RISK FACTORS

Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider and evaluate all of the information contained in this prospectus before you decide to purchase the Units, the Warrants and the Common Stock. The risks and uncertainties described in this prospectus are not the only ones we may face. Additional risks and uncertainties that we do not presently know about or that we currently believe are not material may also adversely affect our business, business prospects, results of operations or financial condition. Any of the risks and uncertainties set forth herein, could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

Because we have a history of net losses, we may never achieve or sustain profitability or positive cash flow from operations.

We have incurred net losses in each fiscal year since our inception, including net losses of approximately $10.4 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021, $17 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, and $12.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. As of September 30, 2021, we had an accumulated deficit of approximately $45 million. We expect to continue to incur substantial expenditures to develop and market our services and could continue to incur losses and negative operating cash flow for the foreseeable future. We may never achieve profitability or positive cash flow in the future, and even if we do, we may not be able to continue being profitable. Any failure to achieve and maintain profitability would continue to have an adverse effect on our stockholders’ deficit and working capital and could result in a decline in our stock price or cause us to cease operations.

Because we have a limited operating history under our current platform, it is difficult to evaluate our business and future prospects and thus increases the risks associated with investment in our securities.

We have operated our current platform since April 16, 2016, when we acquired the Platform and we then put into a multi-year process of further development, integration, and branding. As a result, our platform and business model have not been fully proven, and we have only a limited operating history on which to evaluate our business and future prospects. We have encountered, and will continue to encounter, risks and difficulties frequently experienced by growing companies in rapidly changing industries, including our ability to achieve market acceptance of our platform and attract, retain and incentivize recruiters on our platform, as well as respond to competition and plan for and scale our operations to address future growth. We may not be successful in addressing these and other challenges we may face in the future, and our business and future prospects may be materially and adversely affected if we do not manage these and other risks successfully. Given our limited operating history, we may be unable to effectively implement our business plan which could materially harm our business or cause us to scale down or cease our operations.

Our business depends on a strong reputation and anything that harms our reputation will likely harm our results of operations.

As a provider of temporary and permanent staffing solutions as well as consultant services, our reputation is dependent upon the performance of the employees we place with our clients and the services rendered by our consultants. We depend on our reputation and name recognition to secure engagements and to hire qualified employees and consultants. If our clients become dissatisfied with the performance of those employees or consultants or if any of those employees or consultants engage in or are believed to have engaged in conduct that is harmful to our clients, our ability to maintain or expand our client base will be harmed. Any of the foregoing is likely to materially adversely affect us.

We may be unable to find sufficient candidates for our staffing business.

Our staffing services business consists of the placement of individuals seeking employment. There can be no assurance that candidates for employment will continue to seek employment through us. Candidates generally seek temporary or full-time positions through multiple sources, including the Company and our competitors. In the fall of 2019, unemployment rates were at historical lows. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant effect on unemployment in every state, industry, and major demographic group in the United States and peaked to unprecedented levels in April 2020. Unemployment rates have decreased to 4.2% in November 2021, but this remains 2.5 percentage points higher than its pre-COVID-19 pandemic level in February 2020. The availability of qualified talent may change or become more scarce, depending on macro-economic conditions outside of the Company’s control. If finding sufficient eligible candidates to meet employers’ demands becomes more challenging due to falling unemployment rates or other talent availability issues, the Company may experience a shortage of qualified candidates. Any shortage of candidates could materially adversely affect the Company.

We may incur liability to employees and clients.

Our consulting and staffing business entails employing individuals on a temporary basis and placing such individuals in clients’ workplaces, where we have no control over the workplace environments. As the employer of record of our temporary employees, we incur a risk of liability to our temporary employees for various workplace events, including claims of physical injury, discrimination, harassment, or failure to protect confidential personal information. While such claims have not historically had a material adverse effect on us, there can be no assurance that such claims in the future will not result in adverse publicity or have a material adverse effect on our operations. We also incur a risk of liability to our employer clients resulting from allegations of errors, omissions or theft by our temporary employees, or allegations of misuse of client confidential information. In many cases, we agree to indemnify our clients in respect of these types of claims. We maintain insurance with respect to many of such claims. While such claims have not historically had a material adverse effect upon us, there can be no assurance that we will continue to be able to obtain insurance at a cost that does not have a material adverse effect upon us or that future claims will be covered by such available insurance.

We may require additional capital to fund our business and support our growth, and our inability to generate and obtain such capital on acceptable terms, or at all, could harm our business, operating results, financial condition, and prospects.

We intend to continue to make substantial investments to fund our business and support our growth. In addition, we may require additional funds to respond to business challenges, including the need to develop new features or enhance our solutions, improve our operating infrastructure, or acquire or develop complementary businesses and technologies. As a result, in addition to the revenues we generate from our business, we may need to engage in additional equity or debt financings to provide the funds required for these and other business endeavors. If we raise additional funds through future issuances of equity or convertible debt securities, our existing stockholders could suffer significant dilution, and any new equity securities we issue could have rights, preferences, and privileges superior to those of holders of our Common Stock. Any debt financing that we may secure in the future could involve restrictive covenants relating to our capital raising activities and other financial and operational matters, which may make it more difficult for us to obtain additional capital and to pursue business opportunities, including potential acquisitions. We may not be able to obtain such additional financing on terms favorable to us, if at all. If we are unable to obtain adequate financing or financing on terms satisfactory to us when we require it, our ability to continue to support our business growth and to respond to business challenges could be significantly impaired, and our business may be adversely impacted. In addition, our inability to generate or obtain the financial resources needed may require us to delay, scale back, or eliminate some or all of our operations, which may have a significant adverse impact on our business, operating results and financial condition.

