Upwork has transitioned from a private to public company

lenaellis · ‎10-03-2018

We are excited to share the news that today Upwork became a public company. We are so grateful and appreciative of the freelancers and clients who sailed this journey with us and believe in Upwork and our role in the future of work. You are helping us fulfill our vision of a world where people can work without limits.

As an Upwork customer you may be wondering how this news may change the Upwork platform. The move from a private company to a public one will not change how Upwork operates. Your experience stays the same and we are not considering any pricing or fee changes at this time. We’re committed to our mission of creating more economic opportunities so people have better lives. This public offering will allow us to continue to invest in our business and our mission.

We are extremely proud of this moment, and we hope you share this pride alongside us. At Nasdaq today, we brought you with us as we celebrate, knowing our users are the core of our business. This would not have been possible without all of you. We are only successful if you are. This is truly a joint effort.

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Also check out this blog post about our ad campaign in Times Square, NY, featuring freelancers.

Click here to read our blog post, which includes a letter from our CEO Stephane Kasriel.

From all of us at Upwork, Thank you!

Let us know if you have any questions.

VladimirG · ‎10-08-2018

Hi Guillermo, Jacquelene, Sujit, Remon and Jery,

I'd like to confirm that all the videos we've prepared were uploaded to our YouTube channel on Friday, you can check the playlist here. Emails were also sent to freelancers who opted into the campaign, specifying if you were included. Due to limited space, we were not able to include all freelancers, but we'll do our best to feature you in future campaigns. Thank you for being an important part of our community!

vinod111 · ‎10-08-2018

Hi Lena,

I think many Top Rated and old freelancers like me are disappointed by not getting featured in the ad campaign. Actually, it wasn't a small move rather it's a historical moment that upwork has transitioned from private to a public which gave this ad campaign a more importance than usual ads campaign. If there could be any criteria to get featured and if we fail to pass that then we would have understand it but randomly selecting people doesn't make any sense and lots of disappointment.

I don't know how upwork will care about our disappointment but hope in coming days they may send some greetings/certificates or something else to all old and Top rated freelancer which will motivate them to keep doing good work.

Thanks,

Vinod

jsena · ‎10-08-2018

Hi Vladimir,

Thank you for responding. Yes I got an email and a link from the CEO that I'm one of the top rated freelancers. So I waited all the video to be uploaded and I checked them one by one but didn't see myself (not sure if I overlooked some videos because some are kinda far away and blurred which perhaps I was there but I overlooked?). I didn't receive an email either that I wasn't included but I'm wondering why I didn't see myself on any of the videos tho. So may I know how Upwork have chosen those who made it there? do you have a specific list of those 288 freelancers so that we all know for sure the complete list of names? I've been working in Upwork for 10 years so I was really hoping I was really there and many freelancers are asking as well so I hope you can give us a list of those 288 freelancers? Is that possible if you can send us those list via email? 🙂

jsena · ‎10-08-2018

We have the same sentiment.

sabny21 · ‎10-08-2018

Yeah it's extremely dissapointing, I have been with this platform for over 7 years, since the odesk times, over 400k earned and over 11,000 hours worked...

Curious to know who actually was in charge of picking the freelancers, cause most of the veterans were left out.

allergywriter · ‎10-08-2018

Marketing is all about using the right images, not using the images from freelancers that are successful.

I would select a cross section of gender and ethnic groups.

I would only select photos that looked professional.

If I were working on the campaign, it would be all about the images that support my message.

versailles · ‎10-08-2018

It doesn't matter who was on the screen. Nobody will remember the faces and the names anyway. What matters is the exposure it gives to Upwork and the name of the company being displayed on Time Square.

ambatoding · ‎10-08-2018

I am just another top rated

purplepony · ‎10-09-2018

@Mary W wrote:
After watching the videos, my only comment is that I haven't seen a single "silverback" like me - or even anyone much over the age of 35. Really? Really??
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Showing at least some over 35; some well over 35 (as you and I and several others here), most definitely would have been far more realistic wouldn't it? Evidently realism and transparency was not their goal or perhaps they're planning on featuring our segment of the population in the future.

coolsdudes1992 · ‎10-10-2018

It's pretty much disappointing for me to see the freelancers in the campaign who might done 20-30 jobs as compared to freelancers who have been working here from the nearly decade (Thousands of earnings and hundreds of reviews/jobs).

I think it's completely un-justice to do that, there should be a proper mechanism to select a freelancer for these kinds of campaigns, otherwise, you're de-motivating your "Actual" top rated freelancers.