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Q1, '24, Human Cloud Freelance Trend Tracker

Brand recognition takes over as leading driver of business impact, while platform partnerships prove promising, and is consolidation coming? The signals are here.

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Human Cloud Team

Q1, '24

Table of Contents

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High Level Learnings

Business Performance

Success Drivers

Client acquisition

Internal Team Confidence

Funding

Resiliency

Government support

Industry Confidence

Partnerships

AI Adoption and Impact

Key Takeaways

*bold = discussion points

  1. Brand recognition is key, as it’s the leading driver of impact, which means you need to be the first person clients think of, yet how do you build brand in today’s tight, low budget, cash strapped environment? What activities are low cost, high impact? What unfair positioning do you have to build brand?
  2. Partnerships are key, as internal teams aren’t enough (56% not successful at attracting clients), yet platform-to-platform partnerships look to compensate. Platforms realize this, and the ROI is becoming clear, as 54% are prioritizing partnerships, and one client saw a 35% jump in revenue directly from a platform partnership. How are you building sustainable partnerships?
  3. Resilience is crucial, as performance is still mediocre, and venture funding is still poor. How do you balance brand, client expansion, and consolidation when you need profitability, agility, and resiliency?
  4. Most platforms aren’t resilient, potentially leading to increased consolidation, as it’s a buyers market, since there is a significant amount of platforms that believe they can succeed, believe they have the right team, yet haven’t performed, nor are very prepared to perform in today’s economy. Are you ready, structured right, and attractive for an acquisition?
  5. AI is supportive, mostly improving cost and…

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What's Coming In Q2

HISTORICAL COMPARISON

Business Performance

Q1, '24

Q4, '23

INDUSTRY COMPARISON

Business Performance

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consulting

marketing

tech

Prior Trend Tracker Results

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