If we fail to completely and successfully integrate the assets we acquired, we may not fully realize the anticipated benefits from the acquisition, and our results of operations would be materially and adversely affected.

We recently acquired certain assets and the business from the Novo Group, Parrut, Scouted, Upsider and OneWire and anticipate acquiring additional assets and businesses in the future. Our failure to successfully integrate the assets we acquire may be more difficult, costly or time-consuming than we anticipate, or we may not otherwise realize any of the anticipated benefits of this acquisition. Any of the foregoing could adversely affect our future results of operations or could cause our stock price to decline. 

If our due diligence process with respect to acquisitions proves not robust enough, we may acquire non-performing assets, people, and companies.

Our management is opportunistic in its approach to mergers and acquisitions. We are actively looking to grow our base of clients, intellectual property, assets and suite of recruitment technology solutions. If our processes fail to identify risks and weaknesses of companies that we either acquire or purchase assets from, we may be harmed or have difficulties recouping our investments. Additionally, we may be unable to effectively integrate such assets into our existing business.

Our future growth depends on our ability to attract, retain and incentivize a community of recruiters, and the loss of existing recruiters, or failure to attract new ones, could adversely impact our business and future prospects.

The size of our community of employers on our platform is critical to our success. Our ability to achieve profitability in the future will depend, in large part, on our ability to attract new users to, and retain existing users on, our platform. Recruiters on our Platform can generally decide to cease using our platform at any time. While we have experienced growth in the number of recruiters on our platform in recent months, with numbers rising from 27,011 on September 30, 2020, to over 30,000 at September 30, 2021. This growth may not continue at the same pace in the future or at all. In addition, it is possible that the ongoing effects of COVID-19 may have a deleterious effect on our user growth in the future. Achieving growth in our community of users may require us to engage in increasingly sophisticated and costly sales and marketing efforts that may not result in additional users. We may also need to modify our pricing model to attract and retain such users. If we fail to attract new users or fail to maintain or expand existing relationships in a cost-effective manner, our business and future prospects would be materially and adversely impacted.

If we are unable to respond to technological advancements and other changes in our industry by developing and releasing new services, or improving our existing services, in a timely and cost-effective manner or at all, our business could be materially and adversely affected.

Our industry is characterized by rapid technological change, frequent new service launches, changing user demands, and evolving industry standards. The introduction of new services based on technological advancements can quickly render existing services obsolete. We will need to expend substantial resources on researching and developing new services and enhancing our platform by incorporating additional features, improving functionality, and adding other improvements to meet our users’ evolving demands. We may not be successful in developing, marketing, and delivering in a timely and cost-effective manner enhancements or new features to our platform or any new services that respond to continued changes in the market. Furthermore, any enhancements or new features to our platform or any new services may contain errors or defects and may not achieve the broad market acceptance necessary to generate sufficient revenue. Moreover, even if we introduce new services, we may experience a decline in revenue from our existing services that is not offset by revenue from the new services.

If we experience errors, defects, or disruptions in our platform it could damage our reputation, which could in turn materially and adversely impact our operating results and growth prospects.

The performance and reliability of our platform is critical to our reputation and ability to attract and retain recruiters and clients. Any system error or failure, or other performance problems with our platform could harm our brand and reputation and may damage the businesses of users. Additionally, our platform requires frequent updates, which may contain undetected errors when first introduced or released. Any errors, defects, disruptions in service, or other performance or stability problems with our platform could result in negative publicity, loss of or delay in market acceptance of our platform, loss of competitive position, delay of payment to us or recruiters, or claims by users for losses sustained by them, which could adversely impact our brand and reputation, operating results and future prospects.

The continued operation of our business depends on the performance and reliability of the internet, mobile, and other infrastructures that are not under our control.

Our business depends on the performance and reliability of the internet, mobile, and other infrastructures that are not always under our control. Disruptions in such infrastructures, including as the result of power outages, telecommunications delay or failure, security breach, or computer virus, as well as failure by telecommunications network operators to provide us with the bandwidth we need to provide our products and offerings, could cause delays or interruptions to our products, offerings, and platform. Any of these events could damage our reputation, resulting in fewer recruiters actively using our platform, disrupt our operations, and subject us to liability, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and operating results.

We rely on third parties to host our platform, and any disruption of service from such third parties or material change to, or termination of, our arrangement with them could adversely affect our business.

We use third-party cloud infrastructure services providers and co-located data centers in the United States and abroad to host our platform. Software development, remote server administration, quality assurance, and administrative access is managed overseas by Recruiter Mauritius Ltd. under the direction of our Chief Web Officer, Ashley Saddul. We do not control the physical operation of any of the data centers we use. These facilities are vulnerable to damage or interruption from earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, fires, cyber security attacks, terrorist attacks, power losses, telecommunications failures, and similar events. The occurrence of a natural disaster or an act of terrorism, a decision to close the facilities without adequate notice, or other unanticipated problems could result in lengthy interruptions to our platform. The facilities also could be subject to break-ins, computer viruses, sabotage, intentional acts of violence, and other misconduct. We may not carry sufficient business interruption insurance to compensate us for losses that may occur as a result of any events that cause interruptions in our service. We may not be able to maintain or renew our agreements or arrangements with these third-party service providers on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. If we are unable to renew our agreements on commercially reasonable terms, our agreements are terminated, or we add additional infrastructure providers, we may experience costs or downtime in connection with the transfer to, or the addition of, new data center providers. If these providers increase the cost of their services, we may have to increase the fees to use our platform, and our operating results may be adversely impacted.

Because we have arrangements with related parties affecting a significant part of our operations, such arrangements may not reflect terms that would otherwise be available from unaffiliated third parties.

