Alumni Launch CatholicGigs.com with Seed Funding from Investor
January 23, 2023
JPCatholic alumni Paul Massell (‘13) and Jacob Spence (‘14) have raised seed funding for their new entrepreneurial venture, an online Catholic job board called Catholic Gigs.
The founders describe Catholic Gigs as filling a unique need for Catholic schools, organizations, and non-profits who are seeking to hire graduates from Catholic universities. Many organizations have already signed up for the service, including Catholic Answers, Catholic University of America, the Archdiocese of Miami, and various Catholic elementary and high schools.
“Our long-term vision is for every Catholic diocese, nonprofit, and Catholic-owned business to post their job openings on Catholic Gigs,” said Paul. “But our first goal is to connect Catholic schools with recent graduates from Catholic universities.”
The investment comes from Michael Ortner, a Catholic entrepreneur who built and sold Capterra. Capterra serves as an intermediary between software vendors and buyers, and was sold by Ortner and his partner in 2015 for $206.2 million.
Catholic Gigs is an expansion of Paul and Jacob’s previous company New Eve Media, a video production and web development business which they founded in 2016. The founding team for Catholic Gigs also includes New Eve Media staff Mary Massell (Paul’s sister) and Elizabeth Wise.
The inception for the venture goes back to 2017, when Paul first registered the domain name and began building the site. However, he and Jacob put the idea on the backburner, deciding to focus their energy on New Eve Media as a way to bring in more immediate cash flow. The company has steadily grown since then, and currently has seven employees.
In July 2022, Jacob and Mary managed video production at the national conference for one of their clients, The Institute for Catholic Liberal Education. While at the event they were introduced to Ortner, a presenter at the conference.
The idea for Catholic Gigs resurfaced, and in October, three of the founding team flew to D.C. to meet with Ortner in a coffee shop and pitch their idea. The result was ultimately a significant investment to launch and grow the platform.
“Teaming up with Mike is a great blessing. His guidance is invaluable. Between his insights and our track record with this market, we feel primed to develop the best solution for Catholic employers and job seekers. Our backgrounds as graduates of Newman Guide schools is also a great benefit,” said Mary, who graduated from Thomas Aquinas College in 2015.
“A lot of our past relationships with clients already laid a great foundation for Catholic Gigs,” said Paul. “As soon as we launched the site, we could reach out to past customers and invite them to this new service.”
The platform operates on a pay per post model for employers, and the service is free for job seekers. The site is currently available in version 1.0, and the team expects version 2.0 to be ready by February.
“I hope that JPCatholic students can see the success of New Eve Media, and now the launch of Catholic Gigs, as inspiration to launch their own start-ups, to not be afraid to take that leap and put yourself out there,” said Jacob.
JPCatholic’s Business Launchpad and Incubator provide an academic context for students to launch companies with faculty mentorship. This year, the program will introduce business pitch events where students and alumni can earn seed funding for their ventures.
Learn more about New Eve Media and Catholic Gigs below:
Pictured in banner (left to right): Elizabeth Wise, Paul Massell, Mary Massell, Jacob Spence