ODesk
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- The correct title of this article is oDesk. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.
| oDesk | |
 |
|
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | Campbell, California |
| Headquarters | Menlo Park, California |
| Key people | Gary Swart, CEO Brian Goler, VP Marketing Stratis Karamanlakis, VP of Development & Co-Founder Ed Schaffer, VP Operations Odysseas Tsatalos, CTO & Co-Founder Bin Xu, VP of Engineering |
| Industry | Internet Service Marketplace Workforce Management |
| Website | oDesk.com |
oDesk is a global marketplace and end-to-end solution enabling businesses to overcome the challenges typically involved in hiring and managing remote workers. As opposed to project listing marketplaces like eLance, Rentacoder and Guru, oDesk’s proprietary tools offer real-time visibility into the ongoing activities of remote worker activities which facilitates collaboration and makes it possible to establish long-term working relationships. oDesk also simplifies payment, Intellectual property protection and other statutory requirements with its simple end-to-end solution.
oDesk also offers remote workers many benefits including guaranteed payment for hourly work, access thousands of interesting short- and long-term work opportunities and globally competitive wage levels.
oDesk was founded by Odysseas Tsatalos and Stratis Karamanlakis. The name is a short version of "no desk" which encapsulates the vision of enabling anyone to work anywhere, anytime.
oDesk has raised 2 rounds of financing. The first was by Globespan Capital and Sigma Partners.[1] The second round was raised in September 2006, led by Benchmark Capital and included the previous two investors.[2][3]
Contents |
[edit] oDesk tools
The oDesk Work Diary tracks a worker’s mouse and keyboard activity along with capturing screenshots and webcam images of the remote worker’s computer at random intervals several times per hour. This visibility allows oDesk buyers to verify remote work and redirect remote workers as if they sitting in the same office.
Other tools in the oDesk Team suite include:
- Desktop sharing through the oDesk Share client
- Bugzilla for integrated task tracking
- Subversion repository for source code management
- Team mailing lists
- Screen capture and manipulation tools to enhance collaboration and communication
[edit] oDesk fees
oDesk charges buyers 10% of the wages paid to service providers. oDesk service providers establish their own rates within the oDesk system.
[edit] Awards and coverage
- Finalist in PC Magazine’s 2006 Small Business Awards[4]
- One of 13 Launch Pad companies featured at the web 2.0 Summit on November 7, 2006, selected from over 250 applicants[5]
- Profiled in Business Week as a leader in homeshoring[6]
- oDesk providers used for case studies as part of Computer World series on the Global Talent Pool [7][8]
[edit] Other information
In November 2006, oDesk and O’Reilly launched a partnership to create mashups for technical skills and rates across the globe.[9]
[edit] References
- ^ "Internet startup oDesk gets $6M funding", Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal, June 1, 2006.
- ^ "oDesk Announces $8 Million Series B Round Led by Benchmark Capital", Yahoo! Finance, September 27, 2006.
- ^ Marshall, Matt. "oDesk, marketplace for developers, raises $8 million", VentureBeat, September 27, 2006.
- ^ Quain, John (September 27, 2006). Small Business Awards by PC Magazine: Outsourcing Finalists. PC Magazine.
- ^ "Web 2.0 Summit - November 7-9, 2006 - San Francisco, CA: Launch Pad".
- ^ Lacy, Sarah. "Homeshoring: Beyond Call Centers", Business Week, May 2, 2006.
- ^ Brandel, Mary. "Swimming in the Global Talent Pool", ComputerWorld, January 15, 2007.
- ^ Brandel, Mary. "Fishing in the Global Talent Pool", ComputerWorld, November 20, 2006.
- ^ oDesk/O'Reilly Tech Visualizations.
