Employee experience startup takes Pitchfest win

As the Great Resignation and quiet quitting have taken hold post-pandemic, employers now more than ever are looking for ways to alleviate burnout and better incorporate work-life balance into company culture.

- Advertisement -

Enter SPOTLYFE, winner of the 2022 HR Technology Conference & Exposition Pitchfest.

“Think of us like a check engine light in your car to help you prevent burnout in your life,” said Josh Schwede, co-founder and CEO of SPOTLYFE.

SPOTLYFE’s Total Life Awareness Platform bridges an employee’s work life and self into a single view, offering people a chance to pause and assess their fulfillment in life. It then guides employees on a path of intentional daily micro-changes, helping them improve their lives one week at a time.

“We’re very excited,” Schwede said of his win. “This is my first Pitchfest. We’ve been at work for about a year, and the product just went live in July. We’re excited to get the word out, and this [award] is going to help us tell more people about SPOTLYFE.”

In addition to the title of Pitchfest winner, SPOTLYFE received a check for $25,000, courtesy of Randstad Innovation Fund, and booth space at next year’s HR Tech Conference.

“This is going to help us,” Schwede said. “We’re going to do a couple of quick product innovations that’s going to help give our users things they want.”

In addition, he plans to use some of the winnings to for marketing purposes. “We haven’t spent any organic marketing money, so we want to start to A/B test a couple of strategies. The nice thing is this money is going to go right away to help us spread the word about Spotlyfe.”

Natalie Egan, CEO and founder of Translator, a DEI analytics solution provider, also received a $5,000 Innovation and Talent Experience Technology, also sponsored by Randstad.
(Natalie Egan, CEO and founder of Translator, a DEI analytics solution provider, wins a $5,000 Innovation and Talent Experience Technology, sponsored by Randstad.)

This was the HR Technology Conference’s fourth Pitchfest competition, and this year about 100 startups applied to compete. The competition featured three rounds of 11 companies making three-minute pitches, with the top two vote-getters in each round competing in the final round.

In other Pitchfest results, Natalie Egan, CEO and founder of Translator, a DEI analytics solution provider, received a $5,000 Innovation and Talent Experience Technology award, also sponsored by Randstad.

Avatar photo
Nick Otto
Nick Otto is HRE’s former senior digital editor. He is a professional communicator with more than a decade of demonstrated accomplishments in newspaper and trade publishing. He has spent the past five years covering the employee benefits space and holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida.