Potknox makes it easier to recruit technical talent, already has 500 clients

Hiring is a huge challenge across the spectrum and it is no big spectrum. Social media is full of sighs from entrepreneurs and recruiters loking for the right people. Uncertainties are part and parcel of life but this particular problem looks so enticing that there has to be a more efficient way of doing things. And there are many startups trying to solve this issue. Potknox is one such company which is founded by a bunch of IIT Kharagpur and Roorkee alumnus that is helping companies find technical talent.

Sumeet Kumar, Abhinav Mishra, Saurabh Gupta and P Venugopal together have more than three decades of experience cumulatively across business and technology domains. They had initially got together for a venture Metanest and this is when they faced severe issues with screening programmers. “Getting applications wasn’t the problem, it was sorting and sifting between them that really set us back. Since it was a technical position we were trying to fill, we had to sit in on all interviews. We couldn’t leave it up to our HR Manager, who would essentially pass onto us the resumes of candidates he believed had impressive pedigree,” says Abhinav. They found this process too flawedand set out to change the situation. This is how Potknox came about. The idea is to sort through the fizz buzz fanatics on the basis of what really mattered, and hire only the most talented techies.

There are companies like HackerRank, HackerEarth, RippleHire, etc. that play in the same domain and have seen reasonable success. Talking about the differentiation, Potknox relies on:

• Simplicity: Recruiter centric in approach, with all features- from the pre built tests, anti cheating mechanisms (proctoring) and one-click invites making Potknox an easy-to-use, off-the-shelf, and most importantly, unbiased screening platform.
• Specialization: Very clear about the offering being focused on SMEs, in the IT space, and on technical assessment.
• Affordability: Subscriptions plans cater to hiring needs all around, from big to small at affordable rates.

Pilot campaign

Potknox has an Indian team but is registered in the US. They conducted a pilot campaign about two months ago- a Recruitment Drive as a promotional campaign for the product that involved 1000 candidates, 28 startups, 7 Profiles in 10 days. "This Summer Recruitment Drive 2014 managed to get 28 startups, the majority of whom are unfunded, to risk a change in their hiring processes. We got them to look at online assessment as a viable option for hiring programmers, rather than just a distant luxury they couldn't afford," says Abhinav.

The Recruitment Drive was conducted to validate product fitment and effectiveness. Potknox claims tha most of the startups have already hired a developer, or have candidates under consideration, and none of the comapnies have said they were unable to find good quality candidates.

Potknox has conducted more than 20,000 assessments and 500 SMEs subscribe for the product. The company hasn't revealed the number of paid customers but their pricing plans start at $79 for 15 test sessions/month. The company is in an early stage as of now is currently focusing on onboarding more customers and proving the product.

Check out Potknox