The emergence, and now seemingly extended presence, of#nbsp;the novel coronavirus health pandemic has made remote working into a#nbsp;pretty standard part of#nbsp;office life for so-called knowledge workers. Today, a#nbsp;startup that has built a#nbsp;labor marketplace to#nbsp;help companies source and develop teams of#nbsp;remote developers is#nbsp;announcing some funding as#nbsp;to#nbsp;looks to#nbsp;double down on#nbsp;the opportunity and new demand resulting from that.
Turing, which helps source, vet and ultimately connect developers with tech companies that need them for either short- or#nbsp;long-term engagements, is#nbsp;today announcing that it#nbsp;has picked up $#nbsp;14 million in#nbsp;seed funding.
The gap in#nbsp;the market that Turing is#nbsp;addressing is#nbsp;two-fold: companies need to#nbsp;hire more developers but are facing tight competition (and high rates) for finding qualified people in#nbsp;their immediate vicinity; and on#nbsp;the other side, there are talented developers living in#nbsp;many more places than just the world’s biggest tech centers who may not want to#nbsp;or#nbsp;cannot (especially right now) relocate to#nbsp;live elsewhere and are unable to#nbsp;connect with the right opportunities.
"Talent is#nbsp;universal, but opportunities are not," CEO and co-founder Jonathan Siddharth said in#nbsp;an#nbsp;interview. He#nbsp;and his co-founder Vijay Krishnan (CTO) are both from India and relocated to#nbsp;the Valley for school (both have post-graduate degrees at#nbsp;Stanford) and eventually work, but know all too well that there are plenty more talented people who don’t. "We love that we#nbsp;can take Silicon Valley outside of#nbsp;the area and to#nbsp;have all of#nbsp;them participate in#nbsp;it#nbsp;while still helping local communities grow."
The funding is#nbsp;notable for a#nbsp;couple of#nbsp;reasons. One is#nbsp;the calibre of#nbsp;the investors. It’s being led by Foundation Capital,with individuals participating including Adam D’Angelo (the first CTO at#nbsp;Facebook and also the co-founder of Quora);Cyan Banister of#nbsp;Banister Capital; Ashu Gard of#nbsp;Foundation; and Beerud Sheth, the founder of#nbsp;another labor marketplace, Upwork (formerly known as#nbsp;Elance). Other backers include executives from Google, Facebook and Amazon that are preferring not to#nbsp;be#nbsp;named right now.
Two is#nbsp;that it’s coming on#nbsp;the back of#nbsp;some significant growth for the company. Since coming out in#nbsp;general availability a#nbsp;year ago, Turing has gone from $#nbsp;17,000 to $#nbsp;10 million in#nbsp;annualised revenue, CEO Johnathan Siddharth said in#nbsp;an#nbsp;interview. The company now has some 150,000 developers spanning 140 countries on#nbsp;its books, who are taking on#nbsp;roles at#nbsp;a#nbsp;range of#nbsp;seniority levels at#nbsp;startups that include Lambda School, VillageMD, Ohi Technologies, Nexxus Events and others.
Everything is#nbsp;distributed
Siddharth and his co-founder and Vijay Krishnan (CTO) were most recently entrepreneurs in#nbsp;residence at#nbsp;Foundation Capital, a#nbsp;stopping-over point after their previous startup, content discovery app Rover, was acquired by#nbsp;Revcontent (a#nbsp;recommendation platform that competes against the likes of#nbsp;Taboola and Outbrain). But Siddharth said that they got the idea for the startup before then, when they were still building Rover.
"Our last company was essentially built on#nbsp;a#nbsp;remote team, and we#nbsp;ran it#nbsp;like that for eight years," he#nbsp;said, describing the distributed workforce they had developed. "All our competitors in#nbsp;Palo Alto and the wider area were burning through tons of#nbsp;cash, and it’s only worse now. Salaries have skyrocketed."
As#nbsp;with other areas like e-commerce and the shift to#nbsp;cloud-based architectures, the idea of#nbsp;building a#nbsp;company around a#nbsp;distributed workforce has also drastically accelerated since the arrival and stubborn persistence of#nbsp;the coronavirus pandemic, Siddharth said. "We knew where the world was headed, but in#nbsp;the last six months there’s been an#nbsp;even more dramatic shift," he#nbsp;said. "If I#nbsp;looked at#nbsp;Facebook and Google working from home, I#nbsp;would have thought I#nbsp;was dreaming. I#nbsp;knew startups would make the shift but didn’t think larger companies would."
Other talent recruitment platforms have identified the disparity between the global distribution of#nbsp;the talent pool of#nbsp;engineers, and the fact that the companies that want to#nbsp;employ them are relatively concentrated in#nbsp;specific geographical areas. They include the likes of Andela sourcing developers specifically in#nbsp;African markets; Terminal for helping build remote teams (not just individual developers); Triplebyte for building innovative ways of#nbsp;evaluating developers and then connecting them with jobs that fit their expertise; and more established platforms like Upwork and Fiverr.
