May 03, 2026
The $65M Bet Against AI Recruiting
An Interview with John Kim, a founder of Paraform
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At A Glance
- Who: John Kim is a founder who grew up across four countries, dropped out of college, and built a $65 million company.
- What: Paraform, a hiring platform that connects companies with a network of independent recruiters to fill roles faster than traditional tools or AI outreach ever could.
- Traction: Raised $65 million to date, 10x'd revenue in 2025, and paid out $50 million to recruiters on the platform.
Watch the full interview now on EO's YouTube channel! Below is the complete transcription of the interview. Minor edits have been made for clarity and readability.
Key Highlights:
"5 years ago, if you reach out to 500 to 700 engineers, you could probably make a hire. With AI recently, it's 5,000."
"Meaning comes from scarcity. When you get reached out about a thousand opportunities, it's not special anymore."
"We had 110% conviction that this is the problem we need to work on. If you think you're going deep, you're probably still not deep enough."
"I chose to start this company. I chose to move here. I chose to apply for this visa. There were people in my life who had problems they didn't choose. That was actually, in a weird way, encouraging."
"Keep going. Have conviction. Maybe 5, 10, 20 years from now, this moment might feel like the 3 a.m. library situation again."
"Meaning comes from scarcity. When you get reached out about a thousand opportunities, it's not special anymore."
"We had 110% conviction that this is the problem we need to work on. If you think you're going deep, you're probably still not deep enough."
"I chose to start this company. I chose to move here. I chose to apply for this visa. There were people in my life who had problems they didn't choose. That was actually, in a weird way, encouraging."
"Keep going. Have conviction. Maybe 5, 10, 20 years from now, this moment might feel like the 3 a.m. library situation again."
Chapter 1: How to Find What Truly Matters in Your Life
You grew up moving around a lot. How did that shape your thinking?
John Kim: I'm John Kim, one of the founders and CEO of Paraform. Ever since the age of four, I moved around a lot because of my dad's job. I lived in Singapore, Australia, LA, and Korea. In Australia, entrepreneurship and going out on your own is not very celebrated. You're told to stay in your lane, do what's comfortable.
My grandpa encouraged me to go to law school. He went to law school and really wanted to be a lawyer but had to take a different path because of his family. Growing up, I always thought that was the goal. But there was definitely a moment that changed how I treated my time and what I was going to do with my life.
My grandpa encouraged me to go to law school. He went to law school and really wanted to be a lawyer but had to take a different path because of his family. Growing up, I always thought that was the goal. But there was definitely a moment that changed how I treated my time and what I was going to do with my life.
What was that turning point?
John Kim: I was very sick for about three months when I was 18. I went to the hospital in Korea and I was the only young person there. Everyone else was maybe in their 80s and 90s. I thought I was invincible. When the resu lts came out, the doctor said, "Hey, there's something in your lungs and it could be something really bad."
When I heard that, everything changed. I started thinking, if I have only one year or three years left to live, what am I going to do differently? How am I going to spend my time? That really changed all of my brain chemistry and what I decided to do.
When I heard that, everything changed. I started thinking, if I have only one year or three years left to live, what am I going to do differently? How am I going to spend my time? That really changed all of my brain chemistry and what I decided to do.
How did that health scare affect your approach to starting a company?
John Kim: In the back of my mind, I always knew I wanted to start and build my own company. Before, I thought, okay, when I'm 75 or 85 years old, that's my timeline. I had 65 years to figure something out. When you think in a 65 year timeline, you push things back.
But if you think about that 65 years in three year terms, you are forced to prioritize and think about what you really want. That event made me think, okay, I have 3 years to make this happen, so let's do it now. It added urgency.
Every 6 months I had to get checked up to see if it was anything bad. Turns out it was a false alarm. But I look back and although it felt pretty terrible, maybe it was actually a blessing in disguise.
But if you think about that 65 years in three year terms, you are forced to prioritize and think about what you really want. That event made me think, okay, I have 3 years to make this happen, so let's do it now. It added urgency.
Every 6 months I had to get checked up to see if it was anything bad. Turns out it was a false alarm. But I look back and although it felt pretty terrible, maybe it was actually a blessing in disguise.
The AI Startup That Pays Humans $50M
Tell us about Paraform and what you've built.
John Kim: We raised $65 million to date and in 2025 we 10x'd our revenue. We work with customers from early stage startups all the way to public companies like Palantir, Rippling, Datagon, and Abridge.
Paraform is a hiring platform that makes hiring exceptional talent as easy as pressing a button. We've paid out $50 million to our recruiters.
