- oDesk
-
oDesk 
Type Private Industry Internet
Service Marketplace
Workforce Management
CrowdsourcingFounded Campbell, California
2003Headquarters Redwood City, California Key people Gary Swart, CEO
Odysseas Tsatalos, CTO & Founder
Stratis Karamanlakis, VP of Development & Founder
Nilesh Lakhani, CFO
Jaleh Bisharat, VP of Marketing
Michael Levinson, VP of Product
Matt Cooper, VP of OperationsWebsite oDesk.com oDesk is a company with a global job marketplace and a series of tools targeted at businesses that intend to hire and manage remote workers. Based in Redwood City, CA, oDesk was founded in 2003 by Greek entrepreneurs Odysseas Tsatalos and Stratis Karamanlakis.[1]
Contents
Background
Outsourcing, the trend of contracting out jobs, often to lower-cost regions where labor may more cheaply be employed, has prompted the creation of various online services designed to create a marketplace in which freelance workers and potential employers can connect. oDesk is one among a number of companies, including Elance, Freelancer, Guru and vWorker (formerly Rent A Coder), that create marketplaces in which employers and freelancers can contact one another. These sites often manage the payments, and make money by charging membership fees and/or take a cut of the payment. The cuts can range from 4 percent to 15 percent. oDesk charges 10% but does not charge a membership fee.[2]
Description
oDesk allows employers (“buyers”) to create online workteams coordinated and paid through the company's proprietary software and website. The name is a short version of "no desk"[3] in reference to the company's intent to enable anyone to work anywhere, anytime. Prospective employers can post jobs for free, and freelance workers (“contractors”) may create profiles and bid on jobs, also for free.[2] The company collects 10 percent of the payment.[4] Payments are made through oDesk, which handles many bookkeeping tasks for the transaction. In addition to the marketplace aspect and the payment/bookkeeping services, the company uses collaborative software, “oDesk Team,” that allows employers to see a provider's progress while he or she is billing time. This aspect of the company's business model has drawn criticism.[by whom?]
The company describes itself as a staffing marketplace and management platform. As of Jan. 10, 2009, the company reports that nearly 37,000 of its 170,000 providers are in the United States[citation needed]. The company's site is entirely in English, and all transactions are made in U.S. dollars. The site does not post statistics regarding locations of buyer companies, but a comment posted by an oDesk employee noted that the majority are U.S.-based.[5] In December 2009, the company's self-reported tally of services paid through its site had passed $113 million.[citation needed]
The specific areas of expertise supported by the site include web development and a wide variety of programming/software development skills, graphic design, writing and administrative support. The company provides voluntary skills tests in various disciplines from English aptitude to specific programming skills, and profiles include a feedback mechanism.
Financing
oDesk has raised three rounds of financing. The first was by Globespan Capital and Sigma Partners.[6] The second round was raised in September 2006, led by Benchmark Capital and included the previous two investors.[7][8] The third round was raised in May 2008, led by DAG Ventures and included the previous three investors.[9] The venture investors on oDesk's board include Greg Gretsch, Venky Ganesan, and Kevin Harvey.
Innovation
The company's oDesk team software increases transparency and allows a buyer to have confidence in the billing done by a contractor whom the buyer may never have met and who may be half a world away. In an October 2008 interview with website Web Worker Daily, CEO Gary Swart said the work diaries “give buyers unprecedented visibility into work performed,” and that the Team software's “hassle-free tracking guarantees convenient, safe, and accurate billing for all work performed.”[10]
Awards
- SAMCEDA Innovation & Entrepreneurship Awards - 2011 Fastest Growing Innovator Award of Excellence [11]
- 2011 AlwaysOn OnDemand 100 [12]
- oDesk ranked #286 on the 2010 Inc. 500, and #110 in 2009 [13][14]
- Silicon Valley Business Journal Fastest Growing Private Company List (2010) [15]
- San Francisco Business Times Fastest Growing Companies List (2010) [16]
- TechCrunch50 DemoPit Winner (2010) [17]
- Silicon Valley Business Journal Emerging Technology Award (2009) [18]
- Silicon Valley Business Journal Fastest Growing Private Company List (2009) [19]
- International Association of Outsourcing Professionals 2009 Global Outsourcing 100 Rising Star [20]
- Deloitte Technology Fast 500 [21]
- Finalist in PC Magazine’s 2006 Small Business Awards[22]
- oDesk is named Rising Star in Deloitte's Technology Fast 500 Program.[23]
- Finalist for the "Red Herring 100 Global" Awards 2007 and 2009.[24]
References
- ^ "oDesk About Us Page". https://www.odesk.com/w/about-odesk-team. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
- ^ a b Raymund Flandez (2008-10-13). "Help Wanted – And Found". The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122347721312915407.html?mod=googlenews_wsj.
- ^ "Nodesk.com becomes oDesk.com". February 20, 2007. http://blog.odesk.com/2007/02/nodeskcom-becomes-odeskcom/.
- ^ "oDesk Policy". October 2010. http://www.odesk.com/help/help/policies/user_agreement#policies.
- ^ "Neither of the graphs on". Odesk.com. 2009-07-16. http://www.odesk.com/community/oconomy/country_statistics#comment-15079. Retrieved 2009-08-05.
- ^ "Internet startup oDesk gets $6M funding". Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal. June 1, 2006. http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2006/05/29/daily44.html.
- ^ "oDesk Announces $8 Million Series B Round Led by Benchmark Capital". Yahoo! Finance. September 27, 2006. http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/060927/0167008.html.
- ^ Marshall, Matt (September 27, 2006). "oDesk, marketplace for developers, raises $8 million". VentureBeat. http://venturebeat.com/2006/09/27/odesk-marketplace-for-developers-raises-8-million/.
- ^ "oDesk Secures $15 Million In Series C Funding". oDesk Press Releases. oDesk. June 4, 2008. http://www.odesk.com/w/odesk_secures_15_Million_Dollars_series_c_funding.
- ^ Samuel Dean (2008-10-16). "Interview: oDesk’s CEO on Opportunities for Web Workers". Web Worker Daily. http://webworkerdaily.com/2008/10/16/interview-odesks-ceo-on-opportunities-for-web-workers/.
- ^ Chan, Stacie (April 1, 2011). "Despite Slow Economy, Six County Companies Are Posterchildren for Growth". Patch.com. http://redwoodcity.patch.com/articles/despite-slow-economy-six-county-companies-are-posterchildren-for-growth.
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ [3]
- ^ "Valley's fastest growing companies honored". October 14, 2010. http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2010/10/11/daily82.html.
- ^ Young, Eric (October 25, 2010). "CEOs say staying nimble, efficient aids growth". http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/print-edition/2010/10/22/ceos-say-staying-nimble-efficient.html.
- ^ [4]
- ^ "Emerging Tech award winners honored". December 4, 2009. http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2009/11/30/daily83.html.
- ^ "70 FastPrivate valley companies hailed". October 9, 2009. http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2009/10/05/daily90.html.
- ^ [5]
- ^ [6]
- ^ Quain, John (September 27, 2006). "Small Business Awards by PC Magazine: Outsourcing Finalists". PC Magazine. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2021735,00.asp.
- ^ 2007 Technology Fast 500
- ^ Finalists for the "Red Herring 100 Global" Awards 2007
External links
Categories:- Telecommuting
- Collaboration
- Online auction websites
- Global internet community
- Companies based in Menlo Park, California
- Internet companies of the United States
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
