Saturday 17 December 2016
Intrideo: A start up that changes the hiring process. Editor: Gogo Dimopoulou
Vasilis Dimtsas is an entrepreneur with an 8-year experience on international commerce and on the development and management of franchise companies, nine of which he himself has set up. In 2008 he sets up a natural cosmetics company, “By nature”. The concepts rapid success leads to the creation of 7 more franchise shops in Greece and to abroad collaborations (Cyprus, Egypt, and Andorra). He has been travelling between Greece and Canada since 2015 due to the needs of his new concept. The concept of Beemeety was authorized by the Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre in the summer 2016 and was part of a three-month business acceleration programme. After a small reroute to its strategy, the redefined concept call Intrideo, is today an already established company in Canada, has already been sponsored, employs people from both countries and is in constant quest of enriching its team. We met Vasilis at Linto to talk about Intrideo.
G.D.: What exactly is Intrideo and what are its services?
Vasilis Dimtsas: Intrideo set of in August 2015 as a mobile application but it is at present being developed as software as a service (SAAS). Its core is based on its wed application which will of course be supported by a mobile app. We will start with a targeted restricted market - the human resources recruiting of the food industry & hospitality- which will work as follows: a company will be able to post a job post looking for staff and through our services will avail itself with the job requests accompanied by a small 20-sec video (this is where Intrideo is named after, intro + video) in which the applicant will attempt to “excite”/convince the recruiter to choose him/her for the particular job position.
 Vasilis Dimtsas: Intrideo set of in August 2015 as a mobile application but it is at present being developed as software as a service (SAAS). Its core is based on its wed application which will of course be supported by a mobile app. We will start with a targeted restricted market - the human resources recruiting of the food industry & hospitality- which will work as follows: a company will be able to post a job post looking for staff and through our services will avail itself with the job requests accompanied by a small 20-sec video (this is where Intrideo is named after, intro + video) in which the applicant will attempt to “excite”/convince the recruiter to choose him/her for the particular job position.
G.D.: In other words, a CV will not be necessary. The video will be the first step, right?
Vasilis Dimtsas: Exactly. Essentially, the recruiter will be prescreening the applicant. For example, when receiving 100 CVs he/she will get a first impression of the applicants for a particular job opening before engaging precious work time for interviews. In essence he/she saves time making sure only top applicants are later interviewed. A CV may tick all the boxes but the applicant himself/herself may lack the soft skills the company is looking for. The video will last about 20” to 30”. This is to be decided on the final release – it will be time recorded and rehearsed. In case an applicant believes they need more time to present themselves, they will have the ability to buy that extra time.
G.D.: How did you come up with this idea?
Vasilis Dimtsas: The particular idea is a pivot outcome. It didn’t just happen. A pivot is quite usual for a start up. The project started in August 2015 as Beemeety, which was a social b2b calendar, in which every businessperron or company could spare some time on their schedule for a professional meeting. Like a professional network service. The video request was later added to the original project. For instance, if a salesperson wanted to meet a company’s manager they would send a video explaining the reason for their meeting. We wanted to limit the great number of emails (cold-emails, cold calls) that is received by high rank executives and to offer them a first glance at the possible professional meeting. So, we were chosen for our original project in Canada, and they went on to alter a bit the original concept. Through a systematic market research they suggested some improvements. Recruiters and executives in Human Resources offered valuable feedback on how this could be a useful tool. So we decided to first try it out in the niche market of recruiting to hit the markets. It is common in the beginning to start with a restricted market and we would build it up gradually. Several of our investors own big restaurant chains in Canada - later we are to expand in the US and of course we won’t stop there.
 G.D.: Are you considering any new updates for the application in later time?
Vasilis Dimtsas: We do have many in our minds. There are times that the concept itself may alter in six months. You can’t predict this. You simply face it later.
G.D.: What were the obstacles you had to overcome in the first months?
Vasilis Dimtsas: None but the usual a startup company needs to face at its beginning. For instance, a team may end up differently than it began. Of course funding was a very difficult aspect. Due to the Greek recession it was very difficult for us to be trusted. With constant effort and perseverance we managed to find a sponsor from Canada. Their main requirement was that we become a Canadian company. The fact that we managed to make them believe in us doesn’t mean that we have stopped trying. We must surely evolve. The whole effort means that you get a thousand no’s, before eventually that one person that believes in you is found. We were qualified for an accelerate program of the Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre in Canada. That was a crucial point. And it of course was not easy at all – I had to make a decision within ten days. This is common in startups. If you are to take the leap you have to do it. You must believe in yourself so that the rest of the world follows (team, investors etc).
You can follow Intrideo on the following links:
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