From the days of newspaper classifieds to today’s online platforms, hiring activity has undergone a sea change, streamlining how companies and job seekers engage.
The emergence of platforms like LinkedIn and Glassdoor has further organized the hiring processes that were once heavily dependent on platforms like Naukri.com, Monster, and Indeed, among others.
Not to mention, LinkedIn and Glassdoor, along with edtech and upskilling platforms, as well as HR Tech companies, have usurped the space, rewriting the rules of the hiring game.
However, there still exists a significant gap in the job market, according to Ankit Aggarwal, the founder of Unstop, which is a talent engagement and hiring platform for students and graduates.
According to him, at a time when everything ranging from jobs or internship opportunities, assessments, upskilling, mentoring opportunities, and community building of professionals should be in sync and functioning in tandem to address the talent gap in the country, there is hardly any platform. focused on solving the equation.
“This is exactly what we are trying to solve by creating a platform that is a compendium of all of the [aforementioned] Crucial elements — from job listings to assessments to company engagements in one place,” the founder added.
Founded in May 2019, Unstop is a community engagement and hiring platform for Gen Z and early-career professionals. It offers key solutions such as community engagement, hiring, upskilling and mentorship, application tracking, and college engagement.
The platform allows students and graduates to connect with recruiters through hiring competitions, hackathons and assessments, all while enabling companies to identify, assess, and hire talent at scale.
The B2C platform is free for students and colleges but charges companies to run campus programs and more.
The startup claims to have built a talent community of around 19 Mn students from 20,000+ colleges, attracting nearly 5 Mn monthly active users. It also states that 800+ companies, including industry leaders such as Flipkart, Amazon, Reliance, Tata, and Walmart, actively hire talent from its network.
Unstop has also garnered significant interest from investors and recently raised $5 Mn from Japan-based job board Mynavi, with participation from Coursera, Venture Catalysts, 9Unicorns, and Pankaj Bansal of Caret Capital. The startup also gained visibility on Shark Tank, where it declined an offer of INR 5 Cr for a 10% equity.
The Birth Of Unstopp
Unstop’s inception story takes root in Aggarwal’s passion for hackathons and competitions. Speaking with Inc42, the Unstop founder said that hackathons and competitions were the main routes to employment back in the day when he was pursuing his MBA in 2008.
While such events had an appeal, there were significant drawbacks. “The biggest challenge was the limited number of opportunities, as we were restricted to the companies that visited our campuses. The next pain point was the selection of only a few candidates by these companies,” the founder said, adding that he, too, has felt the pain.
While this sowed the seed of building a platform to fill the gap, it wasn’t until 2017 that he was up and doing things that mattered the most.
However, Aggarwal was stuck in the corporate rat race from 2010 to 2016, working with names like Deloitte and Sapient. He has also worked for Teach For India, an NGO, where he gained insights into education inequality in India. However, Aggarwal was running a blog, Dare2Compete, all this while.
In 2016, he decided to quit as operations head of Crownit, a market research platform, and manage Dare2Compete. In 2017, he converted his blog into a website.
“Initially, we started as an informative website, much like a news platform, where articles and updates were posted for users to consume,” Aggarwal said.
After launching the website, the founder said, he witnessed a dramatic rise in engagement, with the user base growing to 5 Lakh+ in just a few years. This was when he knew it was time to pivot.
He also knew that he wanted to do something different from what other players were offering, therefore he decided to adopt a community-led approach and create a platform specifically for Gen Z, which will comprise more than 50% of the workforce in the coming years. .
His vision was to create a platform offering opportunities for those who didn’t get a chance during campus recruitment or who hail from smaller towns and cities that lack opportunities.
“I wanted to create a platform where students from across the country, not just IIMs or IITs, could access all job opportunities. At the same time, companies could onboard students from diverse backgrounds,” Aggarwal said.
With this vision, the founder decided to build Unstop. He registered Dare2Compete in 2019 and rebranded to Unstop in 2022.
