Manuel Medina · April 30, 2013
For those of us old enough to remember, not too long ago technical talent recruiting was mostly done by willing applicants submitting their CVs to open directories like Monster where recruiters would discover them using keyword matches, spend 6 seconds scanning their resume and reach out if it said the right things.
Andrew Kinzer · April 19, 2013
A few months ago, we were at a tech party and overheard somebody get asked about their experience using our service as a developer. We love gathering feedback, so of course we had to eavesdrop!
We were expecting to hear something about how it worked really well, and they love it - but instead what we heard was that the experience was, "OK, but not great."
Wait a minute. OK, but not great? How is that possible? I thought we were doing really well based off our more vocal members and overall numbers.
Manuel Medina · April 11, 2013
Many developers and designers choose freelancing because of the lifestyle it gives them. Working when you want on what you want allows you to always be doing something interesting, trying new companies, and constantly updating your technology toolbox. Despite its obvious benefits, being a freelancer is hard. Sourcing and vetting clients is incredibly time consuming and sometimes demoralizing, marketing yourself is an art in it itself and tends not to come natural to most developers, and the wear and tear to go from one client contract to another drives good developers to abandon freelancing to embrace the security of a full time job. This path is the most natural cycle of freelancing.
Andrew Kinzer · March 29, 2013
Everybody thinks that building a marketplace for software projects is easy. If you were watching HN at the end of 2011, you probably saw our debut soon after TinyProj's (partnered with GroupTalent), and then a multitude of new sites popping up ever since including Ooomf, HackerTrade, Matchist, TechTeams, 3desk, HackerList, WorkList and more through 2012 I'm sure.
Why so many? Because everybody thinks it's easy – and they're wrong.
Manuel Medina · March 22, 2013
“Before we hire anyone we give them a small project to chew on first. We see how they handle the project, how they communicate, how they work, etc.“ - Getting Real, 37 Signals
It is no secret that most good developers and designers are already gainfully employed – by others or themselves. To most it seems that the only way to score a great developer is to wait for her/him to quit his job, poach him, or import him. We respectfully submit another way of attracting talent. Moonlighting.
Gordon Hempton · March 15, 2013
The elephant in the room for any web application developer is the production environment. How does one get their code to transcend happily running on localhost and enter the ether of running on a live, public-facing web server? I know many extremely intelligent developers who shudder at the thought of having to deal with the ins and outs of a real deployment. The standard response to this is Heroku.
Guest Contributor · March 7, 2013
This is a guest post by Sherman Lee. Illustration by Megan Yee.
Freelancing is running a business. Being the best coder or designer around won’t necessarily make you a good freelancer. To be successful you need to generate client leads, market yourself, build strong relationships, understand business needs, demonstrate your value, give accurate project estimates, and deliver on what you promised.
These are all things clients take for granted. Follow these steps and position yourself as a business partner. Not a piece of meat commodity freelancer.
Wes Hather · February 28, 2013
It's amazing how easy it is to collect payments on the web these days. You can start charging credit cards on your website in less than 24 hours if you know what you're doing. With so many great payment API's to choose from, we ended up choosing Balanced. Here's why...
Integrating billing into an app used to be a pain in the ass. I remember integrating BrainTree into a previous startup back in 2008, and it was a four month long process. Applying for a merchant account to even start accepting credit card payments took at least three months to get approved. Furthermore, integrating BrainTree's API was no easy task and took us a couple of weeks to launch at the time.
Andrew Kinzer · November 17, 2012
Pitching is one of the most essential skills an entrepreneur can have. At any given time, you're going to have to convince customers, investors, co-founders, candidates, the media, and even your family that what you're doing is new and compelling.
One of the rarer forms of pitching is the five minute un-interrupted pitch format, most frequently used at demo day pitches for accelerators such as Y Combinator and Techstars, as well as StartupWeekends. This is a particularly unique beast to tangle with, and should be approached with attention to structure.
Andrew Kinzer · November 16, 2012
Almost exactly two years ago (before GroupTalent), I was lucky enough to attend this new type of event that a friend told me about, called StartupWeekend. It was a blast. My team was amazing, I got to work on an idea I had been thinking about, and I loved every minute of it... except the pitch.
Andrew Kinzer · November 9, 2012
This was an interview with Ryan Morel from PlacePlay and we talking about how to market your application.
This is an important subject often overlooked by those building a web or mobile app who believe in the myth of, "If you build it they will come." Listen in to find out the biggest mistakes app builders make.
Andrew Kinzer · October 31, 2012
We hope you like our spooktacular Halloween-themed illustration. Please feel free to embed it in your own blog, pin it on Pinterest, or any other devilish network!
This time of year, we are all reminded of our worst nightmares. For some it's the monster under the bed, for others it's the skeleton from the bone yard.
But for software developers, their greatest fears are of far more diabolical creatures. Boss monsters!
