Juvo Jobs is currently raising at a $17 million pre-money valuation. While software companies generally command higher valuations, Juvo Jobs’ current revenue traction does not justify such a high valuation. The average valuation of early-stage companies in the KingsCrowd database is $14.5 million, and the average revenue of those companies is $83,800. Juvo Jobs currently has a valuation of $17 million and generated slightly more than $2,700 in revenue in 2020. This means Juvo Jobs is pricing itself higher than average despite having lower revenue than average. Both are poor marks for Juvo Jobs. As such, the company’s valuation is overpriced for investors.

The US online recruitment market is valued at more than $14.7 billion in 2022. As there will likely always be hourly workers searching for jobs, Juvo Jobs is positioning itself in a large market. As the US recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic and more workers re-enter the job market, the online recruitment market is expected to grow at a strong 12% rate. It is highly unlikely that Juvo Jobs will realistically obtain even 10% of the market in five years. But the company deserves recognition for competing in a large and fast-growing market. Overall, the large, growing, and very competitive market is a reassuring sign for the business opportunity Juvo Jobs is attacking.

Husband-and-wife duo Mark and Debbie Emery co-founded Juvo Jobs together. Mr. Emery’s background is primarily in marketing and sales. He has been in leadership positions, including the senior vice president of product and strategy at GoHire and founder and CEO of Information Access Management, an employment agency. Mr. Emery has invested in a few companies but otherwise has been working on Juvo Jobs for more than five years. 

Mrs. Emery has a strong background in human resources, working in leadership roles for companies like the National MS Society and GoHire. She has also been working on Juvo Jobs for more than five years. Mr. and Mrs. Emery have a personal attachment to Juvo Jobs because they have witnessed the stark differences two of their four children have faced when finding, applying, and working in hourly jobs. While the couple has dedicated more than five years to Juvo Jobs, they have not achieved much in that time.

Other members of the Juvo Jobs team include CTO Mike Shutt, Vice President of Partnerships Jeff Baumohl, and Digital Marketing Community Manager Alexis Miller. Shutt has more than 20 years of experience as a software engineer and has had two exits: EQuIS in 2000 and Advectis in 2007. While impressive, Shutt’s exits happened more than 15 years ago. Shutt has not had any notable recent successes and has spent more than two years working on Juvo Jobs. Baumohl has more than 20 years of experience in product management and partnerships at large corporations like ADP and TalentQuest. Baumohl has done a good job of building partnerships with communities and some local companies, including Fortis Property Management. Miller has more than five years of experience in the events industry and heads Juvo Jobs’ email and other marketing. While hard to judge, it seems she’s also done a decent job. Overall, the team excluding the founders have good experience but have not shown many results so far. 

Overall, while the team has some members with leadership experience and exits, investors should note the team’s overall experience and execution is rather middling.

There is little to differentiate the quality of Juvo Job’s service. While the company’s focus on hourly wage workers and filtering jobs according to proximity is useful, it doesn’t stand out much against Craigslist. Craigslist not only has a strong brand and reputation but also allows individuals to find jobs based on proximity. As of right now, Juvo Jobs’ platform doesn’t seem overly sophisticated either. There are plenty of software packages and libraries that allow users to build geospatial maps. All that’s required is to layer on and add job openings data. Lastly, established platforms, including LinkedIn and Indeed, can likely build better services than Juvo Jobs if they choose to take a similar approach. 

Juvo Jobs is also attempting to change the application process by having applicants send video resumes rather than paper or digital resumes. While certainly different, video resumes likely take more time to build than paper resumes, especially for hourly jobs. It’s also unclear whether employers are willing to review video resumes, as it might also take them longer than reviewing written ones. 

Juvo Jobs does receive some points for being free. Additionally, the company has built some partnerships with colleges, apartment complexes, and more, including the Technical College System of Georgia and First Communities. But all in all, investors should be wary of investing in a technology and service that is overall not very differentiated. As of right now, there isn’t much to motivate employers and job seekers to choose Juvo Jobs over more familiar competitors.

There are several concerns with Juvo Jobs’ performance to date. According to the company’s cash flow statement, the company had a net loss of almost $300,000 in 2020, and it only stayed cash-positive by selling $175,000 of Class A membership units. Juvo Jobs has just $31,000 in the bank, which isn’t a great deal to work with. The company also notes it spent more than $21,000 in 2019 and more than $15,000 in 2020. The current raise will grant the company more than $250,000, which could give it a decent runway of about a year. But the company’s financial prospects seem concerning.

