Why There’s Reason To Be Optimistic About The Freelance Economy

The freelance economy is in an interesting position.

On one hand, less than 15% of freelance leaders, according to a survey by my own company, Human Cloud, feel very satisfied with their business performance over the last 12 months.

On the other, 89% of freelance leaders feel optimistic and confident in the growth of the freelance economy.

What gives? Why do freelance leaders believe things are better than they can physically see?

In working across the industry, I see three distinct patterns happening across the freelance economy that might explain.

1. Talent Platforms are transforming, innovating, and disrupting existing industries, albeit the penetration is linear, not exponential.
2. Customers are innovating and thinking strategically about how they plan, resource, and scale freelance adoption.
3. There is a a robust, profitable, and rapidly rising ecosystem forming that creates an interdependent and positive sum relationship for the entire industry.

1: Talent Platforms are transforming and innovating

Freelance talent platforms have come a long way. What started as a handful of large, horizontal marketplaces, has evolved into over 800 talent platforms with highly specialized expertise and innovative models to help companies scale their freelance workforce.

Talent platform transformation shows no sign of slowing down. On the contrary, talent platforms are unlocking new sources of talent, expanding their scope of work, and disrupting entire industries because of freelance models.

Regarding disruption, take Consulting. Catalant is using freelance models to disrupt Consulting by creating Consulting 2.0. Rather than a better staffing solution, or a better management consultancy, Catalant has radically transformed the way consulting gets done, explicitly highlighting the exact expert and time to onboard junior consultants as the disruptive difference between traditional consulting and what they call “digitally enabled consulting.”

According to Pat Petitti, CEO of Catalant, “Consulting 2.0 is a new, platform enabled form of consulting in which companies can find just the amount of expertise it needs, when it needs it, no matter where that expertise is. When companies can use a platform to tap into the world of independent consulting they can find the person who did it before, meaning no on-boarding, faster output, and better quality outcomes. And because there is no firm and most of the money goes directly to the consultant doing the work, the client pays a fraction of what it otherwise would.”

Talent Platforms are also disrupting consulting by specializing in specific outcomes. Take Ravenry, a Singapore based Talent Platform that specializes in market research. Or Talmix, an original business talent marketplace, that’s quickly innovated to curating private equity focused outcomes.

Marketing is another industry being disrupted by talent platforms. There are 29 talent platforms explicitly focused on marketing in Human Cloud’s Industry Landscape. One is US based Wripple. Co-founded by former Global CEO of Razorfish Shannon Denton, Wripple’s innovative delivery model offers a disruptive way to access and scale marketing services, from on demand vetted talent, to pre-packaged roles, to pre-packaged projects.

Regarding expanding their scope of work, Talent Platforms are using creative strategies to expand how much they can do for clients. Traditionally, marketplaces were individual contributor focused, and emphasized the size of their freelancer network, with some having 15+ million freelancers. Yet today’s talent platforms emphasize their capabilities, their access to cutting edge skillsets, and their efficiencies, enabling larger scopes that traditionally needed agencies or internal teams and org charts.

One creative strategy is partnering with fellow talent platforms. For example, U.S. based design platform Uncompany, Irish based marketing platform The Indie List, and Brazil based creative platform Ollo partnered to enable full stack and fully global presentation benches. Rather than the capabilities of one talent platform, the partnership enables clients of either platform to access the full range of marketing services, while being able to access high, medium, and low cost ranges under one relationship. Middle East Talent Platform Khibraty takes this a step further, prioritizing their position as the Front Door to the Middle East, with Talmix as one of their successful strategic partnerships.

Last, Talent Platforms are providing new sources of talent outside of what full time or staffing have been able to provide. One rising segment is fractional. Fractional individuals have prior been Chief Executive’s in their respective functions, and as a fractional CMO, COO, or CHRO, they can lead the strategy, execution, and even lead internal teams no different than when they were full time and in office. According to John Arms, Fractional CMO and CoFounder of Voyager University, individuals that have self-reported as fractional has rose from 2,000 in 2022 to 90,000 in 2024.

Talent Platforms are taking notice. The Indie List created the CMO Collective, while TechCXO, GigX, Continuum, Neol for marketing, and Vendux for fractional sales are explicitly fractional talent platforms.

2: Companies are thinking creatively

While talent platforms transform and innovate, the companies embracing freelance workforces are also expanding, thinking strategically, and leaning into innovative ways to apply freelance models.

Take the US Department of Defense investing in Gig Eagle, a talent platform matching part time Reservists or National Guard members to freelance opportunities. According to Gen Raymond, Chief of Staff for the United States Space Force, “We’re building a 21st century human capital management plan to ensure we get the best talent our nation has to offer.” This mirrors Saudi Arabia’s multiple freelancer strategies, one being Future Work, a government entity focused on increasing the amount of Saudi Arabian freelancers. According to Bandar Al Mohammadi, CEO of Future Work, “Freelancing will play a vital role in the Middle East as the approximate number of freelancers in Saudi Arabia alone approaches 19% of the Saudi labor force.”

Private companies are also leaning in. Companies fit into 3 Horizon’s in their freelance adoption journey.

