Jeff Taylor set out to disrupt the help-wanted business by launching online job board Monster.com more than 30 years ago, at the dawn of the internet age.
Now, with AI dominating the tech world and the job market getting tighter, the entrepreneur is trying to do it again.
On Wednesday, Taylor’s startup, Boomband, announced it had received $4 million in seed equity funding from several New England venture capital firms, led by Boston Seed Capital.
Taylor wants to reinvent the job-search marketplace yet again, more than 20 years after leaving the field in 2005 — and maybe overhaul the old-fashioned resume while he’s at it. Job seekers on Boomband create their own “dossiers” showcasing their skills, background, and interests, and the startup uses AI (mainly Google’s Gemini software) to offer up the best matches with employer openings. Boomband also uses AI to help employers and job seekers craft their listings.
Taylor said he believes the challenges that job seekers face today will spur them to try something different, such as Boomband, as they hunt for their next gig.
“The power of the disruptive nature of the internet and the power and disruptive nature of AI have a lot of similar characteristics,” Taylor said. “My thinking is I could actually ride this AI disruption and build a new dominant application using AI tools.”
After leaving Monster, based in Maynard at the time, Taylor launched Eons.com, a social media site aimed at baby boomers. (That site was sold in 2011, and shuttered the following year.) He spent most of the 2010s working with Ray Dalio at Connecticut hedge fund manager Bridgewater Associates — watching the job-hiring sector and waiting for the right idea to come along. Taylor feels like he’s found it with Boomband, which he launched last year.
It is currently headquartered in Charlestown, R.I., not far from Taylor’s home, though several of its 10 employees are in the Boston area.
Boomband will get its revenue from employers paying for the listing and matchmaking service. Job seekers fill out their dossiers, and the opportunities come to them. So far, around 20 employers have signed up from a variety of industries, ranging from Leader Bank, to software firm Zus Health, to health care provider South Shore Health, to manufacturer Rochester Electronics. Taylor’s starting with New England employers but hopes to expand the reach to New York and New Jersey companies by summertime, before going nationwide by the end of the year.
He’s tapping into his own job network that he built up while running Monster to find participating employers, and investors. Boston Seed managing director Peter Blacklow is among them, as a former head of marketing at Monster.
“I never took my eye off what was happening in this industry,” Taylor said. “It feels invigorating. … There’s a real support community out there that’s rooting for us to be successful.”
Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.
