Proven got its start several years ago with two Stanford grads, Pablo Fuentes (now CEO) and Sean Falconer (now CTO).
Proven provides a much-needed mobile platform and set of tools that are designed to support local service workers in managing their employment. The idea, as TechCrunch reported in mid-2013: “Proven lets the un-LinkedIn apply for entry-level jobs from mobile.”
So some things have changed, but some things have not, like the vision to serve underserved work markets where workers have long lacked the right job-finding tools and where — with better tools — both the workers and the small businesses can benefit.
Doing It
Proven offers a fully mobile solution that enables service workers and businesses to leverage established work/hiring marketplaces like Craigslist, Indeed and Beyond that do serve local services markets, but with limitations. And it increasingly supports the throngs of local service establishments (that may have had their sales needs met by platforms like Yelp, but not yet their unique workforce hiring needs).
Proven is also doing other things right as a business and workforce intermediary.
Proven has always had a significant focus on serving the “worker side of the platform.” The world of service work is not an easy one — it’s frenetic, based on part-time and often dynamically scheduled gigs. A service worker is often on the move, and — to make a living — cannot waste time. Frequently, a service worker’s only online access to jobs is via a mobile device. So Proven has designed a mobile-centric worker-hiring platform with all of this in mind — a platform (set of tools and access to relevant job opportunities) which makes it easy for service workers to stay engaged in their work, efficiently and according to their preferences.
Proven has also been ramping up its support of the employer side, with an upgrade of platform functionality expanding and enhancing mobile access, tools and convenience for the employers.
The Buzz
New staffing intermediaries like Proven are proving a number of things. The right market with focus on specific segment value creation, can do some pretty amazing things, serve some pretty tough markets and show that staffing models are evolving with the changes in the economy and the application of technology, intelligence and imagination.
