Successful startups listen when users are (virtually) screaming for a new direction. More importantly, they act.
Last month Omaha-based Vitru relaunched with their new direction firmly in place. Now instead of connecting employers to potential employees, Vitru will focus on helping companies understand how and why their teams work well together.
At its inception, Vitru acted as a matchmaker for job seekers and businesses based on professional values and workplace culture. But as CEO Ryan Mead and his team watched their beta users interact with the product, they realized that groups were using Vitru for internal team-building, not hiring.
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“The reality was, if we were going to be true to our users and listen to how they were using the product, we needed to pivot,” Mead said.
Vitru’s pivot started in late July, when it turned its focus to giving teams data about why they work well together and, subsequently, how to recreate that success. The tool accomplishes that by using some of the science from the original offering, but to get there the Vitru team reimagined its product and code base from the ground up.
“What we’re asking now is, ‘When you put people together, what made that magical?’” Mead (right) said. “Our tool gives you an idea of what made that team click.”
The new iteration of Vitru is much more team driven. Users still take an assessment—examining how much they value things like opportunity, teamwork and challenge at work—but now the process is geared toward building teams from existing employees. When users have completed their profiles, team leaders can group them based on similar principles, building what Mead describes as a “dashboard for your organization’s psyche.”
Vitru feels that a more focused, team-based approach is the right choice. “This team-building tool is where our critical mass of knowledge was,” Mead said. “We were most confident in our platform performing well this way.”
Mead hopes the new Vitru will give decision-makers the data to understand their team’s spark, whether it’s a group of three or 300, and to spread that spark elsewhere. The key is to present that data in a digestible and actionable package.
Vitru is officially public and free to try for individuals. Entry-level users can build one team of up to 10 people, but on a larger scale Vitru’s pricing plans range from $99 to $399 depending on team size.
But the work isn’t finished. The Vitru team has a base understanding of what [or who] comprises an effective working group, but as they continue gathering data and observing their users, they will be able to provide their customers with more insight on capturing that intangible compatibility factor.
“What we know today, what we know six months from now, and what we know a year from now is going to be even richer and better,” Mead said. “As people build teams and as we roll out new features that take a pulse on what makes those teams successful, we’ll know more.”
Read more about Vitru through our previous coverage: “Vitru helps employers, prospective hires match more than skill sets.”
Credits: Ryan Mead photo courtesy of Vitru.
