u/josueOrico

I'll be straight with you.

I built a platform for franchise operators and I'm decent at building and marketing but I don't come from the franchise world. That's been my biggest problem from day one

The platform has two sides: one for operators who own multiple locations of the same brand and want to manage everything candidates, hiring, activity in one place instead of chasing each manager individually. And another for franchisees who want to connect with others in the same brand and share strong candidates instead of losing them.
I've been talking to operators for months and the conversations have been genuinely useful. But what I'm missing is someone who actually knows how this world works from the inside a franchisee, a multi-unit operator, a franchise consultant who could help me understand where I'm getting it wrong and who I should actually be talking to

Not looking for investment. Not looking for a co-founder. Just someone willing to have an honest conversation with someone who built something in their space without fully understanding it first.

If that's you, or you know someone, drop a comment or DM me.

Not talking about people who "have an idea" or are "thinking about starting something." I mean people actively in it dealing with the real stuff. Customer acquisition, pricing, talking to users, figuring out how to grow without burning everything they have
One thing I keep seeing including in myself early on is that most of us spend 90% of our time building the product and almost zero time thinking about how to actually get it in front of people. Marketing, distribution, positioning. The stuff that determines whether anyone ever uses what you built.

I'm putting together a small community of Canadian founders focused specifically on that side of things growth, marketing, getting your first real customers, expanding beyond your immediate circle. Not another generic startup group. Just people who are past the idea stage and want to move faster by helping each other

If that sounds like where you're at, drop a comment or DM me
(HIMSELF)

How do you actually keep hiring consistent when you have 5, 10, 30+ locations and each one is basically doing its own thing?

Like same brand, totally different standards depending on who’s managing that unit. One location is thorough, another hires whoever shows up. And nobody at HQ really sees it until something goes wrong.

Is this something you’ve actually felt running multiple locations, or is it more of a “yeah it’s not perfect but it works” situation?

Not pitching anything genuinely trying to understand if this is a real headache or something people have just accepted as normal.

How do you actually keep hiring consistent when you have 5, 10, 30+ locations and each one is basically doing its own thing?

Like same brand, totally different standards depending on who’s managing that unit. One location is thorough, another hires whoever shows up. And nobody at HQ really sees it until something goes wrong.

Is this something you’ve actually felt running multiple locations, or is it more of a “yeah it’s not perfect but it works” situation?

Not pitching anything genuinely trying to understand if this is a real headache or something people have just accepted as normal.

I've been working on a SaaS project here in Montreal for a while now, and one thing I keep running into is how weirdly hard it is to meet other founders in Canada.

Like - Canada has an incredible ecosystem. Government support, diverse talent, proximity to the US market, strong universities feeding into tech. The potential is genuinely there.

And yet... finding other people in the trenches feels like a scavenger hunt.

Professional networks are full of people selling you something. Online groups go quiet after a week. Events are either $500 tickets or mixers where everyone hands out cards and disappears.

I'm not looking for a pitch fest. Just real conversations with people who are building something, dealing with the same chaos of early-stage life, trying to figure out growth, fundraising, first customers - whatever stage you're at.

A few weeks ago I posted here about not knowing how to sell my product. That post taught me more in 48 hours than 7 months of working alone. The comments, the DMs, the people who took time to actually read what I wrote I wasn't expecting any of that.

So I'm back. Different situation this time

I built a platform that connects franchise units within the same brand. Not connecting different brands or different companies specifically the case where one person or group owns multiple locations of the same franchise and each location is hiring independently, with no visibility into what the others are doing. A strong candidate gets turned down at one unit and just disappears, when they could've been exactly what another unit in the same network needed.I had early users. Then I ran into real problems with the platform things that were breaking the experience for the people using it. Some of them left because of it, and honestly I don't blame them. (The update that came after was specifically to fix what made them leave not new features, just fixing what was wrong.) That process took longer than I wanted and cost me relationships I was starting to build

The platform is stable now. That part I'm confident about

What I don't have is what comes next: franchise operators who are actually willing to try it. Not sign a contract, not commit to anything just talk to me. Tell me if this maps to something they've actually felt, or if I'm solving a problem that doesn't hurt as much as I think it does

If you work in franchising, own multiple locations, have consulted in that space, or have gone through something similar with your own project I'd genuinely like to hear from you. No pitch. Just a real conversation.

