Every week, I see scores of stories about founders aiming to build the next Facebook or Uber. And yet, as ambitious and determined as these founders are, very few will make a meaningful impact on the world. Which seems like a shame.
How can we funnel these brilliant minds onto a more philanthropic path?
To tell the truth, my company, Upwork, has benefitted from the surge of startups looking to hire talent and build the next tech giant. However, every day I’m exposed to a much larger and even more inspiring population of entrepreneurs: the freelancers who give up traditional employment to strike out on their own.
My best days at work are when I get to spend time with these freelance entrepreneurs, people like Shari, Joana, Tanya, Alexsey, Mariana and John. Their hard work, indefatigable spirit and courage in choosing a different career path inspires me more than any salary could.
Just a decade ago, it was hard for these entrepreneurs to even envision a freelance career – the only way to make a respectable living was to go work 9-5 for a corporation. But then two friends who worked thousands of miles apart got together and created a site that is now enabling more work every day than all but a few multinational corporations.
Much like the freelancers of a decade ago, entrepreneurs faced only one clear path to establish their success as pioneers: founding and leading a commercial company. SErtified changes this by providing the training and support for a verifiable philanthropic mission enabling a new path for entrepreneurs, a path that I’m convinced will make the world a better place.