Are you a recent college graduate who has joined the flocks of job-seekers looking for employment in this unfriendly economy? Well if the Move Your Startup To Austin contest winner Meritful has anything to say about it, you won't be alone.
Meritful is a startup based out of Ann Arbor, Michigan that has its sights set on being the next big website to help qualified candidates find employment. The startup defines itself as "a professional development platform for students and companies," facilitating future employment by having the students develop a professional network before they ever leave school.
This might be especially useful for soon-to-be graduates who are looking for employment in a certain field while holding a non-traditional major. Meritful helps equip students with various tools to get noticed by potential employers by offering ways for the students to display their problem-solving skills, receive feedback and then make connections with interested companies.
Azarias Reda, PhD is the mastermind behind this innovative social networking site, first worked as a data analyst and researcher for LinkedIn. While that undoubtedly planted the seeds for what would become Meritful, his idea didn't fully come around until he was teaching high school students while pursuing his doctorate.
Meritful was launched in the fall of 2012, and while not guaranteed to get off the ground, the company is certainly off to a good start. They'll certainly be getting quite a boost from Move Your Startup To Austin, who is offering Reda and his startup an impressive list of rewards:
-$35,000 convertible note investment from CTAN
-$15,000 for rent from HomeAway
-6 months of co-working at Capital Factory
-$24,000 of server hosting from Rackspace
-Moving expenses from uShip
-6 months of a storage unit from Sparefoot
-6 months of local and organic groceries from Greenling
-2 badges for SXSW Interactive 2014
-1 year worth of postal mail scanning from Outbox
-6 months of Ramen noodles
I don't know about you, but as a recent college graduate myself, that 6 months-worth of Ramen noodles might be the real winner out of all the prizes.
