# Aaron Elder

> Aaron Elder is the CEO and co-founder of Crelate, a recruiting CRM and applicant-tracking platform founded in 2012. A visual-arts student who left college and taught himself to code, Elder helped create an early product acquired by Microsoft, led application and user-experience work on the first versions of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and later helped build a CRM consultancy whose practice was acquired by Avanade. At Crelate, he has applied that mix of design, software engineering, consulting and hands-on hiring experience to tools for staffing and recruiting firms, with a recent focus on narrowly targeted AI agents and activating firms' proprietary data.

- **Role:** CEO and Co-founder at Crelate
- **Organizations:** Crelate, Microsoft, Ascentium, Avanade
- **Known for:** Co-founded Crelate and led its customer-centered product strategy., Helped bring four software products to market, according to his public founder biography., Co-founded three companies and reported two exits in his LinkedIn biography.

## Career timeline

- **Late 1990s** — Left visual-arts studies and taught himself software development as the web expanded.
- **2001** — An early product he co-founded was acquired by Microsoft; he subsequently worked on Microsoft CRM.
- **Early 2000s** — Served as a lead application architect and worked on application and user-experience development for early Microsoft Dynamics CRM releases.
- **2000s** — Helped build Ascentium's Microsoft Dynamics CRM consultancy and served as its CTO; the practice grew to roughly 150 people by Elder's account.
- **2010** — Avanade completed its acquisition of Ascentium's Microsoft Dynamics CRM assets; approximately 90 CRM professionals joined Avanade.
- **2012** — Co-founded Crelate in the Boise metro to build recruiting software for staffing and talent-centric businesses.
- **2019** — Crelate raised its first institutional round, described by the company as Series A.
- **2022** — Crelate announced a strategic growth investment from Five Elms Capital to accelerate product and customer expansion.
- **2024** — Crelate reported that more than 25,000 recruiting professionals used its platform.
- **2025** — Crelate launched Discover, Insights and Co-Pilot agents as part of its Living Platform product direction.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Crelate and led its customer-centered product strategy.
- Helped bring four software products to market, according to his public founder biography.
- Co-founded three companies and reported two exits in his LinkedIn biography.
- Led application and user-experience work on early Microsoft Dynamics CRM releases.
- Helped grow a Microsoft Dynamics CRM consultancy to roughly 150 people before its CRM assets were acquired by Avanade.
- Built Crelate from a three-person startup into a platform used by more than 25,000 recruiting professionals, according to Crelate's company history.
- Published and spoke extensively on recruiting technology, upskilling, transferable velocity and practical uses of AI.

## Latest updates

- **2026-08** — Elder posted analysis of falling U.S. labor-force participation alongside rising job openings, framing the divergence as relevant to recruiters.
- **2025-11** — Elder announced completion of version one of Crelate's Living Platform following the launch of its Insights agent alongside Discover.
- **2025-07** — Appeared on The Full Desk Experience to discuss how early-adopter recruiting teams can use narrowly focused AI agents and proprietary data.
- **2025-06** — Appeared on The Full Desk Experience to explain Crelate's Living Platform and his view that recruiting had entered a post-AI era.

## Links

- Website: https://www.crelate.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/provega

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/aaron-elder
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-25