If you're here, we're probably connected somehow or have crossed the paths that led us to this point. On the other hand, if you're reading this months or years into the future, our hope is you've backtracked through the remarkable journey of Buzzzy and arrived at the first-ever introduction. Whichever way, welcome, enjoy, and read on!
TL;DR: Buzzzy is a freelance marketplace that connects companies with the right talent from end to end. Our underlying purpose is to serve businesses that prefer to hire freelancers over full-time employees or lack the time required to hire and search for the right freelancers — a process we've found can be incredibly time and energy-consuming. We want companies to focus on what they do best: their business. Leave the searching for the right talent to Buzzzy.
In this article:
- Who we're working with?
- How Buzzzy started?
- What is Buzzzy?
- Where have we been?
- What's next for Buzzzy?
Who we're working with?
Buzzzy joins the revolution of work bringing solutions for the freelance economy, which keeps on growing. Data speaks for itself, and here are some numbers that showcase the current situation:
- 73.3 million people freelanced in 2020. That represents 46.25% of the U.S. workforce.
- 62% of the freelancer workforce freelanced part-time at some level, and 36% freelanced full time (+29% vs. 2019).
- $1.2T in transactions were exchanged in 2020 (~90% of transactions still occur outside platforms).
- Gen Z (Currently 18-23) are 50% more likely to freelance out of school than past generations.
Sources: Edelman Intelligence: Freelance Forward 2020
My Credit Summit: What You Need to Know About Gig Work: Key Statistics, Demographics & Facts 2023
How Buzzzy started?
The world is moving towards freelance, where businesses cannot always afford full-time employees, especially short-term work. On the other hand, freelancing is becoming socially more acceptable as a career that provides freedom to work when you want and on the terms that you want to. For us, serving both freelancers and employers is not mutually exclusive but co-exist in this work revolution.
From experience, we know freelancers are constantly unpaid or underpaid. Frequently, this is due to miscommunication or simply not knowing how to value their work. We learned 50% of freelancers at least once were not paid in 2017. A situation Nina (our co-founder) experienced herself in 2018, and we definitely aim to change.
We also found that businesses spent time hiring and looking through cluttered platforms to find the right freelancer. Through our interviews, we learned that this process takes at least a week, and about half the time, the freelancer does not meet expectations.
Buzzzy was born to be a connector and an enabler of best practices in this revolution of work. Unlock people's potential and desire to work for themselves, to be entrepreneurial. Whether that means you are running your own small to large-scale business or your talent is your business.
What is Buzzzy?
Buzzzy is built around the idea of community, and bees exemplify this the best way. Under the concept that bees add value to our lives, Buzzzy does the same for the freelance economy.
Other than the bee sting, the wax produced is used on candles; they pollinate many of the food we consume and, of course, honey. Tea tastes better with honey. We are using the concept of beehives and replicating that with a community of freelancers. We believe in it so much that we commit 2% of every transaction to bee farms and our platform was built and created by freelancers. Shout out to our designers: Danny McCarthy, a massive help throughout our first steps on launching Buzzzy, and Orlando Marty, an advocate in building this out and bringing Buzzzy to life.
Where have we been?
What started with a coffee chat in 2019 allowed us to identify a challenge for companies and freelance talent. To create a bridge between freelancers and businesses. A tool so needed led us to understand that this was the right time to run our startup (still weird to say it aloud "our startup," but it feels fantastic!). Since then, we've gone through brand sprints, defining who we are and building the foundation we'll stand on for years to come. We've bootstrapped the whole way to build out our prototype and continue to survey and interview potential users.
Our business plan has been changed 83 times (I hear that's normal), and we've leveraged the NU IDEA accelerator as our first entrance into fundraising.
What's next for Buzzzy?
We build out our core team with outstanding freelancers to test our proof of concept. But still, if you're the top talent we're looking for, contact us and our team will reach out. Don't be shy; send us that message!
We already have a few clients! Soon we're partnering with beta users that need talent and allow us to test our platform. At the same time, we're researching and interviewing clients and freelancers. Gathering data on the common pain points, identifying how we can serve those needs. So if you hire freelancers or are a freelancer yourself, and want to collaborate on your experience, fill out our survey. We would love to hear from you.
We'll continue to share the journey moving forward — client interactions, freelance onboardings, and all the rewarding, daunting steps that startups go through. As of today, we're clear that the freelance economy has many platforms. And aggregated, they have yet to reach the majority of global users. In the end, our goal is not only to be the most promising platform for each side but to have the most significant impact on each of those we serve. Stay tuned for more!
