Founder & CEO — Future of Skilled Work

Job description

Founders Factory builds and funds startups together with exceptional entrepreneurs and the world’s leading companies. Created by IPO-exited founders, we offer founders capital, operational support from a team of hands-on experts, and unrivalled access to a coalition of industry-leading corporate partners. Since 2015, our 300+ portfolio companies have raised $900mm follow-on funding from a roster of notable investors. Our Studio partners with entrepreneurs at day one, developing new ideas, technologies and business models into high-growth companies. In partnership with Vonovia, Europe’s largest residential real estate company, we are building a new venture to solve the most acute labor shortage in the German economy: the skilled trades. We’re looking for an experienced operator with entrepreneurial ambitions to lead MeisterMatch as Founder & CEO with our investment and the full backing of Founders Factory. ## **The Opportunity: Building Germany’s First Compounding Talent Pool for Trades** Germany faces a severe shortage of skilled workers, with over 250,000 unfilled trade roles and a demographic cliff where 45% of current tradespeople are over 50 years old. For major employers like Vonovia, hiring an electrician currently takes an average of 180 to 300 days. Traditional job boards and agencies are broken—optimised for CVs rather than real skills, they fail to engage passive talent and charge exorbitant fees. MeisterMatch is an AI-native recruiter powered by two specialized agents: a Candidate Agent that onboards tradespeople via WhatsApp/voice (no CV required), and an Employer Agent that delivers qualified shortlists to hiring managers within 48 hours. Unlike generalist AI tools, MeisterMatch understands the full taxonomy of 130+ recognized German crafts (ZDH) and automatically maps international qualifications to German standards. By building a living, verified supply-side infrastructure, we reduce the cost per hire by 50% and turn every hire into a sourcing channel through embedded referral mining. With 355 live roles from Vonovia as instant demand and a seed network of 5,000+ employed craftspeople, MeisterMatch is positioned to own the trade talent market. ## **Our offer** - **Co-found a company** with Founders Factory’s team of IPO-exited founders and entrepreneurs to develop a category-defining materials platform. - **Access to an expert team** through our Venture Studio and 6-month accelerator programme. - **Unlock €760k combined cash and hands-on support** from our experienced team. - **A validated concep**t with proven early results: our test site achieved a 7% conversion rate at a cost per acquisition 4x lower than previous benchmarks. - **A dedicated studio budget** (including the founder stipend, specialist resource and infrastructure budget). - **Build with expert input from Vonovia**, using their massive technical services division as a design partner and first customer. ## **What we’re looking for** - Experienced founder or builder capable of operating from zero to one in the HR-tech or marketplace space. - Unique market insight into the German "Mittelstand" or the skilled trades sector. - Proven ability to build a world-class team, attract enterprise customers, and raise venture funding. - Strong product/tech instincts to lead the development of conversational AI and qualification mapping engines. - A clear vision for how to engage a mobile-first, non-desk workforce that traditional platforms ignore. - High IQ and EQ – comfortable speaking with C-suite executives at Vonovia and tradespeople on a construction site. - Deep understanding of the German market and German language skills (fluency) are essential to navigate the 130+ ZDH craft regulations. - Evidence of thriving in ambiguity with a high aptitude for building defensible network effects.