Building What I Needed Three Years Ago: A Networking Platform for Early-Career Professionals
How 100+ Job Rejections Led Me to Build an Anti-LinkedIn Platform for 0-7 Year Professionals
Three years ago, I was looking for something that didn't exist. After searching for it across two countries, 3 cities, 500+ coffee chats, and 100+ job rejections, I decided to build it myself.
This isn't a comeback story. This isn't about proving anyone wrong. This is about recognizing a problem that affects thousands of early-career professionals, and building a solution for career networking, professional development, and authentic connection without performative culture.
The Job Search Reality for Early-Career Professionals
When I moved to Boston in 2022 for my Master's in Marketing, I thought I had figured out the career development formula: get good grades, build a strong resume, network strategically, land a job. Simple.
What I didn't anticipate was how brutal the job market would be for early-career professionals in 2024-2025.
I went from analyzing billions in sales data at a $2B retail company in Cleveland to watching that company go bankrupt while I worked in an environment that was slowly breaking me. I was isolated from friends and family, questioning everything I thought I knew about building a career.
When I moved back to Boston, I thought things would get better. Instead, I collected 100+ rejections. It was not that I wasn't qualified; it was that I didn't fit into a neat box!
““You don’t fit in a box.”
”We need a specialist.”
”We appreciate your entrepreneurial spirit, but...””
I even had offers rescinded because of my visa status.
So I did what everyone tells you to do: I networked. I reached out to 500+ people on LinkedIn for coffee chats. Most didn't respond. Some wanted to help but didn't know how.
And the ones who did help? They were confused too.
I'd lowball myself and apply for specialist positions, thinking maybe I needed to narrow my focus. They'd tell me, "You should be applying for senior manager roles." So I'd apply for those. Then recruiters would say, "You're underqualified" or "You don't have enough years of experience for this level."
The market was sending completely contradictory signals. Was I too junior? Too senior? Too broad? Too specialized? It wasn't just me; I watched this happen to so many people around me. You feel like you want to do one thing, but the market wants another. Or maybe you're overqualified for what you want but underqualified for what the market thinks you should pursue.
It's disorienting. And the more you try to figure it out, the more you start questioning whether you even know what you're capable of.
But here's what I realized: the problem wasn't me. The problem is that traditional structures don't know what to do with people who don't fit into neat categories. And instead of admitting that, they make you feel like the problem is YOU.
A handful of people were genuinely supportive, but even they couldn't solve the fundamental problem:
There was no space for early-career professionals like me to connect with peers who actually understood what we were going through.
The Three Problems in Professional Networking That No Platform Is Solving
After moving back to India in September 2025 and spending months validating this idea through user research and surveys, I've identified three distinct groups of early-career professionals (0-7 years of experience) who are struggling with professional networking, career development, and finding authentic connections.
1. Building a Personal Brand Without Corporate Credentials
You see those TikTok videos and Instagram reels:
"5 things I did to get into Microsoft" or "10 steps that got me a job at Google." Great advice, right?
Except they already have Microsoft or Google on their resume. They have a brand name to echo off of.
But what if you don't? What if you're starting From Zero?
The reality is that educational background, professional networks, and previous company names still matter in career advancement. That bias is still present in professional networking platforms. And while building in public and documenting your career journey can be valuable, it's not the guaranteed solution many LinkedIn influencers and career coaches make it out to be.
Just because you create content every single day doesn't mean your dream career opportunities will come knocking. You might get opportunities, just not aligned with your career goals.
2. Building Startups and Side Projects While Feeling Professionally Isolated
When I started working on this networking platform for early-career professionals, I wanted to find other founders and builders who were working in the same space. Someone I could connect with and think, "I relate to how this person is approaching their startup journey."
It was nearly impossible.
If you can relate to this, tell me, what do you do? You go to your friends, right? And I love my friends; however, 98% of them are too nice to tell me the truth because they don't want to hurt my feelings. More importantly, they're not builders themselves. They don't understand the problems I'm trying to solve.
They tell me, "Why do you stress so much? Just get some sleep, get a job, and then figure it out."
But that's not what I need. I need someone who'll tell me straight up: "The thing you're building? Users are going to hate it."
And I've learned through my marketing consulting work that even with AI tools everywhere, people are still afraid to ask questions in professional settings. The fear of "what if I ask this and look incompetent?" is real. There's no safe space in traditional networking platforms to have honest career conversations without being judged or having to stay anonymous. [The number of times I’ve re-written this article to handle all sides’ questions & perceptions? It feels like I am my own PR person]
3. Job Searching Without the Personal Branding Performance
When I was conducting user research for this platform, I asked early-career professionals about personal branding and career development strategies. Most of them said the same thing:
"I don't want to build a personal brand. I don't want to be an influencer. I just want recruiters and hiring managers to look at my job application and tell me yes or no."
