After a very dramatic and highly publicized departure from PayPal last summer, Rakesh Agrawal has emerged to launch a new platform to connect freelance lawyers, accountants, and other skilled professionals with work.
Think of it as TaskRabbit for professionals. On its homepage, Redesign Mobile features a stream of articles written by available professionals as a way to show off their work. Companies can connect with a professional by paying a consultation fee to discuss a project. Redesign Mobile takes a percentage of that consultation fee — a finders fee, if you will — but does not take a cut of the freelancer’s project fee.
“I think the whole nature of work is changing. A lot of the work today is still based on the industrial age,” Agrawal told VentureBeat.
The project aims to employ people who, for whatever reasons, only work part-time with telecommuting jobs around the country. Finding part-time work, especially jobs that aren’t local, can be difficult. Redesign Mobile helps companies discover the right talent for project-based jobs.
How much do companies need to be connected to this population? Agrawal says he’s still assessing the market.
Some platforms already serve a similar function. Elance, for example, allows companies to post jobs, and freelancers can submit proposals for them. But Redesign Mobile works in the reverse: Companies or individuals can peruse professionals for hire and then ask for a consultation.
Redesign Mobile has received an undisclosed amount of funding from a cadre of angel investors including Kashyap Deorah, Julie Gupta (former AOL executive director), and Ravi Narasimhan (formerly at Twitter).
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