How a Sydney Tech Startup Used Virtual Coworker to Build Their Platform

How a Sydney Tech Startup Used Virtual Coworker to Build Their Platform

Crew Scout is an online marketplace for on ¬demand video production and video crew services. Its purpose is to cut through the noise of the video production industry by enabling businesses to find and hire vetted video production companies and freelancers for their next video campaign. With their platform, you can post a project in minutes to hundreds of our pre-¬vetted video makers around Australia to create anything from animated explainer videos, branded video content, client testimonials, live event coverage & how¬ to videos.

Below are questions I asked their Founder, Paul Moses, on how his experience has been using Virtual Coworker.

What type of position have you hired through Virtual Coworker?

We hired a full time PHP developer to develop the backend for our marketplace.

What was the recruitment process like?

The recruitment process was very smooth, it was great having someone in Sydney to talk to and seek advice from when initially searching for the ideal candidate. We had an initial interview over Skype with our developer who was very professional with pretty good English. We interviewed a few more candidates and then hired our favourite. Allan started the following Monday and has been with us for 6 months now.

How does hiring someone who is working virtually differ from hiring someone locally?

There is the obvious one in that they are not with you and the rest of the team here in Sydney. Having Allan on video Skype when we are working through some website specific strategies reduces the remote feeling quite a lot. Also, because the Philippines is a similar time-zone, Allan can start work more or less the same time as us which has made scheduling meetings or urgent request so much easier!

When hiring remotely we look for people who can work for themselves and be organised enough to meet deadlines even though they are away from the rest of the team. There was a certain leap of faith involved and you do need to show trust but we have found that doing this has worked out in our favour.

If you can’t trust your team to work remotely, you shouldn’t be hiring them!

What processes have you put in place to most effectively work with your VC?

I am Allan’s main point of contact and we talk a lot on Skype. He starts at 10am so we usually have a few minutes in the morning to talk about what he is up to for the day and the goals for the day / week.

We also have a Skype video chat at least once a week to see where we are with the tasks on a more high level. We have made it a point to include Allan in team meetings as much as possible and when appropriate, he needs to know the general goals of the business as much as we do.

For project management we use Asana to send files, mock-up graphics of the platform etc. Asana is free for basic projects which we find is more than enough for our needs.

How has Virtual Coworker helped you start your Video Production marketplace?

It has helped us so much, being a startup where we had 8 months of website development before we were earning revenue took it’s toll financially but hiring a developer through Virtual Coworker really helped to soften the blow. If we had our platform built in Australia it would have cost around $75k, which we wouldn’t have been able to afford. Crew Scout is up and running and built well for a fraction of that cost all thanks to Virtual Coworker!

If your business is interested in a marketing video, go and check out Crew Scout! For Virtual Coworker subscribers, they are doing a free premium project bonus which is where their in-house producers can help you shortlist the best video professionals for your particular project based on their knowledge of their skills, location and experience. Just enter PREMPRO when posting your project.

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