We rely on arrangements with related parties for support of our operations, including technical support and employer of record services, and may engage in additional related party transactions in the future. For example, we currently rely on a related party provider of information technology and computer services located in Mauritius, an island country located off the eastern coast of Africa, for software development and maintenance related to our website and platform. Our Chief Web Officer is an employee of this service provider. Additionally, Icon Information Consultants, LP (“Icon”), a significant stockholder of the Company, performs employer or record services for Recruiting Solutions, the subsidiary through which we operate our staffing business. See “Certain Relationships and Related Person Transactions” for further details. Although we believe that the terms of our arrangements with related parties are reasonable and generally consistent with market standards, such terms do not necessarily reflect terms that we or such related parties would agree to in arms-length negotiations with an independent third party. Furthermore, potential conflicts of interest can exist if a related party is presented with an issue that may have conflicting implications for the Company and such related party. If a dispute arises in connection with any of these arrangements, which is not resolved to the satisfaction of the Company, our business could be materially and adversely affected.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a significant downturn in the global and United States economies and accordingly a decreased demand for recruitment and staffing services, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In late 2019, an outbreak of COVID-19 was first reported in Wuhan, China. In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the implementation of significant governmental measures, including lockdowns, closures, quarantines and travel bans around the world aimed at controlling the spread of the virus. Businesses are also taking precautions, including requiring employees to work remotely or take leave, imposing travel restrictions and temporarily closing their facilities. Initial unemployment numbers have spiked. Uncertainties regarding the impact of COVID-19 on economic conditions are likely to result in sustained market turmoil and reduced demand for employees, which in its turn has had a negative impact on the recruitment and staffing industry. According to a June 2020 report from CEOToday, the U.S. staffing industry, which previously boasted a market size of $152 billion fell to roughly $119 billion since the COVID-19 outbreak; bringing it down to its lowest level since 2013. This represents a 21% decrease from 2019. 

To date the economic impact of COVID-19 has resulted in certain reductions in the Company’s business and the Company has devoted efforts to shifting its focus in areas of hiring. As of the date of this filing, to the Company’s knowledge, no customer of the Company has gone out of business nor have any counterparties attempted to assert the existence of a force majeure clause, which excuses contractual performance. Because we depend on continued demand for recruitment services, a downturn in the recruitment and staffing industry would have a material adverse impact on our business and results of operations.

While to date the Company has not been required to stop operating, management is evaluating its use of its office space, virtual meetings and the like. We had reduced certain billing rates to respond to the current economic climate. Additionally, while we have experienced, and could continue to experience, a loss of clients as the result of the pandemic, we expect that the impact of such attrition would be mitigated by the addition of new clients resulting from our continued efforts to adjust the Company’s operations to address changes in the recruitment industry. The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic will impact our operations, ability to obtain financing or future financial results is uncertain at this time. Due to the effects of COVID-19, the Company took steps to streamline certain expenses, such as temporarily cutting certain executive compensation packages by approximately 20%. Management  also worked to reduce unnecessary marketing expenditures and worked to improve staff and human capital expenditures, while maintaining overall workforce levels. The Company has seen increased demand for its recruiting solutions in 2021 and has selectively increased salaries and marketing expenditures to support higher demand. The Company expects but cannot guarantee that demand will continue to improve in 2022, as certain clients re-open or accelerate their hiring initiatives, and new clients utilize our services. Overall, management has focused on effectively positioning the Company for a rebound in hiring which we believe has begun and will continue throughout 2022. Ultimately, the recovery may be delayed and the economic conditions may worsen. The Company continues to closely monitor the confidence of its recruiter users and customers, and their respective job requirement load through offline discussions and the Company’s Recruiter Index survey.

If internet search engines’ methodologies or other channels that we utilize to direct traffic to our website are modified, or our search result page rankings otherwise decline, it could negatively affect our future growth.

We depend in part on various internet search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, Bing and others, as well as other internet channels and referral partners to direct traffic to our website. Our ability to maintain the number of visitors directed to our website is not entirely within our control. For example, our competitors’ search engine optimization and other efforts may result in their websites receiving a higher search result page ranking than ours, internet search engines or other channels that we utilize to direct traffic to our website could revise their methodologies in a manner that adversely impacts traffic to our website, or we may make changes to our website that adversely impact our search engine optimization rankings and traffic. As a result, links to our website may not be prominent enough to drive sufficient traffic to our website, and we may not be able to influence the results. Any of these changes could have an adverse impact on our operating results and future growth.

If we or our third-party partners experience a security breach resulting in unauthorized access to our clients’ or recruiters’ data, our data, or our platform, networks, or other systems, our reputation would suffer, demand for our services may be reduced, our operations may be disrupted, we may incur significant legal liabilities, and our business could be materially and adversely affected.

Our business involves storage, processing, and transmission of our clients’ and recruiters’ proprietary, confidential, and personal information as well as the use of third-party partners who store, process, and transmit such proprietary, confidential, and personal information. We also maintain certain other proprietary and confidential information relating to our business and personal information of our employees. Any security breach or incident affecting us or third parties on which we rely, including resulting from computer viruses, malware, physical or electronic break-ins, or weakness resulting from intentional or unintentional service provider or employee actions, could result in unauthorized access to, misuse of, or unauthorized acquisition of our or our clients’ or recruiters’ data, the loss, corruption, or alteration of this data, interruptions in our operations, or damage to our computers or systems or those of our clients or recruiters. If an actual or perceived security breach affecting us or our third-party partners occurs, public perception of the effectiveness of our security measures would suffer, and result in attrition of recruiters on our platform or loss of clients. Any compromise of our or our third-party partners’ security could result in a violation of applicable privacy and other laws, regulatory or other governmental investigations, enforcement actions, and legal and financial exposure, including potential contractual liability. Any such compromise could also result in damage to our reputation and a loss of confidence in our security measures. Any of these effects could adversely impact our business, operating results and growth prospects.

