Hierology

Adam Robinson had previously run a recruitment outsourcing business that placed talent for mid-market technology and professional services firms. Over time he realized his customers were terrible at interviewing and picking people, and that made the business hard to make money in. He had built an interviewing system for those customers, and they kept asking to buy it. He refused for years, then sold the business, and the idea of productizing that system stayed with him.

Hierology was founded in the middle of 2010 and launched its product in January 2012. Its first year revenue in 2010 was just under $200,000. The first customers were entrepreneurs from Robinson's personal and professional network who agreed to test the product. For 18 months he worked with a group of about 40 entrepreneurs he had known for years, and they helped him build the product by being early customers.

The company's model evolved toward franchise systems and dealerships, where there is no centralized HR team to sell to. Corporate brands act as distribution partners and push Hierology out to their networks, while franchise owners contract individually. In most cases the brands do not take a cut, though some large brands receive distribution fees. Robinson said the company is an all-inside sales operation, and its velocity and close rates support the metrics.

By October 2016 Hierology was working with just under 4,000 individually owned businesses across about 150 brands, including Kia, Ford, Mercedes-Benz US, Anytime Fitness, and Sylvan Learning Centers. Average revenue was around $300 per location per month, and the host estimated roughly $1.2 million in MRR, which Robinson agreed was 'not far off.' Churn is under 10% annualized, which he attributed to franchise locations being resold rather than closed. Customer acquisition payback runs seven to eight months, with lifetime value to CAC between seven and ten times depending on vertical. The company also avoided the SMB SaaS churn trap that Robinson described as a 'bloodbath' with 40 to 60% annual churn.

Hierology had over 100 employees, half in sales, customer success, or support, based in downtown Chicago. It was bootstrapped for its first two years, then raised $26 million across two rounds from 2014 to 2016 from Bain Capital Ventures and Baird Venture Partners. Robinson said he would change nothing about how he raised, crediting the partnership with enabling its scale.