Freelancers who work well together in teams are the target for Collective , a French startup that’s launching a software-as-a-service marketplace today. (Not to be confused with Collective , a US-based startup that offers back-office tools for the self employed running a business-of-one.) Collective (the French ‘teams’ edition) is co-founded by Jean de Rauglaudre and Vianney de Drouas, and is backed by the SaaS-focused startup studio/venture builder, eFounders , which covers expenses during the first 18 months (so how much it ends up investing depends but typically runs to at least a few thousand euros.) “As a former freelancer, I was really attracted by this new way of working,” says de Rauglaudre, discussing why Collective is focusing on “independents teaming up by mutualizing skills, networks and work methodology in a quest to go faster, think bigger, and find more meaning”, as he puts it. The startup points to notable Collectives that have emerged in recent years — such as ProductLed.Org and K nackcollective.com in the US, and Mozza.io , Alasta.io and Lookoom.co in France, as feeding the idea. It argues that the indie ‘collectives’ phenomenon has only been accelerated as a result of the coronavirus pandemic — with companies faced with more uncertainty looking for more resilient and flexible options. The pair worked with eFounders to hone their fledgling idea. “We understood that collective was the ultimate next step on this market. Though, we noticed that those forms today do not scale (because of so many admin issues), do not shine (because they do not thrive under a standardized reality), and work alone (while solo freelancers have a lot of tools and benefit from a legal existence, collectives are still undeserved). Therefore, we ‘imaginated’ Collective!” de Rauglaudre tells TechCrunch. For teams of skilled indie workers the lure of Collective is a promise that it combines the benefits of working in an agency because its SaaS platform automates a bunch of back-office functions like proposals, invoices, contracts and payments with the flexibility of still being freelance and thus able to pick and choose projects and clients. “Exhaustive” back-office is the promise from de Rauglaudre. (Which — yes — does include chasing clients for late/non payment of invoices. When we checked that detail he dubbed the service “a perfect combination of flexibility (inherent to collective models) and security (related to our back-office)”. Late freelancer payments are an infamous pain point that’s been targeted by other startups over the years; but Collective is coming with the full back-office package.) Additionally, Collective offers freelancer teams marketplace visibility — and thus help with their client pipeline. It’s been soft launched for one month at this point and in that time says 18 collectives have been formed on its marketplace, comprising more than 150 freelancers in total. Early collectives operating on its marketplace are offering “varied” expertise — from software development, design, product management, and growth — and are already working with five companies. Collective also says it’s speaking with more than 80 companies as […]
