How Ekolance is Disrupting the Blockchain Talent Landscape
Web3 had a rough year, from the drop in token prices to the collapse of Luna and FTX. Despite this, blockchain enthusiasts still believe in its potential. Maria Eneva-Olms is one of them and decided to build a company in this space.
“Ekolance is a training and recruitment platform for web3 professionals. We help people that want to start working in blockchain, to get experience and find a job by connecting them to companies. We are something in between a training organization and a recruiter.”. A combination of edtech, jobtech and blockchain: what a great topic to cover, let’s dive in!
Problem and solution
There is a high demand for blockchain professionals and a low number of qualified candidates. In 2021 blockchain job openings grew by 300%. At the same time the number of applicants was 90% lower than for the average corporate job.
Ekolance’s solution is a cohort based training and a matching platform, to help talents find their next employers and vice versa. They are currently targeting the African and Indian markets, but are planning to expand to other emerging economies (Latin America and Eastern Europe). In the future the product will include also pre recorded, mentorship and serve as a reliable source of information about the industry.
Ekolance might expand beyond blockchain, but for now this is their only focus. The market is big enough and growing, with more jobs coming in the next few years. Demand will come not only from blockchain native companies but also legacy ones. This includes companies like Gucci, Nike or even Shell. Shell, for example, is using blockchain to streamline processes, reduce costs, and increase efficiency.
Market Size and validation
Blockchain related jobs postings grew by 395% in the US, outpacing the growth in tech (98%). What’s more, despite most jobs being for developers there are also other roles in blockchain (Auditors, consultants etc.). That’s why Ekolance focuses also on these figures.
Looking at the market size KPMG published a study showing that more than 40 millions jobs will be in blockchain by 2030, assuming people change jobs every 4 years that means 10 millions new jobs per year. With an average salary of $50K and charging 3 months of commission it would mean the total addressable market is around $125 bn.
Ekolance customers can be grouped in two main buckets, talent and companies. In the talent one you have people between 20 and 35, tech savvy and coming from an emerging economy. They should have some basic blockchain knowledge and experience in web2 across different roles: marketers, social media managers, developers, content creators. On the other hand you have companies, they can be blockchain native companies or legacy businesses looking to start some project in the blockchain space.
The Ekolance concept has been validated by its users, with 3000 people signed up for the courses, 700+ graduates and 30% of those hired. Given the current market downturn and especially the crypto winter that’s an impressive number. Furthermore it validates the problem every marketplace faces, namely the chicken and egg one. Ekolance has proven that people would sign up for their courses and companies hire their talent, thus being on track to defeat the cold start problem.
Business model and traction
Ekolance cohort training is free for the learners, while companies pay to access the talent. There are three main revenue streams: hackathons, job board access and curated candidates list. For the first one, companies can organise hackathons during the cohort to engage with talent and test their skills. For the second they can post their new jobs on an internal jobs board. But my favorite is the last one. Ekolance sends companies a list of five vetted candidates, out of those that applied.
Ekolance has also shown an amazing traction, despite having launched the first training in May. They have already trained more than 700 people (Across six cohorts) and 30% found a job. And 200 people already subscribed for the next cohort, all of this with a four people team.
Competition and unfair advantage
Ekolance competitors can be grouped in two buckets: recruiters, both platforms (Indeed, LinkedIn etc.) or agencies, and on the blockchain communities.
Since the first group needs to introduction I will focus on the second one. The two main competitors are Encode club and Consensys, both players organise courses and do matchmaking with companies mainly focused on technical roles.
Ekolance USPs against job boards are the focus on blockchain and the ability to vet talent since they are part of the cohort. While compared to more direct competitors the USP is the range, they not only form technical roles, like developers but also community managers, content creators, business development, token economist and much more.
Team
Maria is a solo founder, but has built a team of passionate people that previously took part in the Ekolance cohort. They really know which problem is Ekolance solving since they are part of their target group. Maria was really excited to tell me that these team members stood out for the effort and engagement during the course, and started helping out even before receiving a salary.
Talking about Maria; as she emphasized she doesn’t have a background in HR, which might seem a minus for someone building a recruiting platform. But she is an entrepreneur at heart, both because she already built a startup and adopted an entrepreneurial mindset in every job. She also has experience building teams and hiring people, plus her experience in finance and business development are a great fit for any founder.
Most importantly Maria is solving her own problem, a year ago she wanted to land a job in the sector, with a background in financial consulting she was looking to learn more about it. She began studying the industry and investing in it, but she found it difficult to break into. She wasn’t sure which role would be a good fit for her or where to look for job openings. Moreover, talking with professionals in the space she found out few had a linear path, they ended up working in blockchain almost by “accident”. This makes her the perfect person to tackle this problem.
Major risks
Maria sees two main risks ahead: a longer then expected bear market and scams damaging the industry credibility.
Starting from the first one, as most crypto companies have their own token they lost a massive amount of money in the recent crash, which means less resources and available company.
Looking at the second factor, recent news like the FTX crash are damaging crypto credibility and brands that were looking to launch blockchain projects hit the brakes.
I see these as the main risks as well and I think the team has a good chance of overcoming them, since Ekolance is a lean company which is already generating revenue.
In the event they could also pivot their platforms to other areas. But blockchain is not going to die, even if crypto companies perform badly there is still value for legacy players
Conclusion
Ekolance has the potential to transform the way people learn new skills, thus helping them land their dream job. The current focus on blockchain and emerging markets makes a lot of sense as the opportunity is significant. As every blockchain related project it faces some risks but the team has the skills to overcome them.
Ekolance raised a pre-seed this summer from BFG and they will be looking to raise a seed in the near future. If you are an investor that wants to know more, feel free to reach out for an intro and a detailed investment memo I put together!
