Loading organizations...
Key people at Jobzle.
Jobzle was founded in 2008 by Ben Mathews (Founder).
Jobzle operated as a job-matching platform and search engine based in Providence, Rhode Island, connecting college students with part-time jobs, internships, and local gigs such as babysitting or tutoring. It aimed to provide a streamlined alternative to outdated university job boards, enabling employers to post opportunities quickly, often in under five minutes, specifically targeting students at Rhode Island colleges. The early-stage startup did not disclose specific revenue or funding details and ultimately lacked sustained traction, failing to scale significantly before its founders pivoted. Notably, Walker Williams and Evan Stites-Clayton, two of Jobzle's co-founders, later achieved significant success with Teespring, a custom apparel platform. Jobzle was established in 2008 by Walker Williams, Evan Stites-Clayton, Ben Mathews, and Kevin Durfee. The firm focuses on higher education students, employers posting part-time jobs, internships, and local employment.
Key people at Jobzle.
Jobzle was an early-stage startup that operated as a search engine and job-matching platform connecting college students with part-time jobs, internships, and local employment opportunities, primarily targeting students at Rhode Island colleges.[4][6][7] It enabled employers to post job offers quickly—in under five minutes—to reach students across all 11 Rhode Island colleges, solving the problem of outdated university job tools by providing a more seamless, user-friendly alternative for gigs like babysitting up to professional internships.[4][6] The platform emerged from founders' personal frustrations with inefficient job search methods but lacked the sustained traction needed to scale, serving as a foundational "building block" experience before the founders pivoted to more successful ventures.[4][7]
Jobzle was founded around 2010-2011 by Evan Stites-Clayton and Walker Williams, both college students at the time, with Walker drawing from his background as a freelance designer and programmer who had easily found remote work via platforms like oDesk but struggled with local part-time jobs in college.[4] The idea stemmed from recognizing the gap between sophisticated freelance tools for tech roles and the "absurdly outdated" university career systems for everyday student jobs, aiming to create an easy bridge for students seeking income from labor-intensive gigs to internships.[4] Early traction included operations in Rhode Island, matching employers to students at local colleges, but it ultimately confronted scaling challenges and served more as a learning step for the founders, who later launched Teespring (which secured $35 million in funding).[4][6][7]
Jobzle rode the early 2010s wave of marketplace platforms disrupting fragmented job search sectors, particularly for gig economy and student work, amid rising demand for flexible employment tools post-recession.[4] Its timing aligned with the explosion of freelance sites like oDesk, highlighting a market need for localized, student-focused versions, though it predated dominant players like Handshake or Indeed's student features.[4][6] By focusing on underserved college ecosystems in regions like Rhode Island, it influenced early experiments in rapid job matching, paving the way for founders' later successes in e-commerce (Teespring), while underscoring challenges in monetizing user acquisition for non-tech jobs.[4][7]
Jobzle itself appears defunct, having been an early, non-scaling project that honed skills for its founders' pivot to Teespring and beyond, with no evidence of ongoing operations post-2014.[4][7] Looking ahead, its legacy underscores timeless trends in student job tech—like AI-driven matching and gig integration—that continue evolving via platforms like LinkedIn or Symplicity, potentially amplified by remote work shifts. The founders' trajectory suggests such early experiments often fuel outsized impact elsewhere, tying back to Jobzle's core insight: simplifying job access unlocks real value when paired with scalable demand.[4]
Jobzle was founded in 2008 by Ben Mathews (Founder).
