World of freelance talent at oDesk's fingertips

ODesk Corp. has created a global marketplace where more than 125,000 freelance technical professionals from around the world have demand for their skills.

The Menlo Park-based startup is an online staffing and management business that helps companies hire, manage and pay an international pool of technical personnel at competitive rates.

“Think of us as an eBay for people, if you will,” said Gary Swart, chief executive officer of oDesk Corp.

ODesk is capitalizing on globalization trends, home-sourcing abilities and the access to talent, a challenge that companies face daily.

The startup presents small- to medium-sized companies with a global talent pool of technical professionals looking for an opportunity to work remotely on jobs that might not be available where they live.

Companies are trying to do more for less, might not need a full-time employee and can’t find temporary talent locally, Swart said. Companies aren’t charged for posting jobs. Professionals, however, are charged for posting their skills.

“These companies are saying, ‘If I could have a flexible bench — marketing, support or development resources — and I can take advantage of global arbitrage, maybe there’s a win there’,” Swart said.

The platform is attracting about 200 new companies seeking talent and 600 new job-hunting professionals a day, Swart said. On Oct. 24 the number of freelancers stood at about 123,000. On Nov. 4, the number had increased to more than 127,000.

ODesk raised $6 million in a 2005 A round from Globespan Capital Partners and Sigma Partners. A spring 2006 B round fetched $8 million, which was led by Benchmark Capital with Globespan and Sigma participating. This summer DAG Ventures led a $15 million C round with all three previous investors participating.

The company is growing at a rate of three times year over year, Swart said, and expects to do about $40 million in services in 2008, taking in $4 million in revenue.

Professionals hail from well over 100 countries from Serbia to Siberia, Mauritius to Moldova.

ODesk has created a “team room” for each company, a virtual brick and mortar place of business. This is where a contractor logs, essentially punching a time card. The oDesk platform provides the company, which hired the contractor, with a screenshot of the contractor’s desktop six times an hour at random intervals.

Contractors set their own hourly rate to which oDesk adds a 10 percent markup. The freelancers only make money for hours worked.

In addition to 23 full-time employees — 19 at the corporate headquarters and three working remotely from Tennessee, New York and Athens, Greece — oDesk has 43 full-time contractors of its own around the world performing marketing, tech support and quality assurance. These contractors work through the oDesk platform, each performing an average of 2,600 hours, with a combined billing of $800,000, Swart said.

“That’s a lot of work for $800,000 right? We have a stay-at-home mom in Tennessee that runs support,” Swart said. “She didn’t have that many options in Tennessee. It was either Blockbuster or the local dentist office. Now she works for oDesk and she’s managing a team in the Philippines.”

Contractor Dmitry Sokolosky has run quality assurance from his home in New York for two years. He manages a team of four in Russia.

NetBizExpert, a consultancy offering Web-based marketing strategies, began staffing projects through oDesk in 2006. Since then, the San Anselmo-based company has staffed 19 jobs through freelancers from Greece, India, Pakistan, the Philippines and Romania.

“ODesk gave me a great way to hire really talented programmers at affordable rates,” said Ted Prodromou, NetBizExpert’s owner. “It’s two years later, and I’m still working with two of the original providers I hired.”