Type of site Employment website Website themuse.com | Available in English | |
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Founded September 2011 (5 years ago) (2011-09) Headquarters New York City, New York, United States Founder(s) Kathryn Minshew
Alex Cavoulacos
Melissa McCreery | ||
The Muse (formerly known as The Daily Muse) is a New York City-based online career source founded in 2011 by Kathryn Minshew, Alexandra Cavoulacos, and Melissa McCreery. The company aims to build the “most beloved, trusted career destination in the world” for the millennial age group and older professionals by offering job listings, company profiles, expert advice, skills-building resources, and coaching services to the millions of candidates using the platform.
Contents
Over 500 companies across industries have job listings and corporate profiles on The Muse, including Facebook, Dropbox, Zappos, Slack, Vanguard, Goldman Sachs, Marriott, The Gap, HBO, Conde Nast, Bloomberg, Hearst, Geico, and Aflac.
History
The Muse originally launched in Brooklyn as The Daily Muse on September 6, 2011, with eight editors and eleven columnists. The first version of the site grew from 20,000 users to 26,000 users to 70,000 users in its first 3 months.
In 2012, Minshew, Cavoulacos, and McCreery applied to Y Combinator at the recommendation of their advisor Rachel Sklar. They traveled to San Francisco for the interview and were accepted into the program that same day. The founders moved to Silicon Valley for 8 months during Y Combinator and the subsequent fundraise, after which they decided to locate their headquarters in New York City starting in September 2012.
Including initial funding from Y Combinator, 500 Startups, and others, The Muse received $1.2 million in seed funding in January 2013 to continue growing the business.
After rebranding to The Muse in June 2013, the company was a finalist in The Wall Street Journal Startup of the Year competition in Fall 2013.
Tyra Banks and others invested $1 million in The Muse in February 2014.
In May 2015, The Muse announced a $10 million Series A round led by Theresia Gouw at Aspect Ventures, with participation by DBL Partners and QED Ventures.
In June 2016, the company raised $16 million in a Series B funding round led by Icon Ventures, with current investors Aspect Ventures, DBL Partners, and QED Investors participating.
Services
The Muse creates in-depth profiles of companies seeking top talent, showcasing their brand through behind-the-scenes videos of the office and team culture, interviews with employees, and current job openings. In a 2012 interview with Fast Company, founder Kathryn Minshew explained how the team creates “all the content” by sending someone into the office to capture everything needed to build a profile. The idea is to establish authentic and lasting connections between companies and candidates before the formal application process begins.
In November 2016, The Muse launched “Coach Connect,” a network of expert career coaches available to users seeking professional guidance in their job search. The service offers resume review and editing, career Q&As, personalized job search or networking plans, and specialized coaching in interviewing, negotiation, and leadership.
Clients
Facebook, Dropbox, Zappos, Slack, Vanguard, Goldman Sachs, Marriott, The Gap, HBO, Conde Nast, Bloomberg, Hearst, Geico, Aflac, and more have chosen to feature job listings and corporate profiles on The Muse.
Published Works
In November 2016, it was announced that co-founders Alexandra Cavoulacos and Kathryn Minshew were publishing a book, The New Rules of Work: A Modern Playbook for Navigating Your Career, with Penguin Random House in April 2017.
Recognition & Awards
In November 2016, The Muse was ranked the number 16 fastest growing company in North America on Deloitte's 2016 Technology Fast 500 list, after growing 6,783 percent over a three-year period.
SmartCEO selected The Muse as one of their 2016 New York Future 50 winners, a program that recognizes 50 of the region’s fastest growing, mid-sized companies.
The Muse was a finalist in The Wall Street Journal Startup of the Year competition in Fall 2013.
Kathryn Minshew, Alex Cavoulacos, and Melissa McCreery were number 59 on Business Insider’s 2012 Silicon Alley 100. Minshew and Cavoulacos made the list again as number 85 in 2015.
Traffic & Demographics
As of June 2016, the startup has over 50 million unique visitors annually.