In your own words, what does your company do?
Solar Staff is an international fintech company with offices in New York, Amsterdam, Dubai, and Limassol. We are enabling 2,500 businesses to interact with 750,000 freelancers. Our service includes talent onboarding, task management, security checks, payments made to 190+ countries and territories, copyright rights transactions, and tax payments for freelancers from different jurisdictions.
I also think that we are among the few solutions allowing businesses from advanced economies to work seamlessly and complete payments for freelancers from developing regions, including Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Africa. It`s actually our mission.
📈 Monthly revenue: $872,978
📈 ~% Churn: N/A
📈 ~% Net profit: 33%
📈 Funding: No funding
📈 Initial cost/investment to start the company: $1 million, founder’s money, no external funding raised.
📈 Number of team members: 101
📈 Number of founders: (2) Pavel Shynkarenko, Igor Artemenko
📈 Started: 2014, January
How does the company make money?
We are a pay-as-you-go service, taking a commission fee from 3,5 to 6% of the transaction cost. The price depends on the tax residence of the company and payment volumes.
Our services include:
💰 Global payroll. We help companies pay freelancers from any location worldwide. Companies invite their freelancers, fund accounts in our service, and assign tasks. The freelancers complete the work, close the task, receive their payments, and withdraw the funds to their bank accounts or e-wallets.
💰 Automated document workflow: We offer closing documents to ensure that transactions with freelancers are legally compliant. This includes invoices, acts, and an offer agreement that can also be utilized.
💰 KYC-verification. We check all freelancers invited by the company to our service, guaranteeing that individuals from one country can legally provide services to companies from another country.
💰 API integration: We provide API integration for various services. For instance, if a company operates in the online education sector and needs to pay thousands of teachers, they can connect their platform to our service and complete the process within minutes.
3 strategies that have worked to attract and retain customers?
✅ Word-of-mouth marketing: Harness the power of personal recommendations for promoting complex services. In 2022, 45.2% of leads generated through B2C client referrals converted into paying customers, contributing $5.8M to our annual revenue.
✅ Influencer partnerships: Identify and collaborate with industry experts in key markets (e.g., EdTech) to serve as brand ambassadors, leveraging their credibility and reach to promote your products or services effectively.
✅ Content collaboration: Produce informative reports on the freelance market and the future of work, and engage with experts from potential client companies for insights. Share these reports as a valuable lead generation channel with the media while showcasing how Solar Staff operates and integrates expert knowledge.
3 things that you’ve learned about hiring and retaining great talent?
✅ Embrace the freelance advantage: Utilize freelancers when you need to fill a position urgently or require specialized expertise without the commitment of a full-time employee. Maintain a core in-house team while seeking industry experts with specific skills for project-based engagements.
✅ Recognize individual growth timelines: As your company grows, focus on nurturing your team members to meet new challenges. However, remember that fresh perspectives from new hires are sometimes necessary to tackle specific problems. For example, we are developing a new AI startup focusing on Asian markets. We understand we need a different team there than we have hired for the last eight years at Solar Staff.
✅ Adapt processes for a diverse global team: Building a global team involves adjusting to various communication styles, task completion speeds, and cultural backgrounds. For example, our company, primarily based in Cyprus, may have unique, unspoken communication norms that could be challenging for a new team member from the United States. To ensure a smooth integration, establish onboarding processes, guidelines, and frameworks to help new hires acclimate to the company culture, preventing feelings of isolation or confusion. Consider language barriers and adjust your approach to foster a more inclusive environment.