Company:Toptal
 | |
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Freelance |
| Founded | 2010 |
| Founders | Taso Du Val Breanden Beneschott |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Taso Du Val (CEO) |
| Website | www |
Toptal is a global remote company that provides a freelancing platform that connects businesses with software engineers, designers, and business consultants. The company has no headquarters.[1]
History
Taso Du Val and Breanden Beneschott founded the company in 2010. Val was previously an engineer at Fotolog and Slide.com[2][3] while Beneschott was an undergraduate at Princeton University.[4] The name stands for "top talent", and it was started as a virtual company with no dedicated offices.[5][6]
Toptal had more than $1 million in revenue by the time Beneschott graduated from Princeton.[4] The co-founders moved to Budapest, Hungary to access software developers with fewer employment options than in the United States.[4]
Talent search and growth
The firm developed personality, language, and skills testing to remotely screen engineering candidates, and accepted the top 3% of several thousand monthly applicants.[2][3][7]
The firm matches business engagements with developers from its network and brokers the terms of each job.[3] In 2015, it expanded to include freelance design.[8] In 2016, it acquired the freelancer platform, Skillbridge, which offered freelance accountants, statisticians, and consultants in market research, financial modeling, and due diligence.[9] In 2017, the company launched a vertical specializing in software engineers and designers for the automotive industry.[10] It also launched a vertical for blockchain engineers in February 2018.[11]
Funding
Toptal accepted a $1.4 million seed round of financing from Andreessen Horowitz and angel investors including Quora founder Adam D'Angelo.[8] The company is said not to have raised additional funds since its seed round because it has been profitable.[8] In 2015 and 2016, their annual revenue was $80 million and $100 million respectively.[3][4]
References
- ↑ https://remote.co/company/toptal
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Soshana, Solomon (19 March 2017). "Dropout turned entrepreneur helps find talent amid engineer squeeze" (in en-US). The Times of Israel. https://www.timesofisrael.com/dropout-turned-entrepreneur-helps-find-talent-amid-engineer-squeeze/.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Ankeny, Jason (8 September 2015). "Why a High School Dropout's Staffing Company Is in a Class of Its Own" (in en). Entrepreneur Magazine. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/249338.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Hartmans, Avery (17 September 2016). "This startup has no offices and unlimited vacation, and its cofounder has lived in more than 30 countries in 5 years". Business Insider. http://www.businessinsider.com/toptal-founder-braenden-beneschott-2016-9.
- ↑ Rockwood, Kate (26 October 2017). "How to Build a $100 Million-Revenue Business With Zero Offices". Inc. Magazine. https://www.inc.com/magazine/201711/kate-rockwood/toptal-freelance-network.html.
- ↑ Caminiti, Susan (3 April 2018). "The dream job that's all the rage across America". CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/03/virtual-companies-answer-demand-for-better-quality-of-life.html.
- ↑ Lagorio-Chafkin, Christine (5 November 2014). "How To Build A Killer Team--Sight Unseen". Inc. Magazine. https://www.inc.com/magazine/201411/christine-lagorio/how-to-build-a-killer-team-sight-unseen.html.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Constine, Josh (7 October 2015). "Massive Freelance Engineer Marketplace Toptal Now Sells Designers" (in en-US). https://techcrunch.com/2015/10/07/the-biggest-startup-no-one-talks-about/.
- ↑ Taft, Darryl (6 April 2016). "Toptal Buys Skillbridge to Advance Freelance Tech Market" (in en-US). eWEEK. http://www.eweek.com/it-management/toptal-buys-skillbridge-to-advance-freelance-tech-market.
- ↑ Winter, Drew (28 November 2017). "Supplier Toptal to Fill ‘Extreme High-Skilled Talent Gap’". WardsAuto. http://www.wardsauto.com/technology/supplier-toptal-fill-extreme-high-skilled-talent-gap.
- ↑ Stein, Samantha (14 February 2018). "Blockchain engineers are in demand" (in en-US). TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/14/blockchain-engineers-are-in-demand/.
External links
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