- ODesk
Infobox Company
company_name = oDesk
company_
company_type = Private
company_slogan =
foundation =Campbell, California
2003
location =Menlo Park, California
industry = Internet
Service Marketplace
Workforce Management
key_people = Gary Swart, CEO
Brian Goler, VP Product & Marketing
Stratis Karamanlakis, VP of Development & Founder
Ed Schaffer, VP Finance & Operations
Odysseas Tsatalos, CTO & Founder
Bin Xu, VP of Engineering
homepage = [http://www.odesk.com/ 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 Menlo Park, CA, oDesk was founded byOdysseas Tsatalos andStratis Karamanlakis . The name is a short version of "no desk" [ cite web|url=http://blog.odesk.com/2007/02/nodeskcom-becomes-odeskcom/ |title=Nodesk.com becomes oDesk.com |date=February 20th, 2007 ] which encapsulated the founders' vision of enabling anyone to work anywhere, anytime.Established in 2003, oDesk relies upon proprietary tools to allow buyers real-time visibility into the ongoing activities of remote worker activities to facilitate
collaboration andsupervision . oDesk's system also includes payment,Intellectual property protection and other statutory requirements. For remote workers, the tools were designed to eliminate timekeeping and bookkeeping tasks, as well as ensure that these remote employees get paid for hourly work, even when working for a company in another country.The marketplace has been adopted by programmers and other freelancers around the world. As of October 16, 2007, over 25,000 service providers had joined the site.
The specific areas of expertise supported by the site are:
* Web Development
* Audio / Video & Multimedia
* Software Development
* Networking & Information Systems
* Writing
* Graphic Arts & Design
* Administrative Support
* Web Marketing / SEOoDesk tools
The oDesk Team software was designed to allow project managers to verify the work of remote employees through screenshots, mouse clicks and keyboard activity.
oDesk also provides the following tools to aid the remote work experience:
* Desktop sharing through the oDesk Share client
* Bugzilla for integrated task tracking
* Subversion repository for source code management
* Team mailing listsoDesk fees
oDesk charges workers a 10% fee on the wages they earn from buyers at oDesk. oDesk remote workers establish their own rates within the oDesk market. oDesk supports hourly or fixed-rate projects, but can only guarantee payment from the hourly fees. This fact is listed on the oDesk website.
Awards and coverage
* Finalist in PC Magazine’s 2006 Small Business Awards [ cite web|url=http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2021735,00.asp |title=Small Business Awards by PC Magazine: Outsourcing Finalists |last=Quain |first=John |date=September 27, 2006 |work=PC Magazine ]
* One of 13 Launch Pad companies featured at the web 2.0 Summit on November 7, 2006, selected from over 250 applicants [cite news | first= | last= | coauthors= | title=Web 2.0 Summit - November 7-9, 2006 - San Francisco, CA: Launch Pad | date= | publisher= | url =http://web2summit.com/pub/w/49/launchpad.html | work = | pages = | accessdate = | language = ]
* Profiled in Business Week as a leader inhomeshoring [cite news | first=Sarah | last=Lacy | coauthors= | title=Homeshoring: Beyond Call Centers | date=May 2, 2006 | publisher= | url =http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2006/tc20060502_237154.htm | work =Business Week | pages = | accessdate = | language = ]
* oDesk providers used for case studies as part of Computer World series on the Global Talent Pool [cite news | first=Mary | last=Brandel | coauthors= | title=Swimming in the Global Talent Pool | date=January 15, 2007 | publisher= | url =http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=277393 | work =ComputerWorld | pages = | accessdate = | language = ] [cite news | first=Mary | last=Brandel | coauthors= | title=Fishing in the Global Talent Pool | date=November 20, 2006 | publisher= | url =http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=270410 | work =ComputerWorld | pages = | accessdate = | language = ]Other information
oDesk has raised 3 rounds of financing.The first was by
Globespan Capital andSigma Partners . [cite news | first= | last= | coauthors= | title=Internet startup oDesk gets $6M funding | date=June 1, 2006 | publisher= | url =http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2006/05/29/daily44.html | work =Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal | pages = | accessdate = | language = ] The second round was raised in September 2006, led byBenchmark Capital and included the previous two investors. [cite news | first= | last= | coauthors= | title=oDesk Announces $8 Million Series B Round Led by Benchmark Capital | date=September 27, 2006 | publisher= | url =http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/060927/0167008.html | work =Yahoo! Finance | pages = | accessdate = | language = ] [cite news | first=Matt | last=Marshall | coauthors= | title=oDesk, marketplace for developers, raises $8 million | date=September 27, 2006 | publisher= | url =http://venturebeat.com/2006/09/27/odesk-marketplace-for-developers-raises-8-million/ | work =VentureBeat | pages = | accessdate = | language = ] . The third round was raised in May 2008, led byDAG Ventures and included the previous three investors. [ cite web|url=http://www.odesk.com/w/odesk_secures_15_Million_Dollars_series_c_funding| work =oDesk Press Releases|title=oDesk Secures $15 Million In Series C Funding|date=June 4, 2008|publisher=oDesk ] The venture investors on oDesk's board include Greg Gretsch, Venky Ganesan and Kevin Harvey.In November 2006, oDesk and O’Reilly launched a partnership to create global mashups for technical skills and rates. [ cite web|url=http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2006/11/odesk_oreilly_tech.html |title=oDesk/O'Reilly Tech Visualizations ]
In February 2008, oDesk started providing detailed statistics about its economy, including hours worked, buyer and provider growth, hourly rates statistics, penetration by country and skill. According to these statistics during the first quarter of 2008, oDesk providers billed approximately 400,000 hours working online at an average rate of $13-$14/hr. [ cite web|url=http://www.odesk.com/whatsnew/2008/02/1109#whats_feature_1109| work =oDesk Monthly Feature Timeline |title=oDesk launches the oConomy |date=February 7, 2008|publisher=oDesk ]
References
External links
* [http://www.odesk.com oDesk.com]
* [http://coati.oreilly.com/odesk/ oDesk Global Economy Beta, Powered by O'Reilly]
* [http://blog.odeskinsider.com oDesk Insider blog]
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