True, one of the largest executive search firms in the world, has announced it is acquiring Jopwell, a hiring platform focused on advancing the careers of Black, Latinx and Native American students and early-to-mid-career professionals.
According to a press release, Jopwell will complement the executive-focused DEI efforts of True Search and AboveBoard, an inclusive executive platform and community).
Jopwell co-founders and execs Ryan Williams and Porter Braswell will continue to build Jopwell as a business unit within True.
The story behind Jopwell
Williams and Braswell started Jopwell after meeting at Goldman Sachs, where they were on the foreign exchange sales team.
In 2013, Braswell decided he wanted to transition into tech, but struggled to make it past the final round of interviews for entry-level jobs.
“Shortly after these failed attempts, I noticed all these organizations had begun talking publicly about their lack of diversity and claiming they weren’t diverse because the talent didn’t exist,” Braswell wrote in Fast Company. “It was a ‘pipeline’ challenge.”
“I became increasingly frustrated by this blatant and deliberate misdirection. I was literally the talent they claimed didn’t exist. But I couldn’t break into the industry, despite being overqualified for the entry-level jobs I’d been applying for.”
“So I decided that the only way to break in would be to build my own tech company – one that served all this supposedly nonexistent talent.”
That vision would eventually become Jopwell.
Disrupting the talent industry
Since its launch in 2014, Jopwell’s community has grown to 130,000 members, with 96% identifying as Black, Latinx, and/or Native American. They have partnerships with well-known brands, including American Express, BlackRock, Bloomberg, Deloitte, Citi, Google, and Johnson & Johnson.
“This partnership with True’s global reach and resources expands the value we deliver to our partners and community members,” said Jopwell co-founder and CEO Ryan Williams in the press release.
“We’re aligned from our technology roots to our shared visions for disrupting the talent industry for the better of all people.”
The financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed in the press release. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions.
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