Do you have a date for the ICO?

WHY A SUCCESSFUL FREELANCER AGENCY IS DISRUPTING ITSELF?


In the lifecycle of a company there come some pivotal moments. Some of them are due to internal changes, such as when new investors are onboarded or when top management changes. Some transitions are the result of external factors such as economic down turns, deregulation, technological disruption or changing customer expectations. These are thrilling events and can impact a business tremendously. It is up to the company to seize these sometimes frightening changes as an opportunity to rise to the challenge. We at NZ Group have made it our mission to actively seek out opportunities to stay ahead of the curb.

Founded in Switzerland, NZ Group has been in the freelance market since 2013. We served the ever-growing market for on-demand talent across several sectors. We can offer single talent solutions or teams of independent professionals working on the same assignment. And in 2017 we started to fully digitalise our business and create an online freelance market place. As a business we strive to be at the forefront of our industry by deploying our domain expertise and the best fit technology. As a talent broker we strive to fill the gap caused by the asymmetry of information in the market. We bring together clients and talent wherever there is a need for short term external knowledge. As our service comes with a fee (which results in lower rates for the freelancer) and the freelancers are banned from signing direct contracts with the clients, freelancers are not always amused about this engagement. They have chosen to freelance to be “free” after all.

Most highly skilled experts that choose to work on a freelance basis do so in order to acquire a certain amount of freedom over the type of work, time they allocate and clients they choose to work for. This makes the freelance market also one driven by emotions such as a personal affinity to freedom, pride, human interaction, and pride. Therefore, a solution that taps into this philosophy will be adopted very quickly.

When we started developing our digital match-making platform for independent professionals, blockchain was not yet part of our vision. The crypto world was something we chatted about during coffee brakes, with no identified use case for our business. During a family holiday, my brother (who is our tech lead now) sparked my fascination in blockchain, he explained the decentralised structures of public blockchains and the trustless nature of on-chain transactions. When I realised that some of the problems we are facing in our business could be approached with on-chain solutions, I really got passionate. This was the beginning to not only digitalising our business model but taking it even further and revolutionising our approach to the freelance market entirely. unitalent was born.

Disruptive technologies such as this harbour vast potential to solve existing problems in a market. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, being at the forefront of such movements has always been what NZ Group has aimed for. I saw a perfect fit between this new development and our expert field, the freelance market. The decentral nature of the freelance landscape is reflected nicely in the blockchain philosophy. There is no head and no tail, no boss and underling in it. The blockchain (like freelancers) is everywhere, connected but independent.

Secondly, just like the freelance market the blockchain architecture is empowered by the community. So why should we build a high-skill freelancing platform for ourselves and then sell it to the community if we can build it with and for the community? It is about our freelance work after all and as service providers it is far more natural to align ourselves with the “free” philosophy of freelancers. This completely shifted our approach. A design that empowers freelancer to profit from the platform fees on top of their freelancing fees would be a big leap towards democratising the market. From here on the idea took on a nature of its own. If we take on this new world of opportunities, consequently if the platform’s success is the freelancer’s success why shouldn’t the contract be signed directly between the freelancer and the client? It is a win-win for everyone after all, all parties are happy to work on the platform and the freelancers still own their work and their clients.

In a global network economy trust is always a challenge (the same applies for reputation). One of the beauties of the blockchain is its trustless nature. This can be experienced when smart contracts conditions are executed without any authority in power to change them. When it comes to referrals rewards, such contracts can be extremely confidence-building. Our business is a network-based activity. Often a favour is not directly monetised. When I refer a highly esteemed freelance colleague for instance I do this without payment but in good faith. Referral systems on a blockchain would secure rewards and the incorruptible nature of blockchain transactions make it easier to grow both organically through referrals and to build partnerships with other freelancer agencies.

Self-disruption always comes with a risk. What is the price of disrupting our business with blockchain technology? It is the risk of losing it all.The risk of losing our current profitable business by disrupting it for a scalable, lower margin, community centric business model. But we also have the opportunity to gain everything. We decided to take this opportunity because it solves many of the pressing problems and inefficiencies in the market which will drive inevitable change. We are convinced that blockchain will be an inherent part of the future of freelance work and we want to be at the front of this change. And eventually leading it.

Check out more on unitalent.io

Hey, thanks for this question!


From a market perspective we are focused on the high end segment. Therefore upwork, freelancer or fiverr are not our direct competitors.

From a tokenomics perspective, our design is made for scaling. It incentivises all users through sharing rewards and value created through freelancing.

From a strategic perspective, we are working with partnerships. Existing freelancing agencies can use unitalent and profit.

From a team perspective, we are freelance economy natives and in this market since 2013.

From a pricing perspective, the fees are paid by the clients and for freelancers its absolutely free.

Cheers
Bernhard

Hey Ursuka
Happy to hear that!

If some of them are interested in the private round as well (15k US+) please contact me on telegram. I'm one of the admins in the @unitalent group. We offer quite good options for them at the moment!

Cheers
Bernhard

Hey thanks. Could you clarify what you mean regarding unitalent?

Cheers bernhard

Nice to know that whitelist is coming soon, I will watch this project and hoping you reach success very soon.

Any infor about DEVs and WP?

Hey, thanks so much! Appreciate your feedback and support!

Cheers
Bernhard

Hey, thanks for that question, good point to mention and clarify!

Endordsers
This people are from the industry and representing corporate clients! Mostly they work already with NZ Group which is the agency behind unitalent. Please check also one of our former articles in this threat.

Freelancers
This are professionals with a high relationship to NZ Group and the project respectively.

Both groups help us to gain trust in our community. It is very important to mention that there is real business behind the project.

Cheers
Bernhard