The Humanly Story: AI, Growth, and the CEO's Journey

 

The podcast interview features Prem Kumar, founder and CEO of Humanly, an AI-powered recruiting platform. We delve into Prem's journey, the origins of Humanly, its business model, market positioning, recent funding, and the ethical integration of AI in recruitment.

Prem's inspiration for Humanly stemmed from his personal experience as a job candidate in 2006, where he observed a lack of communication and inconsistent interview processes in high-applicant-volume roles. Later, working at Microsoft's HR Solution delivery team, he recognized that hiring teams lacked the technology to engage with candidates at scale, often only reviewing 5% of applicants. Humanly was founded about five years ago to address this problem, using AI and machine learning to engage, screen, and process high volumes of candidates, ensuring they get to the right talent faster.

Humanly operates on a SaaS product model, targeting mid-sized to enterprise companies with high inbound applications that pay significantly for recruitment marketing but lack engagement tools for the volume they attract. The company focuses on entry to mid-level roles (0-7 years experience) across various industries where applicant volume is high, such as deskless workers or first/second jobs at accounting firms. Humanly aims to automate phone screens and engage 100% of candidates within hours, significantly reducing time to hire from 44 days to about 5 days, thus offering substantial ROI.

Humanly recently closed a $7 million funding round, driven by a strong Q4 and the continued support of its lead investor, Drive. This funding is primarily aimed at scaling its go-to-market team and further developing its product. The team currently comprises 36 people, with product and engineering primarily in Seattle and a deliberate small engineering team in Vietnam, leveraging talent and cost efficiencies.

Prem emphasizes that Humanly's approach to AI in recruiting is about augmenting human intelligence, not replacing it. He believes AI helps recruiters focus on strategic tasks by automating time-consuming ones, ensuring all candidates receive engagement rather than being ignored. The company is "problem-obsessed," using AI ethically and safely to meet user needs, measured by candidate experience ratings and customer retention. Prem also touched on his personal challenge of balancing work and life, managing this by prioritizing a small list of essential tasks weekly and daily

Key Takeaways

1. Obsess over the Problem, Not the Solution: Prem Kumar's inspiration for Humanly stemmed from his personal frustration as a job candidate in 2006, facing a lack of communication and inconsistent interview processes for high-volume roles. He later observed similar systemic issues within Microsoft's HR teams. Prem emphasizes the importance of being "problem-obsessed" rather than solution-obsessed. By deeply understanding a significant, unaddressed pain point in the market—the inability to engage with candidates at scale—Humanly was able to develop an effective AI-powered solution.

2. Validate Your Market and Clearly Demonstrate ROI: Humanly targets mid-sized to enterprise companies with high inbound applications that struggle to engage with the volume of candidates they've attracted. Entrepreneurs should seek out "big enough" and "attainable" markets . Humanly provides a clear return on investment (ROI) by automating initial candidate engagement and screening, significantly reducing the time to hire from 44 days to approximately 5 days. This quantifiable value proposition is crucial for attracting and retaining customers.

3. Integrate Technology Strategically and Ethically: While Humanly relies heavily on AI, Prem stresses that their approach is about augmenting human intelligence, not replacing it. AI automates tasks that recruiters often don't have time for, like engaging with 100% of applicants, allowing human recruiters to focus on more strategic activities and human connection. He also highlights the critical need to deliver AI solutions in a "safe, ethical way" that builds user trust, especially given the public's skepticism towards AI.

4. Foster Strong Investor Relationships and Prioritize Predictability: Humanly's recent $7 million funding round was significantly supported by their lead investor, Drive. Prem advises maintaining a "really strong" relationship with investors, even through challenges, as their understanding of your journey fosters certainty. As the company scales, "predictability is extremely important" across all business aspects—revenue, product development, and support—moving from abstract ideas to solid, measurable plans.

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