8 Great Freelancing Platforms that Have Helped Establish Startups
Starting a business and developing your product or service requires you to work efficiently and quickly. You have to ensure that your startup offers value in terms of quality, innovation, and convenience, even if you have limited resources at your disposal and are going up against a lot of competition to claim first spot in the market. So, how can you manage to strike the perfect balance? It is the talent you hire that can make all the difference in the world. The problem is that most startups have access to limited funds for hiring people. What should they do then?
This is where freelancing platforms have turned out to be an immensely useful solution for establishing startups, such as Airbnb reshaping the way we travel and eBay revolutionizing shopping. Freelancing platforms are changing the way we hire employees and establish startups. They can be extremely useful for sourcing workers for job roles and positions within your startup. In addition, these platforms are also a great resource for expanding your startup because you can find numerous projects in different areas like web development, graphic designing, SEO tasks, etc. Depending on your niche, you can easily get more work for your startup and hone in a lot of business.
Some of the best freelancing platforms that have helped establish startups in this manner are outlined below:
1. Upwork
Formerly known as Odesk, Upwork was started by Stratis Karamanlakis and Odysseas Tsatalos. They created this digital platform so it would allow them to work remotely as Stratis was living in Greece at that time. Upwork has expanded since then and is now the largest online freelance platform where 1.5 million jobs have been posted. In terms of annual freelancer earnings, it ranks number one and has more than 4.5 million users. Not only do startups get access to a wide talent pool, they also get plenty of projects.
2. Freelancer
If you are looking for the largest freelancing, crowdsourcing and outsourcing marketplace for startups and small businesses, you don’t have to go further than Freelancer. This platform boasts about 10 million users who have a wide array of skills and can be hired for performing a horde of tasks and jobs. As the platform is widely used, lots of clients also use it for posting services they want or work they want to be done, and this can give startups the chance to boost their sales and get more work. Projects worth $1.3 billion have been posted, which means it has a lot of potential.
3. CrowdSource
Startups will find this particular freelancing platform quite handy when they are looking for projects and jobs to do. If you want to promote your services, this platform is the way to go as you can find plenty of jobs at different pay-levels. There is a sleek system in place and startups can find jobs as per their interest and enjoy bonuses when they are able to achieve milestones. A number of renowned businesses use this platform and startups can do the same as it is easy to use, offers good customer support and has competitive payment.
4. Fiverr
Shai Wininger and Micha Kaufman founded this freelancing platform in 2009 with the sole purpose of allowing people to buy and sell a myriad of services in different fields such as graphic design, programming and writing. Startups can take advantage of the platform’s reputation-based promotion system for landing jobs and making new clients. The post How To Make Money on Fiverr: The Smart Way lists several interesting ways that actually help you become a team. Fiverr is available in about 200 countries and gets millions of visitors on a daily basis, which has enabled it to become a global marketplace and brand, something all startups can use for boosting their business.
5. Guru
Founded in San Francisco in 1999, Guru was an online clearinghouse for high-tech workers and companies in search of short-term contracts. James and Jon Slavet led this freelancing platform and succeeded in raising $3 million in angel funding and then $16 million in full venture funding, which enabled the platform to expand its services and offerings. Nowadays, startups in 160 different fields can connect with employees and clients for finding projects that are suitable for their business and provide substantial returns.
6. Newsmodo
Working with notable and big-name clients in their industry can do wonders for a startup. Wouldn’t your reputation get a major boost if people found out that you have worked for some big and renowned clients in your market? This is exactly what Newsmodo can help you do. This freelancing platform offers excellent opportunities to work with popular brands and customers. Its focus is journalism, but the platform is quite powerful and can go a long way in helping your startup in establishing itself successfully.
7. Toptal
Startups in the field of software development, engineering and designers will find Toptal to be a gold mine amongst other freelancing platforms. It has an extensive screening process as it offers its services only to the ‘elite.’ Toptal’s network gives your startup access to over 2,000 clients who can offer you amazing job opportunities as well as give you access to thousands of skilled professionals if you are more interested in hiring a diversified staff.
8. Freelanced.com
As social media gained popularity, a freelancing platform called Freelanced.com was developed in 2010 that used a social networking format for bringing clients and employees together. There are different kinds of memberships offered through this platform and each comes with its own perks. A large number of startups have used the paid membership option for gaining access to lots of contracts and projects that have boosted their revenues considerably. Moreover, there is also a vast pool of potential employees to choose from in order to bring down your labor costs without making compromises on quality staff. The environment is more casual than other freelancing platforms, but it remains effective and is quite easy to use and understand.
These are some of the best freelancing platforms that have been used by numerous startups for kicking off their venture and have now become behemoth businesses.
