
Gigster Fund – Freelancers Benefit When the Company and Clients Do Well - quackware
https://gigster.com/fund
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gk1
As a freelancer (consultant), no thanks. This looks like yet another platform
that commoditizes freelancers (think Upwork). The belittling name "gigster"
doesn't help.

If you're a freelancer/consultant who wants equity, ask for it. Some companies
are willing to give non-qualified options (the only choice, really) after
you've built up a relationship and if you're making a significant contribution
to the company.

Also, I've read the page top-to-bottom and still not fully clear on what's
happening here. Highly suggest running this by non-insiders and rephrasing the
messaging until it's easier to understand.

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RaitoBezarius
FYI, Gigster is absolutely not Upwork or Upwork-like, this is amusing
misconception that all people have about Gigster.

If you're a freelancer asking for equity, you'll give up some of your payment.
Gigster is not saying AFAIK: we cut some of your pay in exchange for some
equity.

Again, AFAIK, Gigster is clearly saying: The more you make customers happy and
engaged in your gigs, the more you will earn equity from companies of the
Gigster Fund.

(I speak as a Gigster which was also using Upwork before, so I'm biased but I
believe in Gigster and I am happy to tell people about it.)

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frakkingcylons
Can you elaborate on how Gigster is not like Upwork?

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RaitoBezarius
Glad you asked it.

Upwork is a race to the bottom, the cheapest developer gets the project, at
the cost... of the quality and experience.

Gigster is more realistic, I don't know how much I can talk about this.

We are working with a team of fellow Gigsters, and we work together to
estimate _fairly_ the project. We are obviously against the race to the
bottom, and we desire cool or interesting projects.

Fairly means: Developer is happy with the quote, the timeline / timeframe and
the scope. Product Manager is ready to help his team to achieve this project
with a happy customer and a happy team.

Of course, we do have problems sometimes. But Gigster happiness, that means:
Product Managers, Developers and Designers is crucial and I feel it
personally.

Finally, I will say it bluntly: I am a developer, and I am not paid 40 $ /
hour to produce a stupid idea which will change the world.

If you want more information, I think that a Gigster employee can explain more
about his experience.

(sorry for the unstructured explanation!)

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themodelplumber
> Finally, I will say it bluntly: I am a developer, and I am not paid 40 $ /
> hour to produce a stupid idea which will change the world.

I don't understand, could you re-phrase? Also, do you see your current hourly
as sending a high, middle, or low end signal to clients?

~~~
RaitoBezarius
> I don't understand, could you re-phrase?

I feel like that the guys which handles the project in Upwork are not real
developers. I said: "I am a developer", because I work on fascinating problem,
I practice problem solving everyday, we do not do "web scale" (TM) indeed ;
but I find pleasure in my work, compared to what Upwork offered me.

> Also, do you see your current hourly as sending a high, middle, or low end
> signal to clients?

It is rare that developers have direct contact with clients, so I am not
exactly sure about what clients feels about our hourly rate. A Product Manager
might be more insightful about this question.

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polishninja
It looks like Gigster will invest (money, time?) in some companies from a
predetermined fund, not Gigster itself. In turn, they will share 1% of their
fund equity with all Gigster developers who were active at the time, paying
out when a fund company or Gigster liquidity event occurs. They will allocate
rights to returns to active Gigster developers over a 1 to 5 year period.

It looks like, as a Gigster developer, you would get 1%/total active Gigster
developers. If there were 500 Gigster developers over that 1 to 5 year period,
you'd get 1%/500 = 0.002% of a liquidity event depending on Gigster's
weighting mechanism. If Gigster's equity stake was 20% in a company that
exited for $100 million, you'd receive maybe $40,000 depending on how Gigster
determines your weighted percentage.

It's not really even the same league as a 401k or pension, contrary to what
the page says.

Calling it equity is a bit confusing. On the page it states at the top:

"Gigster Fund provides our freelancers with access to equity from Gigster and
select companies in our client portfolio."

At the bottom it states with regards to owning equity:

"No. Direct equity ownership or indirect ownership through a limited
partnership has complex tax & legal implications, and the SEC limits the
number of shareholders a corporation may have which would make direct
ownership impossible after a certain number of freelancers".

And

"No. Direct equity ownership or indirect ownership through a limited
partnership has complex tax and legal implications. In the United States, for
example, Gigsters would be required by law to be accredited investors."

