How the numbers actually work.
Candidate-paid interviews, a team that grows with volume, an invite-only talent pool and a premium tier, calculated month by month. Every figure on these slides is computed from the assumptions on slide 3. Change an assumption and the whole model recalculates.
A pre-screened talent pool employers are invited into.
Candidates pay for two interviews with independent professionals. Employers get invite-only access to the verified pool, free and unannounced for the first three months; then the best profiles move behind a premium tier and employers carry the vetting cost when they hire.
Candidates
- Applicants and sourced talent
- Grouped by role
Screening interview
- Behaviour, language, work status
- Fee paid by the candidate; a share goes to the interviewer
Professional interview
- Role-specific rubric
- Fee paid by the candidate; a share goes to the professional
Verified talent pool
- Invite-only for employers
- Free and unannounced for the first three months
Premium tier
- Top 10 profiles per role, exclusive
- New profiles gated to premium first
The free period is not announced. Employers are invited one by one while the pool fills, so the first public moment is a full shelf, not an empty one.
Around month three, when employers are returning on their own, the premium pool is announced. Pricing follows proven demand instead of preceding it.
The top ten profiles in every role are visible only to premium subscribers, and new profiles reach them first. The free tier stays useful but never complete.
Change any number. Everything else follows.
Tiles marked "plan" are the operating plan. Tiles marked "placeholder" are ours to confirm. Double-click a number to change it and every table and chart in this deck recalculates.
40, 60, 80, 100, 130, 160, 200, 240, 280, 320, 360, 400
0, 0, 0, 4, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 22, 26, 30
Every candidate pays to be vetted.
Both interviews are charged to the candidate. The screening interview costs the candidate USD 25 and pays the interviewer USD 10; the professional interview costs USD 35 and pays USD 20. Vetting funds itself from the first applicant.
100 applicants
- Every applicant books and pays for interview 1
$2,500
- Fees from 100 candidates
- $1,000 paid to interviewers
- 40 pass to interview 2
$1,400
- Fees from 40 candidates
- $800 paid to practitioners
- 24 verified profiles
$2,100
- Gross margin on 100 applicants
- $87.5 per verified profile
When an employer hires a candidate, the interview fees that candidate paid are credited back and deducted from the employer's placement fee, so the employer ultimately carries the cost of vetting. Employers who send their own applicants pay the same fees. The investor deck's unit-economics slide still shows the earlier MVR 200 and MVR 450 payouts.
The team grows with volume, not ahead of it.
Two heads are fixed. Operations tests and onboards every interviewer, manages demand and runs the business. Technology and Marketing builds the platform and takes the pool to every market. Every 60 interviews a month adds one operations member and one marketing member.
| Interviews / month | Ops team | Marketing team | Fixed heads | Staff cost / mo | Staff cost per interview |
|---|
One operations member and one marketing member per 60 interviews a month. Interviews are counted across both stages.
Every interviewer is a professional.
Nobody interviews on the Isthafa brand without hundreds of hours of interviewing behind them. Testing and onboarding interviewers is the core job of operations. Their time is paid per session and carried by the employer when a hire is made.
Screening interviewer
An HR professional who runs the behavioural, language and work-status screen against a fixed rubric.
Department professional
An active practitioner from the candidate's own field who runs the technical, case-based interview on the role rubric.
Tested and onboarded
- Profile and experience check, then a calibration interview scored against our rubric
- Onboarding to the platform, scheduling and dossier tools
- Ratings from employers and candidates; the roster is reviewed monthly
Quiet launch, then a premium tier.
The pool opens invite-only and free, without an announcement. When employers start coming back on their own, around month three, the premium tier is announced and the top profiles move behind it.
- Month 0Invite-only pool opens. Free, unannounced.
- Months 1 to 3Employers invited one by one while the pool fills.
- Month 3Demand check. Premium tier announced to employers.
- Launch weekPremium access opens first. Top 10 per role gated.
- Month 4 onwardsSubscriptions billed. Free tier continues.
A pool announced empty disappoints. Three months of invited use lets the shelf fill, lets the rubric settle and lets employers return on their own before anyone is asked to pay.
The top ten profiles in every role, the first seven days of every new profile, full dossiers with transcripts and highlights, and direct contact.
Months 1 to 3 cost $16,000 and earn $12,000 from interview fees and placements.
The free tier stays useful. The premium tier stays complete.
Both tiers are invite-only. The difference is who sees the best profiles, and when.
| Access | Free tier | Premium tier |
|---|---|---|
| Invite-only access to the verified pool | ||
| Top 10 profiles in every role | ||
| First 7 days of every new profile | ||
| Full dossier with transcript and highlights | ||
| Direct contact and interview scheduling | ||
| Price | Free | $400 per month |
Composite competency score from both interviews, refreshed weekly. When a premium profile is hired, the next profile moves up. The free tier never sees the current top ten.
Every new verified profile is visible to premium subscribers first. After the premium-first window it joins the free tier unless it is in the top ten for its role.
Three ways the pool earns.
Interview fees
- Charged to every candidate for both interviews
- Pays the interviewers and leaves a margin on every session
- Credited back when the candidate is hired
Placement fee
- Charged when an employer hires from the pool, in the free period too
- The candidate's interview fees are deducted from it
- Backed by the 60-day replacement guarantee
Premium subscription
- Billed from the month after the free period
- Exclusive top ten per role and premium-first access
- Target: 30 employers by month 12
Month by month, from the first interview.
Volumes follow the ramp on the assumptions slide. Costs are interviewer payouts, the two heads, team members added per 60 interviews, and platform. Revenue is candidate interview fees, placements net of the fee credit and, after the free period, premium subscriptions.
| Month | Interview 1 | Interview 2 | Verified | Team | Premium employers | Interview fees | Cost | Revenue | Net | Cumulative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 |
Team counts the members added on top of the two heads. Verified profiles and placements are fractional averages, shown rounded. USD throughout.
When the pool starts paying for itself.
Operating figures only. The seed raise also funds one-off items outside this model: the platform build, interviewer onboarding, the launch, legal and a cash buffer.
What volume does to the numbers.
Four steady-state months at different volumes. The last column is the number of premium employers needed for the month to break even after interview fees and placements.
| Interview 1 / month | Total interviews | Verified profiles | Team members | Monthly cost | Fees + placements | Premium employers needed |
|---|
Because the team scales with volume, only the smallest month needs premium employers to break even.
Placement rate and average fee move the gap most. Team member cost matters at high volume. The interview-fee margin covers the interviewers at every volume, so payouts barely register.
Every number here is editable.
Double-click any assumption to test a scenario in the room. Open the manager to review or reset every field, export a snapshot, or restore a previous value.
This model is a planning tool built from management assumptions. Placeholders are marked on the assumptions slide and should be confirmed before figures are shared with investors.