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

        How tech can put humanity back in hiring: Interview app brings beta test to Kansas City

        By Tommy Felts | May 27, 2025

        Automation in the hiring process is leaving critical details — and quality, diverse talent — out of the jobs market, said Chelsea Parker, a Kansas City human resources innovator whose new Interview app aims to reconnect recruiters and applicants on a human level.  “Interview is the TikTok of LinkedIn,” said Parker, the HR trendsetter behind creating an…

        Time runs out for Missouri angel investor tax credit push as legislators close session early 

        By Tommy Felts | May 23, 2025

        A last-minute effort to pass legislation to boost Missouri entrepreneurs and innovators was thwarted earlier this month when state lawmakers abruptly ended their legislative session, said Jason Wiens, who led advocacy for the creation of a new Show-Me State angel investor tax credit. Amid “escalating partisan tensions” May 14 — and headline grabbing speculation about how…

        Meat the moment with valor: Veteran cattle rancher deploys co-op model to save the Midwest cowboy

        By Tommy Felts | May 23, 2025

        WESTON, Mo. — Almost a decade after launching KC Cattle Company — his veteran-owned and -operated wagyu beef company — Patrick Montgomery is forging a new path to help fellow ranchers and farmers survive. He’s now digging his spurs into Valor Provisions, a direct-to-consumer online marketplace offering premium proteins from small, independent, veteran-owned ranches like…

        Student-raised meats graduate to university storefront as consumers look closer at what makes the cut

        By Tommy Felts | May 23, 2025

        WARRENSBURG, Mo. — A new partnership puts pork chops, brats and select cuts from across farming projects at the University of Central Missouri in a retail storefront accessible to community members shopping for locally raised meat. UCM Farms — which spans more than 1,000 acres of farm ground within 10 miles of campus — is…