~~~
andruby
> If Gigster's equity stake was 20% in a company that exited for $100 million.

Gigster's stake is 20M. They share 1% with freelancers, which is 200K. You get
1/500th of this = $400. Amazingly generous!

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PeterProlific
How could they possibly get 20% of a company?

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gk1
My guess: the type of company that would outsource development to Gigster is
the type of company that would give up 20% of equity.

Or: the example scenario is too generous, which means a more probable payout
would be even lower.

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PeterProlific
Yes. This is what I was thinking. What are they really giving to companies to
deserve that kind of share?

AI engine or not, the only metric that matters are success stories.

Without it, all of these numbers are meaningless.

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rabble
Does gigster have anything real at all? There are no gigs at all listed on
their site... just a few full time jobs in SF, plus things for working on
gigster itself. Seems like it might be a lean startup trick of painting the
sky blue to try and build both sides of a marketplace.

~~~
quackware
There are hundreds of gigsters and hundreds of gigs / completed projects. I
can speak from experience that yes, it is all very real.

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merpnderp
Are there really tons of companies hiring freelancers to make map, music and
messaging apps at ~$40k/4 months?

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acconrad
I considered being a gigster between jobs, and when I realized most people
made between $5-10k/mo working full time I turned off my account.

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rco8786
How did you realize that? Most people on there were making ~10k/month full
time last I was on there(a couple months ago).

I did one small project, about a week's worth of time, and was paid $3k.

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PeterProlific
This sounds great but it seems that they do more corporate work.

Can't see freelancers retiring on a miniscule % of a muslim dating app.

You'd think with all the quality devs being purported that there'd have to be
something of quality in there although the portfolio so far is YAWN!

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koolba
From the article, emphasis mine:

> This allows our freelancers to _receive tangible rewards_ for their hard
> work building incredible software, and helps them prepare for the future.

Wouldn't simplify paying a freelancer be a tangible reward? And if you're not
paying them then they're not really freelancers, they're either interns or
suckers (or both).

> Will every Gigster Fund company yield a successful return? No. Although some
> startup companies yield extraordinary financial returns, many fail.

Ha! Great way to spin " _The majority of this will be worthless ... but you
buy Powerball tickets too right?_ "

~~~
quackware
This isn't an all or nothing kind of deal. It's an extra incentive for gigster
freelancers to do amazing work (besides the great project estimates / rates
they have).

~~~
koolba
> This isn't an all or nothing kind of deal. It's an extra incentive for
> gigster freelancers to do amazing work (besides the great project estimates
> / rates they have).

Maybe not all or nothing but this would end up just like a startup offering
equity as compensation. They'd argue that they can pay you less (vs. straight
cash for services) because you've got this equity piece as well.

~~~
quackware
Agreed. As a freelancer that works with Gigster I don't see this as a major
source of revenue in my future (most likely a way to generate good PR as
another poster mentioned). If they ever use this as leverage to pay less per
project then I'm sure a lot of the best developers on the platform will move
elsewhere.

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bazqux2
Giving people a very small stake in their work adds much greater inventive
than cost. That alone is a good idea (See Starbucks). Emotions trump math -
even for programmers. I expect the confusing terms are intenional to make the
math harder.

But... this is the same company that was giving out work quotes in less than
10 minutes. I expect gigsters existence is subsidized by VC investment and it
will be unable to succeed long term. I'm not expecting good things for anyone
involved.

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orthoganol
I was always turned off by the language Gigster uses which makes me wonder
about the kind of people they are:

"Talent pedigree - 1%", "Hire All- Stars", "Marquee Investors"

That aside, I'm not really interested in more hand-holding-as-a-service, this
time aimed at us consulting developers.

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shivam2501
This is new and something which differentiates them from other freelance
networks. Looking forward to see how it rolls out.

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keithnz
Not quite sure about their terms and conditions. Seems very pervasive

