About Xuan Yong
In a 2019 interview, Xuan Yong, then CEO and co-founder of RigUp (later renamed Workrise), described the company as bringing the gig economy to the energy industry. He stated that the platform connects skilled blue-collar workers with oilfield jobs, with daily rates ranging from $400 to $2,000 depending on skill and tenure. Yong said the company had partnered with trade schools to bring certification and testing online to vet workers, and noted that technology was making the energy industry more efficient, reducing the days required to drill a well.
Yong explained that RigUp addressed challenges such as the high cost of general liability insurance — which he said could be $25 million to $50 million to get on location — and the inefficiency of an "analog network" of phone calls and word-of-mouth. He described the platform as "almost like a LinkedIn for oil workers" and said the management of contract labor could be made more efficient using technology. Yong also mentioned that the company's agents charged a fee of about 10% and that West Texas was a particularly active region for work.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Xuan Yong's recent appearances.
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Transcript (6 segments)
I
Interviewer0:05
The gig economy has hit the energy industry. RigUp is a company looking to remedy the labor shortage in oil and it has a few big backers, including the San Francisco-based Founders Fund and Quantum Energy Partners. And joining us now is Xuan Yong, he is CEO and founder of RigUp, the start-up looking to disrupt the oil industry with technology. Explain how this works and how much money could I make working on a rig? Is it worth a look for me? Anything? Yeah, but it'd be tough, right? I don't know if I'd be good at that. I don't think I would.
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Xuan Yong0:46
You would not. It's highly skilled blue-collar. Big money though for blue-collar. Correct. So rates could be anywhere from $400 a day to $1,800, $2,000 a day, depending on skill, tenure in the industry. And certainly, prior to our business being started four-and-a-half years ago, it was primarily an analog network. They were working with word of mouth, phone calls, who you know gets you on location to do the work. But as you know, our country has experienced this energy Renaissance. Despite relatively low commodity prices, producers continue to compete on a cost advantage basis, therefore getting more and more workers to fill. So digital is digital now.
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Interviewer1:44
Almost like a LinkedIn for oil workers or something. How many different skill sets? Hundreds?
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Xuan Yong1:49
Hundreds of different service lines. From pad site construction, just constructing the pad, clearing the location, all the way to drilling the well, fracking the well, producing the well.
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Interviewer2:05
So how does it work if I'm a worker? I go on the app? I put in my skills?
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Xuan Yong2:10
Yes, very much. I put in my skills. And we make sure that they have the skills they say. There's certifications and testing that our business does. We've partnered with trade schools to take the education that the workers are learning and bring that testing online to vet and assure that these folks have done it before. But then there's also social verification. There are reviews after you've completed a job, your superintendent, etc. So everything that you see in the consumer world, it's possible to move it to the press through our system now.
