Editor’s note: This brief is part of The Starr Conspiracy Intelligence Unit’s industry coverage. Glassdoor is not a client of The Starr Conspiracy and the views expressed here are based on publicly available information, as well as our own industry background.
Last week, company ratings and career site Glassdoor announced it had secured an additional 50 million dollars to expand internationally. Expanding internationally will be a fantastic move for the organization, but the funding more than doubled the money they have already raised ($43M). As The Wall Street Journal notes, this is more than likely a precursor to an IPO:
“We’ve been architected from day one to be a public company at some point,” said Chief Executive Robert Hohman, who co-founded Glassdoor in 2007 with Chairman Richard Barton, the co-founder of Zillow Inc. (now public) and Expedia (which went public and was subsequently acquired by IAC Corp.). “Having a strong stable of crossover investors who will buy into the IPO and hold shares after the IPO is very attractive,” he said.
Another surprising note from the WSJ piece? Glassdoor says they have more job listings than LinkedIn. Even if it is close, that’s a big deal. LinkedIn had their IPO two and a half years ago, and much of their growth has been on the back of their recruiting solutions. In the fight for a next generation career site, Glassdoor has not only momentum on its side, but a unique, hard-to-replicate formula.
Those who think Glassdoor is only a Yelp or TripAdvisor for jobs haven’t looked at the product recently. Not only have they added jobs, but they have added employer profiles and, most importantly (at least for me), analytics to better understand your employer brand. The employer analytics product I was shown earlier this year is still being developed but the wealth of data they sit on is impressive. As talent acquisition leaders become more interested in tracking employer brand efforts (and, yes, they should), the necessity of Glassdoor will become even more vital. For organizations that don’t have budget to do true employer brand awareness research, Glassdoor can offer data that is otherwise difficult and expensive to find.
Advanced investment in any HCM sector is good for the entire industry. This pre-IPO round of funding will encourage more investment in one of the most exciting segments of enterprise technology. The Motley Fool did an interview with Glassdoor CEO Robert Hohman, a portion of which you can find below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4gyODxOth0
