The number one issue facing relocated employees is rebuilding a social life and connecting among colleagues and communities around the world. Addressing this problem, Pivt has built an intranet for corporations to facilitate the social well-being of relocated and mobile employees, by connecting colleagues around the world based on interests, goals, commonalities, and internal teams. Billions are spent on relocation packages but they do not address the social aspects of moving to an unfamiliar city, for a new role, and often alone.
AlleyWatch chatted with founder Lynn Greenberg to learn more about her own personal experience with relocation inspired her to launch Pivt.
Tell us about the product or service that Pivt Enterprise offers.
Pivt is the company social intranet designed to reduce churn and improve the well-being of relocated and mobile employees. By connecting employees to colleagues around the world (based on interests, goals, commonalities, and internal teams), employees are now able to source trusted and curated advice, and to make plans to meet socially (even before the move). By taking some of the fear and anxiety out of moving and traveling, Pivt makes it possible for people to take opportunities in unfamiliar places, acclimate seamlessly, and expand their outlooks.
How is Pivt different?
Unlike internal company platforms like Yammer and Slack, Pivt does not aim to replace email and serve as a workforce collaboration tool. In contrast, Pivt is a cohesive social/recommendations tool for relocating and mobile employees. Pivt’s distinct features like GPS locator, community feed, and company social calendars, make it the best place to connect with others in a similar situation, source trusted advice, make plans to meet socially, and orient right away.
What market is Pivt attacking and how big is it?
Pivt is capitalizing on the $17B annual relocation industry with a 4.7% annual growth rate. Companies spend an average of $90K relocating a single employee, but 1/3 to leave their post early due to social reasons. This is because the number one concern of expats and relocated employees, social wellbeing, is not addressed in relocation packages.
What is the business model?
Pivt operates a two-tiered enterprise model, paid monthly on a per-user basis. The Standard tier is a custom platform including our two main features: GPS Network Locator and Community Messaging. Our Premium Platform includes everything on the Standard Platform with more customization options and features, including Group Messaging, Social Calendar, and an Admin Panel.
What inspired the business?
I relocated to London to work for Bloomberg. While I was there, I faced the same challenges and anxiety that so many of us experience when moving to a new and unfamiliar place.
How do I go about finding information on my city from people I trust and how do I build my network from scratch? As it turns out, it is the #1 concern for relocated employees is their social wellbeing. Despite the fact that companies spend millions of dollars annually on relocation packages, the most important piece is left out, social tools. This leads to high employee turnover and inefficiencies. I was determined to find a better way. Pivt initially launched a consumer app, but shortly after launch, we were approached by corporations and relocation companies about building a “Pivt” internal platform for their relocated and mobile workers.
Turns out that despite the fact that companies (on average) spend $90K to relocate each employee, more than 1/3 leave their post early due to social reasons. After extensive research, the market demand became apparent, and we revamped our consumer platform to best fit business needs (we are very excited by the market opportunity).
What are the milestones that you plan to achieve within six months?
We are finalizing our first cohort of paid pilots by the end of 2018 and hope to have more shortly after. We also just opened our seed round and are aiming to close within the next few months.
What is the one piece of startup advice that you never got?
While the mission that drove you to start the company is very important to keep top of mind, don’t be married to the idea. Be attentive to customers and colleagues, and be open to changing your product to best achieve product-market fit.
Why did you launch in New York?
New York is the hub for many corporations, relocation companies and of course, the international community (it also happens to be home).
What’s your favorite restaurant in the city?
Any New York diner. Missed them terribly when living abroad.
