70 Million Jobs

70 Million Jobs is an employment platform for people with criminal records.

This is a huge market. 70 million Americans — 1 in 3 adults — have a criminal record. Without the stability of a job, nearly 80% of those released from jail or prison will be re-arrested.

Most have trouble finding employment after being released. While the rest of the country is experiencing historically low unemployment rates of around 4%, the rate for formerly incarcerated men and women is nearly 30%.

According to a recent study by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 82% of hiring managers believe that workers with criminal records are as good at their job, if not better, than those without.

70 Million Jobs is helping these people find and secure employment. Specifically, it addresses both sides of the job staffing market. It offers an avenue for job seekers to find opportunities, and gives employers access to a pool of largely ignored, available talent.

This company has raised $1.4 million from professional investors including Founders Fund, Insight Partners, MaC Venture Capital, and Quake Capital.

It’s also gained significant media attention:

• Axios noted this company “aims to be a LinkedIn for job seekers with a criminal record.”

• Forbes said “This CEO wants to hire 70 million people.”

• And Entrepreneur listed 70 Million Jobs among “10 Companies That Are Doing Good While Doing Well.”

70 Million Jobs graduated from Y Combinator, a prominent accelerator for startups, and has partnerships with the City of Los Angeles, City of San Francisco, and SHRM.

Since 2018, it’s helped more than 2,000 people find jobs, working with some of the country’s largest employers. These include Uber, Perdue, Berkshire Hathaway, Safeway, and Skechers.

In 2019, 70 Million Jobs generated roughly $200,000 in revenue. It projects to bring in more than $3.5 million in 2020.

In the U.S., staffing and job board services represent a $160 billion combined market. Other companies either fail to target formerly incarcerated job seekers, or work only with people who were recently released from prison.

According to 70 Million Jobs, those recently released from prison are significantly more likely to leave a job, or fall back into a life of crime and violence.

70 Million Jobs is the only platform focusing on men and women who were released from prison three, seven, even 20 years ago. These people have shown they are ready to make a change and need assistance finding employment.

Job seekers don’t pay anything to use 70 Million Jobs. Employers pay the company an advertising fee to showcase available positions on its job board. In addition, 70 Million Jobs recently offered a staffing service. For an additional fee, the company handles payroll, taxes, and other human-resource-related tasks. This service was introduced in October 2019.

With funds raised, 70 Million Jobs aims to hire a development team, sales team, and a data engineer.

Team Background

Adrienne Hatter - Community Outreach Manager

Adrienne began her career as a legal assistant with Clerkin Lynch Solicitors, a law firm in Dublin, Ireland. From there, she was an early employee at Winner’s Circle, a non-profit that teaches coding skills and technical education to women in California prisons.

She earned a Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

Richard Bronson - Founder & CEO

Prior to starting 70 Million Jobs, Richard was Director of Defy Ventures, an organization dedicated to providing incarcerated men and women second chances upon their release.

Before that, he was a co-founder of a website called DoYouRemember.com, which recapped news and stories from previous decades.

Earlier in his career, Richard worked on Wall Street, managing funds at Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns. He also founded Biltmore Securities, a financial brokerage firm based in South Florida. Biltmore grew to 500 employees and $100 million in annual revenue.

He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Northwestern University.

Joel Parker Henderson - Technology Lead

Joel works part-time for 70 Million Jobs, overseeing the company’s technology needs.

In addition, he is the Founder of SixArm, a company providing web design and development consulting services.

Throughout his career, he’s been a technical consultant for several companies, including Lightbox, an advertising company, Boxbee, a logistics company, and the University of California Berkeley.

Joel studied at Columbia and Brown University.

Seth Sundberg - Director of Operations

Seth founded Inside-Out Bar, a food startup creating nutritious protein bars.

Before that, he was President of Sound Mountain Investments, a financial consulting company focused on the real estate market. He held this position after serving five years as a branch manager with Access Mortgage and Financial.

Prior to his financial experience, Seth was a professional basketball player. He played for five years in the NBA and in professional leagues in Europe.

He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Hawaii.

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Co-Investors

Quake Capital Partners

A venture capital group and startup accelerator investing in seed-stage companies.

Y Combinator

Seed-stage accelerator whose alumni include Scribd, Reddit, Airbnb, Dropbox and Stripe

Founders Fund

Founded by Peter Thiel and Ken Howery, investor in Palantir, SpaceX, airbnb, Spotify, ZocDoc, Facebook, Stripe, Oculus, Lyft and Oscar

Insight Partners

A VC firm investing in software-related companies. Notable investments include Twitter, Shopify, and HelloFresh.

M Ventures

A VC firm affiliated with MaC Venture Capital.