Yardstik, a measurably better background screening, compliance, and fraud-prevention platform, announced a key leadership transition as it enters its next phase of rapid growth and innovation. After co-founding and leading Yardstik through significant product advancements and strong growth, CEO Matt Meents is passing the leadership torch to COO Andrew Johnson. Matt will remain on Yardstik’s board.
Andrew began his career at Compellent, a launchpad for many of Minnesota’s top tech leaders and companies. He went on to lead massive growth efforts at Branch and Dialpad in senior leadership roles, helping both companies exceed $100M in annual recurring revenue.
“I’m honored to step into the CEO role at Yardstik,” said Andrew Johnson. “Expect to see explosive growth from Yardstik as we continue to hit our ambitious goals and revolutionize the background screening industry. Matt has built an incredible foundation and we don’t plan to skip a beat.”
Under Matt’s leadership, Yardstik launched its core platform, achieved strong product-market fit, built a powerful framework to scale effectively, and introduced new product automation and strategic partnerships. In the last year alone, the Yardstik product has helped customers improve their time-to-hire by over 200%.
“Co-founding and building this company has been a remarkable experience, and I’m proud of the culture and customer-focused product we’ve created,” said Matt Meents. “I’ve worked alongside Andrew for several years, and there’s no better person to lead Yardstik into its next chapter of product innovation and growth. I’m excited to remain involved as a board member and support Yardstik’s continued success.”
Founded in 2020, Yardstik continues its mission to improve the traditional background screening market. The platform has seen strong adoption from high-volume hiring businesses because of its API-first approach, which is adaptable to virtually any technology environment. Yardstik has consistently achieved 100% year-over-year growth and been named a “Best Place to Work” for four years running. The company also recently won Staffing Industry Analysts’ Shark Tank competition, demonstrating their novel API-first approach to screening, which is a perfect fit for staffing companies.
Yardstik’s future is bright. They have backing from partners MissionOG, Grotech Ventures, Crosslink Capital, and Rally Ventures, who have confidence in their team and their product.
“Yardstik’s success stems from a consistently stellar leadership team with deep market, product, and opportunity insights, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds for this company. We have a world of confidence in both Andrew and the full team to usher in this new phase of growth.” said Justin Kaufenberg, Chairman of the Board.
