5 min read

Pineapple Turns CVs into Instagram-Like Stories to Make them More Engaging

How can a personality shine through a CV? For Gen Zs raised on Instagram and TikTok, a LinkedIn-style resume might not be the preferred way to stand out.

500 Global Team

Published

08.03.21

How can a personality shine through a CV? For Gen Zs raised on Instagram and TikTok, a LinkedIn-style resume might not be the preferred way to stand out. Enter Dublin-based Pineapple. The company is essentially applying social media tactics to the world of hiring, by allowing candidates to create engaging visual “stories” that can appeal to employers. 

The Nuts & Bolts 

Problem: For many small businesses, hiring staff is often touted as one of their biggest challenges, because they have to comb through hundreds or thousands of CVs that offer little insight into a candidate’s personality. And for many of those businesses, personality is often more important than credentials.

Solution: Pineapple aims to solve these challenges. The candidate’s CV looks similar to Instagram Stories, where users can put together a running stream of photos and videos. They are easy for job seekers to produce and allow businesses to potentially filter through applicants more quickly than traditional CVs or video applications. 

Employers can also create visual job posts to portray their brand, and communicate with candidates directly through the app. Businesses can provide a Pineapple URL through their social channels, website, or even other job boards.

Getting to Know Pineapple

Pineapple co-founder and CEO David Diamond is a designer who, at age 14, convinced Des Traynor, the co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Intercom (a 500 portfolio company), to hire him as an intern. His stint turned into a full time job after high school graduation, but David spotted an opportunity when chatting with his friend and Dublin café owner Oliver Cruise about the challenge of hiring staff. Together with a third friend and restaurant owner, Phil Martin, the trio launched Pineapple.

Why Now?

Gen Z is known for communicating with images and being active on social media. As this generation is starting to enter the workforce, businesses need to cater to their preferences in order to attract the best candidates. Those that have to fill positions fast can provide their Pineapple URL and direct candidates to Pineapple to apply, which helps in filtering. 

Future of Pineapple 

The team plans to continue developing new features, especially for larger businesses and expand into new markets. 


You can learn more about Pineapple at https://www.pineappleapp.io

If you would like to learn more about ideas, sectors, and trends that we are excited about as well as receive invitations to exclusive previews, and expert roundtables, please sign up here

Legal Disclaimers: 500 Startups programs (including accelerator programs), investor education services, strategic partnership consulting services and events are operated by 500 Startups Incubator, L.L.C. (together with its affiliates, “500 Startups”) and the funds advised by 500 Startups Management Company, L.L.C. do not participate in any revenue generated by these activities. Such programs and services are provided for educational and informational purposes only and under no circumstances should any content provided as part of any such programs, services or events be construed as investment, legal, tax or accounting advice by 500 startups or any of its affiliates.

The views expressed here are those of the individual 500 Startups personnel, or other individuals quoted and are not the views of 500 Startups or its affiliates. Certain information contained herein may have been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by 500 Startups. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, 500 Startups has not independently verified such information and makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy of the information in this post or its appropriateness for a given situation. In addition, this content may include third-party advertisements or links; 500 Startups has not reviewed such advertisements and does not endorse any advertising content contained therein.

This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, tax or accounting advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation, offer to sell or solicitation to purchase any investment securities, or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by 500 Startups. (An offering to invest in an 500 Startups fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by 500 Startups, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. 

Charts and graphs provided herein are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Unless otherwise expressly stated, figures are based on internal estimates and have not been independently verified. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. All logos and trademarks of third parties referenced herein are the logos and trademarks of their respective owners and any inclusion of such trademarks or logos does not imply or constitute any approval, endorsement or sponsorship of 500 Startups by such owners. 

Please see Section 2 of our Terms of Use for additional important information.

500 Global Team