Recruiting is the most important thing you should be doing as a leader, as a company, yet it's so inefficient. A recruiter told me that 5 years ago, if you reached out to 500 to 700 engineers, you could probably make one hire. Two years ago, that jumped to 1,500 engineers per hire. With AI recently, it's 5,000. AI is actually making hiring a lot noisier. If you get reached out about a thousand opportunities, it's not special anymore. Meaning comes from scarcity. That's why we made the deliberate decision to work with recruiters rather than replace them.
Paraform is a hiring platform that makes hiring exceptional talent as easy as pressing a button. We've paid out $50 million to our recruiters.
Recruiting is the most important thing you should be doing as a leader, as a company, yet it's so inefficient. A recruiter told me that 5 years ago, if you reached out to 500 to 700 engineers, you could probably make one hire. Two years ago, that jumped to 1,500 engineers per hire. With AI recently, it's 5,000. AI is actually making hiring a lot noisier. If you get reached out about a thousand opportunities, it's not special anymore. Meaning comes from scarcity. That's why we made the deliberate decision to work with recruiters rather than replace them.
Chapter 2: AI Moves Fast, It Breaks Trust
How did Paraform actually get started?
John Kim: I was on a business trip to New York when I met my co-founder Jeff. We went around asking other founders what their number one problem was and how much they would pay to solve it. Almost all of them said hiring, and they said they would pay $40k per hire. We thought, if we make five hires each this year, that's equivalent to a salary. Maybe this is a good business to start.
So we set out to make five hires each. The first thing we did was actually become recruiters ourselves.
So we set out to make five hires each. The first thing we did was actually become recruiters ourselves.
What did those early attempts look like?
John Kim: We scraped the web. We looked at Twitter profiles, GitHub profiles, everything online about candidates and combined it with professional experience like LinkedIn and resumes. Three or four months in, we were not even close to making five hires, let alone one.
We realized the real problem was trust, access, and relationships. I could find a great engineer at Facebook or OpenAI right now, but that doesn't mean they'll respond to me or even be interested. Whereas if a friend reached out, you might consider the opportunity.
So we pivoted to a referral marketplace where startup customers could post bounties of $5k to $10k for engineers they were trying to hire and turn anyone in the world into your recruiter. But there wasn't much retention. We overestimated how many people each person knows, and it wasn't their main profession so they didn't come back.
We realized the real problem was trust, access, and relationships. I could find a great engineer at Facebook or OpenAI right now, but that doesn't mean they'll respond to me or even be interested. Whereas if a friend reached out, you might consider the opportunity.
So we pivoted to a referral marketplace where startup customers could post bounties of $5k to $10k for engineers they were trying to hire and turn anyone in the world into your recruiter. But there wasn't much retention. We overestimated how many people each person knows, and it wasn't their main profession so they didn't come back.
So how did you find what actually worked?
John Kim: We were hitting a dead end for three or four months. Then one user group started using the platform a lot. Independent recruiters, recruiting agencies, headhunters. It made so much sense. They're very well connected. It's their job, their profession. They're financially incentivized. They started coming back and using the platform continuously.
That's when we realized we had built something people want. We're really focused on matching the right person to the right opportunity. That's done not by giving them a thousand options, but giving them three or four that actually match what they're looking for. When you don't use AI correctly, it loses meaning and makes things not special. The word special is directly correlated to scarcity and quality over quantity.
That's when we realized we had built something people want. We're really focused on matching the right person to the right opportunity. That's done not by giving them a thousand options, but giving them three or four that actually match what they're looking for. When you don't use AI correctly, it loses meaning and makes things not special. The word special is directly correlated to scarcity and quality over quantity.
Chapter 3: Everyone Has a Night They Want to Give Up
What were those early days actually like building the company?
John Kim: At the time I was in Australia trying to get my visa to come back to the US. The time zone was really difficult. My routine was waking up at 11:00 p.m., working throughout the night to overlap with San Francisco time, then going to sleep after lunch and repeating. We didn't even have an office. I used to go to my old college library to work in a booth. It was a weird feeling because it was a school I had dropped out of.
The way we got customers since we had no brand name was pure hustle. Going door to door, emailing people one by one. No email automation tool. Just reaching out. Each customer was very, very valuable.
The way we got customers since we had no brand name was pure hustle. Going door to door, emailing people one by one. No email automation tool. Just reaching out. Each customer was very, very valuable.
Was there a moment when it all nearly fell apart?
John Kim: There was a customer called Hightouch, an AI marketing platform. They were the first company we got through our own effort and hustle rather than through a friend or connection. They were hiring a director of engineering, a very important role. We felt very grateful they trusted us.
