Earlier in the week, I got a tip that there was some tension amongst the organizers of RejoignezUneStartup – namely, the founders VoitureLib and CapitaneTrain. An email went out to the participating startups, who had agreed to be a part of the event earlier on, saying that it was time to pay the dues for the event. Another email was sent the next day by an angry organizer, upset that so many startups were backing out, saying they had forgot about the event or had last minute emergencies pop up. The organizers obviously felt that people were backing out because of the €418 fee that they are asking each participating startup to pay forward.
Miscommunication
One anonymous founder told me that, from the beginning, it wasn’t clear that the event would require payment when startups signed up; however, he did note that for an event that planned to have 500+ potential applicants attend, a price is more than fair. In addition,he noted, for any startup that is serious about recruiting, the price listed is more than fair and under what any startup would pay a recruiter for the same service.
The Naughty List
Keeping in mind that some of these startups may have legitimate reasons for not attending, and that, unfortunately, I am unable to contact them in advance, due to the fact that the site was just updated (I took a screenshot earlier in the week of the startups listed to be present, in order to see the changes: available here) and the event is tomorrow. Any startup wanting to reach out can comment below and I will adjust as necessary. Without further adieu, the naughty list:
- Appsgratis
- Simplib
- Shopeo
- Poutsch – pitched yesterday in Berlin for LeCamping demo day, so potentially out of town.
- Babble Planet
- StickyAdsTV
- FSC
- MadMagz
- Contract Live
I’ve linked to a few articles we’ve written about the startups above – a few funded, a few unfunded, and at least one bootstrapped to profitability.
The Nice List
So during this past week, it seems the #RejoignezUneStartup organizers have found some 6 candidates to replace them, or startups who were on the wait list:
- BlaBlaCar
- Bankin’
- BaoBaz Media
- LuckyCart
- Billiz
- Smart Impulse
- Web Geo Services
- You Miam
I don’t want to jump to any conclusions about startups who are signing up for recruiting events and then stepping down when the check comes – I’ve already heard from one UX Super Star that she turned down a job offer from one startup after they offered her an intern’s salary – she’s still shopping around, but not for long!
As the aforementioned anonymous entrepreneur said to me, if you can’t afford the cost for hiring great talent, maybe you’re not really evening looking.
You can find a complete list of the attending startups at RejoignezUneStartup.com.
Update: In the comments below, RejoignezUneStartup organizer responded in French. I’ve done my best to translate it without losing his intention. comment below if you think there are misinterpretations:
“The goal of an event like this is to bring together startups, animate the community, and show that we exist and that we have passionate projects and jobs available.
Our goal is to respond to a real problem: the traditional recruitment process don’t work. They’re long, uneffective, and costly: either 100 euros to post an ad on a site, 2000 euros for a stand in a job fair, or 3000 euros for headhunters, minimum. We are trying to find a smarter solution to bring together the startup community, accelerate the recruitment process and thus the growth of startups – not to mention lower the costs at the same time. In a way, we’re hacking the system. We are startups, after all.
This event is ‘amateur.’ It rides on the desires of a few motivated individuals. In order to bring these startups together, we tapped our entire network to spread the word of the event. We weren’t always clear with a few leaders, which meant that a few startups didn’t know about the charges, and thus canceled (or didn’t). Mea Culpa (“my bad”)
Barely any of the startps who canceled are “naughty.” They did it for various reasons. Either way, we were ready for the situation and replaced them with great startups.
One other comment I’d like to make is about this idea of “free developers.” All the startups participating here offer competitve salaries. We’ve done all we can to make our employees happy, and I don’t think there is one employee who wakes up in the morning unhappy with their work. Don’t believe me? Come ask.