About Humanaiz

The Problems with HR Today

I originally started building Humanaiz as a way to make the "HR part" of my job easier. In my current role, as in every management job I'd had, it's been a struggle to keep in touch with my team while complying with the processes established by the company's HR department without spending my whole day on it.

I also realized that existing systems were not only inconvenient and inefficient, they were rife with bias. Unstructured reviews and 1:1s default to the biases of the manager rather than some objective means of communication. Job descriptions include coded language that communicates bias in ways that even the writer doesn't notice.

The existing processes are no fun to use, and they get in the way of people really realizing their potential in their work, a huge part of our lives. Unfortunately, it only made the problem worse if added more layers of review and bureaucracy to try to fix the problems.

Then, AI Happened

Seemingly overnight, the AI revolution took over. These amazing tools hit the market so fast that no one really knew how to use them to make our lives better.

As I began integrating AI into our workflow, though, I saw some remarkable results. The real trick was learning what it was good for-- eliminating drudgery, summarizing, automating, searching-- and what it wasn't-- understanding context, recognizing "the wrong question", and reliably telling the truth. AI is very good at serving as a relatively objective third-party to help people communicate more clearly.

AI is a tool, and when used appropriately, it can make the human aspect of work much easier and more efficient. Less time on copying, collating, and drafting the right words. More time on really communicating, resolving issues, and supporting development and advancement. It's not perfect, but when used judiciously, AI can actually serve a social good.

Enter Humanaiz!

So, on my nights and weekends, I started building some tools that could use AI to help me get both my technical job, as well as my people job, done better. Better communication means happier, more engaged people and better results.

It's been a few months of some late nights and long weekends, but I think you're really going to like working with Humanaiz and see how these tools can not only make your job easier and more pleasant, but also help us all communicate more clearly, frequently, and with less unintentional bias. I hope you give it a try and help make Humanaiz a valuable tool to help your teams have more engaged, rewarding, productive work lives.

We're a Bootstrapped Benefit Company

Humanaiz is a bootstrapped SaaS designed to do one thing-- provide the easiest, most effective AI-powered HR tools on the market. No investors and the smallest team I can manage. That gives me all the time in the world to build a sustainable, fine-tuned business that serves our customers (and employees) well, for less money, and for the long-term.

Venture funding puts a company on a path that requires meteoric growth in a massive market. The result is that 75% of venture-funded start-ups fail. Go big or go broke. They demand too much from their people, and they often leave their customers abandoned. I've been there. Let's try something different.

My goal is to build a sustainable business that prioritizes its customers and employees over investors. That's why Circinaut, the parent company of Humanaiz is registered as an Oregon benefit company that follows the B-Corp standards.

About Me

Hi. I'm Rian Schmidt. I made Humanaiz and run the show here. I've held technology leadership positions in companies ranging from Amazon to tiny start-ups. I attended Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, and spent the next twenty years building software products, starting companies, and managing teams.

My day job is at a mid-sized advertising agency, where I've been leading the technology team for the last six years. I've lived in Portland, Oregon for 20 years with my family, two dogs, and four chickens.