Our platform contains open-source software components, and failure to comply with the terms of the underlying licenses could restrict our ability to market or operate our platform.

We incorporate many types of open-source software, frameworks and databases, including our Platform, which is currently architected on the Yii platform using PHP code and MySQL databases. Open-source licenses typically permit the use, modification, and distribution of software in source code form subject to certain conditions. Some open-source licenses require any person who distributes a modification or derivative work of such software to make the modified version subject to the same open source license. Accordingly, although we do not believe that we have used open-source software in a manner that would subject us to this requirement, we may be required to distribute certain aspects of our platform or make them available in source code form. Further, the interpretation of open-source licenses is legally complex. If we fail to comply with the terms of an applicable open source software license, we may need to seek licenses from third parties to continue offering our platform and the terms on which such licenses are available may not be economically feasible, to re-engineer our platform to remove or replace the open source software, to limit or stop offering our platform if re-engineering could not be accomplished on a timely or cost-effective basis, to pay monetary damages, or to make available the source code for aspects of our proprietary technology, any of which could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.

In addition, generally there are no warranties, assurances of title, performance, or non-infringement, or controls on the origin of the software provided for the open-source software. There is typically no support available for open-source software, and no guarantee of periodic updates to address security risks or continued development and maintenance.

Our future growth depends in part on our ability to form new and maintain existing strategic partnerships with third party solution providers and continued performance of such solution providers under the terms of our strategic partnerships with them.

As part of our growth strategy for the Company and, in particular, its enterprise solution offering, we establish and maintain strategic partnerships with large and established third party solution providers to employers, such as companies specializing in enterprise application software, human resources, payroll, talent, time management, tax and benefits administration. Our strategic partnerships include among other things, integration of our platform with those of our strategic partners, joint marketing and commercial alignment, including joint events, and sales of our services by our partners’ representatives. We may be unable to renew or replace our agreements with such strategic partners as and when they expire on comparable terms, or at all. Moreover, the parties with which we have strategic relationships may fail to devote the resources necessary to expand our reach and increase our distribution. In addition, our agreements with our strategic partners generally do not contain any covenants that would limit competing arrangements. Some of our strategic partners offer, or could in the future offer, competing products and services or have similar strategic relationships with our competitors, and may choose to favor our competitors’ solutions over ours. If we are unsuccessful in establishing or maintaining our relationships with third parties, our growth prospects could be impaired, and our operating results may be adversely impacted. Even if we are successful in establishing and maintaining these strategic relationships with third parties, they may not result in the growth of our client base or increased revenue.

We rely in part on certain software that we license from related and third parties as part of our service offerings, and if we were to lose the ability to use such software our business and operating results would be materially and adversely affected.

We license certain candidate matching software from Genesys, which was recently rebranded “Opptly,” video screening technology from MyInterview, AI-candidate matching software from Censia, as well as other popular, commercially available third party recruiting, communications, and marketing related software systems, such as LinkedIn and Hubspot, much of which is integral to our systems and our business. The license agreement, which was included as part of the asset purchase agreement with Genesys dated March 31, 2019, which transferred the clients, but not the technology of Genesys to the Company, governing the use by us of the Genesys software expires on May 31, 2022, however, it automatically renews for another year on May 31st of each year unless terminated by either party with 30 days written notice prior to May 31st or at any time upon a breach by either party. The license agreement governing the use by us of the Censia platform is perpetual, but may be terminated by either party with 180 days of notice. If any of these relationships were terminated or if any of these parties were to cease doing business or cease to support the applications we currently utilize, we may be forced to expend significant time and resources to replace the licensed software. Further, the necessary replacements may not be available on a timely basis on favorable terms, or at all. If we were to lose the ability to use this software our business and operating results would be materially and adversely affected.

Because we rely on a small number of customers for a substantial portion of our revenue, the loss of any of these customers would have a material adverse effect on our operating results and cash flows.

We derive our revenue from a relatively limited number of customers. Our relationships with these customers are fundamental to our success. For the nine months ended September 30, 2021, one customer accounted for 10% of more of total revenue, at 14%. For the year ended December 31, 2020 three customers accounted for 10% or more of total revenue, at 30%, 20% and 11%, for a total of 61%. Any termination of a business relationship with, or a significant sustained reduction in business from, one or more of these customers would have a material adverse effect on our operating results and cash flows unless we are able to secure new customers with similar volume.

Failure to protect our intellectual property could adversely affect our business.

Our success depends in large part on our proprietary technology and data, including our trade secrets, software code, the content of our website, workflows, proprietary databases, registered domain names, registered and unregistered trademarks, trademark applications, copyrights, and inventions (whether or not patentable). In order to protect our intellectual property, we rely on a combination of copyright, trademark, and trade secrets, as well as confidentiality provisions and contractual arrangements.

Despite our efforts, third parties may infringe upon or misappropriate our intellectual property by copying or reverse-engineering information that we regard as proprietary, including our platform, to create products and services that compete with ours. Further, we may be unable to prevent competitors from acquiring domain names or trademarks that are similar to, infringe upon, or diminish the value of our domain names, trademarks, service marks, and other proprietary rights. Moreover, our trade secrets may be compromised by third parties or our employees, which would cause us to lose the competitive advantage derived from the compromised trade secrets. Additionally, effective intellectual property protection may not be available to us in every country in which our platform currently is or may in the future be available. Further, we may be unable to detect infringement of our intellectual property rights, and even if we detect such violations and decide to enforce our intellectual property rights, we may not be successful, and may incur significant expenses, in such efforts. In addition, any such enforcement efforts may be time-consuming, expensive and may divert management’s attention. Because we rely on our Chief Technology Officer and his staff who are based in Mauritius, we face a risk based upon any local conditions and difficulties we may face in enforcing our intellectual property rights there. Further, such enforcement efforts may result in a ruling that our intellectual property rights are unenforceable. Any failure to protect or any loss of our intellectual property may have an adverse effect on our ability to compete and may adversely affect our business, financial condition, and operating results.

