Evergrad an online platform which connects ambitious graduates with fast growing small business

by Startacus Admin

Dan Manzi and George Penman are both Startacus members and most importantly the Founders over at Evergrad a, coming-very-soon, online platform which aims to connect ambitious graduates with fast growing small businesses. We asked Dan to tell us all about their journey and Evergrad, just a few days before their platform goes live...Over to Dan to tell all...

"18 months serving on a large graduate scheme got me thinking, why is this the working ideal that we, from a young age, are taught to aspire to? I remembered the day of my job offer, I was excited, ready to forge a career with the big boys, to show them what I had to offer.

However, once I was there, the realities of working for a big company became clear. I was one of many graduates, many expendable employees, expected to do what I was told and rest assured that I was making a difference. At the same time some of my friends were working in smaller firms, the passion for their companies and their work was obvious. This got me wondering, why didn’t anyone approach me with these types of jobs at university? This question led to lots of mind-numbing research and from it Evergrad was brought to life,

Evergrad.com is an online platform which connects ambitious graduates exclusively with fast growing small businesses. We do this by removing the middle man, the traditional recruitment agent, and replacing them with an online platform which truly showcases both graduates’ and employers’ personalities. We do this through a mixture of online profiles, video CVs, social media integration and an innovative matching system. We offer every type of employment, ranging from work experience to full time employment and we hope that being a low cost online platform will put graduate recruitment within reach of even the smallest micro-businesses and start-ups.

I am writing this roughly a week before Evergrad’s launch date and already our team has been on a rollercoaster. We have produced a great product, got employers and students interested and signed up to an idea which they haven’t yet seen and learnt many of the seemingly infinite skills we will need to continue developing our product. More interestingly to me, we have listened to advice on the many and varied reasons why we are going to fail, to name a few; it’s too easy everyone can do it, it’s too hard it will never work, the market has peaked, the market is stagnating, I’ve seen something like it on dragons den before. Needless to say I have learned to take these well intentioned analyses with a pinch of salt but still look for the things that make sense and challenge my beliefs.

Evergrad is entering a crowded market with an innovative way of looking at things. It’s scary - we’ve been told it can’t work, yet we stick by our founding logic that there is a problem, our students aren't employed, and our small businesses aren’t finding the young talent they are looking for. I know Evergrad can help solve this problem, we are looking for partners who would like to join us, visit our website, contact us and follow our journey. Remember ‘most bestsellers are surprise bestsellers, because there's no sure thing, at least not where we want to look for it.’.

Cheers Dan and we wish Dan and George all the best on their exciting startup journey.


If like Dan, you would like to tell your startup story on Startacus, then firstly make sure you are a signed up member, and secondly, give us a shout! 

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Published on: 26th April 2014