Story

CoralTech: The Future of Freelance

My name is Max (Meetash Narayan), currently a year 3 accountancy undergraduate and I was a freelance writer for about 1.5 years with little luck on the various platforms that are out there. One day I looked at the forums, most freelancers mentioned they applied on average 50 proposals and waited for 6 months roughly to land their first project. They accepted this as a norm, I could not. Something had to be done. It also had to be radical in terms of changes, I understand there are many platforms for freelancing out there but generally they have a similar if not the same general process. So after a lot of R&D, talking to others and taking insights from freelance forums this is what I believe should be the narrative for freelancers.

Prototype and Features:

No more proposals. Websites have gone code-free, phones keypad-free but gig platforms still are not proposal-free. The issues: One-Time Fluff, Too Time Consuming, Ghostwriting and the list goes on.

So we use a simpler framework:

Integrate their portfolio from LinkedIn which definitely holds more credibility to their skills and experience, samples as proof of their proficiency and their listed specialisation.

So the freelancers in our platform, for every single application just have to do one-step: Click Apply.

The decision-making goes to the employer ultimately, but comparing across applicants in this framework can be carried out in mere minutes. So the process is drastically cut down.

Personal Branding Beyond Our Platform: Whether a freelancer wishes to pick up a gig short-term or lifelong.

Coral will have an integration feature to their LinkedIn profile to help them build their own personal brand beyond just our platform. So we carry on being with our clients and support their growth beyond just a platform for earning income, but also as their personal brand and portfolio builders.

Every applicant has the right to be given a response and know their outcome.

In our platform, every freelancer can check for real-time updates on their applied projects and will be given a response: Approved, Pending or Rejected immediately once the listed project commences.

No more troublesome navigations on the platform.

One-centralised UI for transactions between employer and freelancers to allow for the smoothest and most efficient transactions.

6. Now, we cannot spell the future without cryptocurrency.

So:

As shown above and mentioned early on in the deck, we will be utilising CryptoPayments as the gateway to support 120+ cryptocurrencies in payment transactions between freelancers and employers.

The cash payment gateway will be integrated from Stripe, so there will be support for up to 135+ currencies as our ambition is global.

Why Coral is Better than What is in the Market?:

Time-Efficient: Deep restructuring in process for applications, no more reading or writing of lengthy proposals to secure projects. Decisions can be made in minutes (may vary according to number of applicants).
Personal Branding Beyond Our Own Platform: We understand some clients would not be freelancers forever, but we intend to do our very best to support them not just while they chose Coral but every step after as well on their LinkedIn platform from integrations of their project portfolios.
Crypto Payment Support Variety: Freelancers can request for crypto payments of up to 120+ different cryptocurrencies, which far exceeds even the crypto gig platforms which only offer: Bitcoin, Ethereum and a few others total.
One-Step Framework: After setting up their profile, freelancers only have to click apply and do nothing else to secure gigs. No more proposals, no more emails and all of those other things.
Real-Time Updates: Some platforms may have this feature, but for us this is an essential and every freelancer does get a notification if approved or rejected.
No more navigations: Once the application has been approved, the freelancer and employer will be in one room so everything will be carried out there. Start to end point, without any need to navigate elsewhere.
Compare across applicants with more credibility in minutes: Chances of one faking credentials on LinkedIn is significantly lower than a proposal, because one follows them as they progress forward and the other ends upon the acceptance or rejection of the application. But as we have phased that out, employers can seamlessly compare across applicants for quicker and more effective decision-making.
Incentive to build their personal brand: As mentioned from before in point 2, but to rehash through point 7. Freelancers would now have an incentive to spend more time on building their personal brand on LinkedIn, so as to come across as the better choice during applications. This would drive them to constantly upgrade themselves, so Coral serves not just as a platform for their income but also as a platform for gig workers to grow themselves and develop over time.

5% Commission Rate: Flat commission rate, lowest among any other platform regardless if new or old user. To incentivise users to keep more of their earnings.

Plan for Execution

I plan to raise roughly S$50,000.

All Phases are Subject to timing changes and delays.*

Phase 1 – The Gathering (June/July 2022):

Receive funds and prepare for development of the platform.

They will be briefed collectively on this to prepare for Development on phase 2.

Phase 2 – The Pre Registration (July/August):

Website beta will be up to open pre-registration of users.

My Story & Why do I bother so much about this?

It was just a typical frustrating day from not getting any responses for projects, I happen to be scrolling on LinkedIn and I came across this post that mentioned of this man who has a Masters in Marketing getting laid off. He was jobless for 7 months, depressed and suicidal as he was struggling to make ends meet someway somehow for his family. But the scary part of it, there were many more like him and the numbers were growing, fast.

For me freelance writing was really a means to pay bills and university fees because I was not eligible for the loan. But looking on that day, there are people who have a family to feed. Current platforms just do not provide the opportunities these people truly need. Be it algorithm biases, UI/UX constraints the list goes on and on.

So I decided, while studying about 7 – 9 modules of accounting within a semesters I would do something about this, even if I am alone today.

On average over the last 2 semesters I had about 2 – 4 hours of sleep on a daily basis, no office and whatever so I built all of this so far purely in a cafe near home.

Please do consider and donate to back this up, the future of the freelance economy is in your hands more than mine or anybody else’s. Share this around your friends and loved ones, especially if you know or a freelancer.

Every update on CoralTech’s progress will be done from LinkedIn and my own page as well.

CoralTech’s Page – https://www.linkedin.com/company/coraltech

My LinkedIn Page – https://www.linkedin.com/in/max2202