The current recruiting process and applicant tracking systems (ATS) are broken for early-career job seekers. It's a resume, cover letter, portfolio in, generic automated rejection out. No feedback. No insight into whether you were even close to the interview stage.
From personal experience navigating the job market, I've only had one or two rejection emails that gave me detailed, actionable feedback. Every other rejection was a template that told me nothing about my interview performance or application status.
I keep thinking about this concept we had in school called "step marks" or partial credit in math exams. In a math exam, if you got the final answer wrong, you'd lose all points. But if you showed your work step by step, you could ask for partial credit based on your problem-solving process.
Job applications and recruiting should work something like that. Not giving candidates a grade, but showing hiring managers your thought process, problem-solving approach, and how you think through challenges.
Entry-level jobs are disappearing because AI and automation can do what junior employees and entry-level workers used to do. So how exactly are Gen Z and millennial job seekers supposed to stand out in the job market?
The Core Problem With Current Professional Networking Platforms
Whether you're trying to build a personal brand from scratch, building a startup alone, or just trying to land your first job without performing-all of these career challenges come down to one fundamental issue:
There is no professional networking platform where early-career professionals feel safe asking questions, getting honest feedback, and being visible without performing success.
That's the networking platform I'm building, an alternative to LinkedIn for authentic professional connections.
Why I'm Building This Alternative Networking Platform
From the last two semesters of my IT engineering undergrad & Post Grad in Data Science and Business Analytics, I fell in love with tech and data science. My Master's degree in marketing completely shifted how I see the intersection of technology, data analytics, and marketing strategy.
For the past year and a half, I've realized there's real value in being a full-stack marketer who can bridge systems thinking, data analysis, marketing strategy, and technical execution. But that skill set doesn't fit neatly into traditional job descriptions or career paths.
I've watched senior marketing leaders and startup founders talk about wanting "full-stack marketers," "T-shaped marketers," or "go-to-market engineers," but there's often a disconnect between what companies say they want and what's actually valued in hiring practices.
Rather than waiting for existing corporate structures to figure out what they want, I'm building a networking platform where these diverse skill sets actually create value. Where early-career professionals who see the full picture can connect with others who think the same way. Where you don't have to perform success on LinkedIn, you can just build it authentically.
What's Next: Building the MVP and Beta Launch
I've been documenting this entire startup journey through "Misfit Experiments" on Instagram and YouTube-building in public and sharing the real process of creating a networking platform from scratch. I just posted a video breaking down the three core problems in detail and explaining the solution I'm building.
Right now, I'm:
Conducting user research and validation with early-career professionals (research form stays open if you want to contribute insights) Contribute to shaping the product, please! (anonymous)
Building the minimum viable product (MVP) for the networking platform
Recruiting the first 100 beta users to help shape the product through user feedback and feature requests
I'm also doing marketing consulting (taking on clients!) and currently working with Zapier as a customer marketing contractor while building this platform. If you need help with content strategy, customer-led storytelling, or marketing systems that connect customer intelligence to execution, feel free to reach out here
Join the Early-Career Professional Networking Movement
If you're an early-career professional with 0-7 years of work experience, I'd love your input on this networking platform. Your perspective will directly shape the features, user experience, and community guidelines we're building. [Research form link]-(anonymous)
If you want to be among the first 100 beta users of this alternative networking platform, there's a waitlist. I'm keeping the initial user group small to ensure we build the right features and create genuine value. [Beta waitlist link (coming soon!)]
If you want to work with me on marketing strategy, content strategy, or customer intelligence projects that require full-funnel thinking, [book a consultation call] or DM me on LinkedIn.
The Question Every Early-Career Professional Should Ask
Which of these three professional networking challenges resonates most with where you are in your career right now?
Are you trying to build a personal brand without corporate credentials backing you?
Building a startup or side project and feeling professionally isolated?
Or just trying to land a job without the LinkedIn performance theater?
Let me know in the comments or reach out directly. I'm genuinely curious which career challenge most early-career professionals are facing-because understanding that helps me build a networking platform that actually solves the right problems for our generation.
The best way to learn has always been to build the solution, not just talk about the problem.
So that's what I'm doing-building the professional networking platform I wish had existed three years ago.
About the Author
Anusha Kannan is a marketing strategist, data analyst, and founder building an alternative networking platform for early-career professionals (0-7 years experience). With a background in IT engineering, PG Data Science & Business Analytics, and a Master's in Marketing, she bridges technical thinking with marketing strategy. Previously worked in customer marketing and data analytics roles at companies including Zapier (contract) and Fortune 1000 retail. Currently based in India, documenting her startup journey through "Misfit Experiments." Connect on LinkedIn or learn more here
