As COVID-19 continues to disrupt the workplace, many companies are developing new HR playbooks. Working from home is here to stay, which means providing team members with valuable feedback becomes even more important in a remote environment. Not only does it help managers better understand how they can support their teams, but it also helps keep everyone on the same page and aligned with company goals. 

The younger generations of workers are also changing the landscape of workplace communication, and seek regular feedback for professional growth. As these workplace behaviors evolve, so does the need for a solution that allows teams to communicate their feedback quickly and easily. Grow is part of a new generation of HR tools that is made for this moment. 

The Nuts & Bolts 

Problem: Millions of workers are now doing their jobs from home and in a recent Pew Research Center survey, more than half of workers polled said that they would prefer remote work in the long term. But if remote work is to remain an option, managers and employees must have the tools to provide each other with feedback quickly and transparently. Furthermore, younger workers are looking for more insights and information to evaluate and understand how they can advance to the next level in their careers.  

While LinkedIn is a good place to learn about people’s professional work experiences, it isn’t always the best way to understand what a person is actually skilled at doing. 

Solution: Grow provides an easy feedback solution that integrates seamlessly with existing communication systems and work spaces, such as Slack and soon Microsoft Teams. The platform not only helps teams feel supported while working remotely, but helps build company culture and allows employees to use that feedback to reach their individual goals. 

Grow is building a solution in the form of a real-time skills graph, targeting workers who strive for continuous improvement, productivity, and excellence. 

When 500 Met Grow

We were introduced to the Grow team by Pilota, a member of our Batch 26. Both founders of Grow have technical backgrounds and met while at Cornell Tech. Grow was actually developed as an internal project for Cornell Tech students and faculty, but it quickly started gaining external traction. 

Ryan Sydnor leads the business side for Grow. He has worked as a software engineer at Merrill Lynch and Bridgewater Associates. Richard Hill leads the technical side of Grow. He has spent nearly four years at electronic health record giant Epic Systems and has a strong understanding of the value of data and records, which has helped with the development of Grow.  

The team fits well with our ESG criteria, having established diversity and inclusion goals, and investing in its team, via training and other resources, to help mitigate bias in the employment life cycle. 

Why Now?

COVID-19 has accelerated remote work, and Grow is positioned to take advantage of these tailwinds. The company fits within this trend nicely as it operates within the communication channels many of us have now adopted, such as Slack.

Workplace communication is likely to continue transitioning to those tools, and shifts in behavior brought on by a younger workforce can contribute to these changes. 

Future of Grow

Grow plans to continue expanding its team and building better and faster feedback solutions. We look forward to seeing how this hard-working team takes Grow beyond Slack and into other popular digital communication channels, such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom.

If you would like to learn more about companies, sectors, and trends that we are excited about as well as receive invitations to exclusive previews, and expert roundtables, please sign up here.

You can learn more about Grow at: https://getgrow.io. 

 

Image Source

Legal Disclaimers: 500 Startups programs (including accelerator programs), investor education services, strategic partnership consulting services and events are operated by 500 Startups Incubator, L.L.C. (together with its affiliates, “500 Startups”) and the funds advised by 500 Startups Management Company, L.L.C. do not participate in any revenue generated by these activities. Such programs and services are provided for educational and informational purposes only and under no circumstances should any content provided as part of any such programs, services or events be construed as investment, legal, tax or accounting advice by 500 startups or any of its affiliates.

The views expressed here are those of the individual 500 Startups personnel, or other individuals quoted and are not the views of 500 Startups or its affiliates. Certain information contained herein may have been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by 500 Startups. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, 500 Startups has not independently verified such information and makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy of the information in this post or its appropriateness for a given situation. In addition, this content may include third-party advertisements or links; 500 Startups has not reviewed such advertisements and does not endorse any advertising content contained therein.

This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, tax or accounting advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation, offer to sell or solicitation to purchase any investment securities, or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by 500 Startups. (An offering to invest in an 500 Startups fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by 500 Startups, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. 

Charts and graphs provided herein are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Unless otherwise expressly stated, figures are based on internal estimates and have not been independently verified. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. All logos and trademarks of third parties referenced herein are the logos and trademarks of their respective owners and any inclusion of such trademarks or logos does not imply or constitute any approval, endorsement or sponsorship of 500 Startups by such owners. 

Please see Section 2 of our Terms of Use for additional important information.