That’s the mantra of Thistle Finder, a tech startup founded by Otago lad Hamish Darling which provides a global media search and social media vetting of potential employees.
Based in the unlikely dual locations of Bilbao, Spain and Invercargill, the startup — which uses machine learning and high-performance computing — already has 60 companies on its books in just six months.
Speaking from Spain, Mr Darling — a University of Otago law graduate and former winner of the Central Otago Young Fruit Grower of the Year competition — said Thistle Finder was driven by a desire to bring transparency, truth and integrity to how people acted online. Part of that was holding people to account.
The idea came out of Sumfood which was co-founded by Mr Darling’s mother Helen with a vision of achieving integrity of food-supply chains.
While working in that business, he developed technology which identified when people were complaining about food. That made him think what would happen if some machine learning could be added to identify when people said anything negative.
Thistle Finder’s system analysed all public posts, comments, messages, videos and photos from candidates. Global media content was scanned for signs of offensive behaviour, prejudice, illegal activity and misinformation.
The client then received a detailed, confidential report with custom options based on their search focus. With those insights, they could then make informed hiring decisions “without worrying about nasty surprises”.
Initially, Thistle Finder was taken to the private investigator industry with some success and also to the recruitment industry which was the big focus at the moment.
“If you want to be principal of a school, you shouldn’t be saying terrible things online when you think they are actually anonymous”, Mr Darling said.
Such surprises — which subsequently led to job candidates not being hired — included selling Ku Klux Klan outfits online, and making obscene comments about minorities.
The startup’s first customer was Dunedin law firm Gallaway Cook Allan and that came as a “huge boost”.
“Had they not jumped at the chance to be our first adopter, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”
He was also grateful for the “free rein” he had been given by his board of directors and investors, who had told him the technology had “awesome potential” and to use his initiative.
Not counting the dog, there were about eight in the team. Mr Darling, who is living near Bilbao, in Spain, with his Irish partner, said launching concurrently in the United Kingdom and New Zealand, with opposite time zones, meant he had not had much sleep but he was delighted with the progress that had been made.
Bilbao was a perfect spot for an outdoors lover like himself and it was just a two-hour flight to London’s Gatwick Airport.
Priding himself on old-fashioned service, Mr Darling said he made a real effort to meet his clients, shake their hand, sit across the table from them and look them in the eye.
He also did not cold email, preferring to write letters by hand and he quipped he had not had such a sore hand since practising for his NCEA English exam. Such an approach was appreciated by clients who also respected he had made time to understand their business.
While he wanted Thistle Finder to reach a sustainable level, he did not want a “global domination business”.
“I can’t handle that level of stress”, he laughed.
He wanted it to eventually have an education component about the damage that misuse of the internet, specifically social media, could have on both professional and personal lives.
Education was needed and, with lives becoming so digital, the data could be used for good, to try to change that behaviour.