We may become subject to intellectual property infringement claims and challenges by third parties.

Third parties may claim that certain aspects of our platform, content, and brand infringe on their intellectual property rights. Any claims or litigation, regardless of merit, could cause us to incur significant legal expenses and, if successfully asserted, could require us to pay substantial damages or make ongoing royalty payments, prevent us from offering certain aspects of our platform, comply with other terms that may be unfavorable to us, or require us to stop using technology that contains the allegedly infringing intellectual property.

Even if intellectual property claims do not result in litigation or are resolved in our favor, these claims typically involve large legal fees, and the time and resources necessary to resolve them could divert our management’s attention and adversely affect our business and operating results. Although the Company takes steps to ensure the validity and security of purchased assets, the purchase of assets or businesses may give rise to claims of intellectual property infringement.

We may become subject to marketing use, image, defamation, or representation claims and challenges by third parties.

We expect to increase our use of image- and video-based recruiting technology solutions, which function by the recording and capture of images and videos of individuals. We store and communicate these images and video to third parties, including the employers that desire to hire individuals as contractors and employees. In providing the transmission of user-generated content, which includes but is not limited to images and video, we may be exposed to certain litigation risks, including but not limited to the right-to-use, defamation, marketing-use, representation, and other claims by both employers and individuals.

If we or our clients are perceived to have violated or are found in violation of, the anti-discrimination laws and regulations as the result of the use of predictive technologies or external independent recruiters in the recruitment process, it may damage our reputation and have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

We and our clients may be exposed to potential claims associated with the use of predictive algorithms and external recruiters in the recruitment process, including claims of age and gender discrimination. For example, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) prohibits employers from limiting employment opportunities based on certain protected characteristics, including race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (the “ADA”) prohibits discrimination based on age. Certain social media companies, as well as employers purchasing targeted ads from such companies, have recently come under scrutiny for discriminatory advertising. In September 2019, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the “EEOC”) ruled that several employers violated the ADA and Title VII by publicizing job openings on social media through the use of ads that targeted young men to the detriment of women and older workers. If we or our clients are perceived to have violated or are found in violation of, Title VII, the ADA, or any other anti-discrimination laws and regulations as the result of the use of predictive technologies in the recruitment process, it may damage our reputation and have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

If we cannot manage our growth effectively, our results of operations would be materially and adversely affected.

We have experienced significant growth, including sequential quarterly revenue increase of over 42% in the third quarter of 2021. Businesses that grow rapidly often have difficulty managing their growth while maintaining their compliance and quality standards. If we continue to grow as rapidly as we anticipate, we will need to expand our management by recruiting and employing additional executive and key personnel capable of providing the necessary support. There can be no assurance that our management, along with our staff, will be able to effectively manage our growth or meet our delivery requirements. Our failure to meet the challenges associated with rapid growth could materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.

If recruiters on our Platform were classified as employees instead of independent contractors, our business would be materially and adversely affected.

We believe that the recruiters who engage with us on our Platform are independent contractors, due to a number of factors, including our inability to control these recruiters, and the Company’s Terms of Use with our users reflect that understanding. However, if the independent contractor status of recruiters is challenged, we may not be successful in defending against such challenges in some or all jurisdictions. Furthermore, the costs associated with defending, settling, or resolving lawsuits relating to the independent contractor status of recruiters could be material to our business. In September 2019, California enacted a new employee classification law that codified the 2018 decision by the state’s Supreme Court classifying independent contractors as employees unless they satisfy the following requirements: (i) are free from the control and direction of the entity relating to the performance of the work; (ii) perform work outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business; and (iii) are customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business. We cannot be certain if this ruling in California will impact us.

If a court or an administrative agency were to determine that the recruiters on our platform must be classified as employees rather than independent contractors, we and/or our clients would become subject to additional regulatory requirements, including but not limited to tax, wages, and wage and hour laws and requirements (such as those pertaining to minimum wage and overtime); employee benefits, social security, workers’ compensation and unemployment; discrimination, harassment, and retaliation under civil rights laws; claims under laws pertaining to unionizing, collective bargaining, and other concerted activity; and other laws and regulations applicable to employers and employees. Compliance with such laws and regulations would require us to incur significant additional expenses, potentially including without limitation, expenses associated with the application of wage and hour laws (including minimum wage, overtime, and meal and rest period requirements), employee benefits, social security contributions, taxes, and penalties. Additionally, any such reclassification would require us to fundamentally change our business model, and consequently have an adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

Approximately 52% of the recruiters on our platform and about 43% of our Internet traffic derive from jurisdictions outside the United States, which exposes us to risks related to operating abroad.

Even though we currently have a limited physical presence outside of the United States, recruiters on our platform are located in approximately 162 countries (aside from the US) around the world, the most prevalent being those recruiters who reside in India, Malaysia, England, and Canada, which subjects us to the risks and uncertainties associated with doing business internationally. Additionally, users on our platform include recruiters from some emerging markets where we have limited experience, where challenges can be significantly different from those we have faced in more developed markets, and where business practices may create greater internal control risks. Because our platform is generally accessible by users worldwide, one or more jurisdictions may claim that we or recruiters on our platform are required to comply with the laws of such jurisdictions. Laws outside of the United States regulating the Internet, payments, escrow, privacy, taxation, terms of service, website accessibility, consumer protection, intellectual property ownership, services intermediaries, labor and employment, wage and hour, worker classification, background checks, and recruiting and staffing companies, among others, which could be interpreted to apply to us, are often less favorable to us than those in the United States, giving greater rights to competitors, users, and other third parties. Compliance with foreign laws and regulations may be more costly than expected, may require us to change our business practices or restrict our product offerings, and the imposition of any such laws or regulations on us, our users, or third parties that we or our users utilize to provide or use our services, may adversely impact our revenue and business. In addition, we may be subject to multiple overlapping legal or regulatory regimes that impose conflicting requirements and enhanced legal risks.

