By Bill Reed, CMO of RemotelyMe

WORKTECH INVESTORS SEE HUGE RETURNS

In the pulsating realm of work tech, an electrifying surge is underway. The IPO gates have swung open wide, and industry leaders like Arm and Instacart are paving the way. Amid this symphony of innovation, Klaviyo, a SaaS marketing automation startup, recently made waves by going public, witnessing a remarkable 9 percent stock surge on day one. The forecast from the esteemed Starr Conspiracy suggests that the years beyond 2024 could herald a golden era for IPOs and acquisitions in the work tech domain.

Yet, amidst the fervor, one segment stands out—the $6 billion Candidate Intelligence market within the colossal $74 billion Talent Acquisition landscape. It's an arena ripe for disruption, lacking a dominant player. The incumbents, often shackled by outdated approaches and technologies, leave ample room for transformative change.

Enter the dilemma: conventional talent assessments, a relic of the past, rely on text and word-based "personality" tests. The revered BIG-5, conceived in 1982, still prevails despite its age. Dr. German Fresco, a pioneering neurobiologist and Chief Science Officer at RemotelyMe, questions this approach, noting that these assessments engage only the neocortex, responsible for a mere ten percent of decision-making. A fragmented picture emerges, leaving crucial soft skills and trust factors unexplored.

Dr. Fresco advocates for a revolutionary shift. Visual neuroscience, he asserts, taps into the emotional and instinctual realms, constituting 90 percent of decision-making. By leveraging visual neuroscience and cognitive AI, RemotelyMe has unveiled a groundbreaking solution—a candidate assessment and employee engagement survey that accesses 100 percent of the brain with a remarkable 93 percent Cronbach's Alpha validity and a staggering 97 percent completion rate. Crucially, it deciphers brain oxytocin levels, a linchpin indicator of trust factors.

In a world where workplace trust is a scarce commodity, Gallup's revelation that almost 80 percent of workers lack trust in their employers is unsettling. Deloitte and LinkedIn add weight to the argument—high trust employees significantly boost business performance, customer loyalty, and productivity, while soft skills are paramount to job success.

RemotelyMe emerges as the torchbearer in this narrative. In a landscape where trust is a trillion-dollar asset, their pioneering solution addresses the heart of the issue. Low trust is an economic drain, costing global firms nearly $9 trillion. The question then becomes: Is the biotech frenzy overshadowing an even hotter opportunity in visual neuroscience? Will patents connecting neurotransmitters to workplace success redefine the investment landscape?

As investors comb the horizon for the next big breakthrough, the convergence of biotech and work tech offers a compelling proposition. Should we prioritize repairing broken bodies, or should we invest in technology that alleviates the stress and trust issues leading to those broken bodies? The startup that unravels the enigma of workplace trust stands on the cusp of a blue ocean opportunity.

Pepperdine Graziadio Business School recognizes this potential, bestowing a Most Fundable Company Silver Award on a startup that dares to confront the world's foremost workplace problem. The stage is set, and RemotelyMe holds the spotlight, poised to revolutionize how we measure trust and soft skills—an indispensable transformation in the evolving landscape of work tech.

Article By Bill Reed CMO of RemotelyMe