CodeSwitch

CodeSwitch is an online marketplace for freelancers that connects businesses to tech talent from underserved groups for short-term technology projects.

CodeSwitch is an online marketplace for freelancers that connects businesses to tech talent from underserved groups (e.g. low-income, minority, ex-offenders) for short-term technology projects.

CodeSwitch aims to solve two problems:

First, millions of Americans are unemployed or underemployed, struggling to find jobs that offer livable wages. Blacks males have it the worst. A black male born 25 years ago has only a 50 percent chance of being employed now.

American businesses also have a problem —there just isn’t enough tech talent to match the growing demand. This shortage will leave 1.4 million programming jobs unfilled by 2020.

There are many organizations that teach underserved groups how to code, but based on local demand for those skills or other factors, they may not always be the best at placing them into jobs.

CodeSwitch wants to help manage the supply and demand problem for this talent pool and companies that are looking for them by leveraging technology to match coding program alumni from underserved groups with tech opportunities for their new skill sets, no matter where the contractor resides or the opportunity is located.

We’re at the beginning of an inexorable shift to more and more knowledge work being done outside of a company’s border. CodeSwitch caters to the increasingly liquid labor market by facilitating direct contact between contractors with specific skill sets and clients with specific needs.

Graduates of coding programs (only alumni of our partner programs will be able to register as suppliers) in places like Detroit and Memphis will no longer be left out because they don’t live in areas where there is a strong demand for their skills like New York or Boston. Marginalized groups with social stigmas (e.g. ex-offenders), and younger alumni (16-19), both who have high unemployment rates, will also have more employment opportunities.

Alumni of our partner coding programs will now have the tools and resources to establish an online presence, connect with new customers, and grow their freelance technology business. Program alumni will be given an easy way to monetize their newly acquired skills while businesses get access to on-demand tech expertise with affordable prices and data-vetted (competency tests), market-tested (ratings & reviews) quality.

CodeSwitch will change the world by helping marginalized groups win big in the gig economy putting them on a path to economic stability.

An Example of how CodeSwitch could work

According to data from the 2015 Survey of Business Owners, Black women are the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs in the U.S. The number of businesses owned by Black women has grown 322% since 1997 to an an estimated 1.3 million businesses.

Most businesses have ongoing technology needs (e.g. website, apps). I envision such groups as Black women entrepreneurs using CodeSwitch to connect with a developer from a group like Black Girls Code. Black Girls Code is a not-for-profit that focuses on providing technology education for young women of color. There are many derivations of this example of various business segments utilizing the services of an underserved group through CodeSwitch.      

CodeSwitch is innovative because we will use data and artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize the matching process and user experience for both buyers and suppliers. We will use skills assessments to tier talent and algorithms to match talent to opportunities. Contractors will only see opportunities based on their skill level. Freelancers will have opportunities pushed to them through their newsfeed or email. Buyers will get recommendations of contractors who may fit their needs. Our process will significantly cut down on the search and evaluation times for both parties and take some variance out of the process leading to better outcomes.

Technology is integral to our solution because we are creating a platform to match talent with opportunities. We want the CodeSwitch platform to take the data we gather and use it with AI to optimize the user experience. The data we gather, combined with AI, will help us learn more about our users, better target advertising and content, and better match people and opportunities.

Freelancers can have high potential opportunities emailed to them instead of searching through listings daily. Buyers will get recommendations of contractors who may be a good fit for their project. Technology is key to our solution.

Over the next year we will be focused on building out our platform, we will also focus on building partnerships and acquiring data that is exclusive to our business. We want to secure distribution channels for our product and work with partners that can bring smart money and connections to our company early on.

We plan to get our initial demand for services through partnerships from demand side companies/organizations. An example is a Chamber of Commerce who wants to roll out a program to get hundreds of their members’ business websites. We would connect their members with CodeSwitch suppliers.

Our longer term focus will be on building out a footprint that will scale and monetize over time. The first 12-24 months will be focused on infrastructure development and business development to grow use of both sides of the network. During this time we would like to reach a critical mass of users so we could ultimately leverage network effects to pull in more new users and growth takes off. Our longer term goal is to expand to underserved regions outside of the U.S. such as Africa (e.g. South Africa) or Latin America (e.g. favelas in Brazil).

CodeSwitch will be deployed through a website and mobile app. We plan to reach beneficiaries through partnerships. We may partner with an organization like Black Girls Code to source suppliers and partner with a Chamber of Commerce for buyers. We have already spoke with multiple organizations about CodeSwitch and they all love the idea. Once a contractor is selected, communications and files are exchanged and payments are made through CodeSwitch. CodeSwitch provides project management tools to manage all aspects of the project. We retain beneficiaries by giving them opportunities to source more customers and tools to manage their projects.  

We are currently in the prototype stage of development.

We expect to serve hundreds in the first year. In three years we expect to be serving thousands. We want to partner with coding programs in some of the most underserved areas in the country such as Detroit, Memphis, St. Louis, Bronx. The average person in our target population is probably minority and living in an impoverished community, our goal is leverage technology to help them tremendously improve their circumstances. We want our target population to go from living below the poverty line to sustaining a livable wage.

We are seasoned business professionals with 15+ years of experience across many functional areas, in settings ranging from start-up to Fortune 100, and in roles as a software engineer, management consultant, and startup founder. Through our experiences we have built a strong network of professionals that we can tap for support or for referrals. We are have executed in the past on bringing products to market after securing the appropriate resources.

CodeSwitch charges freelancers a sliding scale service fee depending on the total amount they’ve billed with a client. We will also generate revenue from subscriptions, premium services, advertising, and training.

An example of a premium service would be providing data/tools to companies who want to source diverse talent for full time jobs. In recent years many large tech companies have made a push to find diverse talent (see the news headlines below) but have struggled to do so. CodeSwitch would have a lot of data on all freelancers from ratings and reviews to skills assessments. We could help companies like Facebook, Microsoft or Google find the best minority tech talent on our platform.

Silicon Valley struggles to hack its diversity problem - The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/silicon-valley-struggles-to-hack-its-diversity-problem/2015/07/16/0b0144be-2053-11e5-84d5-eb37ee8eaa61_story.html

Silicon Valley, Seeking Diversity, Focuses on Blacks - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/04/technology/silicon-valley-seeking-diversity-focuses-on-blacks.html

In Silicon Valley Hispanics and African Americans Lag Behind - ABC News
https://abcnews.go.com/ABC_Univision/Politics/silicon-valley-hispanics-african-americans-lag/story?id=18465662

Facebook’s diversity efforts show little progress after five years - TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/12/facebooks-diversity-efforts-show-little-progress-after-five-years/

We would like to utilize Solve’s resources to help us with fundraising, networking, and community support. The Solve brand would give us credibility as we try to secure talent, partnerships and capital.

Additionally, Solve’s mentor and partnership network could help us successfully implement our platform strategy and fully develop and execute our model. We need partners with expertise in machine learning and artificial intelligence to implement our platform strategy.

Raising capital and securing appropriate tech talent are some potential barriers. Solve could help us secure the appropriate resources.

Another barrier is the challenge of building a two-sided network, many run into the chicken and egg problem. We plan to use subsidies and work on both sides of the marketplace with a small number of groups for traction. Solve’s brand and network can help us with credibility and access as we approach the best groups to join CodeSwitch. Additionally, Solve’s partners/resources can help us put systems in place for assessing supplier talent and helping them further develop their capabilities.