Comments or DMs both work

My name is Himself, and I built a franchise-connection platform because I saw a need here in Canada one I lived myself.

The platform evolved from a generic resume-screening tool into something that connects franchises so they can share strong candidates instead of losing them
Here’s the part I don’t usually say out loud. I've always been the kind of person who feels capable.
I genuinely believe I can figure anything out, and that’s exactly how I walked into this project head first, no hesitation.

But I actually have no idea how to sell this thing.
I know people whose projects got funded. Mine hasn’t.

Right now I'm literally pulling money out of my own pocket every month just to keep this alive.
No investors, no safety net, just me deciding it’s worth one more month.

I'm posting it because I'm out of ideas on my own, and I'd rather say that plainly than keep pretending I have it figured out.

If you've ever built something you believed in but didn't know how to sell, or if you've been on the other side and actually know how to get a product like this in front of the right buyers

I want to hear from you. Brutal honesty welcome

Hey, I'm Joshua.

Something I kept noticing while talking to multi-unit operators: they own 3, 5, 10 locations — but hiring still happens like each one is a completely separate company. A strong candidate gets rejected at one location, gone. Someone leaves unit #3, nobody at unit #1 or #2 even knows.

Is this actually a common problem or am I overestimating how painful this is?

If you run multiple locations, how are you handling candidate sharing across units today? Spreadsheet, group chat, just not handling it — genuinely curious what the reality looks like on the ground.

Something I kept noticing while talking to multi-unit operators: they own 3, 5, 10 locations — but hiring still happens like each one is a completely separate company. A strong candidate gets rejected at one location, gone. Someone leaves unit #3, nobody at unit #1 or #2 even knows.

Is this actually a common problem or am I overestimating how painful this is?

If you run multiple locations, how are you handling candidate sharing across units today? Spreadsheet, group chat, just not handling it — genuinely curious what the reality looks like on the ground.

Some time ago, I applied to 20 units of the same franchise brand. I received responses from 7. The same interviews, the same questions, the same vibe—none of us were hired.

Later, I discovered that some of these units were experiencing a severe staff shortage that same week. While others were rejecting candidates.

Same brand. Zero communication between units

This baffled me. So, I started developing a platform that allows franchise networks to share and evaluate candidates across their units—instead of each unit starting from scratch every time

Before proceeding, I'd love to hear the opinions of people working in the industry:

Does this problem sound familiar to you?

Would a tool connecting units of the same brand to share pre-selected candidates be really useful—or do you already have a way to address this?

If you are a franchisee, franchisor, or work in franchise recruitment, leave a comment or send me a direct message. I'd love to have an open conversation about whether it's really worth addressing this issue.

No intention of selling anything. I just want to talk to the right people. 🙏

Was digging into some numbers recently and something stood out.

The average turnover rate in franchise businesses sits around 100-150% annually in hourly roles. That means some networks are replacing their entire workforce every single year.

The cost per hire in that space? Anywhere from $1,500 to $4,000 per employee when you factor in recruiting, onboarding and training.

Now multiply that across 50, 100, 200 units.

The crazy part is most of that turnover isn't because the candidates were bad. It's because the process is broken. Candidates fall through the cracks between units. Good people get rejected at one location while two miles away the same brand is desperate.

Nobody owns the problem because nobody has visibility across the whole network.

Curious if anyone here has built in the HR or franchising space — how do you actually get operators to fix a problem they've normalized?

Was talking to a friend who owns a few franchise locations. He mentioned something that kind of blew my mind.

One of his locations turned down 30+ applicants in a single month. Not bad candidates — just not the right fit for that unit at that time.

His other location two miles away was short-staffed and struggling to find anyone decent that same week.

Those candidates were already screened. Already interested. Already showed up. Nobody passed them along internally. They just disappeared.

