The gig financial system, rising earlier than the coronavirus pandemic hit, is predicted to develop extra in years to return. But because it has change into extra prevalent, employers have confronted challenges recruiting and verifying candidates’ credentials for the short-term assignments.

Matt Meents based Yardstik to fulfill these wants.

Admittedly, he picked a troublesome time to construct an organization, launching it in April 2020 amid the worst of the pandemic restrictions. But he rapidly raised $4.25 million in seed financing.

On March 1, he launched his software program platform that interacts with different techniques so shoppers can extra effectively do background screening {and professional} licensure certification and supply further business coaching by means of movies or hyperlinks to different coaching sources.

What Meents noticed by means of the 12 months was that the pandemic had sped the digital transformation of labor by years.

“I feel human safety is much more vital with that speedup,” Meents mentioned. “This business is actually out of date in a whole lot of methods and prepared for transformation.”

This is not Meents’ first firm. His first, based in 2001, turned a part of Magnet360. Meents turned CEO.

Magnet360 turned a world Salesforce consulting firm after which was offered to Mindtree in 2016. Meents stayed for just a few years as one of many high executives at Mindtree earlier than leaving the corporate in August 2019.

He took a while to resolve whether or not he needed to speculate, seek the advice of or construct one thing new.

“All the things in my soul is entrepreneurship and creating one thing and groups and having a group influence and cultural influence,” Meents mentioned.

He determined to construct one thing new, took just a few months to mildew a brand new enterprise idea after which launched Yardstik.

In lower than a 12 months, Meents has employed 22 staff, obtained the seed-series funding, consulted with potential shoppers for wants they may handle, constructed a software program platform and carried out a pilot examine with a handful of firms.

The corporate has no bodily workplace but since work needed to be performed from house in the course of the pandemic. However Yardstik leaders have tried to construct an organization tradition regardless of the employees being aside. Each different Monday, everybody jumps on a Zoom name to debate what they’re engaged on. The next Monday they’ve a get-to-know-you session.

“It simply appears like everybody within the firm is aware of each other regardless that we have by no means bodily been in the identical room collectively,” he mentioned. “You’ll be able to see the dynamic and collaboration occurring simply due to these conferences.”

Workplace house is on the to-do record sooner or later. Within the meantime, Meents expects the worker depend to be 50 by the tip of the 12 months.

Within the final 12 months, Yardstik has offered $2 million value of providers and can search further funding within the second or third quarter that may gasoline extra progress.

“We’ve got a purpose to be $100 million in income in 5 years,” Meents mentioned. “The full addressable market throughout gig work, volunteerism … we see it as a $16 billion-plus market alternative.”

Gig work elevated 15% from 2010 to 2019, based on a report from ADP Analysis Institute, which research the labor market. Different ADP research present there was a rise in curiosity in gig work in the course of the pandemic.

Minneapolis-based Rally Ventures co-led Yardstik’s $4.25 million in seed financing by investing $2 million.

Managing Director Justin Kaufenberg knew of Meents’ success with Magnet360 and, from when he was CEO and co-founder of SportsEngine, additionally knew the worth of background checks of youth sports activities volunteers.

“We noticed firsthand the facility of background screening, the facility of certification administration, the facility of verification administration,” Kaufenberg mentioned.

“We usually consider that that is a type of industries that’s going to finish up being lots bigger than it seems to be on paper.”

Current platforms have completely different options and capabilities however usually do not present the compliance and screening course of as a result of it’s regulated by the Truthful Credit score Reporting Act (FCRA).

Yardstik manages the entire platform for compliance. Working with a dental hygienist sourcing platform, Minneapolis-based Kwikly Dental Staffing, as an illustration, Yardstik would confirm the certificates and license necessities for dental hygienists.

One other firm Yardstik has been working with is Dispatch, a Bloomington-based startup that focuses on the last-mile supply within the business-to-business market.

As a technology-based on-demand supply firm, it employed Yardstik to do the background checks on its drivers.

Now it makes use of Yardstik to measure different issues reminiscent of certification work, and the software program is absolutely built-in into Dispatch’s.

Each Yardstik and Dispatch are startups, and the connection advantages each.

The 2 startups be taught from one another and may apply these classes to different relationships.

“Matt has taken a really partnership method to this complete course of,” Dispatch co-founder Andrew Leone mentioned. “The beauty of working with startups, particularly good ones with good management, is that they’re adaptable. There are downsides each time you’re working with a brand new firm, however I feel we’ve got the precise associate.”

Since April 2020, Meents has mainly constructed a brand new firm over Zoom and Slack, hiring 22 staff.

With no bodily workplace house but and whereas Meents has had “off-site” conferences with key leaders, he mentioned they have not had an all-employee assembly in particular person but.

Patrick Kennedy • 612-673-7926