As March melts away and the beginning of Q2 rapidly approaches, companies have the unique opportunity to reflect on the current trajectory of their annual goals. Leadership teams display ambitious hiring campaigns, revenue reports and company expansion plans ripe for analysis across tables and white boards. For many New York tech companies, though, it’s not a question of “will we hit our goal?” It’s a question of, “by how much?”
For e-commerce platform Obsess, that means at least doubling the size of their current team as they transport retail companies into the metaverse — and they’ve already made impressive strides. In 2021, mobile app Fetch Rewards’ annual retail sales rivalved the nation’s seventh largest retailer, and this year they’re successfully channeling that growth into the expansion of in-app capabilities as well as internal teams. And after a successful Series C fundraising round, leaders at YieldStreet are ready to hire across every department, sourcing diverse talent with backgrounds ranging from tech to Wall Street.
Built In NYC sat down with professionals at six companies garnering attention for their ambitious growth to learn what’s fueling their efforts and why any active job seeker should take notice.
Considering a new role in tech? YieldStreet’s CEO Milind Mehere echoed it best: “After more than 35 years in law, our general counsel was quoted saying, ‘This is by far the best job of my career.’”
How much will your team grow over the next 12 months?
Obsess, as a whole, will double in size in 2022. I specifically oversee the Store Experience team, which includes all individuals who work together to bring our virtual stores to life. We are looking to almost triple this team in 2022, hiring across all departments from 3D design and client success to content and data. In each of these teams, we are looking for a variety of skill levels from entry to manager.
What’s fueling your current growth?
Interest in the metaverse has increased exponentially over the past few months, and with that comes more brands wanting to take their first step into the space. Our platform provides a natural entry point for brands to interact with their customers in the metaverse, so it is a logical extension of their current digital experience.
With more brands coming on board, we need a larger team to help execute on building these stores. Plus, with the conversations around the metaverse just getting started, we do not see this growth slowing down any time soon — we will continue to increase as more and more brands develop their metaverse strategies.
It’s rewarding to make an impact on an entire industry and change the way brands and consumers think about virtual stores.”
What sets Obsess apart for potential applicants?
We are a fast-paced startup full of amazing team members who work hard, build truly beautiful stores and genuinely have fun while we do it.
We believe that all brands should — and will — have a virtual store presence. And as a leader in this industry we know that we can continue to do this for the top brands in the world. Startups are exciting because you truly get to make an impact on the business and drive the growth of the company forward. However, it is far more rewarding to make an impact on an entire industry and change the way brands and consumers think about virtual stores!
How much will your team grow over the next 12 months?
Fetch Rewards has experienced a period of hyper-growth over the last 12 months. We hired more than 500 people in 2021 — starting the year with just under 300 employees — and we are still growing at a fast clip in 2022, with a specific emphasis on continuing to scale our tech and sales departments this year. As an organization, we are also pursuing exciting goals like scaling up new growth verticals, enhancing product features, and becoming a self-serve digital marketing solution for brand partners.
What’s fueling your current growth?
Our consumer-friendly app has empowered brands with an effective way to connect on a one-on-one basis with their shoppers. With over 13 million monthly active users that are submitting an average of 28 monthly transactions across all U.S. retailers and channels, brands can personalize engagement based on purchase behavior to efficiently drive loyalty wherever their products are sold.
Fetch now has more than 550 brand partners across CPG, retail and restaurants and observed over $100 billion in annual U.S. retail sales in 2021, making Fetch equivalent to the nation’s seventh largest retailer.
Our culture gives radical trust and freedom to our employees while also investing in a hybrid remote workforce.”
What sets Fetch Rewards apart for potential applicants?
Fetch Rewards aspires to be a workplace of the future. Our culture gives our employees radical trust and freedom while investing in a hybrid remote workforce. The key to our success has been putting our users, partners and Fetch employees first.
When you start your career at Fetch, we provide you with work-from-home equipment along with resources, swag and an onboarding experience that gets you up and running quickly. We also offer great benefits as well as unique perks, like education reimbursement and an internal wellness program. Fetch also has a strong company focus on amplifying marginalized voices through employee resource groups.
How much will your team grow over the next 12 months?
Ribbon’s customer experience organization includes all sales and functional teams that touch our customer’s journey, and we are experiencing phenomenal growth across all these teams. As the main relationship owner of our customers, our account managers are critical in the growth of the company. We are in an ongoing hiring cycle to ensure we are delivering a white-glove experience that leads to repeat and referral business.
This team alone has grown 10 times year over year and we intend to grow another 20 percent by the end of Q2 to prepare for the summer selling season. Even though it is very early in the buying season, we’ve seen a tremendous uptick in volume. We are preparing by hiring ahead. Similarly, our outside sales team of business development managers is slated to grow five times over in 2022 as Ribbon extends our flagship program, enabling homebuyers across 40 percent of the country.
These highly sought-after professionals are experts in their markets and have their “boots on the ground” in the industry with a broad reach and the ability to network.
What’s fueling your current growth?
