Richard Bronson, founder of Commissary Club, is launching an employment-focused social media platform designed specifically for people with criminal records seeking work and housing after reentry into society.
Bronson brings personal experience to the venture. In the 1980s, he worked as a partner at Stratton Oakmont, the brokerage firm run by Jordan Belfort. He later started his own firm in South Florida and built a $100 million business taking small-cap companies public. Bronson told TechCrunch that "some of the success, however, came through breaking the law, securities laws," and he served time in federal prison. After his release, he faced severe employment discrimination despite his education and experience.
Commissary Club, named after the prison store where inmates buy supplies, uses AI to help formerly incarcerated people navigate job searches and housing applications. The platform includes a social component modeled on Facebook, which Bronson said addresses the isolation of reentry. The site also functions as a referral network and dating platform.
Commissary Club operates a freemium model. Users receive 10 free job applications, then pay $14.99 per application or $149 for bundles of 10. Some may question charging people emerging from prison for employment assistance, though Bronson frames it as a sustainable business addressing an underserved market.
Bronson's co-founder, Roman Kissin, previously served as CTO of LexisNexis from 2022 to 2025 and held roles at eBay and IBM. The startup is currently a two-person team.
Bronson stated he is not operating a nonprofit. "People talk about AI taking away employment and people losing jobs. I look at it differently. We're building AI that creates employment for people that society left behind," he told TechCrunch.
Commissary Club has been selected for TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 200, the publication's annual competition.