The risks described above may also make it more difficult for us to expand our operations internationally. Analysis of, and compliance with, global laws and regulations may substantially increase our cost of doing business. We may be unable to keep current with changes in laws and regulations as they develop. Any violations could result in enforcement actions, fines, civil and criminal penalties, damages, interest, costs and fees (including but not limited to legal fees), injunctions, loss of intellectual property rights, or reputational harm. If we are unable to comply with these laws and regulations or manage the complexity of global operations and supporting an international user base successfully, our business, operating results, and financial condition could be adversely affected.

If we are unable to maintain our relationships with payment and banking partners, our business could be materially and adversely affected.

We also rely on a network of disbursement partners to disburse funds to recruiters on our platform, including our banking partners and payment solution providers such as PayPal. We also rely on Amazon.com to send gift cards and merchandise from time to time to independent recruiters and members of our network and community, as incentives for various actions, including submission of qualified candidates and responding to surveys.

Relationships with our payment partners are critical to our business. We may not be able to maintain these relationships in the future on terms favorable to us or at all. Our payment partners may, among other things:

Alternatively, we may be forced to cease doing business with our payment processors if card association operating rules, certification requirements and laws, regulations, or rules governing electronic funds transfers to which we are subject change or are interpreted to make it more difficult or impossible for us to comply. If we are unable to maintain our current relationships with payment partners on favorable terms, or if we are unable to enter into new agreements with payment partners, our business may be material and adversely affected.

We operate in an intensively competitive industry, and we may not be able to compete successfully.

The staffing and recruitment industry is intensely competitive and we face significant competition in all aspects of our business, and we expect such competition to increase, particularly in the market for online procurement of professional employee talent. Larger and more established companies may focus on our direct market and could directly compete with us. Smaller companies, including software developers, could also launch new services that compete with us that could gain market acceptance quickly.

Many of our current and potential competitors enjoy substantial competitive advantages, such as greater name recognition, longer operating histories, greater financial, technical, and other resources, that could allow them to respond more quickly and effectively than we do to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standards, regulatory conditions, or user preferences or requirements. These companies may use these advantages to offer products and services similar to ours at a lower price, develop different products and services to compete with our platform.

Moreover, current and future competitors may also make strategic acquisitions or establish cooperative relationships among themselves or with others, including our current or future third-party partners. By doing so, these competitors may increase their ability to meet the needs of existing or prospective users. These developments could limit our ability to obtain revenue from existing and new users. If we are unable to compete effectively against current and future competitors, our business and operating results would be materially and adversely impacted.

Our future success depends on our ability to retain and attract high-quality personnel, and the efforts, abilities and continued service of our senior management, and unsuccessful succession planning could adversely affect our business.

Our future success will depend in large part on our ability to attract and retain high-quality management, operations, and other personnel who are in high demand, are often subject to competing employment offers, and are attractive recruiting targets for our competitors. The loss of qualified executives and key employees, or inability to attract, retain, and motivate high-quality executives and employees required for the planned expansion of our business, may harm our operating results and impair our ability to grow.

We depend on the continued services of our key personnel, including Evan Sohn, our Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Miles Jennings, our President and Chief Operating Officer, and Judy Krandel, our Chief Financial Officer. The Company has entered into either employment agreements or consulting agreements with Evan Sohn, Miles Jennings, Judy Krandel, and Rick Roberts. Our work with each of these key personnel are subject to changes and/or termination, and our inability to effectively retain the services of our key management personnel, could materially and adversely affect our operating results and future prospects.

We are an emerging growth company and we cannot be certain if the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will make our common stock less attractive to investors.

We are an emerging growth company. Under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”), emerging growth companies can delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. We have irrevocably elected to opt out of this provision and, as a result, we will comply with new or revised accounting standards when they are required to be adopted by public companies that are not emerging growth companies.

For as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, we may take advantage of certain other exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies including, but not limited to, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory stockholder vote on executive compensation and any golden parachute payments not previously approved, exemption from the requirement of auditor attestation in the assessment of our internal control over financial reporting and exemption from any requirement that may be adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements (auditor discussion and analysis). If we do take advantage of these exemptions, the information that we provide stockholders will be different than what is available with respect to other public companies. We cannot predict if investors will find our common stock less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If investors find our common stock less attractive as a result of our status as an emerging growth company, if and when our stock becomes publicly traded, there may be less liquidity for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile.

We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest to occur of: (i) the last day of the fiscal year in which we have more than $1.07 billion in annual revenue; (ii) the date we qualify as a “large accelerated filer,” with at least $700 million of equity securities held by non-affiliates; (iii) the date on which we have issued, in any three-year period, more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities; and (iv) the last day of the fiscal year ending after the fifth anniversary of the completion of our Underwritten Offering.

If there are adverse changes in domestic and global economic conditions, it may negatively impact our business.

