AI, Relocation, and the Future of Talent Acquisition with Jeff Ellman and Michael Krasman of UrbanBound 6-24-26

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Speaker B: This is Scott Becker with a special episode of the Becker Business and Becker's Healthcare Podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by two brilliant entrepreneurs, uh, who are the founders of a company called Urban Bound. They work a lot with health systems. Brilliant people. Jeff and Michael, let me ask you each to take a moment to introduce yourself. Then we'll talk about the core of what you do, how it's evolving, where you're most focused, and a lot more. Jeff and Michael can ask the two of you to introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about your backgrounds.

Speaker C: Thank you, Scott. Uh, my name is Jeff Ellman. I'm one of the co founders of Urban Bound. Michael, you want to introduce yourself?

Speaker D: Yeah, I'm Michael Krasman, the other co founder here at Urban Bound.

Speaker B: Tell us what Urban Bound does.

Speaker C: Sure. So I'm going to go back to. Actually, Scott, I had a chance to read your recent book Building Great Businesses. And in that book you actually talk about turning problems into opportunities. So Michael and I, uh, have owned several companies together. One of the companies we owned was a recruitment organization where we saw all of our clients that had a lot of out of market hires were typically dropping the ball when someone had to move for that job. And when we looked at healthcare, we saw that most healthcare systems today when they have to recruit talent and that talent is not in their own backyard. Typically they treat relocation as like, here's some money, here's a lump sum of money or reimbursement for your relocation. And. And they leave everything to chance. So our goal was to look at this healthcare industry and say, how do we actually improve the odds of attracting talent and finding ways to lower cost, improve operational efficiencies, and create a joyful experience to help win this war for talent. Michael, you want to add some color to that?

Speaker D: Yeah. And you know, Jeff and I have been working together for, geez, over 25 years at this point. And so we're, you know, obsessed with this intersection of where HR and Technology can really come together to really improve overall operations for our clients. These, you know, these large healthcare systems and of course, these relocating families. So that's really what Urban Bound is all about. That's what we're focused on day in, day out.

Speaker C: Yeah. And the goal is really to bring the entire experience, like, into one platform so the healthcare systems can create like a, uh, more consistency, more transparency, given recruitment leaders the opportunity to see exactly where every candidate is in the journey throughout their movement. And then we want our clients to be able to fill these critical roles at a faster pace, making sure every relocating employee feels supported from the moment they accept that job offer. Because too often, once again, relocation is simply left to chance. And it should not be a gamble when it's taking nine months to fill that key role. And then we just hope you show up on day one for your start date.

Speaker B: Talk about that. Because all of us have had that nightmare where we hire somebody and two days before they're supposed to start, they decide that they're not taking the job. Or they, you've seen, you sort of watched. They're not meant taking all those steps to move to the community that you need, particularly in the physician or nursing area, where systems are very much invested in having the people come and start. And it's critical talk about how you fit into that and how you got started with sort of this type of service and business.

Speaker C: Yeah. First of all, there's a big gap, you know, so without, without Urban Bound, if you look at the healthcare system and why they're surprised when someone doesn't show up to work on day one or whatever it might be, is because the moment an offer is accepted to the moment someone has to show up to work and perform the job, uh, there's this gap in time where too often it's just everything's left to chance. So if there's great software that's managing the entire process, the recruiter can actually log in and say, okay, where is this physician? Where's this executive at in this journey? Oh, I can see that they've already been connected with a local van line. They found temporary housing, they've booked their final travel. Looks like they're exploring neighborhoods within the platform to be able to find the right place to live. So there's no surprises when you're leveraging software because you get all the early indications of someone's highly engaged or someone who's not engaged. But great software also starts before the actual relocation. When we talk about the surprises, it's all the way Back to the very initial interview. So the best healthcare systems today, when they have an out of market candidate and they know that he or she will have to actually relocate to take the job, uh, they actually want to be able to sell them on the community, not just the job itself. So Urban Mountain, our software actually has an entire component where a candidate can come in and begin to research about what would it be like for myself or my family to move here. You know, what, uh, what neighborhoods should we, would we want to live in? Um, my child is really into soccer or basketball, what, what, what league should they consider joining? So everything about the community is to get some excited to the next step of the process before they actually come on site to interview and then eventually accept the job and have to relocate themselves and their family to the area.

Speaker B: Amazing. And I know that you work with some great systems, talk about why this has been so important to systems in sort of closing that loop with recruitment and quite frankly retention and getting people on board and on board in a way that they're happy with.

Speaker D: Yeah. So, you know, as, uh, I'm sure all of your listeners are well aware, there's, you know, a lot of very, very, very problematic trends that have been happening in healthcare, particularly around the labor shortage and the need to really be cost effective. And, and we watch those trends very closely and we're thinking of ways that we can really help our clients ultimately achieve their goals, fill the important roles that are going to deliver, you know, all of that important value to all of the people that rely on those health systems. And so what we're doing is trying to really help people cast the widest net possible so they can really find the talent that they're looking for. And looking beyond your backyard is no longer really just an option. It's really a critical part of how you're going to go out and find that talent. I think a recent data point I saw, uh, not that long ago was that they're expecting a shortage of about 120,000 physicians or more by 2030. And that's a problem, obviously we have to, we have to all be concerned about. And that's really what, what we're focused on every day is making it easier for healthcare systems to find that talent and make it appealing for those physicians, nurses and their families to want to make that leap, to go where they're needed.