Manuel Medina · October 25, 2012
The infographic below was produced by Killer Infographics, a Seattle based infographic design studio. You can find them on twitter at @TopInfographics.
Back in August, we analyzed data from 3K developers and over 150 transactions submitted to the GroupTalent marketplace looking for patterns on pricing, type and location of projects, choice of tech-stack, and overall trends in the marketplace for software freelancing.
Andrew Kinzer · October 17, 2012
This post was written with collaboration from Saqib Rasool, CEO of Conceivian, and Joe Wallin, an attorney at DWT in Seattle. Many thanks for contributing thoughts and experiences. These atrocious illustrations are by Andrew Kinzer.
Equity for contract work is something that appeals to the startup-er in all of us. You get to feel like you’re part of a cause, fighting for something you believe in.
Guest Contributor · June 25, 2012
This is a Guest Post by John Nelson of Seattle App Lab, a mobile consulting agency in Seattle, Washington. Its team has put over 15 years of experience building desktop, Web and mobile products and services into building the company.
You found a team of software developers to build your app, from perfecting its look and feel to coding it up to make it work. With testing complete and not a bug in-sight, you’re home free, right?
Andrew Kinzer · June 22, 2012
Most project owners come to GroupTalent with two things in-mind: a vision of their dream project and a budget for it. That vision usually comes in the form of a set of features. When mixed with marketing, some PR and hustle, those features can bring you a lot of customers, and potentially profits.
If you want to build an app, know that the first roadblock usually comes when your feature set needs to be reconciled with your app budget. In other words, when there are more features in your app than your budget can pay for. (We have seen cases that run the other direction, but those cases are rare.)
Andrew Kinzer · June 18, 2012
When it comes to building a web or mobile application, there’s a time and place for aesthetic design.
Getting your app’s core features up and running is paramount to perfecting its user experience, but there will be a time when you’re ready to make your product look as good as it works. Putting time into your app’s visuality translates into more time spent by users per session and improves the likelihood that they’ll tell their friends about it (virality).
Andrew Kinzer · June 16, 2012
You've worked hard and now you’ve made it to the top of your department. The good news is that you’re working with a great team, and can now spearhead efforts that use software to move the company forward. The bad news is that you don’t have time to find and hire a great full time employee.
So what do you do?
Andrew Kinzer · June 15, 2012
By Sharon Florentine
One of the biggest obstacles to a successful relationship between freelancer and project owner is compensation. Settling on a project’s cost is one task, but agreeing to when and how the money will change hands is another matter altogether.
No matter which way you cut it, freelancers face the risk of not getting paid. Project owners face the uncertainty of whether freelance designers and freelance developers will deliver the promised work and quality.
Andrew Kinzer · June 13, 2012
Not all designers were created equal. Some navigate Photoshop and Illustrator with their eyes closed. Others map out an app's components in minutes. And then there are the mystical unicorns of designers who can do a little bit of everything.
After you understand which components of the design process you need help with, you can set out to find the right fit. There are common patterns to look for in terms of designer skill sets because they coincide heavily with designer responsibilities and will help you find that perfect candidate.
Andrew Kinzer · June 11, 2012
So you’ve decided to build a web application. Now what? When it comes to web app development, the trek from idea and concept to a finished polished and well-designed application is tough to navigate, but charting that path and tailoring it to your skills and needs is the first and most crucial step to creating an app users will use and love.
It’s easy to become overwhelmed with the multitude of steps in the app design and development. Find inspiration here. Design this feature there. Don’t use one tool, but dive into another. Hire developers, but only the ones with pink hair. Yes, there is a method to this madness, but there are 5 key steps that need to be taken to build an app successfully.
Guest Contributor · June 8, 2012
This post was written by Vivian Luu, a marketing and social media strategist.
When was the last time you “checked in” somewhere? Were you with your friends at the local pub? Getting ready for your routine haircut? Sitting down at a cozy bistro with that special someone?
Most apps are “single-player” experiences. People interact with the product directly, but they do so in relentless isolation. Social apps, on the other hand, continue to be a huge hit and come with big payoffs because they tap into our need as humans to be social and share with others.
Andrew Kinzer · June 6, 2012
Design thinking is more important than ever, but it hasn’t always been that way.
Web and mobile apps only became ubiquitous in the second half of the 2000s, and for companies to understand that making these experiences easy to use and attractive will mean the difference between success and failure.
If you know anyone who worked with clients as a design shop in 2007, you’ve probably heard your friend complain about every client saying: “I want it to look like Apple.” At the time, they were referencing Apple’s website aesthetic, but today when people talk about Apple, they’re referring to something else: The simplicity and intuitiveness of the experience as a whole.
Andrew Kinzer · June 1, 2012
This post was contributed to by Sam Jp, a developer and entrepreneur in San Francisco. See his GroupTalent profile here.
When I watched The Simpsons as a kid, I thought Ned Flanders was a dope for lending his stuff to Homer. He’d never get anything back, whether it was his lawnmower or lawn chair. What I’ve realized over time is that Ned’s intentions were right — he just needed a little help enforcing the rules of lending.