Never thought about hiring from that angle before. The problem isn't always finding people — sometimes it's losing people you already found.

That's exactly why I'm building XselectAI — a platform that lets franchise networks screen candidates in one place and automatically connect them across units instead of losing them to the void.

Still early, but the problem feels very real. Has anyone here built for the franchise space before? Would love to hear what you ran into.

I was talking to a friend who owns a few franchises. He mentioned something that surprised me.

One of its locations turned away more than 30 applicants in a single month. They are not bad candidates – they are just not suitable for that unit at that time.

Their other location, two miles away, was short-staffed and struggled to find anyone decent that same week.

These candidates have already been selected. I'm already interested. It has already appeared. No one transmitted them internally. They simply disappeared.

never thought about hiring from this angle before. The problem isn't always finding people – sometimes it's losing people you've already found.

Honestly, this got me thinking about building something to help franchise chains share candidates between units automatically. I'm not sure there's an appetite for that.

Has anyone else seen this problem? Would something like this be useful?

"Tried to get a job at a franchise while back. Applied to 20 different locations of the same brand — got called back by 7 of them.

Every single interview was the same thing. Same questions, same process, same vibe. None of us got hired.

Later, talking to other candidates, we figured out that some of those locations were desperately short-staffed — while others were turning people away that same week.

Same brand. No one talking to each other.

That stuck with me. So I'm building something to fix it — a tool that lets franchise networks share and screen candidates across units instead of each location starting from scratch.

As franchisees — how are you currently handling candidate overflow? Are you just letting good people walk out the door, or is there actually a system in place?"

Tried to get a job at a franchise a while back. Applied to 20 different locations of the same brand — got called back by 7 of them.

Every single interview was the same thing. Same questions, same process, same vibe. None of us got hired.

Later, talking to other candidates, we figured out that some of those locations were desperately short-staffed — while others were turning people away that same week.

Same brand. No one talking to each other.

That stuck with me. So I'm building something to fix it — a tool that lets franchise networks share and screen candidates across units instead of each location starting from scratch.

As franchisees — how are you currently handling candidate overflow? Are you just letting good people walk out the door, or is there actually a system in place?

’ve been thinking about how many smaller franchise businesses struggle with high turnover, slow hiring, and losing good candidates too early. What feels inefficient to me is that many franchise locations still hire independently from each other. So when one location rejects a candidate, that person is often lost completely, even if another nearby location from the same franchise brand is hiring. I also think many smaller franchise operators can’t justify the cost or complexity of enterprise platforms like Workday. That’s one of the reasons why I started building a B2B platform focused on connecting franchise hiring networks and helping locations share qualified candidates instead of losing them. Still early, but I genuinely think there’s a real opportunity to make franchise hiring more connected and efficient.

**Why does it feel like every founder in Canada is on their own?**

I've been talking to founders across different cities and the same thing keeps coming up — nobody really helps each other here.

Not in a malicious way. More like... everyone is so heads-down in their own thing that there's no real culture of opening doors, sharing contacts, or just saying "I went through that, here's what I learned."

In other ecosystems — especially in the US — you see a completely different culture. Founders refer each other to investors, make intros, share learnings openly, build together. There's a mentality that one person's success opens the door for others.

Here in Canada it feels more like parallel lines — everyone moving in the same direction but never actually crossing.

Is this a Canada thing? A culture thing? Or am I just talking to the wrong people?

Curious to hear from others who've been in the trenches here.

I've been working on a SaaS project here in Montreal for a while now, and one thing I keep running into is how weirdly hard it is to meet other founders in Canada.

Like - Canada has an incredible ecosystem. Government support, diverse talent, proximity to the US market, strong universities feeding into tech. The potential is genuinely there.

And yet... finding other people in the trenches feels like a scavenger hunt.

Professional networks are full of people selling you something. Online groups go quiet after a week. Events are either $500 tickets or mixers where everyone hands out cards and disappears.

I'm not looking for a pitch fest. Just real conversations with people who are building something, dealing with the same chaos of early-stage life, trying to figure out growth, fundraising, first customers - whatever stage you're at.