In HRchat episode 646, I welcome back Jeff Wald. Jeff is an entrepreneur, investor, board member, best-selling author, keynote speaker, and co-founder of Memory Lane and Bento Engine. He has started and invested in successful HR tech companies around the globe. Tune in to get his tips for HR tech founders looking to raise capital and grow their businesses.
Questions for Jeff include:
- What are some of the challenges and opportunities when it comes to raising money for HR Tech companies in the current fundraising environment?
- Do HR tech founders need to be domain experts?
- When it comes to seeking investment, how important is it to have more than one founder of an HR tech start-up?
- What are the differences between raising money as a serial entrepreneur versus being a first-time entrepreneur?
- As an angel investor in HR Tech, what are you looking for?
- Have you invested in someone with a terrible idea because you bought into them instead? Are those people employees rather than business partners?
- You wrote your book, The End of Jobs: The Rise of On-Demand Workers and Agile Corporations, on the future of work and how robots and AI will impact jobs, over three years ago; has your view changed on the future of work? If so, how?
- Why do you feel jobs are not as likely to go extinct as many other experts and headlines?
More About Jeff Wald
Jeff began his career in finance, serving as Managing Director at activist hedge fund Barington Capital Group, a Vice President at Israeli venture firm GlenRock, and various roles in the M&A Group at JP Morgan. He is an active angel investor and startup advisor, as well as serving on numerous public and private Boards of Directors.
In addition to WorkMarket, Jeff has founded several technology companies, including Spinback, a social sharing platform.
Jeff is the author of The Birthday Rules and The End of Jobs: The Rise of On-Demand Workers and Agile Corporations. He is also a Producer of the Tony Award Winning Best Musical A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Slava’s Snowshow and the full-length feature Inez & Doug & Kira which has won best picture at various film festivals. Jeff is a regular writer in Huffington Post and Forbes and speaks widely at conferences and on television on startups and labor issues. Jeff was named “One of the 100 Most Influential People in Staffing” by the Staffing Industry Analysts in 2017 & 2018.