In today's economy, skills are paramount, yet McKinsey reports that 87% of businesses experience skills shortages, translating to a deficit of 2.5 million workers in the UK. This issue is particularly pronounced for SMEs, which often struggle from the outset to identify their specific business needs. SME managers and startup founders frequently lack expertise outside their core domains and lack comprehensive HR support, leading to generic job descriptions that attract mid-level talent instead of the ideal specialists. This mismatch in recruitment results in significant costs, with the average UK SME losing approximately £125,000 annually due to failed hires.

“At Project Brains, we see recruitment firms and platforms with supply-side focus, full of CV matching algos, but no demand-side support. To address this, we launched our Minimum Value Proposition (MVP) offering precise business needs definition. This has helped over 60 businesses meet their needs through a community of 300+ fractional specialists, generating over £1.5 million in value to date,” said Somil Goyal, co-founder and CEO at Project Brains.

With the support of the Innovate UK Smart Grant, Project Brains is set to enhance its MVP by launching a new solution called ProdigyPB, aimed at refining SME needs. ProdigyPB employs "few-shot learning" algorithms, enriched by community inputs, to boost the performance of leading Large Language Models like ChatGPT and Claude. This innovative approach addresses the core challenges faced by start-ups, scale-ups, and SMEs, enabling them to swiftly and accurately identify the best-suited talent.

A recent survey by Project Brains of 100 UK executives highlighted the market demand for such a solution. While 89% of respondents valued skills-based hiring, 68% were neutral-to-dissatisfied with their current methods. Furthermore, 92% expressed a strong desire to incorporate AI into their hiring processes, underscoring the urgent need for ProdigyPB. This innovative tool promises to transform recruitment strategies, ensuring SMEs find the right talent efficiently and effectively.

“The Innovate UK Smart Grant will act as a catalyst for our unique solution, enabling us to bring faster results and reduced risks for UK SMEs, while creating valuable opportunities for skilled UK workers. This funding helps us build a responsible AI champion in the UK. We are committed to delivering a transformative skills solution that supports businesses and workers alike,” added Balram Pal, Co-Founder and Head of Product at Project Brains.