• Horizon 1: Companies treat Talent Platforms as an approved vendor within their existing workflow.
• Horizon 2: Companies create Freelance Programs with a dedicated plan, top down support, and resources to drive compliant adoption across the company.
• Horizon 3: Companies think larger than a sourcing strategy, they embed freelance across their product roadmap, their product experience, or their service delivery.

Horizon 1 is where freelance talent platforms have historically been. Talent platforms become approved vendors, and employees have the option to source from these platforms just like any other HR, Procurement, or MSP channel. According to Freelance MVP, “Over 30% of the Fortune 100 and ~50% of Fortune 500 companies are Upwork clients”. I always tell Enterprises to check the credit card statements, as they’ll see marketplaces like Upwork or Fiverr in the statements.

Horizon 2 has tangible success stories like Nasa, UST, and Airbus. According to Mina Bastawros, VP of Creative & Digital Marketing at Airbus, freelancers help them build a better customer relationship. One example Bastawros highlighted is engaging a Formula One designer to create custom airplane mockups for each customer. According to Bastawros, “That allows me to be very flexible in saying, ‘Okay, I’m speaking to a customer in the next couple of weeks. Instead of sending them a generic aircraft, why don’t I just make something that is theirs”.

This Horizon is increasing rapidly. KPMG and PWC have independent talent portals managed by MBO Partners. Unilever created their Open2U gig work portal. Amazon and Monday.com have started working with Fiverr on vetted “certified” crowds. Others have applied freelance mechanics to their internal talent with partners like Gigged.AI and Gloat. According to Mastercards Chief People Officer Michael Fraccaro, “With our talent marketplace, we can collaborate across regions and business units, uncover new ideas, challenge assumptions, and push one another to think in bold new ways”. The results are impressive. Mastercard estimates that 75% of their workforce is on the Gloat talent marketplace, and that $21,000,000 have been saved.

Horizon 3 is products like TurboTax Live showing what’s possible when companies think strategically about how freelancers can create new product experiences or service lines. In TurboTax’s case, tax freelancers are embedded across their product, radically improving the experience of finishing one’s taxes. For end customers, rather than needing to find their own freelance accountant, they can push a button within the TurboTax experience, and a freelance tax expert does everything your own accountant would do.

Companies have quickly taken notice, with Squarespace Marketplace, Webflow Experts, and many search related applications that are currently in development.

3: The Ecosystem Is Expanding

Disruption isn’t a singular force. It takes numerous, related, technological innovations that can combine to create transformative change. Take Uber. Uber wasn’t one, singular, mobile application. It was the combination of Google Maps for GPS, Twilio for SMS notifications, and Braintree for payment processing.

The freelance economy is no different. While on the surface the freelance economy seems simple, just a marketplace to connect talent and companies through gigs. Yet under the surface the freelance economy is multiple tangential industries that support the overall growth of freelancers, freelance platforms, companies hiring freelancers, and products and services that support the ecosystem. And unlike Uber, these tangential industries aren’t one industry, they are numerous existing industries like staffing, payroll, HR tech, outsourcing, along with a societal shift in our relationship with work.

Nonetheless, the ecosystem surrounding the freelance economy is rapidly expanding across multiple fronts. According to Human Cloud’s Industry Landscape, there are 6 new players a week on average, and currently 11 different industry segments within the freelance economy.

Some segments directly support companies scaling freelance workforces. There are over 800 talent platforms globally, with a rapid rise in specialized platforms like Trees Engineering in Malaysia, The Starters E-Commerce Marketers Platform, and freelancer management solutions like Worksome, Bubty, and Stoke Talent (now Fiverr Enterprise). There is also an established payroll, EOR (employer of record), and compliance industry with Velocity Global, People 2.0, and Greenlight.AI as examples.

Some segments directly support freelancers. Take Numa, a Middle East focused banking solution for freelancers that Visa just strategically partnered with. Honeybook, Collective, Lettuce (just raised $6m), Formations, and Ruby Money are other great tax, bookkeeping, and finance solutions for freelancers. And increasingly, solutions supporting freelancers are decoupling talent platforms. Wethos can automate proposals as one feature of their freelance productivity stack. Upside facilitates freelancer to freelancer referrals, enabling decentralized teams, decentralized agencies, or a significant revenue stream for freelancers. Postcard creates simple freelancer profiles.

Other segments provide indirect support, treating freelance as a channel strategy, or feature. Take Credilinq.AI, an embedded credit solution that embeds within talent platforms to provide their freelancers with access to credit. Think about a freelancer. They still need equipment, they might benefit from sales and marketing investments, or they might need seasonal credit to smooth their cash flow. While traditional credit and capital isn’t accessible for freelancers, Credilinq.AI specializes in this, and can embed itself within talent platforms, thus talent platforms with Credilinq.AI inside can drive loyalty, engagement, and increase the earnings of their freelancers. The same is true with Cadana, a global payroll and wallet infrastructure embedded within talent platforms.

Onward, Forward

When I think about the freelance economy today, two quotes come to mind:

• “The future is here, it just isn’t evenly distributed” – William Gibson
• “Is it new, or new to you” – Unknown

As an industry, we know why every leader and entrepreneur needs a freelance strategy. We have early success stories of how to embrace these digital first work models. Now it’s just a matter of time, and democratizing the power of freelance to every leader, organization, and individual.