Listen to this articleBelow is our recent interview with Michelle Tinsley, COO and Co-Founder of YellowBird:
Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to your company?
A: YellowBird is a gig economy marketplace that matches vetted risk and Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) professionals with businesses on-demand. We provide businesses in insurance, construction, manufacturing, risk, oil and gas and other sectors with a deep roster of certified, vetted, and insured professionals who are ready to work on any size project.
Q: Any highlights on your recent announcement?
A: We are extremely happy with our successful seed capital raise. We closed with an over subscription of $1.7 million. The investment will support our growth both internally with hiring and externally scaling markets across the country. Much of the proceeds will be invested into further development of its Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform. The raise comes as we scale to meet strong demand for freelance workers in insurance, construction, manufacturing, oil and gas, risk management, and other sectors. The venture and angel communities have been very supportive of our growth, and their investment during this seed raise exceeded our expectations.
Recommended: Q: Can you give us more insights into your offering?
A: We offer a suite of services, which includes (but not limited to) OSHA incident investigations and mock audits, industrial hygiene, on-site safety manager, custom projects, and training. During the pandemic, our EHS professionals also helped small businesses, schools, and religious organizations develop safety protocols and training with a COVID-19 return-to-work program. Businesses hiring EHS professionals through YellowBird can avoid going through piles of resumes, which helps businesses save businesses time and money.
YellowBird is disrupting the hiring segment in several industries. Companies in heavy industrial sectors, such as manufacturing, O&G, mining, and construction must make the health and safety of its workers a priority. Yet many small businesses cannot afford to have a full-time EHS professional, or they don’t have enough staff to monitor every job site, especially those in remote areas. YellowBird gives them access to knowledgeable professionals on-demand and in all 50 states.
Secondly, the companies that do have a full-time safety professional on staff usually rely on a highly compensated generalist. With YellowBird, businesses tap into a deep roster of credentialed, experienced, and vetted specialists in hundreds of areas. The professionals in our platform offer over 170+ industry-specific certificates. This shift from full-time employee to on-demand, immediately available, specialists also saves business leaders time and money. Another important aspect is that we do all the vetting. YellowBird connects businesses with workers who have already gone through our intensive, thorough, 5-step vetting process. This has a tremendous impact on a projects’ timeline and budget.
Finally, through YellowBird, businesses hire professionals 15 times faster than traditional consultants or staffing agencies. In many cases, the EHS professional can be on a job site the next day. Signing up on the platform is easy, and companies can post a project anytime. Once a project is posted, YellowBird sends out a text message to qualifying professionals, which often results in a match in less than two hours. In many cases, the EHS pro can be on a job site the next day.
Q: What can we expect from your company in next 6 months? What are your plans?
A: YellowBird will soar. We are growing exponentially and sustainably. Over the next six months, we plan to further develop our platform, expand our team and grow in several markets across the country, helping more businesses find the EHS expertise they need while providing EHS professionals with gigs of all sizes.
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Q: What is the best thing about your company that people might not know about?
A: We are proud to be a company that lives out our values every day. One of our core values is “Be Spicy” and every other week, we kick off our all-hands meeting with a theme. It is a fun way to start the week with a positive tone and we like to feed a culture of fun while we are building a disruptive, game-changing organization.
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