• ⭐️ Propel was born in 2023 from 1848 Ventures; the company's venture studio has innovated to elevate the construction industry.

    ⭐️ The first iterations of the product, Version 0.5, involved early user discovery and testing to gather feedback and insights from experts in the construction industry.

    Why?

    🚩️ HR teams receive several hundreds of applicants per job.

    🚩️ Companies struggle to find high-quality candidates with the overwhelming number of applicants coming in and narrowing down to the best qualified ones.

    🚩️ All ATS tools are outdated, not fitted for the team’s needs, and slow down their timeline when companies are already overwhelmed.

    Solution: Propel accelerates the teams’ hiring process while finding higher-quality candidates, seamlessly integrating into their partnered tools.

    🏆 Propel utilizes AI to filter candidates based on the job description provided, instantly cutting time for HR teams.

    🏆 By utilizing text-to-apply for candidate applications, Propel lowers the bar for language barriers and online users while accelerating their hiring pipeline.

    🏆 Through integrated partnered platforms, such as LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter, Indeed, and more, Propel allows companies’ hiring process to fit into their workflow seamlessly.

    🐬 So let's dive in!

  • Primary Users for Propel People:

    ⭐️ HR individuals or team leads working full-time within a construction company.

    ⭐️ Target companies are around 100 employees; therefore, HR teams are small and sometimes just one individual struggling to handle all roles.

    🚩 Their pain points are receiving too many applications, not finding high-quality candidates, and usually having too much work on their plates.

    🏆 Therefore, the goal for this user is to find high-quality candidates fast since turnover in the construction space is fast!

  • ⭐️ Designed and delivered high-fidelity UI for all core features, aligned to the product roadmap and dev-ready for engineering handoff.

    ⭐️ Led user research end-to-end: created interview guides, hired and coordinated with a sourcing agency, and conducted informative sessions, while analyzing insight-driven data to define the target market and sharpen product–market fit. Findings directly informed OKRs shared with investors.

    ⭐️ Directed our marketing agency on product positioning and storytelling; shaped product demos that spotlighted features most valued by early adopters.

  • 🛠️ Designs were built in Figma while mapping and collaboration sessions were conducted with FigJam.

    🛠️ Research was conducted with Read.AI tracking, Fyxer.ai, and synthesis was analyzed with Dovetail.

    🛠️ Documentation was tracked in Monday then moved to Notion.

    🛠️ Ticketing with Engineering was in Trello and then moved into Linear.

  • ⭐️ Helped Propel secure $3M in seed funding, directly supporting investor materials through research insights, UX strategy, and feature demos.

    ⭐️ Launched v1 with strong early adoption—10+ paying customers and hundreds more engaging via the free resume scoring tool.

    ⭐️ Built momentum through community engagement and smart integrations—driving retention and making it easier for hiring teams to plug Propel into their existing workflows.

    👓 What’s next? Propel is scaling its user base, refining features based on real-world feedback, and continuing to evolve toward product–market fit.