Relationships matter and business execution is more important than technology. These two learnings loom large over the fate of Interview Jet. As of today, Interview Jet has a new owner. The fast-growing and prestigious IT staffing firm, Mitchell Martin, has bought Interview Jet.

We Proved The Model
My team built and tested Interview Jet within a few weeks. We placed two candidates in the first month, while professional recruiters place, on average, 6 people in a year.

Someone Else Could Do This Better
Despite our early success, finding and evaluating candidates requires an expertise in recruiting that our tech team did not have. We were bad at it. Interview Jet has a better chance of success in the hands of an existing recruiting firm with a flow of IT candidates and a proven record of vetting them. We didn’t have to look far to find that recruiting firm: the HR tech incubator called Headhunter Labs that we were working out of is sponsored by Mitchell Martin. They saw our progress and sensed opportunity, so it was an easy proposition.viagra

Luckily, We Know Josh Holtzman & Headhunter Labs
We built Interview Jet while at Headhunter Labs, working closely with its founder, Josh Holtzman. Josh gave us the idea for Interview Jet, watched our progress, and, when we were ready to move on from Interview Jet, he made an offer on behalf of Mitchell Martin to buy the product from us. We reached an agreement within a week.

We Learned Two Lessons
The first lesson is that business execution is everything. Technically speaking, Interview Jet is currently a very simple product. We combined Mailchimp, a very MVP Rails app, and a simple shopping cart to create Interview Jet. Mitchell Martin didn’t buy the technology so much as a promising business model.

The second lesson is the importance of relationships. Josh and I have worked closely since the summer and I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. When it came time to discuss buying Interview Jet, I only had to walk across the room. Working in close proximity is vitally important to cultivating strong relationships.

On To The Next
With a bit more money in the bank, we can wind down ClearGears and return remaining funds to our investors. I’ll have to disband the team – something I resisted – so they can find their next ventures, and so I can move on to my next project. I’m going to work on Power 20 next.