Our business depends on the continued demand for labor and on the economic health of current and prospective clients that use our platform and services. Any significant weakening of the economy in the United States or globally, more limited availability of credit, a reduction in business confidence and activity, economic uncertainty, financial turmoil affecting the banking system or financial markets, a more limited market for independent professional service providers or information technology services, and other adverse economic or market conditions may adversely impact our business and operating results. Global economic and political events or uncertainty may cause some of our current or potential clients to curtail spending on hiring and may ultimately result in new regulatory and cost challenges to our operations. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative effect on the global economic condition as well as the U.S. staffing industry. These adverse conditions could result in reductions in revenue, longer sales cycles, slower adoption of new technologies and increased competition, which could in turn materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and operating results.

The regulatory framework for privacy and data protection is complex and evolving, and changes in laws or regulations relating to privacy or the protection or transfer of personal data, or any actual or perceived failure by us to comply with such laws and regulations, could adversely affect our business.

During our day-to-day business operations we receive, collect, store, process, transfer, and use personal information and other user data. As the result, we are subject to numerous federal, state, local, and international laws and regulations regarding privacy, data protection, information security, and the collection, storing, sharing, use, processing, transfer, disclosure, and protection of personal information and other content. We are also subject to the terms of our privacy policies and obligations to third parties related to privacy, data protection, and information security. We strive to comply with applicable laws, regulations, policies, and other legal obligations relating to privacy, data protection, and information security to the extent possible. However, the regulatory framework for privacy and data protection both in the United States and abroad is, and is likely to remain for the foreseeable future, uncertain and complex, is changing, and the interpretation and enforcement of the rules and regulations that form part of this regulatory framework may be inconsistent among jurisdictions, or conflict with other laws and regulations. Such laws and regulations as they apply to us may be interpreted and enforced in a manner that we do not currently anticipate. Any significant change in the applicable laws, regulations, or industry practices regarding the collection, use, retention, security, or disclosure of user data, or their interpretation, or any changes regarding the manner in which the express or implied consent of users for the collection, use, retention, or disclosure of such data must be obtained, could increase our costs and require us to modify our platform and our products and services, in a manner that could materially affect our business.

The laws, regulations, and industry standards concerning privacy, data protection, and information security also continue to evolve. For example, in June 2018, California passed the California Consumer Privacy Act (the “CCPA”), effective January 1, 2020, which requires companies that process personal information of California residents to make new disclosures to consumers about such companies’ data collection, use, and sharing practices and inform consumers of their personal information rights such as deletion rights, allows consumers to opt out of certain data sharing with third parties, and provides a new cause of action for data breaches. The State of Nevada has also passed a law, effective October 1, 2019, that amends the state’s online privacy law to allow consumers to submit requests to prevent websites and online service providers from selling personally identifiable information that they collect through a website or online service. The costs of compliance with, and other burdens imposed by, the privacy and data protection laws and regulations may limit the use and adoption of our services and could have a material adverse impact on our business. As a result, we may need to modify the way we treat such information.

Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with any privacy and data protection policies, laws, rules, and regulations could result in proceedings or actions against us by individuals, consumer rights groups, governmental entities or agencies, or others. We could incur significant costs investigating and defending such claims and, if found liable, significant damages. Further, public scrutiny of or complaints about technology companies or their data handling or data protection practices, even if unrelated to our business, industry, or operations, may lead to increased scrutiny of technology companies, including us, and may cause government agencies to enact additional regulatory requirements, or to modify their enforcement or investigation activities, which may increase our costs and risks.

If we sustain an impairment in the carrying value of long-lived assets and goodwill, it will negatively affect our operating results.

As the result of our purchase of certain assets of Genesys in March 2019 and subsequent 2021 asset acquisitions, we have a significant amount of long-lived intangible assets and goodwill on our consolidated balance sheet. Under the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the U.S. (“GAAP”), long-lived assets are required to be reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the book value of the asset may not be recoverable. If business conditions or other factors cause profitability and cash flows to decline, we may be required to record non-cash impairment charges. Goodwill must be evaluated for impairment at least annually or more frequently if events indicate it is warranted. If the carrying value of a reporting unit exceeds its current fair value, the goodwill is considered impaired. Events and conditions that could result in impairment in the value of our long-lived assets and goodwill include, but are not limited to, significant negative industry or economic trends, competition and adverse changes in the regulatory environment, significant decline in the Company’s stock price for a sustained period of time, limited funding, as well as or other factors leading to reduction in expected long-term revenues or profitability. If we record impairment charges related to our goodwill and long-lived assets, our operating results would likely be materially and adversely affected.

If we fail to maintain an effective system of disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting, our ability to produce timely and accurate financial statements or comply with applicable regulations could be impaired. We reported material weaknesses in both the design and effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting for the year ended December 31, 2020.

As a public company, we are subject to the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act which requires, among other things, that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting. In order to maintain and improve the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting, we have expended, and anticipate that we will continue to expend, significant resources, including accounting-related costs and significant management oversight.

Any failure to develop or maintain effective controls or any difficulties encountered in their implementation or improvement could cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations and may result in a restatement of our financial statements for prior periods. If we fail to maintain an effective system of disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting, our ability to produce timely and accurate financial statements or comply with applicable regulations could be impaired, which could result in loss of investor confidence and could have an adverse effect on our stock price.

As of December 31, 2019, management determined that here were material weaknesses in both the design and effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. A material weakness in internal controls is a deficiency in internal control, or combination of control deficiencies, that adversely affects our ability to initiate, authorize, record, process, or report external financial data reliably in accordance with GAAP such that there is more than a remote likelihood that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements that is more than inconsequential will not be prevented or detected. Specifically, we restated our Form 10-Q filings for the three months ended June 30, 2019 and March 31, 2019 to switch $484,090 from net revenue to gross revenue. This change had an effect on total revenue and cost of goods sold but not on cash flow. In the course of making our assessment of the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting, we identified at least two material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. Specifically, (1) we lack a sufficient number of employees to properly segregate duties and provide adequate monitoring during the process leading to and including the preparation of the consolidated financial statements and, as of that date, (2) we lacked sufficient independent directors on our Board to maintain audit and other committees consistent with proper corporate governance standards. 