But at 3:00 a.m. in the library, over and over again every day, we were struggling. One of the recruiters messaged us saying, "Hey, we haven't been impressed with the quality of candidates and the experience. If you don't turn this around in the next 10 days, we can't be a customer anymore."
In the middle of that, I heard my visa got rejected.
But at 3:00 a.m. in the library, over and over again every day, we were struggling. One of the recruiters messaged us saying, "Hey, we haven't been impressed with the quality of candidates and the experience. If you don't turn this around in the next 10 days, we can't be a customer anymore."
In the middle of that, I heard my visa got rejected.
Visa Rejected, Company Almost Dies
How did you keep going through that?
John Kim: Most people get their visa approved on the spot, but mine didn't get approved. It was a mental breakdown. I couldn't fully focus because it felt like a company killing event. What failing a visa interview actually means is never being able to come back to the US. Everything I had built was at stake. And I had responsibility to my co-founder. I couldn't tell him the news.
The two things that kept me going were, one, the responsibility. If I don't do this, the company will die. There's no option other than surviving and continuing.
The other was that I started reflecting on other people in my life who had pretty difficult problems too. And I realized that whatever I was going through, I had inflicted upon myself. I chose to start this company. I chose to move to the US. I chose to apply for this visa. But there were people in my life who had problems they didn't choose. That was actually, in a weird way, encouraging. It made me think, maybe this is not that big of a deal. And that gave me the energy to stand back up and continue.
The two things that kept me going were, one, the responsibility. If I don't do this, the company will die. There's no option other than surviving and continuing.
The other was that I started reflecting on other people in my life who had pretty difficult problems too. And I realized that whatever I was going through, I had inflicted upon myself. I chose to start this company. I chose to move to the US. I chose to apply for this visa. But there were people in my life who had problems they didn't choose. That was actually, in a weird way, encouraging. It made me think, maybe this is not that big of a deal. And that gave me the energy to stand back up and continue.
Chapter 4: Don't Find a Better Problem, Understand Your Problem Deeper
How did things turn around with Hightouch?
John Kim: The visa thing turned out to be a process issue, so it was all fine. And we actually ended up making the hire for Hightouch. They told us that role had been open for 18 months. They tried recruiting agencies, other tools, job boards, and nothing worked. We did it in a month and a half.
Our customer reached out to one of their investor connections and said, "I've tried so many recruiting products in the past. I'm obsessed with this problem and none of it worked. But this is different. This is special." He introduced us to our seed round investors. My co-founder and I biked to their office the next morning. There was no pitch deck. We didn't even think we were fundraising. They texted us asking if we wanted to grab drinks at 5:00 p.m. We went, and they said, "We really love what you're doing. You guys are doing something special." They gave us a term sheet that same day.
Our customer reached out to one of their investor connections and said, "I've tried so many recruiting products in the past. I'm obsessed with this problem and none of it worked. But this is different. This is special." He introduced us to our seed round investors. My co-founder and I biked to their office the next morning. There was no pitch deck. We didn't even think we were fundraising. They texted us asking if we wanted to grab drinks at 5:00 p.m. We went, and they said, "We really love what you're doing. You guys are doing something special." They gave us a term sheet that same day.
What's the biggest lesson from those early pivots?
John Kim: My analogy is going deeper and deeper and deeper. You're not going deep enough. At the surface you just say hiring is very difficult, but why is it difficult? Talk to users. Understand what makes the problem inefficient. That was the mistake we made in our first attempt. In subsequent attempts we dug deeper and deeper until we found the root cause. That's when things started clicking.
I see a lot of people who start a company, try one idea, and if it's not working, switch to something completely different. That actually takes a lot more energy than most people think. What we did instead was have 110% conviction in the problem space. If you think you're going deep, you're probably still not deep enough.
I see a lot of people who start a company, try one idea, and if it's not working, switch to something completely different. That actually takes a lot more energy than most people think. What we did instead was have 110% conviction in the problem space. If you think you're going deep, you're probably still not deep enough.
Advice to Myself at 3AM in That Library
If you could go back and sit across from the version of you who was in that library at 3:00 a.m. in Australia, what would you tell him?
John Kim: I would tell him to keep doing what you're doing. At the time it's hard to imagine everything we've achieved and everything that we will achieve in the future. Have that same conviction.
And I think that's kind of what I still tell myself. Maybe if I look back 5 years, 10 years, 20 years from now and look back to this moment, maybe it might feel like the 3 a.m. library situation again. So keep going. Have conviction.
And I think that's kind of what I still tell myself. Maybe if I look back 5 years, 10 years, 20 years from now and look back to this moment, maybe it might feel like the 3 a.m. library situation again. So keep going. Have conviction.
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