Speaker C: Ultimately, Michael, to add to that too, another trend that we're seeing right now is the, uh, pressure to contain costs within healthcare has significantly increased in the last few years. Yet so many healthcare systems, when they do relocate talent, they just throw money at the problem. Here's $20,000, you'll get it in your first paycheck. You front out the money, you figure out what vendors to use and it leads to a lot of uncertainty and risk. So there are low hanging fruit opportunities to contain costs if done properly. So a trend that we're seeing in healthcare is most healthcare systems have moved away from just giving money, whether it's a sign on bonus or a lump sum or reimbursement for relocation and they move to what are called managed budgets. So Scott, take that same $20,000 that is being given to relocate as a stipend and move that over to the urban platform and you have up to $20,000 to spend as a managed budget. And in there is all about, you know, choice and flexibility and support where I can look at a menu of services that my family, myself need to move to Cleveland and I can begin to actually book vetted suppliers for my household goods, you know, for my short term housing, shipping my car, whatever it might be. And why this is saving money is because whatever is not spent against that managed budget goes back that health care system is cost savings. And what's so interesting at Irma and this trend is that we're seeing is that 94% for all the management that we have coming underneath that budget and the average savings is just short of $3,000 per move. So for a system that's hiring and relocating hundreds of people, or sometimes some of our clients are thousands, it's millions of dollars in low hanging fruit cost savings opportunities.

Speaker B: And improves the experience of the recruited person too I take it?

Speaker C: Absolutely.

Speaker B: Thank you. And Michael, talk about as you move to the second part of 2026, what are you most focused on and excited about with Urban Bound and where are you most focused and excited?

Speaker D: Yeah, so you know, it's a topic that uh, of course many, many companies are thinking about right now. But we are really, really excited about the power that AI unlocks in this mission that we have to help these healthcare partners fill their open roles and ultimately deliver more and more wow experiences to help attract that critical talent. So you know, we're, we're using AI exclusively across our company in many, many, many different ways. But as far as our, our delivery of value to the relocating, you know, families as well as our healthcare partners, you know, the recruiters, etc. There's just so much uh, of an unlock that AI brings to the table. Jeff and I, as we mentioned earlier, have Been working together for a very long time. So we pretty much saw the, you know, the evolution of the commercialization of the Internet. We, we built our businesses through the mobile revolution. And frankly, AI is bigger than both of them combined in many different ways. I mean, it gives you so much capability that you just really didn't have, you know, just three, four years ago.

Speaker B: And how will AI impact both search and recruitment as well as this, this final mile, this onboarding of people and getting them located in their communities? And how is AI going to have an impact? Where do you see AI having an impact there?

Speaker D: Yeah, I think there's a number of different places. I mean, from the recruiting side specifically, you know, there's the ability to just be much more laser focused and targeted on finding the right candidates for different roles. Um, allowing AI to do a much more efficient job of filtering through, you know, hundreds or thousands of potential candidates, doing the right targeted marketing to bring those individuals to the table to talk about a potential opportunity. And then even, you know, we're seeing companies out there that are doing all kinds of amazing things with, you know, doing that initial screening so that you can eliminate individuals that aren't the right fit for that role or channel them into other roles that might be a better fit. All while the recruiter is basically able to spend their time on those that are the highest likelihood to convert. So. So I think from the recruiting side and the sourcing side, there's some incredible opportunities that I think a lot of companies are already starting to take advantage of to make their output even better than before. From an onboarding perspective, there's a number of different places that we are already starting to deliver AI to our, um, existing relocating employees, the physicians, the nurses, et cetera. Think about content. For example, Jeff mentioned earlier, we want our clients to be able to start leveraging the data and the information that we have as early on as that first interaction. So, you know, I'm somebody who's thinking about this role. I know I'm going to have to relocate with my family. I want to start understanding what is my life going to look like when I decide to make the move and, you know, relocate to a different location, whether it's Chicago, anywhere, you know, that's where we're based. Uh, for example, you know, I can start getting information delivered to me based on my specific needs. So as our platform learns more about your situation. Do you have kids? Do you have pets? What type of, you know, neighborhood you currently live in? Are there things about your neighborhood that you'd like to see the same kind of elements in a future, you know, neighborhood or city that you move to, etc. All of a sudden, content can start to become delivered in real time, completely configured to your specific situation. So no longer do you have to build a very static web app. You know, kind of channels people through content, uh, the way you really had to, you know, four or five years ago. Now you can actually deliver information dynamically. And that dynamic information is so tailored to that individual that it's really a magical experience when that happens. We're also looking at ways to predict what the next thing you might need to do and actually help you take action on that. And I think that's something that a lot of people, when they start to really understand what AI can deliver that, you know, if. If you've used, you know, Chat G or Claude or any of the different, um, AIs that are commonly available to consumers, let's say right now, and you prompt it for something, and then at the end it says, hey, would you like me to take this next step for you? That experience of having software that is literally responding to the path you're going down and predicting the next thing you might want to do and then actually taking that action. It really is an incredible feeling and an experience. And we're looking to deliver more and more of that magic to the individuals as they're relocating to de stress this situation for them.

