Grow your startup with on deman talent by hayley conick at guru program spring 2014

© 2000-2014 Elance-oDesk, Inc. Elance-oDesk proprietary and conﬁdential. Do Not Distribute.
Grow your
STARTUPWith On-demand Talent

2
About me
HAYLEY CONICK
COUNTRY MANAGER
ELANCE-ODESK, UK & IRELAND
UK & IRELAND
hconick@elance-odesk.com
@hayleyconick @elanceuk

3
About us
Elance-oDesk is the workplace of the world, with over
2 million clients and more than 8 million freelancers
working together around the globe.

4
By the numbers

5
$!
How it works
Post TrackHire Pay
1 2 3 4

6
Agenda
To do or not to do – how to choose the right projects
The little things matter - how to brief

A match made in heaven – how to select the right freelancer
1
The art of distance management – how to get the right result
2
3
4
5
Case Study - Vivino

7
1
Case Study- Vivino

8
Meet Heini…
Meet Heini

9
Vivino: Start up Story

10

•  Uses compelling image recognition
•  Provides info on wine, ratings, prices
•  Recognises 86% of all wines worldwide
•  4m downloads
•  Available for iPhone and Android
•  World’s most popular wine app

11
•  Started small:
–  Very basic iPhone app

•  Hedged their bets:
–  Hire two freelancers and choose the
best
–  Built MVP
•  Grew team of online freelancers to build
the database

12
48
539
744
50,472
1,087,853
2,762,489
12,074,559
Countries
Wines
Grapes
Wine regions
Wineries
Wine ratings
Labels scanned
Building the database

13
29, 895, 450
Cost

14
WEEK 8 - 10WEEK 1 - 4 WEEK 4 - 8
FULL-TIME EMPLOYEESFREELANCERS (SCALING AS NEEDED)
Mobile app
developers
Image recognition
experts
Video producers
Database
professionals
Data entry
specialists
Content
writers
Translators
They built a "
hybrid workplace
model, combining
full-time employees
and online
freelancers
Vivino: a hybrid team

15
Vivino: in the news

16
2
To do or not to do
How to choose the right projects

17
•  Is this project going to take too much of my time?
•  Is it outside of my core skill set?
•  Will this project add stress to or distract me or my
team?
•  Do I need to complete this project asap?
•  Does this project require a niche skill set for a ﬁnite
period of time?
•  Could this project be completed by someone in a
different location?
•  Can this project be delivered online?

18
team?
period of time?
different location?

19
team?
period of time?
different location?

Yes
=
Online
Freelancer

20
20
Case Study: Seed Cloud
“Elance helps us fill temporary skill gaps with minimal notice. We work with a
wide range of technologies and sometimes not all of the expertise is held in
house. By utilising Elance we're able to quickly find appropriate resource and
meet the needs of our projects using talent from around the world.”
Lee Burgess, Co-Founder

Seedcloud is a software incubator for seed level startups focussing on cloud-based,
B2B ideas. Seedcloud does not invest capital but leads technological development
using its own pool of IP, tools and resources.

Hires:

Python developer, Android / IOS developers, Data entry, QA / testers,
Sage consultant

21
21"
Software
Development
Customer Service" Data Entry" Writing & Blogging Accounting Mobile App
Development
SEO/SEMVirtual Assistance TranslationGraphic Design LegalWeb Development
Types of work
QA

22
3
The little things matter
How to brief

23
Briefing Basics
•  If you don’t know what you want you won’t get what you
want
•  Decide then describe
•  Details, details, details - be as specific as possible. If you have
constraints, mandatory skills or particular demands include them

•  If you don’t get it, find someone who does
•  If you are a beginner then your first task is finding a freelancer who
can help you define your needs
•  State that the first part of the assignment will be for the freelancer to
define the exact specification for you

•  A picture is worth a thousand words
•  Attach examples files to illustrate what you have in mind: mood
boards, wireframes, sketches, sample copy

24
24
I NEED A ROCKSTAR DEVELOPER FOR MY
MOBILE APP WHICH IS GONNA TOTALLY
CHANGE THE WORLD. I NEED IT TO BE LIKE
REALLY SLICK AND SMART AND SEXY AND
ALSO PROFESSIONAL. SHOULD WORK ON
ANDROIDS AND APPLE STUFF AND DISPLAY
VIDEO AND CHAT. MUST HAVE FACEBOOK.
THIS IS A REALLY EASY TASK AND ONLY THE
FIRST OF MANY PROJECTS AS I HAVE LOTS
OF OTHER BUSINESS I COULD PUT YOUR
WAY. ALSO NEEDS AN EDGY BRAND DESIGN.
ALSO BUZINESS CARDS.
Job Post Example #1

25
25
Job Post Example #2
I am developing a new business idea, for which I would like
to get a Mobile Application developed. See attached
wireframe and description of the concept.
Initially I would like to develop an app for iOS devices,
suitable for submitting to Apple’s app store.
Please could you review the attached documents and
describe how you would approach this project.
It would be helpful if you could provide examples of
previous iOS app development work, and highlight those
that used related technologies or concepts, such as
interaction with third- party APIs, use of the Facebook API,
and video display on mobile devices.

