EPIC Startup Spotlight: Click’too’Work
4 min readThe Entrepreneurship and Product Innovation Center (EPIC) of the American University of Armenia (AUA) is proud to introduce Click’too’Work, one of the startups in the current Spring 2021 batch. Click’too’Work is an online recruitment platform that focuses on providing businesses with best-fit candidates for short-term or temporary work, whether part-time or full-time employment. Specializing in recruitment for the hospitality industry, it matches job seekers according to their skills and experience with the right jobs thereby tackling both supply and demand side employment problems prevalent in that industry in Armenia.
How did you come up with this idea?
Barouyr Demirjian: The idea came to me last summer when I recalled facing challenges when working at a local pub five years ago. We needed security guards to work on weekends, and it was very hard to find people who were willing to work only on those days. My friends and I inquired with others and we learned that most cafes and restaurants also faced the same challenge. We understood that this is a dominant problem with businesses in the hospitality industry that are constantly challenged by finding employees, whether temporary, part-time, or full-time. Thus, based on what we learned, we decided to solve those problems with our Click’too’Work platform.
How is your platform different from the other job platforms?
Barouyr Demirjian: Firstly, one of the areas we focus on is on-demand staffing, which is what most businesses in the industry need today. Secondly, we plan to have a large database of people working in hospitality, including HORECA [hotels, restaurants, cafes], and accommodation enterprises, which other platforms do not have. And thirdly, most waiters and waitresses do not go to online job platforms to look for a job. Instead, they go door-knocking with their CVs from one cafe to another to find a job. This is primarily because there are no effective online platforms to find jobs in this industry. We are exclusive, given that our website is specifically tailored to the needs of HORECA, accommodation, all types of businesses in the hospitality industry.
Who are your team members?
Barouyr Demirjian: Zohrab Aivazian is the co-founder of Click’too’Work. He is a senior student at National Polytechnic University majoring in Software Engineering. He also works for Green Armenia, another startup company, as a software developer. He does the front-end development and the UI/UX of our website, graphic design, and he is the creator of our logo.
Vazken Abdulian is doing his master’s at AUA. He does the back-end development of our website, and he works for Picsart as a QA [quality assurance] and back-end engineer.
And I am currently a senior student at AUA majoring in Business and Economics. I have experience in marketing and I have worked with three different startups, which has helped me understand how startups work. Currently, I work as a marketer specializing in SEO [search engine optimization].
What motivates you to work on your idea?
Barouyr Demirjian: I would say it’s the drive to gain startup experience and learn along the way. However, more importantly, the aspiration to solve the high unemployment that Armenia is currently facing. There are several other recruitment platforms but they are mostly for finding jobs as marketers, engineers, IT specialists, but not for waiters, waitresses, and many other occupations in the hospitality industry.
What are the obstacles you are trying to overcome today?
Barouyr Demirjian: The obstacles that we are facing today are fixable. We are very lucky to be surrounded by such a diverse group of supportive people at EPIC. EPIC sessions gave us the missing 5% of the knowledge we needed, like the last piece of a puzzle critical to completing the big picture and validating our idea. At the moment, our main challenge is to finish the development of our website and launch it in July.
Since starting Click’too’Work, what were your main lessons learned?
Barouyr Demirjian: The most important thing that I learned is the importance of gathering as much data as possible, and talking to as many people as you can. It might not seem like a big lesson, but I find it to be paramount.
Do you have any tips for people who don’t know where to start?
Barouyr Demirjian: Pitch your startup idea to your family and friends, ask different people for their opinions. And if you are lucky enough to have friends from different industries to help out as they helped me, then it will be easier to start.
Why did you decide to apply to the EPIC incubation program?
Barouyr Demirjian: I had taken a class with Professor Kouchakdjian, and learned a lot about startups and businesses in that class. Besides, his enthusiasm about startups in Armenia motivated me to start thinking about having my own startup. I pitched my idea to him before applying to EPIC and received great advice and direction to contacts of people to consult, which led me to EPIC for more. The hands-on experience we get at EPIC, the enthusiasm and earnest desire of the EPIC experts and staff involved in the program give us the assurance that we will get the support we need and will succeed.
What are your plans for the near future?
Barouyr Demirjian: As I mentioned before, our next step will be to launch our website in mid-June. After that, we will use various marketing strategies that we know to involve many different groups of interested parties. We would like to expand our business in the future, targeting other industries in our determination to tackle their respective staffing problems offering them online recruitment options. Another big step forward will be going global potentially targeting Arab countries, which could be a huge market. We speak the language and are intimately familiar with those people as all three of us are Syrian-Armenians.
What does success look like for your startup?
Barouyr Demirjian: I would say that success for us is the ability to solve problems. As long as we are solving a problem we encounter, it would be a step closer to full success for us.
Where can we go to learn more about Click’too’Work?
Barouyr Demirjian: You can check out our website and Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/clicktoowork/
The Entrepreneurship and Product Innovation Center (EPIC) is a platform of the American University of Armenia (AUA) for promoting entrepreneurial education, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and startup venture incubation. EPIC provides an ecosystem for emerging entrepreneurs consisting of first-class facilities and collaborative workspace, programs and events, and a network of mentors, advisors, and investors. EPIC fosters the understanding and application of entrepreneurship in students and faculty at AUA to craft high-impact multidisciplinary ventures.