From $0 to $225M in 7 Years: Fountain's Journey Empowering Hourly Workers

Join Sean Behr, CEO of Fountain, as he shares his inspiring story of building a company that has helped over 3.5 million people get jobs worldwide and raised $225M in venture capital.

1. Fountain is a startup that has helped 3.5 million people get a job last year.
2. The company focuses on hiring hourly workers, an underserved segment by technology.
3. Fountain has 225 employees (Fountaineers) worldwide.
4. CEO Sean Behr built three successful startups by constantly taking action and being okay with rejection.
5. It takes resilience and grit to get to the one "Yes" after hearing 99 "Nos."
6. Fountain's technology is designed for non-knowledge workers, filling a gap in HR tech.
7. The company has experienced rapid growth, with customers hiring almost 3.5 million people last year.
8. In the past 18 months, Fountain raised $185 million to invest in technology that makes a difference for frontline workers and their businesses.
9. Co-founder Keith's frustration with technology led him to create a self-learning educational platform called Onvard in college.
10. While working on Onvard, small business owners approached Keith asking for features that could help them assign, track, and manage employee training curriculums.
11. After graduating, Keith moved to San Francisco with $5,000 from his parents to sell the product he had been developing in college.
12. The initial target market was small businesses, but Fountain eventually pivoted to focus on applicant tracking for high volume, high velocity hiring after identifying a pain point in this area.
13. Initially, fundraising was challenging due to the founders' young age and non-Ivy League backgrounds.
14. Fountain's first angel investor, Sean, saw potential in the team and their approach to solving real-world problems for businesses with hourly workers.
15. The company has experienced different challenges at various stages of growth, from acquiring the first 100,000 customers to reaching 1 million, then 10 million users.
16. Fountain's transition from focusing on startups to enterprise clients required a change in skill sets and leadership, leading to Sean Behr becoming CEO.
17. Under Sean's leadership, the company has expanded to serve customers outside of the US, where a majority of blue-collar workers reside.
18. Fountain's growth during COVID was driven by increased demand for delivery drivers and warehouse workers in logistics and transportation businesses.
19. To excel as a CEO, understanding the technology, how it interacts with partners, vendors, and customers is crucial.
20. The CEO's primary job is ensuring the company has enough money in the bank.
21. Fundraising may become more challenging in the next 18 to 24 months due to changes in capital markets and macroeconomic environments.
22. Fountain aspires to be a global public company, making software that opens opportunities for the global workforce.
23. Opening opportunities for the global workforce is a worthy, profitable endeavor.
24. The journey toward becoming a global public company will take time, but it's a worthwhile pursuit.

Source: EO via YouTube

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