26
Real life job

27

28

29

30

31

32
4
A match made in heaven
How to select the right freelancer

33
Case Study: Adam’s top tips
•  Do your research: what other projects
have they done?
•  Be speciﬁc: English speaking,
previous experience of medical
illustrations
•  Value for money is more important
than cost: don’t necessarily go for the
cheapest price
•  Woo the freelancer: “I pitched her”
•  Get them integrated: make them
accountable
“They need to have
an understanding of
your messages and
objectives. They will
only do their best
work if they are
educated on what
you are trying to
achieve.”

34
Getting a reputation
•  Levels
•  Recommend Score
•  Job Feedback
“Professional and highly communicative. Task
completed as requested. Highly recommend.”
-Client

35

36

37
Hire like a pro
•  Test the waters
•  Once you’ve shortlisted to a few candidates, test them with a real work
task they can perform in a couple of days
•  Be honest! Tell them you are considering a few candidates and ask if they
would be okay with performing a fully paid short assignment
•  Go private
•  Post your job privately and then use search to invite freelancers
•  Flattery gets you everywhere – explain why you want them
•  Think ofﬂine
•  Use the same tactics you would use for an ofﬂine hire: check references,
conduct an interview

38
5
The art of distance management
How to get the right result

39

40
Time off!
Track employee time off against
company rules and holiday
allowances. "
"
Employee records!
Critical HR information at your
ﬁngertips including employment
details and contact info.
What is Turbine?
Business paperwork. Simpliﬁed.
Expenses!
Take control of employee expense
claims. Make and approve requests
on phones and tablets."
"
Purchase orders!
Get control of company spending.
Employees request. Managers
approve. Everything under control.
Case Study: Turbine HQ

41

42

43

44
Logo design
Marketing Website
App development
Product Testing
Copywriting
SEO

45
45
“Elance enabled HopStop to scale our
team cost-effectively. We hired our first
engineer on Elance and still work with
him today.”
•  HopStop is a mobile app that provides door-to-door transit, walking, biking, taxi
and hourly car rental directions in over 600 cities in 7 countries

•  Founder came up with initial idea, but had no development experience

•  Turned to Elance and hired an engineer to build prototype

•  HopStop was acquired by Apple in July 2013
"
"
–Joe Meyer, CEO & President
Case study: Hop Stop

46
Fly with the sun

47
Time zone Hopscotch

48
Time zone Hopscotch
- 8
+10
GMT
3 days work done in one 24 hour period

49
Final Tips
1.  Start small
2.  Plan to throw one away
3.  Cheapest isn’t always best
4.  It’s still recruitment, stupid!
5.  Over-communicate
"

50
https://www.elance.com/q/startup-offer

51
HAYLEY CONICK
COUNTRY MANAGER
ELANCE-ODESK, UK & IRELAND
UK & IRELAND
hconick@elance-odesk.com
@hayleyconick @elanceuk

Thank You
ELANCE.COM | ODESK.COM

53
A
Appendix

54
More information
•  Help Centre: http://help.elance.com
•  Ofﬁcial Blog: https://www.elance.com/q/blog/
•  Terms of Service: https://www.elance.com/p/legal.html
•  Water Cooler member forums: https://www.elance.com/p/
community/talk/index.htm
•  Getting Started Guide:
https://www.elance.com/q/sites/default/ﬁles/docs/
User_Guides/Elance-Client-Guide-May2013.pdf
•  Elance University: videos, webinars and more:
https://www.elance.com/q/university

Grow your startup with on deman talent by hayley conick at guru program spring 2014

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (20)

Similar to Grow your startup with on deman talent by hayley conick at guru program spring 2014

Similar to Grow your startup with on deman talent by hayley conick at guru program spring 2014 (20)

More from TechMeetups

More from TechMeetups (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Grow your startup with on deman talent by hayley conick at guru program spring 2014