PHL Inno's weekly "Startup Spotlight" feature highlights founders and new businesses cropping up in the region.
The startup: xBound, a hiring website for late-career and retired professionals
Founded: Early 2020, just before the pandemic. The platform launched in July 2021.
Home base: Philadelphia
Founders: Zave Smith has spent 31 years of his career as a commercial photographer and is a co-founder of Xhilarate, a design agency in Northern Liberties.
Smith began development on xBound during the Covid-19 pandemic while there were no photography jobs during lockdown. He has no background in recruitment, technology or running a startup, but Smith simply couldn’t let the idea for xBound go.
The product: XBound is a website for experienced job seekers — such as retired or semi-retired people — seeking full-time work, a part-time gig, consulting jobs or volunteer opportunities. Employers looking for workers with decades of experience can post their listings on xBound.
Dating back to the 1990s, Smith noticed that if a person in the advertising industry got laid off and they were over the age of 50, the likelihood of them securing another job in the industry was small. The number of baby boomers retiring annually has picked up in recent years, signaling that many have entered retirement early, according to a report from the Pew Research Center. Believing it to be a “waste of talent,” Smith sought to help eager retirees return to the workforce so they can stay engaged while companies get experienced employees.
“They don't really want to retire. They're not looking to play shuffleboard,” Smith said. “They physically can't or mentally can't do the 50-hour weeks that they've been doing for 40 years. But if they could find someplace where they could contribute and stay engaged, maybe on a part-time basis or project basis, they would love it.”
The platform is currently free to use for employers and job seekers, but future revenue streams will stem from paid job listings and digital advertising.
Funding: XBound raised $55,000 from friends and family to launch the platform, and the startup received a $5,000 grant from the University City Science Center’s "OnRamp: Stimulate Your Start-Up" pitch competition.
The goal: The startup is targeting clients who may need experienced help in areas like human resources or finance but may not have the budget for a full-time employee, such as other startups. XBound is also looking at companies with high churn, who could use more employees on a part-time basis, as well as retailers who could use older employees to help understand older clientele.
“If you're 50 or 60 or 65 years old, you might not want to work the floor of Home Depot 40 hours a week because you physically can't do it,” Smith said. “But you might want to work 10 hours a week or 20 hours a week just for a little extra income and to be a little social and share your knowledge.”
