Freelancers: High quality projects. Prompt payment.
matchist.com
matchist.com
1) Matchist needs to show that they can do this. Waiting for developers to take a leap of faith is a fools game. Show me how you intend to ensure prompt payment, filter out cheap clients, and consistently provide work, and I would gladly pay as high as a 30% fee. But if you expect people to trust a new company out of the blue, all you will get is developers with no other options, and chances are there is a reason they have no other options.
2) Matchist needs to give the clients a way to ensure that they will receive quality work. The clients seeking the work are the ones that can hang themselves out to dry using this system, so what value does it add for them? If you can show only the best freelancers available are picked, chances are very good there will be a line out the proverbial door to use your service. But this is a reputation that needs to be built or clearly explained
Just my two cents here (with the caveat I could be talking out of my behind since I don't know these people), but I'd discourage anyone considering a career in freelance design/development from using these sorts of services.
The hardest part of making a long term go at this sort of work is learning how to sell yourself and having the hard discussions about business, money, and commitments. Using these sorts of services rob you of that experience, and your working relationship ends up being more employee than independent, but without the hard fought protections employees deserve.
What these services promise you is high quality projects, and an escrow service for getting paid. You can, and should, set these sorts of protections yourself. If you are going to try out these sorts of services as training wheels, be sure to carefully read anything they have you sign, and make sure it could never be used to impact your future, 100% independent career.
And how does the communication with clients work? Does matchist drop you off once you're on the job, leaving you to your own devices with the client? Or do they help out/mediate along the way? And how do they continue to collect their 10% fee after communication has been established between freelancer and client? Freelance projects can drag on for a long time. What happens if the client doesn't like the work and refuses to pay, or wants infinite changes and additions?
Many people have balked at a 10% fee, but I'm great with that as long as finding work requires 0 effort on my part. I do wonder about how well this will scale
"How does Machist get their clients?" We are utilizing a combination of content marketing, working our own networks, and participating in various startup communities to find entrepreneurial clients looking to build their betas and MVPs.
"And what do they do to ensure client quality?" We used a combination of a personal phone call and their submitted information to determine the quality of the client and their submitted project.
"And how does the communication with clients work?" Once we've matched you and the client has funded the first milestone through our payment system, you're set off on your own to get your work done. When you need to communicate with the client, you can do so using the matchist internal messaging. Each time you need to get paid or have a client fund a milestone, you will do so through the matchist interface.
"Or do they help out/mediate along the way?" If you and your client can't come to an agreement about a dispute, we're happy to step in and help out.
We're in the process of getting a developer FAQ page up to get all these common questions answered immediately for ya.
> Our payment platform requires that clients use escrow for guaranteed timely payment.
it makes me think that matchist takes a %-based cut. If this is the case then I want nothing to do with them. And if this is not the case then they should really re-work their copy to avoid setting off alarm bells in potential customer's heads.
Also, it's more of a problem of not being upfront. I suspect based on their wording that they take a percentage but there is no clarification on that unless I advance in their sign-up process by pressing "Get Started". I don't want to get started before I know what I'm getting started for...
We do take a percentage cut, and we are super transparent about it. If you sign up, you'll have a call with myself or my co-founder and I tell you everything you want to know in addition to getting to know who you are and what projects you like to work on. We're definitely a service and very hands on to ensure a great experience.
1) find a way to disclose the details of how this works for developers on the landing page or on a linked FAQ. I'm simply not going to "Get Started" if I think crucial details are being withheld from me. The pitch put me on the defensive from step 1 which is not a good place to start.
2) Think about adding tiering to your pricing. 10% could make sense for freelances who are just getting started and need to establish themselves with some initial portfolio work but I don't think it makes sense for higher paid freelancers who would otherwise still consider using your platform to find new and interesting projects.
On a positive: the layout and design of this landing page are very well done. The page is very easy to scan and the draw to the call to action button is palpable without feeling salesy or un-balanced.
I think something like a 5% cut would be reasonable if the entire process was pain free. Maybe 10% for a one-off project, or 5% if you maintain a $49/mo subscription.
You could also partner with other companies to add value to the $49 - like a curated "special offers" page for services that a freelancer could use or resell to their clients.
The site doesn't explain the vetting process, which is something that I'm also curious about.
At matchist, we're focusing more on the vetting process and less on finding the cheapest developer around.
Minor point - I think the min width of your layout is too large (Chrome). Especially with the right justified navigation, I didn't even see the last two links and on the home page I've got to do some side scrolling.