Braintrust

What: Braintrust connects skilled tech experts — software developers, designers, and user-experience mavens — with clients.

Expected pay: You set it

Husl$core: $$$$$

Commissions & fees: 10% paid by the client

Where: Nationwide (remote)

Requirements: 5+ years of technical experience; interview and skills assessment

Review:

Braintrust is a fledgling marketplace for tech talent. Built by freelancers for freelancers, the site lets you set your own rates and get 100% of the fee. Clients pay a 10% platform fee, on top of the freelancers’ rate, to Braintrust for the connection.

Freelancers also set their own payment terms. You are paid through Stipe or TransferWise on a schedule you work out with your client.

Site structure

The site is a non-profit that’s owned and operated by the freelancers who use it. When freelancers sign up, they’re screened by the freelancers who are already in the network. If you get accepted, Braintrust will encourage you to help screen other newcomers too. The incentive for doing that is a cryptocurrency that represents ownership in the platform.

But owning a piece of Braintrust does not mean you’ll earn dividends. After all, the site is set up as a non-profit. However, these shares are supposed to give you more say in how the site develops. You get tokens for screening and referring both other freelancers and clients to the platform. 

This piece in BusinessInsider explains more. 

Recommendations

Braintrust is new, operating publicly just since mid 2020. As a result, it likely has fewer clients than better-established competitors, such as Upwork, Toptal and Catalant. That said, Braintrust’s fees are more freelancer-friendly 

Other sites we like for skilled tech talent: Catalant, WorkingNotWorking and FreeUp.

What their users say:

We’ve found only a handful of fairly vague reviews. If you work with this network, please leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

1/6/2021

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