BeatMySalary Founder Karthik Prasad has had a long and eventful journey from Mysuru, his birthplace, to London, where he’s currently based. From assembling computers and cabling them up at the tender age of 15 to setting up a community blogging website to launching a first-of-its-kind online recruitment platform, Karthik has known entrepreneurship nearly all his life. 

In 2010, he moved to the UK, and now holds a British passport. In 2015, he  co-founded HR tech Startup Beatmysalary along with London-based investment banker Swash Ram. The startup is now operational in six international markets: the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and of course, India. Karthik has also bought back most shares from his co-founder, who’s now a “sleeping partner”.

In four years, BeatMySalary claims to have grown its turnover by 200 percent. The number of registered recruiters on its platform has also increased from 130 to 300+. About 50,000 to 100,000 ‘profile cards’ of job seekers are flowing through its systems at any given point. The startup has also developed proprietary algorithms that match candidate skills with employer needs. 

Making traditional hiring redundant

BeatMySalary makes traditional CVs redundant by allowing recruiters to browse through profile cards of job seekers that are managed in real time. Hence, there are no outdated CVs, and the candidates’ skills and work experience always stay updated. Further, no data is stored by the recruiter, and no time is wasted in the hiring process.

While on an average, a recruiter spends 20 minutes reading through a traditional CV, profile cards help them scan through the most relevant candidate information in less than two minutes.

Founder-CEO Karthik asserts that “profile cards” have been a revolutionary thing in HR and his company is “doing very well”. “The response to our product has been overwhelming, and we have created a profitable business without any external investment,” he tells YourStory.

And that, he says, is his “business mantra”.

“I believe if you cannot make a profit, you should not exist. I do not want to run a company that raises $200 million, then spends $400 million in marketing, and then makes only $20 million,” he shares. In four years, BeatMySalary has shied away from VCs, and Karthik notes “we do not need investor money until we exist”. 

The startup had raised about $2 million from undisclosed angels in 2015.

Between then and now, BeatMySalary has serviced over 200 business clients (from Walmart, Target, and Amazon to Infosys, IBM, and Accenture), cut down the screening time for employers by over 90 percent, increased job search accuracy for candidates, and rolled out new products to ease the on-boarding process, and even launched a services division recently. 

Adding ‘managed services’ to the portfolio 

‘Managed Services’ - the new division - became operational less than a year ago, and is the startup’s new focus area, especially in India.

“Services has been active for six months here, and we are growing at 300 percent month on month,” Karthik reveals. He adds, “Managed Services will surpass our product revenues in India, and we expect it to have a huge turnover.”

Even though India is a happening SaaS market, BeatMySalary continues to undersell its core product here. The reason, the company says, is because the Indian HR industry has “very low receptiveness to tech”. 

Karthik explains, “India is still hiring the same way as it did in the 1970s and 80s. SaaS has had little impact on the recruitment industry. When we started in 2015, it was very difficult to work with customers here. Companies were signing up but we couldn’t make them pay. The moment we opened up in the UK in 2016, we saw a big change in the approach of recruiters.”

Why India is a key services market 

On the services side, India has emerged as a prime market because it craves the “human touch” in hiring, especially when it comes to big positions. 

Karthik says,

“The opportunity is mainly in leadership and executive roles in the Rs 80 lakh to 1 crore bracket. These people do not go on any job portals. They need a trusted, human channel. Hiring for these positions is a slow, passive process, and can take up to a year to close. That is where we step in.”

In essence, BeatMySalary’s services division acts as a headhunter for recruiters looking to close senior positions. The startup takes care of the entire hiring value chain, which includes sourcing of talent, establishing mutual interest, organising the interview, reference checks and background verification, offer rollout, final paperwork, and candidate on-boarding. 

Most of BeatMySalary’s customers, who are keen to employ its “end-to-end hiring solution”, are from the IT-BPO, BFSI, automotive, and energy sectors. “There are many takers in India,” Karthik says. “We’ve already signed up 10 clients,” he adds.

Future growth areas

Globally, headhunting and HR consulting is estimated to be a $30 billion industry. Besides India, BeatMySalary sees a great opportunity in European markets as well. The demand for candidates in UI/UX, AI/ML, Big Data, and new-age tech roles is on the rise, according to BeatMySalary. 

The company is one of the first HR platforms to integrate with Google Cloud for job discovery, and make its listings available on the first page of Search. “Once a card is created, it sails into Google in 20 minutes. This gives us a lot of traffic and momentum, and employers some very good leads,” Karthik reveals.

Then, there is Onboard Assist, a new product launched by the startup. This automated tool conducts pre-employment checks and document verification, and gives the employer real-time visibility on progress of candidature, joining dates, etc. through a live dashboard. Karthik explains the rationale behind it. 

He says,

“When we started working on the staffing side, there weren't too many tools. Employers followed a very human-driven approach. So, we had to automate that and make it more transparent and fast.”

BeatMySalary believes that Onboard Assist, in conjunction with Managed Services, will drive its next phase of growth. The company will keep adding to its current team size of 36 - 24 in India, and 12 in the UK - as it ventures into new segments and newer territories.

But, will its core SaaS product regain focus in India? 

“Not right now,” says Karthik, “but the mindset might be changing slowly with companies starting to embrace new tools.”