Trying to make flexi-working sexy, will KROW be able to change how the job economy works?

Jobs are a problem across the globe and this knowledge is commonplace. With the number of new job portals coming up, you wouldn’t really sit up expecting to hear something radically different. But when I met Anilesh Seth at his residence in HRBR layout, Bangalore, a bit of rethinking was necessitated.

The Journey

Anilesh Seth has had an enviable career and is known for a rather interesting specialty- he takes up loss making companies and makes them profitable (and no, he doesn’t have a magic wand). He has done this twice in his career which spans across 27 years with global giants like Toyota, L&T and HCL among others. Another distinguished achievement this IIM alumnus has is that of expanding NIIT- a listed global talent development company that was founded in 1981. Anilesh was the first territory manager for the company and played a big role in their nationwide expansion.Now, Anilesh has decided to startup on his own and he has two more distinguished professionals by his side. Darshan Chinnappa and Narayan Krishnaswamy both have had their own HR firms and bring in some very core domain expertise that pours into their venture, Krow.

Krow- A different Look at Work

Krow is the reverse for Work and at its core- Krow is a marketplace of people who’re looking for flexi-work.

What is Flexi-work?

Suppose that you’re a home maker or a retired person or a seasoned professional who likes different assignments. Now, wouldn’t it make sense to have short customized project based work? A homemaker can work on a project from 12-4 p.m. for 4 days a week and bring in her expertise that he or she might have. Another instance, a company is looking for an accountant but can’t hire sometime fulltime. A retired person who has spent his entire life in accounting is a perfect match! Or say you want someone to setup your logistics- a seasoned professional can come in for a few months and do it for you.

This is flexi-work.

And Krow is trying to create a pool of all such people with companies onboard who’re looking to hire. The model definitely makes sense for startups but a few surveys showed the trio that even MNC’s would like to have this option.

Encouraged by the signs, the team incorporated Krow in 2011 and has 140 companies on board who’re recruiting and 5000 flexi-workers who’re on the portal.

The Bigger Picture

Taking a look from a bird’s eye, Krow is much more than match making. Anilesh says, “Our nation has 1.2 billion people and this will go upto 1.9 billion by 2050 and this will put immense strain on the infrastructure. The way we work needs to change.” The entire workforce obviously can’t go flexi-wrok but Krow believes that the figure can stabilize at 15%. Commuting, pollution, wastage of time, inefficiencies are all part of the problem and Krow aims to reduce these.

Narayan and Darshan, both come from the HR industry believe that all sizes of companies would be interested in such an offering.

How Krow works is that companies take up a subscription from Krow and give their preference- “We want a person with experience in finance in this area with his own laptop and net connection who can finish so and so project in 3 months.”

Krow aims to go to this granularity and get the company a right match. Yes, it is ambitious.

This is going to be tough!

It certainly is. Krow currently has 5000+ people on the portal with the biggest chunk from Bangalore. The team is currently pondering on how much money to raise to scale up. “Yes, we know this will require a lot of legwork and it’s a huge task but we’re ready for it,” says Anilesh.

With an experienced team at the helm, Krow is still at an infant stage and we’ll keep bringing to you updates on how the company proceeds.

Website: Krow