YOUNGONES

Freelance platform grows

1000% in a year

Through the online platform YoungOnes, young people can quickly arrange day jobs at cool companies. Not even 5 years ago, YoungOnes was just a phrase on a post-it. Now the platform offers the largest selection of gigs in the Netherlands, with 100,000 connected freelancers eager to take on jobs. We can rightfully say: YoungOnes is a success. How did Freshheads and YoungOnes develop the initial idea into the successful platform it has become today?

Spin Award

English

interactive

Award

Red Dot

Award

European

Design

Award

Industry

Temporary & flexible

Phase

Develop & grow

Solution

Multisided marketplace

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What we made

Together with start-up YoungOnes, born out of the employment agency YoungCapital, we developed a digital platform to connect freelancers with short-term gigs from great organizations in the hospitality, retail, logistics, or events industry. A smart and fast way to match supply and demand, which has proven to be a bullseye from day one.

Engaged explorers

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

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

Roel: “It quickly turned out that a marketplace where freelancers and clients meet for short-term gigs was indeed a golden opportunity in the market. We could immediately continue: scale up, fine-tune the software, and keep monitoring what happens.”

“You can think for a long time about what might happen, but you only know for sure when you test it,” said 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 available 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 YoungCapital's network.

Roel: “It soon became clear that a marketplace where freelancers and clients meet for short-term jobs was indeed a golden opportunity in the market. We could immediately proceed: scale up, fine-tune the software, and keep monitoring what happens.”

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

Working at YoungOnes office also has another function: the Heads get firsthand experience of how the product works. Roel: “YoungOnes, for example, always conducts telephone welcome interviews with new freelancers. We sometimes listen in: what questions are being asked, what are the trends we need to keep in mind? That gives us direct input for adjustments.”

A strong success story

The success of YoungOnes is being noticed in more and more places. Also in England! It's no coincidence that the platform won the prestigious SpinAwards. "That’s quite a story in itself," laughs Roel. Someone from the SpinAwards organization posted a job for a hospitality worker on the online platform YoungOnes. The job was filled within ten minutes: much faster than an employment agency could do, indeed.