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99designs

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by BC1278 (talk | contribs) at 20:26, 30 October 2018. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

99designs
Type of site
Freelance marketplace, Online outsourcing, Employment website
Founded2008
HeadquartersMelbourne, Australia,
Australia
Founder(s)Matt Mickiewicz, Mark Harbottle
CEOPatrick Llewellyn, (CEO)
IndustryInternet
URL99designs.com
  • Comment: Hi. As disclosed on the Talk page, I'm an experienced Wikipedia editor but have a WP: COI here as a paid consultant to 99designs. I still did my best to abide by the five pillars - especially to write a neutral article about the subject and adopt a NPOV. Cognizant of the grounds for denial cite above, I've made a bunch of changes. Fist, this company's entire business model, going back more than 10 years, caused a controversy in the graphic design community. I've alluded to it in the lead, now, and moved up the large paragraph about the criticism and controversy so it's the second graph in "History." So the criticism of the company is now prominent. I deleted language that the company is the largest in the contest space, as that seems borderline promotional, even though it's true. I removed language about follow-on work in case that seemed promotional. I removed language about the shift of work toward agencies after they added a direct hire option as that's too inside ball. I've tightened up language in various other places. I added a separate section for financials to make it clearer that this is a substantial business. In general, I would say for better or worse, this company was an early and influential player in a shift to the gig economy, where the barrier to entry to work in a field was dramatically lowered by technology, with the accompanying disruption of lower prices and displacing entrenched professionals. Recording this history in Wikipedia is valuable. Design is very important in contemporary society and this platform is one of the big channels for getting design done. BC1278 (talk) 20:05, 30 October 2018 (UTC)BC1278

99designs, founded in 2008, is a global freelancer platform for connecting graphic designers and clients. The company initially ran design competitions for client work, with only the winning entry getting paid, a business model that divided the design community. In 2017 it also added a direct method for finding and hiring designers.

Company History

The company was founded by Matt Mickiewicz and Mark Harbottle as a spin-off of Sitepoint, a website started in 1998 as a forum for web developers and designers. Designers on the site's forums began self-organizing contests based on fictional client briefs.[1][2] The founders decided to test charging a fee to post briefs for real projects, eventually creating 99designs as a separate company to hold the graphic design contests.[1][3]

From the onset, the platform divided the design community. The competition model drew complaints because the losing bidders in contests are not paid for their designs.[4][5] Winning bids were also typically at much lower rates than large design agencies would charge.[4][6] Critics also said the fast turnaround time of contests could lower the quality of work.[7] Other designers, however, have said they used the platform as a business development tool.[3][1] The company has defended the contest model as facilitating equal access to projects, leading to more merit-based hiring.[7] New designers are also able to work on improving their design skills in a real client bidding environment.[5] The company established a mentoring network for more experienced designers to coach new designers.[8]

It opened a San Francisco office in 2008.[9] In 2010, the site was paying out about $600,000 a month to designers and it opened a San Francisco office.[4] At the time, the majority of the platform's clients and designers were in the United States.[10] The site had 175,000 designers in 192 countries, as of 2012.[11] By 2016, it had about one million registered designers.[12]

The platform was later redesigned to allow customers to directly search for and hire designers, outside of design competitions.[13] The direct hire features also abated some of the criticism from designers about the platform.[14]

CEO Patrick Llewellyn said attracting designers to the platform had never been a problem, but attracting small business clients to the website was a significant business challenge.[15] In 2012, the company acquired a European competitor called 12designer, based in Germany.[11][8] The acquisition gave the company capabilities in German, Italian, French and Spanish. CEO Patrick Llewellyn said at the time that the company had focused on international growth since raising venture capital.[11] It acquired LogoChef, a Brazilian competitor, in 2013.[16]

The company relocated back to Melbourne, Australia in 2017.[17][14] The company reported becoming profitable in 2017.[13]

Financials

The company had resisted taking venture capital funding for several years in order to maintain its independence,[6] but accepted $35 million in financing from Accel Partners and angel investors in 2011.[18][15] It subsequently raised another $10 million in 2015.[12][17]

In 2017, it reportedly had paid out about $200 million to designers since inception.[13] In February 2018, the company said it was generating about $60 million a year in revenue.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b c Craig, Elsie (2012-05-21). "Xconomy: 99designs Crowdsources Its Own New Website Design". Xconomy. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
  2. ^ Dubois, Lou (2011-06-27). "Matt Mickiewicz, Co-founder of 99designs". Inc.com. Retrieved 2018-07-27.
  3. ^ a b Lacy, Sarah (2012-01-24). "Get Over It, Haters: 99designs Has Tipped". Pando. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
  4. ^ a b c Isaac, Mike. "Why Designers Hate Crowdsourcing". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-07-27.
  5. ^ a b Knight, Anneli (2011-10-20). "Winner takes all: the global design race". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2018-07-27.
  6. ^ a b Lacy, Sarah. "Accel Invests $35M. in 99designs…After Years of Trying". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2018-07-27.
  7. ^ a b Ward, Miranda (2013-11-28). "99designs refutes claim crowd-sourcing is contributing to tough conditions for freelancers - Mumbrella". Mumbrella. Retrieved 2018-07-27.
  8. ^ a b Sharma, Mahesh (2012-08-31). "99 problems but a design ain't one | ZDNet". ZDNet. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
  9. ^ King, Rachel (2008-10-27). "The Designer-Small Biz Connection". Fast Company. Retrieved 2018-08-02.
  10. ^ Anderson, Cathy (2016-05-27). "How These Aussie Small Businesses Have Cracked the US Market". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-07-27.
  11. ^ a b c Empson, Rip (2012-08-07). "99designs Makes Its First Acquisition, Scoops Up European Rival 12designer". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
  12. ^ a b Redrup, Yolanda (2016-03-09). "Design marketplace 99designs releases growth figures as it weighs up possible IPO". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 2018-07-27.
  13. ^ a b c "Graphic design marketplace 99designs hits profitability 9 years after launch". VentureBeat. 2017-10-24. Retrieved 2018-07-27.
  14. ^ a b Wallbank, Paul (2017-10-24). "99Designs pivots to agencies as it returns to its Melbourne roots ahead of ASX listing". Mumbrella. Retrieved 2018-07-27.
  15. ^ a b Khoo, Valerie (2013-05-16). "Going global: how one Melbourne start-up did it". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2018-07-27. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  16. ^ "Crowdsourcing giant 99designs acquires LogoChef, continues global expansion". VentureBeat. 2013-08-27. Retrieved 2018-08-02.
  17. ^ a b c "As 99designs turns 10, CEO Patrick Llewellyn plans for an Australian IPO". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
  18. ^ Primick, Dan (2011-04-29). "Why 99designs raised $35 million from Accel Partners". Fortune. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
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