Need validation - a free freelancer network
Ste
7 replies
I'm trying to validate an idea I have - building a free freelancer network.
No commissions are taken from freelancers (I have an alternative business model in mind). Clients post free.
Focused on making freelancers part of teams, getting them equity, etc.
Potentially user-owned (maybe through a token).
If you're a freelancer, would you sign up?
I've made a landing page here if you want more info on the vision: https://hyperwork.co
Replies
Hi, just joined the waiting list.
@sewell_stephens Thanks for the support!
Such an excellent question. Because I am not a freelancer so I can't say anything about if I would like to use a platform like this as a freelancer, but as a client, I would like to know how it will work for me and what securities I will have as you are not taking any commission from me.
@nabeel_amir Good point!
One of the reason I'm thinking of doing this is because almost all freelancer networks rely on payments made on the network itself.
If you're a freelancer on Toptal for example and you take payments outside their network, you get kicked out. In many cases you pay 25-45% on commissions, which is a lot of $.
My take on this is that I don't care how payments are made, because the platform is free for clients and freelancers. I'll provide a way for freelancers to link their Stripe account, so you'd be paying them directly without any hassle. So technically no money will go through the platform's accounts, thus no way to take commission. The freelancer gets the full fee for the project.
Resonates with me quite a bit - A DAO for freelancers basically.
Hi! This reminds me a little of something I ran across the other day... Have you seen https://www.usebraintrust.com?
When you say "Focused on making freelancers part of teams, getting them equity, etc." - where does the equity come from? Is that in the marketplace, from clients? Like freelancers would/could be compensated in both cash and equity from applicable companies on the site?
Or are you only focused on a user-owned/DAO model? (also why I offered that link to braintrust if you haven't seen it yet)
@breethomas Thanks for sharing! Yes, I actually found Braintrust when I was doing research for this idea. It is really similar to what I had in mind.
A DAO could be one option. I'm still trying to validate if it would get traction. Talking to freelancers to see how they feel about it.
If it goes down the DAO path, equity would correspond to the activity on the platform. I was thinking of having a token that corresponds to the level of involvement of each freelancer. eg. You've gained $100k through the platform, you have 100 tokens you can use for voting on platform decisions.
Equity might also be a good idea for early stage startups. Freelancers might be interested in contributing to projects in exchange for equity. Haven't found a good platform that can manage that. I'm also trying to validate this assumption.