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| Micha Kaufman, Fiverr's founder and CEO |
We first invested in Fiverr and its team of 40 in May 2012. Today the team supports a global network in more than 160 countries, and the platform has facilitated over 50 million transactions – between 5.5 million buyers and 830,000 sellers – opening up a new universe of talent for companies, and potential clients for independent workers.
When Fiverr began in 2010, e-commerce platforms existed to sell products. Micha, along with co-founder Shai Wininger, had the vision to see that the same was possible in services – productizing them so that buyers could enjoy the speed and efficiency of an online retail experience when shopping for talent.
As a repeat entrepreneur, and having
previously run a start-up accelerator, Micha knew from experience the
difficulty of sourcing contractors for a growing business, and the time it took
to identify and manage independent workers through traditional channels. Fiverr
was created as the solution to that problem. Its core innovation has been to
package up services into product categories it calls Gigs – such as app
development, logo design or video production – allowing buyers to browse for
specific skills, just as they would search and shop on Amazon. They called it
“Service as a Product” and their vision set them on a path to transform the
traditional freelancer staffing model.
Fiverr started selling its Gigs for $5,
giving its name to the company. The pricing model quickly evolved to multiples
of that and today the platform is used by buyers of all sizes, from small
companies to global brands such as Netflix and Google with prices in the
thousands of dollars with gigs ranging from logo design to translations to
branding services.
For its sellers, it has been a catalyst for
growth, with numerous stories of people who have used the platform to
successfully launch a freelance career, or rapidly grow their small business.
From an SEO and web analytics expert in Spain relying exclusively on Fiverr to
sell its services in 80 countries to a logo designer in Israel who increased
her income about four times by selling her services on the platform, Fiverr has
opened new horizons for the growing new generation of freelancers across the
world.
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| Micha ringing the bell with top Fiverr sellers |
Fiverr has made big strides towards its
mission: to change how the world works together. This journey has been
supported and driven by strong and distinctive values. These include ‘we are
doers’, symbolising a culture which is all about execution, and enabling
customers to get things done; ‘think simple’; and ‘stay awesome’, reflecting
Fiverr’s commitment to help its employees and users be themselves and tap into
their creativity. This open and diverse culture is immediately visible when you
spend time at Fiverr’s Tel Aviv office, a free-flowing environment complete
with a community space for buyers and sellers from the platform to meet.
Congratulations Team Fiverr on this
milestone, a testament to what clear vision, strong values and consistent
execution can achieve. A Fiverr value I haven’t yet mentioned is ‘making
impact’. In the fast-changing world of work, Micha and the team have lived up
to that many times over.
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