The questions and concerns about how the pandemic would affect the real estate industry were very short-lived. Very quickly, it was clear that the competitive nature of the market was not going to be negatively impacted. In fact, quite conversely, real estate sales continue to hit record levels. It is very much a seller’s market still and cash doesn’t just speak volumes — it helps you scream at the top of your lungs.
Ribbon’s ability to enable buyers to win in this competition by turning them into power buyers has spurred amazing growth internally that we expect to at least quadruple this year. We are not a brokerage. Our client is the agent, which means buyers can win the home of their dreams and use the realtor and lender of their choice. Giving this much ownership of the process to the right parties — agents and their clients — while backing them with RibbonCash is the reason for our incredible growth.
Ribbon’s ability to enable buyers to win has spurred amazing growth internally that we expect to at least quadruple this year.”
What sets Ribbon apart for potential applicants?
The focus on employee experience is unparalleled. Ribbon and its founders truly care whether or not the employees are challenged, rewarded, happy and engaged. The people team has created an amazing candidate experience that doesn’t end once an offer is accepted. The onboarding experience results in new hire net promoter scores greater than 90 percent. There is a culture of transparency, ownership and value so that all team members understand the business, reach their goals, improve the products, and focus on the future.
How much will your team grow over the next 12 months?
We always plot out an initial hiring plan at the start of each calendar year, and this year we expect to make a minimum of 186 hires across our three core locations in London, New York and Sydney. This will double the size of the Codat team in a 12 month period — a statistic we have maintained year on year for the past four years.
In New York, we will predominantly be hiring for go-to-market roles in sales, business development, pre-sales and post-sales with anticipated growth from 42 people to just over 80 this year.
What’s fueling your current growth?
There are two core catalysts for our current growth. First, we are in an incredibly strong position by being the market leader in our space, and we want to capitalize on this. By growing further, cementing ourselves at the forefront and becoming further recognized as the go-to company for our type of products we will be in the best position to achieve our ultimate North Star.
Secondly, we raised a $40 million Series B in 2021, which has enabled us to push hard and grow at this pace. This has been an important driving factor for our hiring, but it also proves that we are able to achieve this growth and hit our business goals this year.
We are in an incredibly strong position by being the market leader in our space.”
What sets Codat apart for potential applicants?
The foundation of Codat came from identifying a real world problem and creating a genuine solution. We focus on what is important and useful, rather than what is shiny or superficial. Ultimately this means that we have seen quick success and have a growing client base of large enterprise businesses, growing revenue 300 percent year over year for the past three years.
For New York specifically, you join a business that has the beauty of still being fairly new to the U.S. market and is still a relatively small team, but with the knowledge and expertise of an extremely well-established team in London. You get the best of both worlds: the energy and excitement of working for a startup, but with the confidence that it will be a success, because it already is.
How much will your team grow over the next 12 months?
Tipico North America has doubled in size each year for the past two years that we have been in the U.S. market. We plan on growing even more by hiring more than 85 employees in 2022. Our specific focus is on building out our technology teams by hiring talented, enthusiastic and driven engineers who are excited to develop products for one of the fastest growing industries in the United States: online sports betting and gaming.
What’s fueling your current growth?
Multi-state expansion with our sportsbook and casino products. This means we need more power behind the scenes to make sure we’re creating the most user-friendly, best apps on the market for our customers. We’ll hire top-tier talent at higher rates this year, but most importantly we are focused on enhancing and evolving our culture and employee engagement while minimizing the impact our growth could have on the collaborative, open environment we have built over the past few years.
We have an incredible workforce whose common entrepreneurial spirit pushes the creation of products that our customers love.”
What sets Tipico apart for potential applicants?
We are a young, emergent company in the U.S. in a hot new market with a ton of potential for career advancement. Our employees are given infinite opportunities to develop and reach their personal and professional goals in an environment that fosters growth and development. We have an incredible workforce whose common entrepreneurial spirit pushes the creation of amazing products that our customers love.
How much will your team grow over the next 12 months?
Yieldstreet is growing in all departments. Following a very successful Series C round of fundraising in 2021, Yieldstreet will double our headcount this year. We’re hiring across all teams including investments, marketing, product, data, design and engineering. Whether you’re coming from Wall Street looking for an opportunity to challenge the status quo or from another tech platform looking to grow your career, Yieldstreet may have an opening for you.
What’s fueling your current growth?
At Yieldstreet, we’re solving a real problem for retail investors: lack of access to private markets. For decades, Wall Street has pushed the 40/60 model to retail investors while institutions and the ultra-wealthy benefited from access to non-correlated alternative investments. It’s time we change that dynamic. We have an ambitious vision to continue rapid growth across our current investment offerings and deliver new investment categories to our very hungry investors.
Whether you’re coming from Wall Street or from another tech platform, Yieldstreet may have an opening for you.”
What sets Yieldstreet apart for potential applicants?
A career at Yieldstreet offers you an opportunity to join a rapidly growing company that is changing the way people invest. We’re innovating every step of the way. And in doing so, we rely on our incredible employees to bring the company’s vision to reality. A career at Yieldstreet allows for creative problem solving, collaboration with the best and brightest, and the opportunity to advance your career no matter how tenured you are. After more than 35 years in law, our general counsel was quoted saying, “This is by far the best job of my career.”
