26 January 2010 by Emma
Dom Jackman and Rob Symington are founders of community-based
recruitment website Escape the City, launched tomorrow. Can they
beat the Smarta stopwatch?
0-5 seconds: Sum your business up in a
sentence
Escape the City
provides exciting options for young professionals who want to do
something different.
5-10 seconds: What's the business model?
Our model is community-based. We are building a tribe of
like-minded people who want fulfilling work outside of the
corporate mainstream. The value in this model will come from
connecting talented young professionals with exciting and
innovative organisations that can provide the kind of 'different'
opportunities that we're looking for.
10-15 seconds: Who are your competitors?
There are lots of career change services, job boards, and even
'escape the corporate 9-5' consultants and pro-bloggers out there.
However, we couldn't find anything useful or specific enough that
met our requirements when we were looking to escape our own
corporate jobs to do something different. We've decided to build
that something.
15-20 seconds: What's your USP?
We have two target audiences:
1. Our USP to young professionals is that we're
building a platform specifically to help them solve a pressing
challenge: 'how to find interesting, exciting and fulfilling work
outside of the mainstream?'
2. Our USP to our target organisations is that
we can provide them with introductions to talented young
professionals they might not otherwise be able to reach.
20-25 seconds: How have you funded it so
far?
We're funding it with our savings and some financial backing from
private investors who share our vision of helping young people do
work that allows them to have a positive impact.
25-30 seconds: What were you doing before?
We were both management consultants. Although we enjoyed the work,
we both knew that we wanted to be doing something else with our
lives. The term Imposter Syndrome definitely applied to us ('acting
out the motions in a job that you know isn't right for you').
30-35 seconds: Where did the idea come
from?
The idea came from the dozens of conversations we have had with
other young professionals about their jobs. We realised that a
scary proportion of young people find their corporate jobs
unfulfilling. We think that's a real shame given the impact they
could be having, given the right opportunities - so the idea came
from wanting to solve this problem.
35-40 seconds: What's the smartest thing you've done so
far?
We started our blog way before launching our main website. Without
the blog we would still be two guys with an idea, working on a
website behind the scenes. As it is, we've interacted with 1000s of
people online, created considerable momentum, and developed our
idea in public with feedback from the very people we're designing
it for.
40-45 seconds: What's the stupidest?
Thankfully, we haven't yet done anything really stupid.
Worryingly, this means that all the spectacular blunders are
probably still to come...
Not having our work and data backed up for a while was pretty
stupid. Back in November I left my laptop in a café and went to the
loo. I had to fight the urge to run back to my table with my
trousers round my ankles when I realised how disastrous it would be
if it was stolen!
45-50 seconds: If your business was a biscuit, what would
it be?
A Cadbury's Timeout, because so many people find themselves on a
corporate treadmill without asking themselves why they're doing it
(ourselves included). We want to help people think differently
about their careers and their direction in life.
50-55 seconds: Which idea are you a bit jealous
of?
JustGiving - The perfect business model? Makes loads of
money and is a brilliant vehicle for a lot of 'doing good'. What
more could you want from a business?
55-60 seconds: Where are you going to be in 12 months'
time?
Living the lifestyle of our dreams helping other people live the
lifestyle of their dreams? Over 20,000 members and a
revenue-generating job board filled with the most exciting
opportunities on the web.