#80: WorkGenius Acquires JBC, What's The Future of Freelance Talent Marketplaces, Web Dev Shoutout
WorkGenius acquires JBC, signaling the shift from freelance only marketplaces to end-to-end flexible talent solutions. Could this be the start of a freelance/full-time hybrid workforce?
Leaders, admittedly this week was 99% client work and 1% this update. BUT that’s what keeps this newsletter fresh - we’re in the trenches sharing our experiences, not perfectly crafting how to hook your attention.
So what do you need to know?
Recession is here - see our last update to be ready.
The Future of Freelance Talent Marketplaces was 🤘🏼, with key themes of collaboration replacing competition and accessing talent replacing acquiring talent.
WorkGenius acquisition signals the shift to end-to-end flexible talent solutions, not just freelance solutions.
🤔 Future of Talent Marketplaces Recap
Huge THANK YOU to our incredible panelists.
Key themes from the chat:
Talent access NOT talent acquisition (🙌 Tony Buffum from Upwork)
Acquisition made sense when it was too burdensome to organize and manage people in a project basis (back when we had big corporate office parks and pensions).
Insert technology and it’s now easier to access talent virtually for outcome based work then spending months to acquire talent that will leave in less than 2 years.
Decoupling time from value (🙌 Abby Forman of Fiverr)
Instead of defaulting to hourly rate, default to outcomes or impact
Instead of ‘expensive meetings’, default to a-sync communication with clear OKR’s
Making it easier to freelance and hire freelancers (🙌 Jon Younger)
Make it easier to get started hiring a freelancer. Instead of starting with a $50,000 website build, start with a $1,000 scoping session.
Instead of rejecting a presentation for PII, abstract important info.
Make it stickier to hire freelancers. Instead of one off ‘gigs’, add freelancers to your leadership bench and continue working together.
Make it less complicated. Instead of 20+ page contracts, iron out the basics, get working, and hire/fire fast.
Going beyond your existing supplier base… #DitchTheCountryClub ((🙌 Niklas Lieb of Vicoland)
🙌 Expert Shoutout - Monarch Wadia
Preview to below…Monarch is the definition of an expert that would be your VP of Engineering under traditional models, but can add more value by working on a project basis. He’s an expert in full stack React, Typescript, Express, GraphQL, REST, Next.js, Postgres, DevOps, and HTML/CSS/JavaScript.
🚀 Freelance M&A - WorkGenius Acquisition of JBC Means The Start Of Freelance/Full Time Hybrid Solutions
The world won’t be 100% freelancers or 100% full time.
If we want to get real deep, work will always be whatever makes companies and leaders most competitive.
For the past 150 years, this meant full-time employment because it was too burdensome to find/hire/pay/manage on a project basis.
Then technology happened, and for the past 20 years leaders have been learning how to leverage online marketplaces and remote collaboration tools to outcompete traditional hiring processes.
For the next 150 years we’ll be adjusting to freelance talent being more efficient than full time employment for 60-90% of work.
WorkGenius acquiring JBC shows how a talent strategy needs seamless integration to access both freelancers and full time employees.
What’s been funny for me, is that the past 10 years have been a boomerang of opinions on the question ‘what actually is a freelancer’?
Is it only someone that freelances full time?
If you freelance on the side are you a freelancer?
What about if you jump back and forth between freelancing and full time?
Fun Fact: It used to be common for freelancers to say “I’ve freelanced for so long that I’m unemployable”. But that’s just not true in my experience. In my experience, good employees make good freelancers and vice versa.
The real answer to what is a freelancer: Anyone that trades time for outcomes, politics for impact, and a set one company path for a diversified Human Cloud portfolio should be called a freelancer (I think?).
The implication: Freelancers will go full time, then jump back to freelance, or go full time and stay freelance on the side throughout their career.
As CEO of WorkGenius Marlon Rosenzweig put it,
“Not only has staffing been transformed by the freelance movement, it’s also created new career possibilities that we want to support. Nowadays, a top freelance engineer in the US, Europe or Asia might leave freelancing to join a company full-time for a great project, then go back to freelancing or perhaps work as an interim CTO. Talented professionals have more options than ever before, and we are uniquely able now to support them more fully throughout their career.”
How Can You Be Ready For The Freelance/Full Time Hybrid Workforce?
We predicted this in our book when we said there are 3 types of ways to embrace the Human Cloud as an individual (we’ve done all 3).
Freelance full time
Work full time and freelance on the side
Jump back/forth between freelancing and full time
For you, this means to plan for the hybrid world.
If an individual, position yourself to navigate freelance and full-time opportunities smoothly.
If a leader, start building your leadership bench, them position your teams to seamlessly collaborate freelance first and remote first.
You all got this!
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