Involved discoverers

“You can think for a long time about what might happen, but you only know for sure once you test it,” says strategist Roel Tuerlings. “Our philosophy was therefore: we put a prototype of such a marketplace online as quickly as possible and we see if it works.” Similar software was already on the shelf at Freshheads, so: hop - investigate whether it works technically and what it does in the market.

No sooner said than done. In Tilburg, a number of clients were asked to test the platform, together with freelancers from the YoungCapital network.

Roel: “It quickly became clear that a marketplace where freelancers and clients with short-term gigs meet indeed is a golden opportunity in the market. We could continue right away: scaling up, finetuning software and continuing to monitor what happens.”

YoungOnes and Freshheads work together for entire work weeks, so really as one team. "And one day a week that happens at the YoungOnes office," says Koen Graafmans, product & online marketing manager at YoungOnes: “That is very valuable to us: they get to know our employees and our culture, which means everything that is made or further developed suits us super well.”

Working at the YoungOnes office also has another function: this is how the Heads get to experience first-hand how the product works. Roel: “For example, YoungOnes always conducts telephone welcome calls with new freelancers. Sometimes we listen in: what kind of questions are being asked, what are trends we need to take into account? That gives us direct input for adjustments.”