Editor's Note: This piece was originally posted on Colorado Inno Dec. 12, and was republished here with permission. Some edits were made to highlight the company's Cincinnati connection.
With the gig economy rapidly growing in the United States, one Denver startup is looking to facilitate job opportunities for temporary workers. And it has Cincy ties.
According to a June study by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, some 16.5 million people were working in contingent jobs or alternative work arrangements. That means these employees either don’t have a contract for their employment, work as freelance workers, work as temporary help or work on-call.
Denver-based GigSmart has created a platform that allows temporary workers to build a skills profile with more than 3,000 available skills and search for jobs.
A business, charity or individual requester can then search by skill, review profiles and send a gig request to the worker or volunteer of choice. Within minutes, the worker may accept or decline the gig request.
Upon acceptance, the worker proceeds to the gig site or begins working remotely based on the requirements. Once the gig is complete, the worker is then paid through the app.
The app is free to use for workers and GigSmart takes a 10 percent fee from the employer. That means, if a worker is set to make $100, they will receive the entire $100. The individual or business that employed them will pay $10 additional to GigSmart for facilitating the work.
GigSmart’s Rich Oakes, who came to Denver from Cincinnati, said the 10 percent model is a prime differentiator in the market — as most competitors take 20 to 40 percent fees. GigSmart’s on-demand model is also a selling point, Oakes said.
“When the workers accept the job, we expect that they are immediately traveling to the gig site,” he said.
In addition to paid work, GigSmart offers a volunteer component that is free to both the employer and worker.
Rich Oakes and Mitch Catino of GigSmart.
GigSmart launched in late November in Denver, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Indianapolis, Lexington and Louisville. In the next 12 months, Oakes said he expects GigSmart to be nationwide.
The company has been self-funded to this point and Oakes said GigSmart will remain that way through 2019 at least.
“As of right now we haven’t raised capital and have no intention to,” he said.
The 13-person full-time GigSmart team is based in Denver, choosing to locate in the city based on recommendations from a number of recruiters.
“We needed access to tech talent, so we talked to recruiters and they recommended Denver. Virtually every recruiter we talked to said Denver or Austin,” Oakes said.
As the company grows, GigSmart will look to ramp up marketing efforts and bring the service to the rest of the country.
Photo Credit: GigSmart
