Curated Intel from the Talent Tech Industry
January 22-28, 2024:
• Braving the remote job market: Career company BOLD acquires FlexJobs.com;
• Classifying & paying correctly: New York State issues new regulations for free lance workers;
• Introducing a creepy DeadPersonGPT: Thanabots are now being used to resurrect loved ones;
• Getting started will be harder: Startups to see lower valuations & a higher bar for seed funding;
• Worrying about stifling opportunity: FTC to investigate Big Tech investments & partnerships.
PLUS
Early Bird registrants get deep savings and a spot at LIMITED SEATING TAtech North America & The World Job Board Forum. Avoid FOMO, register right now for the only conference in the North American market that is specifically designed both for job board and talent technology company CEOs, their direct reports and rising stars and to accelerate the bottom-line growth of their enterprises. Why the rush? Because the conference will be held June 4-6, 2024 at The International Spy Museum which has a limited seating capacity and Early Bird Discounts on registration are due to expire shortly. So, register today and accelerate the success your company achieves, today, tomorrow and into the future!
BOLD Acquire FlexJobs
Flexjobs.com the B2C remote job board community founded by Sara Sutton back in 2006 has been acquired by career company BOLD, which owns a number of brands including Live Career and MyPerfect Resume. Sutton announced the news on her Linkedin feed this past weekend. She writes: As we enter a new year–I’m happy to share that we’ve been acquired BOLD! They are a company dedicated to “transforming work lives” and shares our long-term dedication to serving job seekers throughout their careers. It’s wonderfully surreal and gratifying on many levels to know how this little company that I started from home while pregnant with my first child grew over the years to be one of the most important leaders in the remote job market. While doing so, we always focused on not just growing our company, but on helping to truly advance the understanding of why remote work works and what benefits it offers to individuals, teams, organizations, communities, and the environment.
New York Freelance Workers Get New Protections
First, pay your freelance workers and independent contractors promptly. They don't have to work for you and can say no thank you the next time. Second, it's probably a good idea to check to see if they should be classified as employees instead, especially if they can't say no thank you. There's a new federal test. And different states and taxing authorities have different rules on whether someone is an employee or contractor. You may be dealing with multiple tests that may or may not be consistent. Third, it's also important thing to understand that the default legal status for all workers is "employee." This is to provide more protections to workers and put the burden on the hirer to show that the worker really is independent. Last, there's another reason why legislatures want people to be employees. Governments run on payroll taxes. Payroll tax withholdings make up about a third of the federal government's revenue. Even better, the money shows up consistently and reliably. It's much harder to get freelance workers to pay quarterly taxes, partly because their cashflow is often erratic. And that's why Legislatures also want to make sure freelance workers get paid and on time.
DeadPersonGPT
Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, “Eternal You” is a documentary that explores the emerging (and slightly unsettling) business of “thanabots” (thanatology meets robotics), where AI models are trained to resurrect those who’ve shuffled off this mortal coil. In the movie, Christi Angel uses Project December, an AI chatbot, to communicate with a significant other who had passed away. Where is this person? The AI answered: “In hell.” This, as you can imagine, was not the response she was expecting. Jason Rohrer, the brain behind Project December, seems to have a taste for the macabre. He says AI’s narrative possibilities – especially ones that “give you goosebumps” – intrigue him because he “likes goosebumps.” However, experts are waving red flags about the psychological impact of these digital séances. It turns out that chatting with an AI version of your late loved one might be more harmful than healing.
Lower Valuations, Higher Bar: What It’s Like To Raise A Seed Round In 2024
Seed funding to startups has grown into its own asset class over the past decade, with round sizes trending larger, and a bigger pool of investors backing these nascent startups. But in the aftermath of 2021’s venture funding heyday and subsequent pullback, investors say that while seed funding has held up better than other startup investment stages, these very young startups will see lower valuations and must now clear a much higher bar to get backing. More companies raised seed funding above $1 million in 2021. Those companies — which raised during a record-smashing year for venture funding — are saddled with valuations that could be too high for this current market — even at seed. Many of those startups have been forced to cut costs to extend their runways, and face a tougher sales environment. “You could then be sacrificing growth, which is one of the main levers that Series A investors are looking for,” said Michael Cardamone of New York-based seed investor Forum Ventures.
FTC Launches Inquiry into Generative AI Investments and Partnerships
The Federal Trade Commission announced today that it issued orders to five companies requiring them to provide information regarding recent investments and partnerships involving generative AI companies and major cloud service providers. The agency’s 6(b) inquiry will scrutinize corporate partnerships and investments with AI providers to build a better internal understanding of these relationships and their impact on the competitive landscape. The compulsory orders were sent to Alphabet, Inc., Amazon.com, Inc., Anthropic PBC, Microsoft Corp., and OpenAI, Inc. “History shows that new technologies can create new markets and healthy competition. As companies race to develop and monetize AI, we must guard against tactics that foreclose this opportunity, “said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. “Our study will shed light on whether investments and partnerships pursued by dominant companies risk distorting innovation and undermining fair competition." The FTC issued its orders under Section 6(b) of the FTC Act, which authorizes the Commission to conduct studies that allow enforcers to gain a deeper understanding of market trends and business practices. Findings stemming from such orders can help inform future Commission actions.
Early Bird Gets the Discounts at TAtech North America & The World Job Board Forum
Early Bird registrants get deep savings and a spot at LIMITED SEATING TAtech North America & The World Job Board Forum. Avoid FOMO, register right now for the only conference in the North American market that is specifically designed both for job board and talent technology company CEOs, their direct reports and rising stars and to accelerate the bottom-line growth of their enterprises. Why the rush? Because the conference will be held June 4-6, 2024 at The International Spy Museum which has a limited seating capacity and Early Bird Discounts on registration are due to expire shortly. Whether your company is a niche or general job board, aggregator, talent marketplace, online classifieds business, programmatic platform, chatbot, conversational AI solution, ATS, recruitment marketing solution, CRM platform, interviewing or assessment system or talent technology consultancy, this event will supercharge your sales and your profits. So, register today and accelerate the success your company achieves, today, tomorrow and into the future!