Scaling Europe
00:00:00 · Sebastian Johnson, Matt Wilson
[00:00:00] S0: Hello. Welcome back to Scaling Europe show. I'm Sam Johnson. Today, we've got Matt Wilson back on the show for the second time, cofounder of Jack and Jill, an amazing company. Welcome back, Matt. How are how are you doing? [00:00:09] S1: Yeah. Very good. We're having a of fun over here. Good to be back. [00:00:12] S0: For those who don't know, can you give a quick introduction into Jack and Jill and what you guys have built?
00:00:17 · Matt Wilson
[00:00:17] S1: Yeah. So I think, you know, the the best way to think about what we do is to think about, you know, what are the most important things in our lives? It's our health, it's our personal relationships, and then next is our work. And and if you think about the process by which people have found work and workers found people, it's just insanely inefficient for something that's so so important in our lives and in our companies. You think about it from a person's perspective, the last time you found a job, you know, it was maybe whatever happened to pop up on LinkedIn that day that you were scrolling or at the end of a a long kind of brutal search process. Or maybe it was through a a recruiter or a search firm where you spoke to a recruiter and they were managing two or three clients and they sold you on the, you know, the one of those two or three that happened to be the best fit. Or maybe it was through your network, and, you know, if you're lucky enough to have a network, maybe it covers some tiny fraction of the universe of what's out there. And the kind of problem with all of these, of of all of these ways that we've, you know, found the most... One of the most important things in our lives is just they cover this kind of tiny fraction of the universe. And for the first time in history, it's now possible to have an agent, to tell an agent, here's who I am, here's what I've done, here's what I want out of work, and then put that agent to work covering the entire universe of what's possible. And that agent is called Jack, and Jack today is working for about 350,000 people around the world, primarily in London, San Francisco, and New York. And and it's the same the same thing's been true on... For companies as well. And as companies think about hiring, and we build the analog agent to Jack for companies, which is Jill. And Jill works by learning what companies want, and then going out and helping them identify the best people on the market for them. And Jill is working with thousands of companies today to help them find incredible people to join their teams. And Jack and Jill come together to facilitate these incredible warm introductions at a scale that's never been possible before.
00:02:29 · Sebastian Johnson, Matt Wilson
[00:02:29] S0: Amazing. And you guys were absolutely crushing it. You've got some very exciting news to announce. [00:02:34] S1: That's right. Yeah. So we're announcing today that we've raised a $40,000,000 series a to continue to build Jack and Jill to be the best possible products for their respective customers in the world and to continue with our expansion across Europe and The US. [00:02:48] S0: Amazing. Can you touch a bit a bit more on the round maybe? Who... Who's backing you this time around and kind of maybe what unlocks it? Because it wasn't hasn't been a particularly long time since you were 20,000,000 round led by Creandum, I think, the end of last year. So, yeah, we'd love to hear bit more.
00:02:48 · Sebastian Johnson, Matt Wilson
[00:02:48] S0: Amazing. Can you touch a bit a bit more on the round maybe? Who... Who's backing you this time around and kind of maybe what unlocks it? Because it wasn't hasn't been a particularly long time since you were 20,000,000 round led by Creandum, I think, the end of last year. So, yeah, we'd love to hear bit more. [00:03:00] S1: Yeah. That's right. So the round's led by Air Street Capital and in participation with Creandum who led the previous round, Madrona, and a whole bunch of other fantastic funds and angels. And, you know, I think fundamentally, when we we started the business just in March last year, so we're less than eighteen months old as a company. And and and since then, as you say, we we raised a a $20,000,000 seed round late last year. Since that seed round, the growth has been... We've grown about 40 x in terms of revenue. And since the seed round, we've landed in San Francisco. We've landed in New York. And and just broadly, the the the thesis is kinda coming coming true and playing out as we thought it would. The... Both the consumer user base and the business user base for Jack and Jill respectively is is... Are both growing very, very quickly, and we... Yeah. We continue to be really optimistic about the, you know, midterm future, but also the possibility of building something truly game changing over the long run.
00:03:00 · Matt Wilson, Sebastian Johnson
[00:03:00] S1: Yeah. That's right. So the round's led by Air Street Capital and in participation with Creandum who led the previous round, Madrona, and a whole bunch of other fantastic funds and angels. And, you know, I think fundamentally, when we we started the business just in March last year, so we're less than eighteen months old as a company. And and and since then, as you say, we we raised a a $20,000,000 seed round late last year. Since that seed round, the growth has been... We've grown about 40 x in terms of revenue. And since the seed round, we've landed in San Francisco. We've landed in New York. And and just broadly, the the the thesis is kinda coming coming true and playing out as we thought it would. The... Both the consumer user base and the business user base for Jack and Jill respectively is is... Are both growing very, very quickly, and we... Yeah. We continue to be really optimistic about the, you know, midterm future, but also the possibility of building something truly game changing over the long run. [00:04:04] S0: It's amazing. And so the the expansions into New York and San Francisco must have gone well. Can you touch a bit about that? Because especially here in Europe, everybody's always thinking about landing and expanding across The US in a in a successful manner. How did that process go for you and the team?
00:04:04 · Sebastian Johnson, Matt Wilson
[00:04:04] S0: It's amazing. And so the the expansions into New York and San Francisco must have gone well. Can you touch a bit about that? Because especially here in Europe, everybody's always thinking about landing and expanding across The US in a in a successful manner. How did that process go for you and the team? [00:04:16] S1: Yeah. So we we we launched in San Francisco at this... At the start of twenty twenty six, and San Francisco is now... Is is is... Has been growing faster than London was at the same time Amazing. Index by index by launch dates, and New York is following the same trajectory, although it's it's only a couple months in. And I think, you know, with with going international, I think you either want to do it early in your life as a company where it just becomes the default operating model of the company from day one almost that you are multi market, that you are operating with teams in different time zones and teams in different offices, and that it's just part of your DNA in terms of how you operate. And for us, it was really important. You know, we think winning in... We see as kind of key taste making markets, winning in The US as being fundamental to our long term success as a business and our ability to win globally. So we thought it was really important to get out there and and and put our stake in the ground and and and push on those markets. And that's been a combination of of of of action done from London, from our London HQ, as well as building out the office on the ground there in San Francisco and spending a whole bunch of time out there.