TechCrunch and Google have confirmed that Byteboard will be spun out of Google. It is a service that replaces the pre-onsite technical interview portion of a company's hiring process by a web-based alternative. The original incubation of the product was done as part of Area 120, an internal R&D laboratory within the company. It was led by Sargun Kaur, CEO. Byteboard, the first Area 120 project to leave Google and become its own company, will make this transition. Google points out that this is an exception and not the norm.
Google assured us that the spinout would not have any impact on existing Area 120 teams, nor the group's future strategy. The company stated that its R&D division would continue to fund projects that will most likely advance Google's opportunities.
Byteboard also received new investment from Cowboy Ventures, and other investors in the $10 million to $15 million range. We understand that this is not a buyout. Google will keep equity in the new company and will continue to be managed by Nikke Hardson–Hurley and Kaur Hardson-Hurley, who were also co-founders.
A spokesperson for Google told TechCrunch that they were thrilled to see the progress Byteboard made in the three years of Incubating within Googles Area 120. High-growth companies can now use Byteboard's solution to hire and assess top technical talent with greater efficiency and fairness. They said that they look forward to working with Sargun, Nikke, and the rest of Byteboard's team.
In 2019, Byteboards was launched. Their goal was to make technical interviewing easier and more efficient. At the time, the team noticed that current software engineer interview processes didn't accurately measure how someone would perform in a day to day engineering job. Interviews were more beneficial to those who had the resources and time to prepare. They would focus more on memorization than practical application of skills.
Byteboard turns this around by providing job candidates with a real-world programming environment in which they can choose from supported languages such as Java, Python and Ruby.
The web-based interview can be conducted in HTML, CSS, and jаvascript. While the mobile interview can be done in Swift (iOS), Kotlin(Android), while the data engineering interview will take place in Python and Java.
The service provides an end-to-end solution that includes the interview platform, a bank with calibrated questions covering 20+ software engineering skills, and an after-the-fact assessment. An experienced group of engineers reviews and rates the interviews. This anonymous evaluation is done to remove bias from the process.
After its 2019 launch, the business went into full swing. Byteboard saw a slight slump in the first days of COVID lockdowns. However, it picked up again during Q3 2020 when companies started hiring again. According to Byteboards website Lyft and Hulu were among those who used its service.
Byteboard can save companies money by allowing them to conduct interviews online instead of having to meet in person (another concern during the COVID era).
But, Byteboard's potential as a Google-owned product may be limited.
Engineers are part of Byteboard's human evaluation process. This would have made Google part of the hiring pool for companies, including those it competed with. This raises ethical concerns as companies won't allow competitors to be involved in their hiring process. This is why Byteboard, which is its own company, is not a Google-owned venture.
TechCrunch was told by a source that a few of the Byteboard team members are leaving to start their own company. Others are staying at Google to continue working on new projects. Google did not confirm this deal but said Byteboard would continue to grow its core product and operational focus. More information will be shared over the coming months.