And then there are companies like LinkedIn, which has built an#nbsp;impressively large "work graph" comprised of#nbsp;hundreds of#nbsp;millions of#nbsp;people around the world, but is#nbsp;still trying to#nbsp;figure out how best to#nbsp;focus that for specific verticals and job opportunities. It#nbsp;has launched its own learning hub, and a#nbsp;number of#nbsp;tools to#nbsp;improve how people identify and improve their skills to#nbsp;match them better with employment opportunities (critical because LinkedIn’s business model is#nbsp;heavily built around recruitment services). You could see how it#nbsp;might also potentially dabble in#nbsp;more structured evaluations to#nbsp;better match people up#nbsp;— or#nbsp;potentially try to#nbsp;integrate with or#nbsp;simply acquire companies like Turing that have already built them.
For now, Turing is#nbsp;building what Siddharth describes as a "talent cloud" and he#nbsp;believes that it’s distinct from others tackling the same market in#nbsp;a#nbsp;couple of#nbsp;ways.
The first is#nbsp;around how it#nbsp;vets developers and matches them with opportunities, by#nbsp;way of#nbsp;a#nbsp;platform that Turing has built that includes not just tests of#nbsp;a#nbsp;person’s skills but practical applications similar to#nbsp;those the engineer would be#nbsp;expected to#nbsp;work on#nbsp;in#nbsp;an actual gig.
"We use data science to#nbsp;evaluate developers at#nbsp;scale," Siddharth said, noting that it’s not just about individuals but how they work in#nbsp;clusters and teams. He#nbsp;said that those that are particularly good at#nbsp;solving specific issues in#nbsp;their groups will often be#nbsp;deployed en#nbsp;masse across different businesses.
Another is#nbsp;around how they help companies feel secure around their infrastructure. Employees are contractors for Turing, which pays them after Turing gets paid by#nbsp;the vendor. But given that sometimes engagements are short and companies will be#nbsp;keen to#nbsp;protect their IP, Turing has built a "sandbox", a#nbsp;secure environment on#nbsp;a#nbsp;virtual machine where its contractors work on#nbsp;code that cannot be#nbsp;removed as#nbsp;soon as#nbsp;the engagement ends. The sandbox also means Turing and the company can oversee and manage how work is#nbsp;progressing.
A#nbsp;third difference is#nbsp;in#nbsp;how Turing sees its longer-term role as#nbsp;a#nbsp;middle-man. While engineers and developers that it#nbsp;works with are essentially working for clients via Turing as#nbsp;an#nbsp;agency, Siddharth noted that it’s already been the case that several people have crossed over from being "temps" and contractors into taking full-time roles with the vendors, cutting Turing out of#nbsp;the equation altogether. (It#nbsp;gets a#nbsp;fee in#nbsp;that case, it#nbsp;seems.)
Given how big the talent pool is, this doesn’t seem to#nbsp;be#nbsp;an issue for the company, and if#nbsp;anything, fits Turing’s wider ambitions to#nbsp;help bridge that gap between talented people, wherever they live, and interesting job opportunities. "We encourage that," Siddharth said. "It's just more Turing evangelists. We#nbsp;want alums everywhere."
You’d imagine that, as#nbsp;companies become even more decentralised and accustomed to#nbsp;the idea of#nbsp;even their previously in-office employees working from anywhere, the likelihood of#nbsp;crossing over from remote contractor to#nbsp;remote full-timer might become even more common.
And in#nbsp;any case, it’s to#nbsp;the benefit of#nbsp;the company that it#nbsp;continues to#nbsp;bring more people into its marketplace, since the engine that it#nbsp;has built continues to#nbsp;get more sophisticated as#nbsp;more engineers go#nbsp;through it.
"Turing's Machine Learning system for developer vetting and matching helps accurately predict the probability of#nbsp;a#nbsp;collaboration succeeding, which helps Turing make high-quality match recommendations," said Krishnan. "Recent fast growth has resulted in#nbsp;more performance data, which has in#nbsp;turn led to#nbsp;rapid improvements in#nbsp;Turing’s vetting and matching accuracy. The result has been even faster growth in#nbsp;both the number of#nbsp;developers on#nbsp;the platform and the number of#nbsp;customers."
The current state of#nbsp;the market has really turned the idea of "technology hub" on#nbsp;its head, and it’s about time that we#nbsp;see more startups emerging that also push the concept of#nbsp;how to#nbsp;extend that to#nbsp;talent hubs, which now live in#nbsp;the cloud, not in#nbsp;a#nbsp;specific location.
"When the Indian outsourcing and#nbsp;IT revolution was in#nbsp;its infancy, I#nbsp;predicted that the market would grow 100X over the next decade. People thought I#nbsp;was crazy at#nbsp;the time and, in#nbsp;retrospect, my#nbsp;prediction seems like a#nbsp;gross underestimation," said Garg at#nbsp;Foundation Capital. "I feel the same way about Turing. We#nbsp;are creating a#nbsp;new category around remote and distributed work. The future of#nbsp;work is#nbsp;remote, and we’re just getting started."
Published by TechCrunch#nbsp;— on#nbsp;August 25, 2020