Meet Pavel Shynkarenko, Founder and CEO at Global HR Platform: Mellow

Tell us about Mellow

 

Mellow is a global HR platform that helps companies adapt to the new reality of work. While previously businesses worked with contractors on a one-off basis, they have become critical workforce members.

This has required businesses to shift their processes. At Mellow, we make this easy. For example, some companies might hesitate to work with contractors because of risks and regulations. We assume these risks, including the most contentious issues such as misclassification. But because our platform has solutions for both parties, we also help project-based workers, ensuring they get paid and receive benefits. This way, we bridge the gap between contractors and full-time employees without forcing them to change their work statuses.

How did you come up with the idea for the company? OR what do you think makes this company unique?

 

The idea behind Mellow‘s launch is simple: we aim to smooth out collaborations between companies in the US, the UK, and Europe and their contractors, eliminating legal, financial, or managerial hurdles. We have pursued this mission for ten years, but the past two years clarified the need for a fresh approach, and we decided to create a new company with its team, brand, positioning, and infrastructure—something we’ve never done before.

Two perspectives set Mellow apart from similar platforms or solutions in the market: vision and service. In terms of vision, we see the future of work as project-based, which is why we focus exclusively on contractors, don’t offer Employer of Record (EOR) services and are not interested in building another all-encompassing HR platform.

Our service fundamentally stands out. We not only provide a self-service platform; we treat our clients as partners, tailoring our solution to their needs. Other distinctive factors include our pay-as-you-go pricing model. Unlike other services, we don’t believe in nickel-and-diming our customers.

 

How has the company evolved over the last couple of years?

 

In 2014, I founded my first HR tech company, Solar Staff. Initially, the firm provided solutions for service deal optimization. This gradually led to creation of a multi-tool platform that capitalizes on Solar Staff’s decade-long work in this field and responds to the growing demand for specialized solutions for long-term interactions with contractors.

Thus, Solar Staff, as a global company, pivoted to Mellow. Even though Mellow was launched in May 2024 and has been operational for a few months,  leveraging Solar Staff’s client base has accelerated its growth. Mellow is already collaborating with over 1,500 companies and 400,000 contractors in more than 100 countries, and it boasts a monthly turnover of €18M and an MRR of €800K.

 

What can we hope to see from Mellow in the future?

 

Our immediate objective in the USA is to enhance our presence within a specialized niche—collaborating with contractors from challenging-to-reach regions. To achieve this, we will implement key integrations to bolster our service for HR Directors, form strategic partnerships with HR-related entities, and diversify our payment solutions. In Europe, our strategy involves forging additional alliances with expatriate management services and legalization providers. We will also test various product hypotheses in targeted markets such as Slovakia.