How this Indian startup outmaneuvered Western freelance design platforms

Photo credit: f8studio / 123RF Stock Photo.

Freelancing has become an increasingly popular way to pay the bills. Some estimates predict that nearly 40 percent of the US workforce will be self-employed in the gig economy by 2020, and working with a global workforce via online freelance platforms is becoming popular as well. Western clients working virtually with overseas freelancers can save money while the latter earn more than they would when working at market rates in their home region. It’s a win-win scenario.

The freelance workforce is truly global. India has the second largest population of online freelancers and, in fact, 40 percent of freelance projects offered online are staffed by independent contractors based in the country. That is a huge percentage of the global gig economy.

But while the workforce is geographically diverse, firms outside of the US, the UK, and Europe have struggled to successfully operate their own freelance marketplaces/platforms. In a market dominated by US-based freelance platforms like UpWork, Fiverr, and Guru, one Indian startup has managed to break barriers.

Non-US platforms can compete

I had the opportunity to meet Rahul Aggarwal and Varun Aggarwal, the founders at an Indian freelancing platform called Designhill. Founded in October 2014, the Indian team behind the launch of the Gurgaon-based startup has since managed to beat expectations.

I stumbled across the firm while working with a client that needed design help. Instead of hiring a single designer to create logos and banners, the platform allows companies to create a contest. Once the contest is created and escrow is funded, designers from around the world can submit their proposed designs. Clients provide feedback and the winning designer is awarded the contest funds from escrow. With this system, designers gain access to an international client base and clients gain access to multiple design templates before releasing funds for the design of their choice.

Empowering developers in emerging regions

Designhill’s approach could benefit developers in emerging regions. Traditionally, when US or European firms hire a freelancer online, they start by looking at freelancer profiles. However, many are biased against designers and developers based in certain regions. This means it can be difficult, for example, for an Indian freelancer to establish the same instant credibility as a freelancer from the US or Europe based on their profile alone.

But for firms that utilize Designhill, their personal biases don’t play a role in the hiring process. The only thing that impacts a hiring decision is the merits of the actual design being produced. By creating a competition system, the purchaser is focused on the end result instead of the region that the freelancer calls home.

In the early stages of the startup’s launch, the concept was certainly sound, but the Indian company had to overcome the traditional barriers to entering a western-dominated market.

Shattering the Indian call center stereotype

According to Rahul, “The first country we launched our services in was the United States […] We had to design our entire business operations and strategy around establishing Designhill as a credible business. And we realized that in order to compete with international companies, we would have to stand out on certain criteria […] We identified support as a major pain point for customers when it came to the US or international companies in the design space and hence started offering 24×7 customer support.”

By focusing on high-quality support, they were able to build customer trust.

Counteracting US-based journalistic bias

Another area that we discussed was the difficulty that Indian firms face when attempting to get the attention of US-based journalists. One of the many built-in advantages that US firms have is their ability to easily generate positive, US-based PR.

To bypass this hurdle, the startup invested time and money into site optimizations that positioned them to generate organic traffic from Google. According to Varun, their efforts have paid off, as they currently “rank on a number of high-value keywords, such as logo design—we’re currently top five—in Google’s US search rankings.”

The fight for positive reviews

Another opportunity that the founders realized was available to their company, regardless of where they were based, was the power of positive reviews.