Operating within a plus minus four hours GMT window, developers are virtually tied to Distributed’s central London office, but can be based in countries ranging from Democratic Republic of Congo all the way to northern India.
“Our mission here at Distributed is freelance careers with more benefits than permanent employment,” Adamson affirms. “We use technology to be super-efficient, and improve experiences, not to treat people like binary numbers. [We are] a people focused business.”
Partnering up
The ideology of an encouraging and supportive community, rather than competitive, is obviously important to Adamson. But how did he convince investors of his vision?
“You have to choose your investors wisely,” he emphasises, “you’re both in it for the long run so you had better be mission aligned.”
Recognising that the market for private talent growth clubs was growing in the UK, Adamson visited investors, to do just that. Shortly after, Distributed signed what it describes as the largest ever open-talent commercial deal with BT Digital, worth £30m.
Adamson credits two of BT’s female leaders, Startup Partnerships Director, Meg Blight and Chief Digital and Innovation Officer, Harmeen Mehta, for the deal.
“That’s what you get when you get female leadership,” he grins, “you get amazing strategic thought.”
Distributed has had the backing of other big-name partners, each of which Adamson praises for putting the business firmly on investor maps. But it’s the Startups 100 index he chooses to highlight.
“We are hugely appreciative of the support and our inclusion within the [Startups 100] list”, Adamson says. “The more that people can give third-party validated examples of our success, the more that helps us lean into our mission and improve the world for freelancers.
“For a nascent business, the hardest thing to do is to get noticed, the second hardest thing to do is to be trusted. Being on the Startups 100 list helps us do both.”
Going global
Even looking outside of the UK, the statistics don’t paint a pretty picture when it comes to available tech talent.
According to a recent study, there are 26.9 million software developers worldwide. Being able to pull from that pool of candidates will be vital for UK businesses to succeed.
Indeed, there were around 870,000 tech and digital job vacancies available between January to May 2022 – the highest number in a decade.
“There’s never going to be enough software developers to meet demand,” Adamson predicts, “which means every business on Earth needs to share talent.”
Distributed aims to lead the charge. Amongst the many opportunities for expansion that Adamson refers to are the Netherlands, Germany, France, and the US. But Distributed is concentrating on scaling up in its home territory before it looks further adrift.
“Every country has different freelance laws and different security regulations,” Adamson explains, “it can detract from the focused experience of building an excellent company in one territory by trying to internationalise too quickly.”
So, with the focus on the UK for the moment, how well does the country currently support freelancers?
Adamson points to IR35 – the government’s delayed tax legislation designed to combat tax avoidance by contract workers – as proof there is room for improvement.
“I would say IR35 is a very unsophisticated blunt tool,” he comments. “There needs to be a better understanding of independent career professionals [and how] they want to work.
“Freelancing is not gig work, it’s a career choice. We need to improve IR35. We need to enable freelancing at scale. And we need to enable people to have truly independent careers.”
Do you want to feature in the Startups 100 index?
Distributed’s bold mission statement was just one of many reasons we awarded it a top 20 ranking in our index. But Adamson regards the accolade as having brought real momentum to the firm’s cause.
“We’re very, very grateful for the inclusion and for Startups 100 in general,” he told us. “Anything that gives exposure to businesses trying to improve the way that we work, or trying to improve their sector, is a good thing.”
If you’d like to be featured alongside impressive winners like Distributed, we’ll be accepting applications for the 2023 Startups 100 campaign in early August. Keep an eye out on our website to get first dibs at the form.
Or, if you’d prefer, send us your contact email to [email protected]. As soon as the awards are open, we’ll let you know.
Read the full article here
