Guild challenges LinkedIn with community-first approach to professional networking

Unless you’re one of the 20,000 early adopter members, you’ve probably not heard of Guild.
Launched publicly only last year as the world went into lockdown, this British tech platform has quietly been growing a reputation as a high-quality professional networking and community platform.

The profile of Guild’s professional members skews mid-senior: 14% are CEOs or Founders, 31% are VPs or senior management. Ashley Friedlein, CEO & Founder of Guild, believes this is for two main reasons: firstly, the easy, mobile messaging experience that sees executives otherwise using WhatsApp, and secondly the private, consent-based, and ad-free environment that protects members from unwanted approaches.

Guild is free for any professional to join. You can join relevant groups, networks and communities and invite your contacts to connect with you so you can direct message each other. Guild makes money by charging organisations who want to run professional communities beyond a certain size and with premium features like custom branding and access to user engagement data and analytics.

Guild was created to mimic the ease of use of consumer messaging apps like WhatsApp but is purpose-designed for use by professionals and businesses as Friedlein explains: “WhatsApp isn’t legal for professional use. It is against its own terms of use and not GDPR-compliant. There are no profiles, only a single stream of chat and no admin, no analytics, no support or service. Many businesses turn a blind eye to the corporate use of WhatsApp but it is an accident waiting to happen.”

Meanwhile LinkedIn, whilst designed for professional use, has faced its own challenges as Friedlein goes on to describe: “Research has shown that whilst LinkedIn can be effective for sales, marketing, and recruitment, it is no longer where you go to network with valued professional connections. LinkedIn have removed functionality in Groups and there is no access to user data for hosts. Users complain of too much noise and sales approaches and dying levels of engagement in LinkedIn Groups.”

Guild believes that their community-focused approach to professional networking is a better way to nurture existing professional relationships and make valuable new ones. Guilds go back to the medieval times as places where professionals came together to further their expertise and do business. Guild reinvents the concept for the mobile era so is radically new and very old at the same time.

Friedlein: “Guild gives you a new way to be found and make high quality connections to further your career and chances of success. Guild members are finding jobs and winning work, as well as enjoying a sense of purpose and fulfilment, by joining, or creating, professional communities of expertise.”

Join Guild at https://guild.co/join