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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsWhen BeenVerified launched its employer service on October 21, 2008, it promised small businesses an automated applicant background check for as little as $10, with results reportedly available within one day. The important innovation was not a new criminal-record database; it was lowering the minimum cost and commitment required to check one applicant.
The launch report described a self-service product for occasional hiring, while also showing why a fast, inexpensive lookup was not automatically a complete or legally sufficient employment screen.
What BeenVerified launched in 2008
VentureBeat’s October 21, 2008 report described two related services. The Employer product was being beta-tested by businesses that wanted to investigate job applicants. The JobSeeker product let individuals assemble or share background information, including with another person at the same company. The report said the Employer beta had more than 200 corporate users and that thousands of people had signed up for JobSeeker; those figures were company or article claims, not independently audited totals.
BeenVerified’s founders were Joshua Levy, chief executive, and Ross Cohen, head of marketing. Both had worked in website development for more than 12 years, and they said experiences with freelancers who overstated their backgrounds or skills helped motivate the service. The company’s pitch was aimed at small employers that hired infrequently and could not justify a large investigation-firm relationship.
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VentureBeat’s launch coverage is the contemporaneous source for these product, pricing and traction claims.
The market problem: reducing the minimum commitment
Large companies could pay professional investigators or maintain internal screening operations. A small business hiring one person, however, might face a choice between paying for an enterprise-style service and skipping a check altogether. BeenVerified argued that an online, pay-as-needed workflow could make an individual check practical.
That distinction matters. The proposition was less “all background checks suddenly became cheap” than “an employer no longer had to buy a broad service package to ask one question about one applicant.” Automation was intended to remove much of the administrative work and make occasional screening resemble an online transaction.
How the reported workflow worked
- Identify the applicant. The employer selected the person being considered for a job.
- Obtain permission. The article said the candidate authorized the check.
- Submit basic identifiers. The employer supplied the candidate’s full name and email address.
- Search several categories. BeenVerified said it would investigate records such as criminal court filings, education, licenses and employment history, and look for possible MySpace or Facebook pages.
- Receive an automated result. The company said results could be returned within one day.
- Share information internally. A user could share background information with another person at the same company.
The 2008 account does not describe the exact interface, report layout, identity-verification controls, retention period, employer authentication, correction procedure or geographic coverage. Those omissions prevent treating the launch description as a complete technical or compliance specification.
What the historical “$10” price did—and did not—promise
“As little as $10” was a headline price, not evidence that every applicant received a comprehensive employment investigation for that amount. The article also described one piece of data costing $10, while an executive criminal-background check could reach $90. It compared those figures with Kroll’s reported $30–$40 price for a small-business check.
| Service or comparison | Reported 2008 figure | How to interpret it |
|---|---|---|
| BeenVerified automated check | As little as $10 | Lowest advertised launch price; scope was not established as comprehensive. |
| One piece of data | $10 | Indicates that the minimum could refer to a single data element. |
| Executive criminal-background check | Up to $90 | Higher-priced historical example, not a current quote. |
| Kroll small-business check | $30–$40 | Historical comparison reported by VentureBeat, not a present-day Kroll price. |
All figures in this table come from the October 2008 launch report and should not be used as 2026 prices. The source does not say which combinations of records were included at each price or whether the one-day promise applied to every record type.
What information BeenVerified said it could find
Criminal and court records
The service was described as searching criminal court records. Court coverage can vary by jurisdiction, digitization and indexing, and the launch article did not list the courts or explain how records were matched to a particular applicant.
Education, licenses and employment
BeenVerified said it could examine educational degrees, professional-license information and employment history. The company claimed it would consult primary sources, including schools such as Harvard Business School, when verifying education. The article did not independently test those verifications or establish how many schools, employers or licensing bodies were covered.
MySpace and Facebook references
The launch description included checking whether an applicant appeared to have MySpace or Facebook pages—an especially early example of social-media discovery being folded into screening. Finding a page is not the same as proving that it belongs to the applicant, that its content is current, or that it is relevant to a hiring decision.
What it explicitly did not mean
The article said the service did not check creditworthiness merely because a customer used a credit card to pay. Payment processing and employment-related credit screening were separate matters.
How BeenVerified positioned itself against competitors
| Alternative in the 2008 account | Typical positioning | BeenVerified’s claimed difference |
|---|---|---|
| Kroll Associates and similar investigation firms | Professional investigations that could be expensive for occasional hiring. | Automated, self-service ordering at a lower entry price. |
| ChoicePoint-style data services | Large-scale data products used by established organizations. | A simpler small-business workflow combining identity and employment checks. |
| Internal employer screening | Checks conducted by a company’s own staff and systems. | Outsourcing the process online instead of building an internal operation. |
| Trufina | An identity-verification startup. | BeenVerified said it combined identity checks with broader employment-related screening rather than focusing on one narrow function. |
The comparison describes positioning, not a head-to-head accuracy test. The source supplies no common benchmark, sample reports or independent assessment of which provider returned better results.
Early traction, staffing and financing
According to the launch coverage, BeenVerified had more than 200 corporate users in its Employer beta, thousands of JobSeeker signups and seven employees. The company also reported a $200,000 angel round followed by a $600,000 first round from a hedge fund, with possible additional fundraising in four to six months. These are historical statements attributed to the company or the 2008 report, not audited financial disclosures.
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Where the low-cost model could fail
Name collisions and mistaken identity
Common names, incomplete identifiers, inconsistent spellings and old addresses can cause another person’s record to be associated with an applicant. An automated match should therefore be treated as a lead for review, not conclusive proof.
Incomplete or outdated records
A court record may not be digitized or indexed; an employment or license record may be stale; and a database may not cover the relevant jurisdiction. The launch article provides no coverage map or completeness rate.
Unverified social profiles
A MySpace or Facebook page can belong to someone with the same name. Even a correctly attributed page does not, by itself, establish misconduct, job relevance or current behavior.
A narrow result mistaken for a full investigation
A $10 data-point check could answer one question while leaving other categories untouched. Treating that result as a comprehensive employment history or criminal investigation would overstate what the price and workflow established.
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The article says candidates gave permission, but it does not document notice wording, authorization records, adverse-action steps, dispute rights, data retention or employer compliance controls. Consent alone does not demonstrate that a screening process satisfies every legal requirement that may apply to an employer.
What the launch proves—and what it leaves unknown
- Established by the 2008 report: BeenVerified targeted small and occasional employers, described an automated process using a name and email address, promised a one-day turnaround, and advertised a minimum price of about $10.
- Not independently established: Accuracy, jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction coverage, identity-matching performance, report format, correction procedures, privacy safeguards and the share of checks completed within one day.
- Not established today: Whether the 2008 Employer service still exists, whether its pricing or features continued, or how it relates to BeenVerified’s present offerings.
Readers comparing the historical service with the company’s current business should consult the official BeenVerified website separately. The launch report cannot establish current product scope, employer availability, pricing or compliance features.
Why the launch mattered
BeenVerified’s significance was commercial and operational: it tried to turn background screening from a high-commitment professional service into an occasional, online purchase for small employers. That lowered friction and broadened the group of businesses that might attempt a check.
It did not, based on the evidence available, reinvent the underlying records or eliminate the hard problems of matching a real person to records spread across jurisdictions and institutions. Its one-day, low-cost promise was therefore best understood as an access and workflow innovation—not proof that a quick automated report could replace careful, legally compliant employment screening.
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