Today, peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplaces have been springing up. Airbnb’s rise to success has caused just about everybody to think how they can create an “Airbnb for (insert anything). For example, today you can borrow somebody’s time on TaskRabbit, somebody’s handbag on BagBorrowSteal, and even somebody’s boat on JustShareIt. The list goes on!
Andrew Kinzer · April 10, 2012
Have you ever posted a job description and thought, “Man, I hope this attracts a lot of boring mediocre job candidates for my company?”
Probably not, but you may still be inadvertently saying *exactly* that if you haven’t written it to answer the one and only question you need to be thinking about: What does the best talent want?
Let’s set the stage by establishing that this is literally the first time somebody is likely to have heard about you. When they come across your job description, you’re lucky to have about 5-10 seconds to grab their attention and make them notice you. You have an opportunity to make it onto their Top 5 list of companies worth talking to, or be brushed aside like the rest.
Manuel Medina · April 5, 2012
Pinterest is a wildly successful startup that allows you to "pin" images from any site, create collections, and share with friends. We found it valuable to deconstruct their success, so we could connect the dots and tell a story.
Pinterest, Pinterest. You badass mf-er. We salute you.
Who would have guessed that a team which spent most of its time grinding out design details and doing little to no public relations would grow into a juggernaut with 11 million uniques, challenging Facebook in user engagement? This company barely got a passing glance from Silicon Valley's know-it-all investors when it launched in 2010.
Their story teaches us that laser-like focus on UX + obsessing about how well your site reads on any device = a damn good strategy for building a consumer site. We wouldn't say it's the only way. But if it worked for Pinterest, it might work for you. Let’s discuss...
Manuel Medina · March 15, 2012
Most software developers and Web designers we know are freelancing on the side. Some want to expand their range and take on new challenges. Others may be in it more for financial gain or to extend their startup runway.
But being a great dev or designer doesn’t automatically transform you into a great Web or software freelancer. You’ll need other skills and workflow processes unique to freelancing work in order to become that person everyone needs when they to get a Web app built.
Andrew Kinzer · January 24, 2012
A week ago, we announced along with Kyle Bragger that his site, Tinyproj (an email list for software projects) is now a part of GroupTalent. Since then, we've been flooded with new applications to our platform, and we'd like to send out a big welcome to all the Tinyproj users who've applied.
Andrew Kinzer · January 4, 2012
In the software world, heavy sprints are used to reach project milestones by meeting project goals and deadlines. They’re designed to get a lot of work done very quickly. But when they drag on for months on end, they become a problem by contributing to morale in the workplace and high attrition. In other words, employee burnout soars in the absence of a company culture that shows care for employees.
A software sprint is a chunk of work defined by a particular set of application features and timed with some set of events. The deadline could be defined by a conference, a press release, a biz/dev deal, or just because it's time to get the darn features out. You set a deadline and work your butt off to meet it. The sense of urgency (either real or simulated) can motivate your troops and dramatically increase productivity by making it extremely expensive to work in periods of indecision.
Andrew Kinzer · December 7, 2011
Dear Target, Macy’s and Best Buy,
As you know, we are now in the midst of the holiday shopping season. Black Friday marked the beginning of what is expected to be a $60 billion online shopping spree by the American public. You are now in heated combat for the hearts, minds, and wallets of gifters looking to cross as many names off their list with the least amount of pain and trampling.
Andrew Kinzer · December 1, 2011
At the outset of Media Startup, Bruce assembled an impressive team of Program Managers and developers. Unfortunately, the team spent over 4 months creating requirements and strategizing on go-to-markets.
Andrew Kinzer · November 22, 2011
Established in 2009 in Birmingham, AL by brothers and entrepreneurs Mike (CTO) and Nate (CEO) Schmidt, Deal Co-Op is a platform that powers daily deals for anyone with an email lists: from mom groups to local newspapers.
Andrew Kinzer · October 20, 2011
The problem we are solving has been staring us all in the face for years. We've felt it when we’ve founded previous startups, when we've had to deal with outsourcing portions of product at larger companies, and anytime we were looking to do contract work. When we’ve been in charge of hiring, we've expended large amounts of energy and time locating and interviewing talent that was unskilled, indifferent about the product, or just not a good fit based on lack of specialized knowledge. As contractors we've spent countless hours on the phone and wading through a barrage of emails while employers and recruiters (who we don’t know) try to sell us on projects that have unrealistic funds, or are in a problem space that are a complete mismatch for our interests.
Our experiences on both sides of this equation are not unique or rare. In our search for validation we've encountered endless stories from contractors, development shops, startups, and large companies as both buyers and sellers of talent. Despite their unique needs, they all share one universal pain: the way high end projects and software developers find each other in the market is completely broken.
What We Do
“GroupTalent connects software projects with top engineering and design talent across the country.”