NAME OF STARTUP: Distill.cv
FOUNDED IN (Year): 2026
FOUNDER’S NAME: Xabi Errotabehere
THE IDEA: What is the problem being solved by your startup / business?:
Recruitment agencies face a significant “formatting tax” that drains productivity. Every time a recruiter finds a great candidate, they have to manually reformat the CV into their agency’s template, add logos, and redact personal information for blind hiring compliance and avoid backdoor hires. This process typically takes 15-20 minutes per candidate, which is purely administrative overhead.
Distill.cv solves this by using AI to instantly transform any CV into a clean, brand-consistent document. We preserve the underlying structure for ATS compatibility while ensuring the final output looks professional, perfectly follows agency standards and if necessary PII redacted, allowing recruiters to focus on placing talent rather than fighting with MS Word.
THE FOUNDER’S STORY: When and how did you come up with the idea for the business?:
I’m a technologist and exited founder with 20+ experience in tech. Built, expanded and sold Cloud Conformity, Australian startup acquired by Tend Micro in 2019.
I’m now working on Keinu.com, a Venture Studio of One, where I research gaps, evaluate ideas and build products mostly on my own.
I came up with the idea during my research and chatting with recruiters and staffing industry contacts in high-volume recruitment teams and realised just how much time was being lost to basic document preparation.
While the giant software vendors are focusing on the workflow, they do a terrible job at cleaning, formatting and redacting CVs.
WHO IS THE CUSTOMER: What is the typical profile of your target customer? Where would they be located?:
Staffing and recruitment agencies, in-house talent acquisition teams and recruitment process outsourcing companies (RPO).
Location: English speaking countries (or English-easy Northern Europe) around the world.
LESSONS TO SHARE: What 3 key lessons from your startup journey you’d like to share with aspiring entrepreneurs?:
– Ideas are worthless until someone is ready to pay for it
– Building software is cheap, distributing it is expensive
– Be passionate about your startup, passion will keep you get going during rough times
HQ City: Waitoki, Auckland, NZ
Website URL: https://distill.cv
Number of Employees: 1-5
