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Upwork

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Upwork
Company typePrivate
IndustryFreelance marketplace
FoundedMountain View, California
2015
HeadquartersMountain View, California
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Stephane Kasriel (CEO), Thomas Layton (Chairman)
Websitewww.upwork.com
Upwork

Upwork, formerly Elance-oDesk,[2] is a global freelancing platform where businesses and independent professionals connect and collaborate remotely. In 2015, Elance-oDesk was rebranded as Upwork.[3] It is based in Mountain View and San Francisco, California.

Upwork has twelve million registered freelancers and five million registered clients.[4] Three million jobs are posted annually, worth a total of $1 billion USD, making it the world's largest freelancer marketplace.[5][6][7]

History

Upwork was formed 18 months after Elance and oDesk announced their merger on December 18, 2013 to create Elance-oDesk, an online workplace with a combined total 8 million registered users.[8] oDesk was founded in 2003[9] by Odysseas Tsatalos and Stratis Karamanlakis.[10] Elance was founded in 1999 by Beerud Sheth and Srini Anumolu.[11] With the launch of Upwork, the oDesk platform was upgraded and rebranded and the company announced that the Elance platform would be phased out within a couple of years, resulting in a single freelance marketplace.[12]

After the re-branding of Upwork in early 2015, criticism surfaced among freelancers because of various bugs and slow loading speed of the Upwork platform. [citation needed]

In early September 2015, the Upwork service experienced an outage which led to an apology being issued by CEO Stephane Kasriel.[13] This led to the introduction of an Upwork Status page to offer freelancers and clients greater transparency.[14]

Description

Upwork allows clients to interview, hire and work with freelancers and agencies through the company's platform. The platform now includes a real-time chat platform aimed at reducing the time it takes to find and hire freelancers.[15]

On 3 May 2016, Upwork announced that the service fee for freelancers will change from flat rate of 10% to a "sliding service fee" of 5% to 20%.[16][17]

As of 21 June 2016, freelancers pay a "sliding service fee" based on total lifetime billings with each client: 20% for the first $500 billed to the client across all contracts, 10% for total billings with the client between $500.01 and $10,000, and 5% for total billings with the client that exceed $10,000.[18] Clients pay a 2.75% per payment processing fee; some clients are eligible to pay a monthly flat processing fee of $25.[19] Payments can be made using credit cards, PayPal, or bank transfer.[20] Payments are made through Upwork's escrow system, which transfers the funds to freelancers after a 6-day period.[21]

As of June 2016, Upwork reported $1B in annual freelancer billings.[22] Freelancers can be hired for jobs on web, mobile, and software development, engineering and data science, creative services such as graphic design and writing, sales and marketing, customer service, virtual assistants, and accounting and consulting.[23] The company provides voluntary skills tests in various disciplines from English aptitude to specific programming skills,[24] and profiles include a feedback mechanism.

To ensure the freelancers are billing fairly for jobs billed hourly, the platform offers a time sheet application that tracks time and takes screenshots while the freelancer is working.[25]

Upwork has a mobile app for both Android[26] and iOS,[27] as well as a time-tracking app for Windows, OSX, and Linux.

Reception

  • Bersin by Deloitte "WhatWorks" Award (2013)[28][third-party source needed]
  • oDesk ranked #543 in the 2012 Inc. 5000, #441 in the 2011 Inc. 500, #286 on the 2010 Inc. 500, and #110 in the 2009 Inc. 500[29]
  • AlwaysOn Global 250 Top Private Companies (2012[30] and 2011[31])[third-party source needed]
  • AlwaysOn OnDemand 100 (2012[32] and 2011[33])[third-party source needed]
  • Silicon Valley Business Journal Fastest Growing Private Company List (2011,[34] 2010[35] and 2009[36])
  • San Francisco Business Times Fastest Growing Companies List (2011[37] and 2010[38])
  • SAMCEDA Innovation & Entrepreneurship Awards - 2011 Fastest Growing Innovator Award of Excellence[39]
  • 2011 TiE50 Internet/Social Networking Winner[40] of TiE50 Awards Program.
  • TechCrunch50 DemoPit Winner (2010)[41]
  • Silicon Valley Business Journal Emerging Technology Award (2009)[42]
  • International Association of Outsourcing Professionals 2009 Global Outsourcing 100 Rising Star[43]
  • Deloitte Technology Fast 500[44]
  • Finalist for the "Red Herring 100 Global" Awards 2007 and 2009[45][third-party source needed]
  • 2007 Rising Star in Deloitte's Technology Fast 500 Program[46]
  • Finalist in PC Magazine’s 2006 Small Business Awards[47]