Speaker B: Let me ask you the tough question, Jeff and Michael. And, you know, this may be lost on some people, but apparently one of you is a Michigan State guy, one's a University of Michigan graduate. How much tension does that cause? Or is that okay? You guys have managed through that for several ventures, several entrepreneurial efforts.

Speaker C: Scott, this is not a recipe for success to combine the Spartan and Wolverine, but we found a way to make it work over 25 years. And also, I happen to marry Wolverine, so I'm just getting used to is what it is.

Speaker D: You have to glutton for punishment.

Speaker B: It really is true, and we won't go any further on it. I understand. But, Jeff, tell us where you're most excited. You got the AI evolution. You guys are busy as heck with hospitals and health systems. Business is growing. Great. Uh, what are you most excited about as we head into this next last half of the year and next year?

Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, there's a few things that probably jump out to me. So I'm so excited to see the impact we're having on healthcare systems, the feedback we're getting from our customers. Not, um, only Are we saving them a tremendous amount of money, but we're helping them attract talent and retain that talent. I'm constantly looking at Google and reading reviews. What people are saying about the experience with our platform and the fact that 95% of anyone who's ever touched our software rates it is excellent. So um, that pushes us to be great every single day. And uh, it's something that when we go to bed at night, that's what we're waking up for the next morning to do is like, how do we build software that creates this joyful experience? Leveraging top notch software and a proven process for all.

Speaker B: You're both incredibly good people. Take a second on what advice you would give to emerging entrepreneurs. You've been through several efforts, a lot of success, really grounded, intelligent entrepreneurs, good people. Jeff or Michael, give us a start on what advice would you give to, you know, emerging entrepreneurs and leaders.

Speaker D: I'll start. You know, I always think about one of my favorite quotes that I have actually on my wall here from Albert Einstein, which is you cannot solve your current problems with the same thinking you used when you created them. So I would just encourage evolving leaders to really embrace change and learn to think differently. You know, the speed by which technology is changing and it's really kind of rewriting the rules of how one needs to go about operating their various, you know, health systems, etc. It's, it's requiring leaders to take a fresh approach to thinking how they can solve the problems we mentioned earlier. You know, there's unfortunately going to continue to be a labor shortage, at least for the, you know, the near term and cost challenges like Jeff mentioned are pronounced in health care. And so thinking about ways that you can approach those challenges with a fresh set of eyes and bring in new solutions I think is going to be mission critical.

Speaker C: Yeah. And I'll just add to that. And when we talk about like you know, challenges, every entrepreneur is going to go through the trough of sorrow or those challenges. I mean owning a relocation software company, going through Covid, it was a chance for most people be down and out. Mike and I like, okay, what are the opportunities during this time of change? And that actually led us more to healthcare because we saw our healthcare clients were still relocating a tremendous amount of talent versus maybe other industries. But also as an entrepreneur, I look back at my career, you know, I've been lucky enough to find amazing mentors and advisors that have helped steer me throughout key decisions in my life. And it goes back to something that I read in a book 20 years ago. Your network equals your net worth. And I've been able to meet amazing people. Scott, you're one of them I came across in my career. And um, when I meet someone, I want to make sure I get to know them, develop deep relationships with them and I truly care about them and hopefully have a long term, everlasting, mutually beneficial relationship.

Speaker B: Thank you. No, it's, it's fantastic to listen to you say it. It's, it's an incredible ability that you have and Michael has to visit with people, make them feel comfortable, uh, and, and, and, and really sincere groundedness versus, uh, feeling like at all you're trying to sell to somebody. You guys both handle it incredibly well. Michael or Jeff, tell us where people going to learn more about Urban Bounds.

Speaker D: Yeah, you can Visit us@urbanbound.com. so that's u r B a n B as in boy O u n d dot com. And that has all kinds of information about our business and how we can help you out.

Speaker B: Thank you very, very much. And uh, uh, Jeff or Michael, anything you folks wanted to add? It's great to visit with you. I love what you do. I love your success. Thank you so much for joining us. Anything else that you wanted to add today? No.

Speaker C: We appreciate the opportunity to be on the podcast and uh, look forward to hopefully future opportunities.

Speaker B: We're looking forward to it. Jeff and Michael, thank you so much for joining us on this combined episode, the Becker's Healthcare and the Becker Business podcast. What a pleasure to visit with both of you and continue great success in what you're doing. Fantastic.

Speaker D: Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Speaker C: Thanks Scott.