We Built a $4M ARR Job Search Platform
Who are you and what business did you start?
My name’s Alex Chepovoi, I’m a serial tech entrepreneur with five companies, eight products, and one successful exit behind my back. Today, together with my co-founder Alex Dyadischev, I’m building Global Work - a job search platform that uses AI agents to provide personalized support at every stage of the applicant’s journey.
The global employment market is dynamically changing, and more people are actively seeking remote work opportunities. All of them are potential customers of Global Work, and our client base keeps growing fast. Since our launch, the platform has shown significant growth: in just 11 months we’ve reached $4M in ARR.
Alex Chepovoi and Alex Dyadischev - co-founders of Global Work
How do you come up with the idea for Global Work AI?
As I mentioned, Global Work is my fifth company and the eighth product. Throughout my experience, I’ve had plenty of failures and have gone through many iterations. I also have prior experience with consumer subscription apps and HR tech with three of my previous companies. So we just combined these two areas of expertise, and at their intersection, the idea for a marketplace for IT specialists, called Expert Remote, was born.
In the first year, we sourced and screened 50,000+ IT talents, shortlisted them to 500+ top level engineers, and sold this database to tech startups. Within the first year, the platform reached $600k in ARR. But soon we realised that we were swimming in the red ocean with no opportunity to scale. We knew we had to pivot.
While most companies were focusing on corporate clients, we decided to look at the job seekers, who weren’t getting much help finding new jobs. That’s how we came to the idea to build AI agents that assist people in finding remote jobs faster and improve their chances of landing interviews. This is how Global Work was born.
We started with tech-related jobs, but within two months, we expanded to cover all white-collar work verticals, including sales, consulting, marketing, copywriting, customer support, data entry and more. Today, we have over 10,000 paying users from diverse industries, locations, and age groups - everyone can find remote work or a side gig. 45% of our audience is from the US, our primary market. And soon we plan to launch blue-collar and local jobs in the US.
How did you build the initial version of Global Work AI?
We already had a database of 500+ top-level verified developers from our previous startup (expertremote.io), selected after we interviewed over 50,000 candidates. So, we knew even the best talent is struggling with job search. The problem hypothesis was verified. To verify the solution hypothesis we talked to 20+ devs from this database, showed them the AI Job Search Toolset in Figma we wanted to build and the feedback was positive.
We spent ~$7k and 5 weeks building an MVP. Again, we used part-time developers from our database.
With our previous project (expertremote.io) the business model was B2B: we helped startups hire top-quality tech talent. The idea behind globalwork.ai pivot was switching to B2C. There were hundreds of CRMs and AI tools for recruiters, but no tools for candidates. It was a blue ocean nobody saw.
Initially we put in $120k of our own money plus raised another $120k from 8 angels (friends). Remember, this was our fifth business, I had an exit in the past, etc, so we had some money but not much.
Our platform is built with custom software development with node.js/react.js. No no-code/low-code/AI-generated bs. It took us 5 weeks to build the first version.
Launching it was fast and easy. The biggest challenge though was that after 10 years in business, 5 companies, exit, etc we were running out of money. We could not afford an office, the team was me and my co-founder plus a few freelancers. It was our last attempt before we would go bankrupt. We did not expect that it will grow like crazy, just wanted to survive.
How did you launch Global Work AI and get initial traction?
One of the biggest lessons I learned from the product launch was the need to move quickly. It took us one month to build an MVP for Global Work, and then we immediately launched paid ads on social media. We didn’t run any major media campaigns, we wanted to get started and validate the idea.
It took us a few days to earn the first dollar, as the industry appeared to be a blue ocean of opportunities. The main goal was to get to positive unit economics asap, cause we didn’t have much capital. After about two months of tweaking both the ads and the product, we’ve achieved positive unit economics, and our user base started to grow sustainably.
Performance marketing turned out to be the most effective customer acquisition strategy for us, and that hasn’t changed since. In a way, this approach has shaped the current format of Global Work, which is a unique case for me. Initially, we focused on the tech vertical, but it didn’t work out because the market wasn’t large enough for performance marketing to be effective. When we expanded into other verticals, the unit economics finally started to click.
Global Work Website
What was the growth strategy for Global Work AI and how did you scale?
As I mentioned, performance marketing remains our primary strategy for acquiring customers. In the first month, we tested over 100 different hypotheses of targeting, ad creatives, messaging, etc, until we found the ones that work. Now, we’re testing hundreds of hypotheses monthly.
When we raised our Pre-Seed round, we also leveraged PR support to help refine our messaging. However, this happened after we had found our business model and achieved meaningful growth on our own. That’s why I’d advise aspiring entrepreneurs to launch quickly, even if the product isn’t perfect, work toward positive unit economics with what you have, and then start scaling.
The tools and strategies may vary case by case. We found that performance marketing worked well for us, otherwise, we would have gone on testing other channels. The key is not to get distracted and stay laser-focused on what drives results and helps build sustainable profitable business.
What were the biggest lessons learned from building Global Work AI?
Most of my career, especially the last 11 years in business, I’ve primarily focused on B2B sales. To be honest, I wasn’t very good at it. Scaling B2B sales was challenging for me, and persisting in B2B turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes. Consumer businesses drive me more.
Over the years I came up with these principles:
- Don’t spend 6 months perfecting your product - build a prototype in a month and launch.
- Finding the right market and timing is everything. Know your customers and shape the product they truly need.
- Before delegating, my co-founder and I always do the task ourselves. The devil is in the details.
- Being a strong executor is great, but without strategy, you go nowhere - execution × strategy = success. Even if execution is a 10, if strategy is 0, the result is still zero.
Last but not least, I would recommend doing regular dopamine detoxes. For several weeks or months, limit yourself from dopamine stimulants like alcohol, coffee, social media, and so on. This helps you get rid of information overload and clear your mind, opening the door to great ideas. In fact, I came up with the idea to pivot to Global Work during one of my dopamine detoxes. Check out How to Calm Your Mind by Chris Bailey - it’s a game-changer.
How to Calm Your Mind
What platform/tools does Global Work AI use?
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More about Global Work AI:
Who is the owner of Global Work AI?
Alex is the founder of Global Work AI.
When did Alex start Global Work AI?
2024
How much money has Alex made from Global Work AI?
Alex started the business in 2024, and currently makes an average of $4.2M/year.
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