WantRemoteJob
WantRemoteJob was a niche job board focused specifically on permanent, 100% remote IT roles directly from companies rather than agencies. Despite the founder's technical expertise and personal motivation, the platform failed because of a "shallow" market: in 2017, truly remote permanent roles were rare, and the founder underestimated the manual labor required to verify and maintain quality listings.
The Autopsy
| Section | Details |
|---|---|
| Startup Profile | Founders: Vyacheslav Grzhybovsky Funding: ~$6k (Self-funded) |
| Cause of Death | Market Fit: Yes |
| The Critical Mistake | Lack of Market Depth: The founder assumed there was a vast supply of remote jobs. In reality, he could only find 10–20 truly remote positions at any given time. Most "remote" ads were actually clickbait for office roles or had strict time-zone constraints. The "Jack of All Trades" Fatigue: As a solo founder, Vyacheslav spent too much time on technical details (AWS setup, NodeJS, logging) and not enough time on business development and HR networking. Zero Validation: He built a "shiny" product for 3 months based on a gut feeling without checking if companies were actually willing to pay $99 per post for this specific niche. |
| Key Lessons |
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Deep Dive
In his interview with Failory, Vyacheslav reflected on a cultural barrier he didn't anticipate. The Hybrid Bait-and-Switch: Vyacheslav discovered that many companies used "Remote" as a marketing tag to attract talent, but during the interview process, they would reveal the role was actually 3-4 days in the office. This poisoned his data quality. He realized that to run a successful board, he would have to manually call every HR department to verify the "remoteness" of the job—a task he hadn't planned for in his automated SaaS vision. The Technical Distraction: Because he was a software engineer, he spent 3 weeks just configuring email triggers and templates to avoid spam folders. While technically sound, this was "low-value" work compared to the existential threat of having no job listings. The Legacy: WantRemoteJob is a classic case of "Building the Platform Before the Supply." It serves as a reminder that in a marketplace, the tech is easy; the data is the business. Vyacheslav took his lessons on market research and entity setup to heart, advising other founders to "test the business hat" before the "coding hat."
Key Lessons
Building the Platform Before the Supply: In a marketplace, the tech is easy; the data is the business.
The Hybrid Bait-and-Switch: Many companies use "Remote" as marketing but reveal it's actually 3-4 days in the office during interviews.
The Technical Distraction: Don't spend 3 weeks configuring email triggers when you have no job listings.