WhereWeGo, a workforce technology company established by former educators, has announced the launch of WhereWeGo Labs. This new initiative is designed to create fast, free workforce tools that address the practical challenges faced by workers and workforce organizations. By leveraging AI to reduce development costs and timelines, the project aims to bridge the gap between complex workforce research and the lightweight, accessible tools needed for everyday career navigation.
Rapid Development: WhereWeGo Labs commits to launching new workforce tools every 30 days to solve real-world problems.
AI-Enabled Efficiency: The initiative utilizes AI to build tools faster and more affordably than traditional development cycles.
Training Navigation: A primary tool helps workers explore and filter Mississippi-based training programs based on trustworthy data.
AI Impact Assessment: The "Am I Cooked?" tool helps workers evaluate their vulnerability to AI-driven job displacement and identify adjacent pathways.
Industry Clarity Score: A new metric evaluates how easy it is for workers to understand and enter specific high-growth industries.
Public Collaboration: The company is "building in public," inviting workers and practitioners to suggest future problems for the Labs team to solve.
The workforce field often suffers from a surplus of research and a shortage of practical application. WhereWeGo Labs intends to tackle problems that may not fit a traditional business case but represent significant barriers for individuals. For example, while many realize the need for jobs in advanced manufacturing, few can name the specific roles available. The Labs’ Industry Clarity Score addresses this by assessing visibility into roles and the steps required to get started, reducing the opacity of high-growth sectors.
Beyond career navigation, the initiative addresses evolving policy and social needs. The Workforce Pell Eligibility Check assists training providers in navigating changing regulations, while the "Can a Mom Actually Work Here" tool evaluates workplace support for caregivers. These tools are built using years of platform data from over three million users who have interacted with WhereWeGo’s previous career pathway platforms.
"Everyone recognizes the need to fill jobs in high-growth industries like advanced manufacturing, yet most people would struggle to name even three of the roles in that field," said Ben Ifshin, co-founder and CEO of WhereWeGo. "That is exactly the kind of gap WhereWeGo Labs is built to tackle. We're launching fast, building in public, and inviting workers, practitioners, and partners to tell us what problems we should solve next."
WhereWeGo Labs operates on an open-development model, prioritizing speed and real-world feedback over perfection. By releasing tools early, the team can refine them based on direct input from workforce practitioners and the workers themselves. This approach ensures that the resulting digital products solve the actual barriers that prevent people from accessing quality jobs and training.
"When you build out in the open, you give your products a chance to evolve and get tangible feedback from real workers and practitioners," said Leah Lykins, co-founder and chief product officer of WhereWeGo. "Our approach is to act fast, embrace imperfection and use real-world feedback to refine our tools."
About WhereWeGo
WhereWeGo is a workforce technology company founded by former educators to help people discover career pathways and training opportunities, while supporting workforce leaders in designing clearer routes into quality jobs. Its platforms have helped more than 3 million users navigate careers, training programs and employment opportunities across the United States. Through its work, WhereWeGo combines research, data and technology to build practical tools that make workforce systems easier to understand and access.