In May 2020, our Board appointed Judy Krandel as our Chief Financial Officer. We have worked to establish all the checks and balances needed for all financial areas of our business. We hired a consultant in mid-2020 to establish best practices and help us document and implement these. This consultant is a CPA and has a significant background in running the accounting and budgeting process for public companies. We began adopting these best practices in the fourth quarter.

Deborah Leff, Robert Heath and Steve Pemberton were approved by the Board as independent directors. We now have a board with a majority of independent directors. As such, as of the date of this filing, management has determined that the concern regarding material weaknesses regarding lack of independent directors in the Company’s internal controls over financial reporting has been sufficiently addressed.

Although the material weakness identified as of December 31, 2019 as described above has been remediated as of December 31, 2020, management has determined that, as of that date, there were still material weaknesses in both the design and effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. A material weakness in internal controls is a deficiency in internal control, or combination of control deficiencies, that adversely affects our ability to initiate, authorize, record, process, or report external financial data reliably in accordance with GAAP such that there is more than a remote likelihood that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements that is more than inconsequential will not be prevented or detected. In the course of making our assessment of the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting, we identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. Specifically, we lack a sufficient number of employees to properly segregate duties and provide adequate monitoring during the process leading to and including the preparation of the consolidated financial statements. Accordingly, management’s assessment is that the Company’s internal controls over financial reporting were not effective as of December 31, 2020.

Risks Related to this Offering and Our Common Stock

Our Common Stock may be affected by limited trading volume and price fluctuations, which could adversely impact the value of our Common Stock.

To date there has been limited trading in our Common Stock and there can be no assurance that an active trading market in our Common Stock will either develop or be maintained. Our Common Stock is likely to experience significant price and volume fluctuations in the future, which could adversely affect the market price of our Common Stock without regard to our operating performance. In addition, we believe that factors such as quarterly fluctuations in our financial results and changes in the overall economy or the condition of the financial markets, including as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, could cause the price of our Common Stock to fluctuate substantially. These fluctuations may also cause short sellers to periodically enter the market in the belief that we will have poor results in the future. We cannot predict the actions of market participants and, therefore, can offer no assurances that the market for our Common Stock will be stable or appreciate over time.

Because we may issue preferred stock without the approval of our stockholders and have other anti-takeover defenses, it may be more difficult for a third party to acquire us and could depress our stock price.

In general, the Board may authorize, without a vote of our stockholders, an issuance of one or more additional series of preferred stock that have more than one vote per share, although the Company’s ability to designate and issue preferred stock is currently restricted by covenants under our agreements with prior investors. Without these restrictions, our Board could issue preferred stock to investors who support us and our management and give effective control of our business to our management. Additionally, issuance of preferred stock could block an acquisition resulting in both a drop in our stock price and a decline in interest of our Common Stock. This could cause the market price of our Common Stock shares to drop significantly, even if our business is performing well, and make it more difficult for shareholders to sell their Common Stock.

Because we can issue additional shares of common stock, our stockholders may experience dilution in the future.

We are authorized to issue up to 100,000,000 shares of common stock. As of the date of this prospectus, we have approximately 14.6 Million shares of common stock issued and outstanding. Our board of directors has the authority to cause us to issue additional shares of common stock without the consent of any of our stockholders. Consequently, you may experience more dilution in your ownership of our securities in the future.

The exercise of options and warrants (including the warrants described in this prospectus) and other issuances of shares of common stock or securities convertible into common stock will dilute your interest.

As of the date of this prospectus, we have warrants to purchase an aggregate of 6,682,359 shares of our common stock at an average exercise price of $4.94 per share. The exercise of options and warrants at prices below the market price of our common stock could adversely affect the price of shares of our common stock. Additional dilution may result from the issuance of shares of our capital stock in connection with any collaboration (although none are contemplated at this time) or in connection with other financing efforts.

Any issuance of our common stock that is not made solely to then-existing stockholders proportionate to their interests, such as in the case of a stock dividend or stock split, will result in dilution to each stockholder by reducing his, her or its percentage ownership of the total outstanding shares. Moreover, if we issue options or warrants to purchase our common stock in the future and those options or warrants are exercised or we issue restricted stock, stockholders may experience further dilution. Holders of shares of our common stock have no preemptive rights that entitle them to purchase their pro rata share of any offering of shares of any class or series.

The market price of our Common Stock may be volatile and could decline.

The market price of our Common Stock has fluctuated substantially in the past and is likely to continue to be highly volatile and subject to wide fluctuations in the future. A number of factors could cause the market price of our Common Stock to decline, many of which we cannot control, including the following:

These and other factors may cause the market price and demand for our Common Stock to fluctuate substantially, which may limit or prevent investors from readily selling their Common Stock and may otherwise negatively affect the liquidity of our Common Stock. In addition, in the past, when the market price of a stock has been volatile, holders of that stock have often instituted securities class action litigation against the company that issued the stock. If any of our stockholders brought a lawsuit against us, we could incur substantial costs defending the lawsuit. Such a lawsuit could also divert the time and attention of our management from our business.

We do not anticipate that we will pay dividends on our Common Stock and, consequently, your ability to achieve a return on your investment will depend on appreciation in the price of our Common Stock.

We have never declared or paid any dividends on our Common Stock. We intend to retain any earnings to finance the operation and expansion of our business, and we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. In addition, in the future we may enter into agreements that prohibit or restrict our ability to declare or pay dividends on our Common Stock. As a result, you may only receive a return on your investment in our Common Stock if the market price of our Common Stock increases.