References

  1. ^ "Upwork.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2017-01-17.
  2. ^ "Elance-oDesk Becomes 'Upwork' In Push To Build $10B In Freelancer Revenues". Forbes. 5 May 2015. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  3. ^ Lunden, Ingrid (May 5, 2015). "Elance-oDesk Rebrands As Upwork, Debuts Slack-Like Chat Platform". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 17, 2016.
  4. ^ "About Us".
  5. ^ "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem".
  6. ^ Elaine Pofeldt (5 May 2015). "Elance-oDesk Becomes 'Upwork' In Push To Build $10B In Freelancer Revenues". Forbes.
  7. ^ Lawler, Ryan (November 25, 2014). "Eight Months After Merger, Elance-oDesk Raises Another $30 Million Led By Benchmark". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 17, 2016.
  8. ^ Levy, Ari (December 19, 2013). "Elance Merges With oDesk to Boost Service for Freelancers". Bloomberg Technology. San Francisco. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  9. ^ "California Secretary of State. Corporate filing date 1/27/2003". Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  10. ^ "oDesk About Us Page". Retrieved 7 June 2011.
  11. ^ Thomas W. Malone; Robert J. Laubacher. "The Dawn of the E-Lance Economy" (PDF). Harvard Business Review. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-01-31. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ "oDesk becomes Upwork, but what about Elance?". news.smallbusinesstrends.com. 5 May 2015. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  13. ^ Kasriel, Stephane. "Update on Site Performance and Issues". Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  14. ^ "Upwork Status".
  15. ^ Lunden, Ingrid. "Elance-oDesk Rebrands As Upwork, Debuts Slack-Like Chat Platform". TechCrunch. TechCrunch. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  16. ^ Pofeldt, Elaine. "Freelance Giant Upwork Shakes Up Its Business Model". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
  17. ^ "Upwork's New Pricing: A Message from the CEO". Upwork Blog.
  18. ^ "Freelancer Pricing - Upwork". www.upwork.com. Upwork. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  19. ^ "Fee and ACH Authorization Agreement - Legal Pages". www.upwork.com. Upwork. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  20. ^ "Payments and Productivity on Upwork". www.upwork.com. Upwork. 28 January 2016. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  21. ^ "Weekly Billing Cycle". Upwork Help Center. Upwork. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  22. ^ "About Us". upwork.com. Upwork. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  23. ^ "Freelancer skills". www.upwork.com. Upwork. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  24. ^ "Qualification Tests for Freelancers & Programmers". www.upwork.com. Upwork. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  25. ^ Hardy, Quentin. "Big Brother in the Home Office".
  26. ^ "Upwork - Get work done - Android Apps on Google Play". play.google.com. Retrieved 2016-05-26.
  27. ^ "Upwork – Get work done anytime, anywhere on the App Store". App Store. Retrieved 2016-05-26.
  28. ^ "Bersin by Deloitte Announces Winners of the WhatWorks® Awards". Bersin by Deloitte.
  29. ^ "oDesk Company Profile". Inc.[dead link]
  30. ^ "Announcing the 2012 AlwaysOn Global 250 Top Private Companies". AlwaysOn. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  31. ^ "Announcing the 2011 AlwaysOn Global 250". AlwaysOn. Archived from the original on 30 April 2013. Retrieved 30 April 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  32. ^ "Announcing the 2012 OnDemand 100 Top Private Companies". AlwaysOn. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  33. ^ "Announcing the 2011 OnDemand 100 Top Private Companies | AlwaysOn". Alwayson.goingon.com. 2011-03-30. Archived from the original on 2011-12-17. Retrieved 2012-01-12. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  34. ^ "Fastest-growing Silicon Valley private companies named". Silicon Valley Business Journal. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  35. ^ "Valley's fastest growing companies honored". October 14, 2010.
  36. ^ "70 FastPrivate valley companies hailed". October 9, 2009.
  37. ^ "Slideshow: The fastest-growing Bay Area companies". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  38. ^ Young, Eric (October 25, 2010). "CEOs say staying nimble, efficient aids growth".
  39. ^ Chan, Stacie (April 1, 2011). "Despite Slow Economy, Six County Companies Are Posterchildren for Growth". Patch.com. Archived from the original on 2011-06-08. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)[third-party source needed]
  40. ^ "Welcome to TiE50 Awards".
  41. ^ Monday, September 14, 2009 (2009-09-14). "TC50: DemoPit Winner oDesk Launches A Real-Time Work Stream For Your iPhone And Desktop". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2012-01-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  42. ^ "Emerging Tech award winners honored". December 4, 2009.
  43. ^ "The 2009 Global Outsourcing 100 Sub-Lists". IAOP. Archived from the original on 2012-01-15. Retrieved 2012-01-12. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)[third-party source needed]
  44. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2012-05-11. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)[third-party source needed]
  45. ^ "Xceedium is Now CA Technologies" (PDF).[dead link]
  46. ^ 2007 Technology Fast 500[third-party source needed] Archived April 5, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  47. ^ Quain, John (September 27, 2006). "Small Business Awards by PC Magazine: Outsourcing Finalists". PC Magazine.
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