User:40muleteamfactax/sandbox

=CloudPeeps=

CloudPeeps is a talent marketplace and community platform that connects freelancers with businesses. It matches professional social media, community, marketing, content and public relations freelancers with companies needing help with growth-related jobs. The company’s mission is to allow every professional the freedom to work the way they want, wherever they are.

CloudPeeps was founded in January of 2014 and is an accelerator company. CloudPeeps is headquartered in San Francisco but the team works remotely and is distributed in San Francisco, New York, Berlin, and other regions.

Background
As covered in TechCrunch, CloudPeeps is among the roster of companies leveraging the sharing economy movement and transforming the ability to launch startups by tapping into the ever-growing independent workforce. According to a national survey from Freelancers Union, independent workers represent 34% of the American workforce at 53 million Americans and is expected to grow to 40% by 2020. With this, there is a growing opportunity for businesses to hire top talent on a flexible basis, within their budget.

According to the LA Times, even big-name brands such as Quiksilver are tapping crowdsourcing to recruit freelance talent who will add “an edge” to their products with fresh, unique perspectives and approaches to their work at a lower cost. On the flip side, crowdsourcing is fueling more opportunities for people who want to work independently and remotely.

Some executives such as Jeremiah Owyang of Crowd Companies, are even integrating their freelance talent hired through sites like CloudPeeps with their full-time employees, listing them as members of the team and giving them company email addresses.

Originally established as a marketplace for social media talent, the CloudPeeps community has evolved to be a go-to resource for freelance talent offering a variety of marketing services from online community management to content marketing; from social media training to search engine optimization, and beyond.

CloudPeeps was recently mentioned in Australian Parliament during a Q&A session with the Foreign Minister Julie Bishop. . She was talking about Aussie companies that launched overseas and were changing the way things work - in CloudPeeps' case, this meant freelance. Founder Kate Kendall has also been named one of the nine most influential Aussie entrepreneurs by Smart Company.

Product
The CloudPeeps product is a platform where companies have various options for discovering and hiring freelancers. One is to search for a freelancer who best fits their specific needs based on skills, experience, availability, hours and more, and offer them a job directly. Another option is to post a job and create a pitching contest where they review handcrafted pitches and select the Peeps who are the best fit for the job. The final option is to have a CloudPeeps concierge suggest the best match for their needs and hire them directly.

Each company has the option to negotiate ongoing or one-time work, hourly rates, and receive invoices from the Peeps. Companies can set a monthly budget and estimated hourly rate, while Peeps can negotiate their rate based on the customer’s needs and their level of experience.

History
The CloudPeeps journey started in mid-2011 when founder Kate Kendall was working as a freelancer managing multiple social media accounts while traveling the world. Kendall noticed that many businesses couldn’t afford agencies or full-time employees, but still wanted to build their community and grow their business. Fast forward to 2011 when she was creating The Fetch, finding trustworthy, consistent and experienced freelancers with good availability was also a challenge. This is why CloudPeeps now exists.

Funding
In 2014, CloudPeeps raised an undisclosed seed round from 20 investors, including Scale Investors, 500 Startups, [Semil Shah], Joe Fernandez, Ligaya Tichy, Jay Baer, Joel Gascoigne, and others.