Three years ago, aiming to increase access to career opportunities, Eric Ho ’16 and Andrew Myers ’18 started RippleMatch.
RippleMatch’s approach involves the use of artificial intelligence to pair qualified entry-level applicants with job opportunities, according to the company website. So far, the company has raised approximately $5 million in venture funding and advertises employer partners including Citadel, Venture for America and Flatiron.
“We wanted to help students get access to incredible opportunities regardless of their race, gender or socioeconomic background,” said Myers, CEO of the company.
Ho, the CTO of the company, added that in a candidate-driven market, top candidates should not have to apply for jobs and have their resumes ignored. He hopes that RippleMatch will reverse this script.
Myers also credits the Yale community for helping launch the business.
“We have also received awesome support from the Yale community,” he said. “Kevin Ryan, who was on the Yale board at the time, was our first investor.”
The company has been featured in national publications such as Forbes and VentureBeat. In addition, the Yale Office of Career Strategy currently features a page on RippleMatch under their “Online Career Resources” tab.
Earlier this year, RippleMatch partnered with YHack, Yale’s annual student-run hackathon. The YHack organizers sent all hackathon participants an email promoting the company.
“Realizing how tough it can be to rely on endless online applications and limited personal connections, they use matching algorithms and a team of expert talent curators to flip the traditional recruiting script, by matching you directly to employers and fast-tracking you to first-round interviews,” the email said.
While RippleMatch has seen exciting growth in the past few years, Myers and Ho said that this success has also been met with some challenges.
“Our biggest challenge has been scaling a two-sided marketplace from scratch and making sure we consistently have the right balance of candidates in our marketplace,” Myers said.
Ho added that finding the perfect team is difficult, especially in a startup environment.
In the graduating class of 2018, financial services was the most popular employment sector, attracting 17.4 percent of students.
Jessica Pevner | jessica.pevner@yale.edu