4 key takeaways from the Dublin Web Summit 2015
This year again Talentsquare had the opportunity to attend the Web Summit. The event has grown into one of the largest technology conferences in the world. The 2015 edition in Dublin features over 42,000 attendees from 134 countries, including 2,100 startups representing 17 industries.
Talentsquare had been one of the 200 startups selected to pitch at the Web Summit Pitching contest. The pitch session was very crowded and Talentsquare received a large number of votes through Twitter. You can access the blogpost here.
Talentsquare also exhibited for a day as a BETA startup. We were represented by Timoté Geimer (CEO) (@TimoteGeimer), Julien Gossé (@jugosse), Julien Poissonnier (@jpoissonnier) & Camille Levesque (@CamilleLevesqu4).
As a matter of fact, we compiled some insights on what the Web Summit taught us about startup trends, recruiting and overall event management.
1. Startups are really aware of the need to hire faster and better
We visited over 400 startups during the event and tried to understand the business model behind the startups, what is their mission, their vision and how do they plan to manage their evolution.
What we observe and were shocked about was that around 90% of companies we have met do not have recruiting software. Most of them did not even have an email address on their website were interested candidates could send their CV whilst all of them confirmed it was challenging for them to find valuable Talents for their organisation.
We observe that this year plenty of startups had the need to recruit and have the desire to save time on this activity by integrating an ATS. However, they do not want to pay too much for it. This arguments was a key insight for us, and gave us additional energy to develop the best tool for them. We strongly believe that companies should have systems behind to help them hiring occasionally or also doing mass recruitment.
2. The trend is to focus on user-growth
The Web Summit clearly demonstrated us that we are shifting paradigms on the way we build brands and companies. Startups present at the Web Summit showed a great growth and were clearly looking to showcase traction and user growth.
Startups in the BETA programme were in the growth phase and starting to struggle with financial challenges, from cash-flow, lack of resources or weak customers conversion rate.
Startups in the START programme were more established and mostly mentioned that they got advice on pursuing a sustainable revenue model at the same they increase their use base.
The importance of finding a business model is still there, but diluted when compared to the importance of finding user that want your product. It was clear that this year again showcasing user growth is a key metric to attract investors.
3. Belgian entrepreneurial spirit does exist
If there is an event where Talentsquare did feel that there is hope for Belgian and Europe startup ecosystem is the Web Summit. For sure, there were lots of startups based in the US and Europe is still lacking behind in terms of funding available to help companies raise and grow.
In terms of Belgian companies, Startups.be had been very effective enriching a network and enhancing the belgian startups’ credibility. This year Startups.be has gathered fast-growing startups such as Teamleader, HelloCustomer, Datatonic, Airobot, NeoScores, Cloud Ninjas, Conversation Starter, Tsjing, Sportyverse, The Learn Scape, On to Force, ThreeandMore who have the two following assets: a fast user-growth and a well-build business model.
We want to thank Startup.be and all the Belgian delegation for the great job done and all the great moments we shared!
Overall, the Web Summit brought together entrepreneurs from all over the world that are ready to challenge the status quo and bring an era of successful Belgian and European startups to life.
4. Data matters more than ever before
Big data is the buzzword nowadays. Decisions makers rely more and more on data analysis. Yves Loiseau from Textkernel had already talked about the importance of this topic in an interview with us a year ago.
In order to respond to this big data trend, Talentsquare took the bull by the horns by announcing the integration of a HR semantic search engine. This search engine will be the foundation to build a powerful matching system able to automatically find the best candidates for your job offers.
However, Talentsquare does not want to stop there and is working on further key functionalities to help recruiters enhancing their recruitment experience.