Juvo Jobs was incorporated in 2014, and according to the founders, it started to develop that same year. The LinkedIn profiles of co-founders Mark and Debbie Emery, however, seem to suggest that the company was founded in 2017. Either way, the founders have spent anywhere from five to eight years building Juvo Jobs. While it’s commendable that they’ve been able to raise nearly $2.5 million in capital, it’s questionable if they used the money effectively. The company had revenue of $2,759 in 2020, which is just a small improvement from having no revenue the previous year. Having such little progress after so much time and funding might not inspire confidence in investors.

On the positive side, Juvo Jobs has certainly received some interest. The platform had more than 43,000 downloads as of January 2022 and has users in all 50 states. For context, there are a little over 1,200 downloads per app in the US. Juvo Jobs’ 43,000 downloads is a promising signal, especially since this is a business-focused app. Moreover, the company has made several partnerships with colleges, apartment complexes, and nonprofits, which seems to prove there is some demand for Juvo Jobs’ services.

Altogether, Juvo Jobs’ slow growth and low revenue may worry investors. If it’s taken five to eight years and $2.5 million in funding to get Juvo Jobs to where it is today, the company isn’t likely to start executing at a high level in the near future. The founders have been able to raise a good deal of capital, lock down some valuable partnerships, and launch a product. But the company’s overall performance to date should worry investors. 

An investment in Juvo Jobs is not overly risky. The company and its founders have shown an aptitude for raising capital. Additionally, the company’s service has already launched, and as it’s a software solution, it shouldn’t require much maintenance, scaling time or cost. The amount of time the founders have spent building and working on Juvo Jobs has helped de-risk several aspects of the investment. 

The primary risks associated with Juvo Jobs are in its financials and the investment terms. The company burned through a significant amount of capital in 2020. Additionally, the company does not have much cash on hand, holds a moderate amount of debt, and hasn’t seen much of a return on its investments in advertising. For the deal terms, the company is grossly overvalued. Additionally, the company previously raised a convertible note in 2021 at a valuation cap of $25 million. The company’s current round at $17 million pre-money is essentially a down round, a negative sign for investors. 

Taken all together, the company’s financial and investment terms risks are outweighed by the significant de-risking of its launched product that has started to generate revenue.

Juvo Jobs has little differentiation in an industry dominated by several large competitors that could easily build a similar product. Although the company has been in operation for at least five years and has raised nearly $2.5 million in capital, it generated only $2,759 in revenue in 2020. Juvo Jobs’ slow progress raises questions as to the founders’ ability to execute at the high level necessary to outmaneuver its large, well-capitalized competitors. Lastly, although the current round’s valuation is lower than it was in the company’s 2021 raises, it is still much too high for the company’s progress thus far. If these trends continue, Juvo Jobs might not be able to give the 5x or higher return that startup investors seek.

The continued recovery of the US economy and potential for more hourly workers rejoining the workforce could make investors feel optimistic about Juvo Jobs. Additionally, investors should admire the founders’ dedication to the company. Sticking with a company and continuing to build it over a five-to-eight-year period is admirable. It suggests the founders believe in what they are doing and plan to see their company through to success. Lastly, the founders’ ability to raise capital and launch the Juvo Jobs service are good steps. Juvo Jobs has seen some recent growth in customer traction and has made several partnerships, which may give it a chance to scale in the future.

Juvo Jobs is a pre-revenue job platform for the hourly wage earner. The company is attempting to shift the paradigm on how hourly jobs are sourced and applied for with its geolocation-based job platform. The online jobs recruitment market is quite large and growing at a fast pace due to the recovering US economy, providing companies like Juvo Jobs an avenue to success. Juvo Jobs’ founders have proven their ability to acquire capital by raising $2.5 million, and this has proved indispensable to the company. Juvo Jobs has also managed to make several partnerships with colleges, apartment complexes, and nonprofits.

However, there are several concerns to consider before investing in Juvo Jobs. The company’s valuation is not only a down round from its previous raise but is also excessive given Juvo Jobs’ low traction to date. The company doesn’t stand out much among its competitors, and some more established job boards could easily replicate Juvo Jobs’ ideas. The company has taken far too long to develop its platform and spent nearly a staggering $2.5 million over an ambiguous five to eight years just to launch its product. The company’s traction so far doesn’t indicate that the founders will be able to quickly scale the company within a reasonable time frame. As such, investors will likely not see a good return on investment. Therefore, Juvo Jobs has been rated an Underweight Deal.

For questions regarding the KingsCrowd analyst report or ratings for this company, please reach out to support@kingscrowd.com. 

Analysis written by Francis Vu, March 11, 2022.