At the outset, the founder launched the brand with just two types of assessments, focusing on internships, jobs, and competitions. As soon as the startup went live and colleges could list and host their events, it attracted around 3 Lakh to 3.5 Lakh users within the first year.
“Before this, colleges relied on tools like Google Forms and Facebook to organize such activities. With Unstop, they could create a branded pitch in just five minutes,” he said.
Today, Unstop has over 19 Mn users and offers more than 20 different assessments across all industries and streams.
Creating A Unified Platform For GenZes
According to the founder, anticipating industry trends, he envisioned Unstop as a platform that is not only community-led but also a one-stop shop for students and colleges to manage their internal engagements — whether it’s a workshop, competition, hackathon, or any other activities.
“Industry trends are changing. Companies are no longer targeting just a specific list of campuses. They’re opening doors to students from any college or city, as long as they have the right skills. This is where our community model comes into play,” the founder said.
Apart from providing opportunities to students, Aggarwal aims to help companies expand their reach and democratize engagement and hiring. In addition, similar to how LinkedIn helps businesses position themselves in the minds of potential employees, the Unstop platform enables companies to gamify their engagement efforts. Companies can list jobs, internships, hackathons, and case studies to connect with community members.
For companies, Unstop offers a dashboard to track registrations and shortlist decisions, assessments and evaluations.
It also provides AI-enabled insights into skill levels, violations during assessments (cheating or lack of awareness), and more. Companies can also conduct interviews directly on the platform, creating a complete value chain from branding to sourcing, assessing, and validating talent.
For coding tasks, assessments are internationally accredited by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).
Currently, the platform is free for students and colleges, except for services such as courses or mentorships. Companies can list jobs and internships for free, but to access the full suite of features, there is a paid option for them.
For colleges, the platform offers free access to host hackathons and engagement events, with charges applying only to the companies that wish to advertise these opportunities.
Additionally, the platform provides mock tests, aptitude tests, and mentorship programs for students. Graduates, who have become practitioners, can be booked for sessions to offer additional learning to students.
Unstoppable Road Ahead
The founder takes pride in Unstop’s unique model, which he believes offers a unified, scalable platform that meets the diverse needs of enterprises and early-career professionals.
Combining elements of networking (like LinkedIn), learning (like Coursera) and job opportunities (like Naukri.com), Unstop stands out in the competitive hiring and engagement space with its Gen Z-centric approach.
The startup gained significant attention after appearing on Shark Tankboosting brand recall and user engagement.
“This has helped propel the company into a new orbit, bringing in a surge of users. before Shark Tank, the platform had a base of 4.4 Mn users, which has surged to approximately 19 Mn,” he added.
On the financial side, the startup posted revenues of INR 20.3 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23). The founder claims to have surpassed this number in FY24.
Aggarwal is now focused on introducing features like an AI-driven interviewer and job-matching tools. These tools will be multilingual, allowing students to participate in interviews in any language.
“Instead of undergoing several rounds of interviews, the AI interview will streamline the process into a single one-hour session. Following this, users will receive a comprehensive report with valuable feedback,” he said.
Going forward, the founder has ambitious goals to cross 25 Mn+ users and build a community larger than LinkedIn.
Unstop also plans to expand geographically, targeting the Middle East and APAC markets by the next financial year. It’s already running global campaigns for clients like HUL, Mondelez, and agoda, with registrations from 72 countries. In terms of growth, the company aims to double its revenue in FY25.
The hiring landscape in India is evolving rapidly. Despite this, the talent gap persists, highlighting the need for holistic solutions that could integrate hiring, upskilling, mentoring, and community engagement.
Interestingly, Unstop seems to be acing this with its innovative approach, combining all the aforementioned elements under a single roof. Further, Unstop’s vision to rival giants like LinkedIn may seem quite audacious for now but will make for an interesting case study if Aggarwal walks the talk in the distant future.
[Edited By Shishir Parasher]