New Recruit self-service event staffing platform puts KC’s PopBookings in the big game

February 18, 2019  |  Austin Barnes

Erika Klotz and Scott Hansen, Recruit PopBookings

While the Kansas City Chiefs might have narrowly missed their shot at the 2019 Super Bowl, the city was well represented as a source for event staffing at the game, revealed Erika Klotz, noting the power of Recruit, a new product from KC-based PopBookings.

A client used the self-service platform to book 288 shifts for the event, the PopBookings co-founder told Startland ahead of Recruit’s national debut and official launch this week.

PopBookings By the Numbers

Founded: 2014
Founders: Erika Klotz and Scott Hanson
Number of employees: 20
Capital raised to date: Just under $5 million

Designed with the unique needs of startups in mind, Recruit is a marketplace tool that allows companies to book talent — using a format similar to service booking platforms such as Airbnb, said Klotz, CEO of PopBookings.

“We saw a market that was extremely fragmented and we wanted to start with the most painful problem,” she said of the development process for Recruit. “Helping [companies] streamline that process was a big step toward that.”

Recruit’s tailor-made setup helps smaller scale startups and legacy companies find and recruit talent without paying a monthly fee, Klotz noted.

“It’s completely self service. You can create a job, post it for free, and pay only when you book someone,” she said.

Recruit also offers companies a nationwide talent pool with expansion into Canada, she added.

Click here to explore using Recruit.

With the launch of Recruit, PopBookings will — for the first time since it was founded by Klotz and Scott Hanson — explore new territory, Klotz said.

“We’ve been kind of a one product company — more of a management tool like Quickbooks — where you can manage your event staffing efforts,” she said. “[Recruit] is really good for kind of a broader market need where event staffing really isn’t the core of your business, but it might be a need of of your business.”

Recruit has emerged at a time of increased momentum for PopBookings, Klotz said.

It has helped connect more than 200,000 users in 8,600 cities with $23 million worth of jobs since March 2016, she said.

Such metropolitan areas as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago continue to be top markets for Pop Bookings, but the event staffing space holds wide appeal as tourism grows nationwide, Klotz said.

“We feel very confident that any company, in any city, needing staff — they can find it!” she said.

startland-tip-jar

TIP JAR

Did you enjoy this post? Show your support by becoming a member or buying us a coffee.

Tagged , , ,
Featured Business
    Featured Founder

      2019 Startups to Watch

        stats here

        Related Posts on Startland News

        Kauffman Foundation revises funding priorities to three key areas, sharing first public details of its new strategic focus

        By Tommy Felts | April 30, 2024

        A refreshed vision for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation aims to make Kansas City a national model for equitable economic mobility, dismantling systemic barriers and setting generations of historically under-resourced communities on the path to prosperity, according to just-released details from the influential organization. Updates to the Kauffman Foundation’s strategy come after the summer 2023…

        Jeff Rohr, SquareOffs

        MTC hits $50M investment milestone through its state-sponsored venture capital program

        By Tommy Felts | April 30, 2024

        JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri — A Show-Me State program launched a decade ago to drive economic development in Missouri and support tech founders has surpassed $50 million in equity-based investments for nearly 160 Missouri-based technology startups. The Missouri Technology Corporation announced the milestone Tuesday, lauding its Innovation, Development, and Entrepreneurial Advancement (IDEA) Fund for impact that…

        Closing the funding and resource gap for women-owned businesses 

        By Tommy Felts | April 29, 2024

        Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. Latasha Randle is a Strategy & Small Business Program Manager at Block Advisors by H&R Block, which was founded in Kansas City and boasts its headquarters in downtown KC.  Small businesses are the foundation of a flourishing economy. Every business, big or small,…

        How Independence’s new speakeasy vibes tie into the ‘goats and rabbits’ of Kansas City’s past

        By Tommy Felts | April 27, 2024

        Revitalization efforts needn’t overwrite history, said Bree and Travis Gensler, whose new venture in downtown Independence aims to infuse spirits of 2024 into the historic square without losing memories of the area’s storied past. Their latest pour: The Sentinel Room. Four years ago, the couple purchased a building on Lexington Avenue that contains three commercial…