. And yeah, we've just gotta keep the, the pedal down and the foot on the gas and, and keep growing from
[00:08:45] PHIL: here.
[00:08:45] And as I said, um, it's now, um, getting the exposure is one thing now. It's about what you do and, and, and, um, executing and getting the numbers on, which is the exciting part of the journey. And yeah, Sam, no doubt, get ahead. It's gonna be amazing. So in summary, guys, you've heard from a very successful, um, startup who's now on his way.
[00:09:01] Um, obviously a lot of work to do, but you see the steps. Solve a problem, be relevant to the market, build your product, surround yourself with the right people. Find functional investors if you need investors. And then get your marketing. Get your storytelling. You're engaging, right? And then go hard and execute.
[00:09:16] Sam, thanks for being on the show. Deep end. Jump in the deep end, my friend. That's correct. Um, thanks for being part of it, and I wish you all. Best success for Get Ahead. And again, if um, you wanna know more about Get Ahead, you can Google it and see the stories, but you can also download it at your app. So whether you're looking for employment, wanna look for future employment, your children are looking for employment.
[00:09:34] The parameters you're setting are amazing. The problem solves is amazing. But again, a great business case study on how to build your own business if you're looking at starting your own company. Until next time. You've just heard from Sam McNamara. I'm Phil Di Bella. Go be the best you can be. Thanks, Phil.