Prem Kumar, CEO of Humanly.io: $5.5 Million Raised to Build the Conversational Hiring Category

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Prem Kumar, CEO of Humanly.io, a recruiting tech platform that’s raised over $5.5 Million in funding, about why hiring shouldn’t have to be hassle for those on either side of process, and how working towards having a real conversation can ultimately deliver the right results for your company over the long term. With an integrated AI interface and highly developed feedback system to allow more detailed tracking of the entire hiring funnel, Humanly.io is helping to build a better experience for candidates and take the pressure off of your HR division to deal with a deluge of potential applications. We also spoke about what drove Prem to leave behind a stable position at Microsoft for the uncertainty of the startup sector, how Humanly benefits from the current AI boom but why it plans to be around for the long term, and why, at the end of the day, nothing’s really changed, and it’s still customer context that really matters when making it in a competitive marketplace. Topics Discussed: Prem’s career at Microsoft, and why his entrepreneurial tendencies took him to the tech startup space Why inadequate hiring is a structural issue, and why there’s no reason to blame your teams for being overwhelmed How one-sided digitalization has left the humans in HR to deal with a deluge of potential candidates, a task well beyond their capacity most of the time How AI can fill critical capacity shortfalls in the hiring process, and why a machine learning solution delivers consistently better feedback from applicants Why a better hiring systems leads to higher-quality outcomes for your enterprise, and more ethical interactions with potential candidates Why Prem appreciates the boost of today’s AI chat hype, but how he plans to build Humanly.io into a business with staying power by relying on the context they can provide to customers   Favorite book:  The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers