FINDING FRANCO

Our Story

Discover how Near's story began and continues to evolve as we grow and redefine the future of recruiting and remote hiring.

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Back in 2020, I started a venture studio with Michael Girdley. I’d previously worked for him as an Associate, and we decided it would be a fun project to build a venture studio together. Just a few months later, we'd see the beginnings of the best hiring platform for LatAm talent.

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The idea behind our studio was simple: experiment and identify exciting opportunities that we could quickly turn into remote, internet-native businesses. One example was an acquisition strategy for old PC video games. The plan was to find old PC games on Steam that had small, but dedicated, audiences. We'd purchase the rights and create new multiplayer experiences under a subscription model.

We were really excited about video games and wanted to make more progress. We had some other experiments going at the same time. Naturally, it was time to bring another team member on board.

We started the search and received over 250 applications! Ex-investment bankers, VCs, MBA grads, startup employees. We were flooded with some solid resumes.

But one stood out in particular.

It was from a guy named Franco. He lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina and was working as a financial analyst at a Brazilian ecom startup. Franco was desperate to get into the world of entrepreneurship.

We had a few interviews, shared some laughs, and most importantly shared the same vision for the studio. We took a chance on Franco and gave him an offer to join the team.

His first task? "Figure out how we can pay you." Turns out it was a bit more complicated than we thought. After a few weeks, Franco managed to figure it out --we even paid him in bitcoin in the meantime!

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We gave our new teammate a shoutout on Twitter. What happened next? Requests pouring into our DMs asking: "How can I hire a Franco?"

We helped out a few companies for free. Then a few more. And then it was too much. We had the "aha" moment that every entrepreneur has when they land on a new business opportunity.


We were spending more time helping companies find remote LatAm talent than we were on our other projects.


We didn't want to build just another recruitment agency. We set out to create a scalable business with a modern tech stack. We initially focused on building a platform to hire financial analysts from Argentina.


Then... our lucky break. Franco recruited over 2000 candidates over a single weekend with a viral thread on Twitter.

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It was time to go 100% in on Near. We spun up a job board overnight in May 2020 and the rest is history.


Since then, our business model has evolved to become a holistic solution. We are a full-service partner to streamline talent acquisition, hiring, onboarding, payroll, retention, and compliance.

We've helped startups, public companies, large enterprises, agencies, law firms, VCs, and more hire hundreds of incredible candidates from Latin America for remote roles.


At Near, we help companies hire the best, pre-vetted, highly-skilled talent from Latin America in under 21 days.

We’ve helped developers, marketers, salespeople, financial analysts, accountants, ops leaders, and more land incredible remote jobs at US companies.

Interested in hiring remotely?

Scale

Scale your team faster

We source top remote talent that are the right fit for your open roles in under 21 days. We boast a 97% placement rate across all positions.

Scale your team
Growth

Achieve rapid and sustainable growth

Hiring highly-skilled nearshore talent unlocks cost savings of 30%-70% compared to comparable US-based professionals.

Unleash Growth!
competitive

Gain a competitive advantage

Harness untapped talent pools to hire top performers, a growth lever your competitors are yet to utilize.

Discover the Advantage
Motivation

Reduce turnover

Our rigorous pre-screening ensures we present only motivated candidates aligned with your culture and professional needs, boosting employee retention.

Get consultation
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Hayden Cohen

Co-Founder of Near

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Book a call with us today
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What Leading Enterprises Say About Near

Tom Elliott

Tom Elliott

Vice President of Product Management

Bonfire

"

It was shocking to see the difference between the talent Near brought versus other firms I worked with. Our hires are extraordinary and a great cultural fit.

"
Bryan Harris

Bryan Harris

Director

LifeSource Water Systems

"

Near was a great extension of our internal recruiting team—efficient, communicative, and delivered top-tier candidates quickly.

"
Kathy Patterson

Kathy Patterson

Operations Manager

California Consumer Attorneys

"

Near has allowed us to nearly double our caseload without doubling our in-office staff. I have made 9 great hires through Near in just a few short months.

"
John Kennedy

John Kennedy

Founder / CEO

Mesa Cloud

"

We were determined to work with global talent in our local time zone, and Near helped us find great Latin American talent that has brought significant value to our team.

"
Susan Simmermon

Susan Simmermon

HR Manager

Snap Diagnostics

"

Working with Near has been very helpful. It’s difficult when you’re one person doing all the initial screenings and sourcing. Near took a lot of that “workout” for me and provided great candidates quickly.

"
Joshua Thompson

Joshua Thompson

Partner and COO

Kordis

"

Near provides an easy hiring experience. They saved me a lot of time handling all the posting, sourcing, screening, and initial interviews. All I have to do is conduct final interviews to ensure cultural alignment. I made a hire in only 14 days.

"
Adrian Alfieri

Adrian Alfieri

Founder & CEO

Verbatim

"

It really just felt like Near was embedded in our team. It felt like we’d hired an in-house recruiter. This made my job really easy.

"
Seema Chacko

Seema Chacko

CFO

CyberFortress

"

We hired 20 team members who share our core values: great attitude and desire to learn, resourcefulness, and adaptability. Near’s team was very responsive, and their easy-going communication fostered a seamless hiring process.

"
Anton Lipkanou

Anton Lipkanou

President / Head of Client Services

DELVE

"

Near’s team gave us confidence that we’d hire great talent quickly. They did a deep dive into our requirements, asked the right questions, and communicated our needs and goals back to us. They advised us on compensation, different talent markets, and our hiring process.

"
Tawnya Morse

Tawnya Morse

Client Services Manager

Conversion Logix

"

The time savings and quality of candidates have been outstanding. Communication was also seamless, making it easy to work with Near.

"

Trusted by great businesses like:

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Frequently Asked Questions

Still have questions? Chat with us

How does your pricing work?

What does zero-risk hiring mean?

How do I know I can trust your candidates?

How do I pay candidates?

What roles can I hire for?

Do I need to sponsor candidates / issue a work Visa to hire in LatAm?

Still have questions? Chat with us
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