The middlemen

”Holy fakaroni” Jyrki gasped. He had just opened an e-mail, that was addressed to him, but he was sure that it was not meant for him. The e-mail had an invoice in it and that invoice was meant for Jyrki’s customer.

Jyrki was working as a freelancer, and he had found the customer with his own networks. However, the customer was a big company, and they had a process that every freelancer will go through their cooperation partner. The same partner who’s invoice Jyrki had now opened. Somehow, they mixed their billing e-mail address and the invoice ended up in Jyrki’s e-mail with his name on it.

The commission for Jyrki’s work was outrageous. And the company didn’t even match Jyrki with this customer but instead they were only taking care of the paperwork. Normally these companies that help freelancers to find assignments at least match the correct talent according to the end customer’s needs.

This sparked the idea in Jyrki. He could use the similar matching algorithms that he had used in many master data projects. The algorithms could help freelancers and companies to find each other and get rid of the middlemen. The first idea of Jobexio was created.

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I’m not sure

“What about Sanna, is she available?”

“I’m not sure, let me check.”

“But wait, does she have Oracle experience?”

“Not sure about that either. Damn. When did this became so complex?”

Jyrki was trying to find the correct consultant from their employees to tackle an urgent need. He was a partner in a fast-growing technology consultancy and suddenly, when the headcount broke the magical limit of 50, they started having challenges.

Finding the correct talent who had the needed skills and availability started to get harder and harder. They couldn’t anymore remember who knows and what and when their assignments were ending.

Jyrki remembered his idea about matching algorithms. Wait, this could be used for internal resources as well? And what if we could also immediately see if the person is available. This would help our internal processes hugely; we would save time and we wouldn’t have to worry about overbooking anyone.

Covid made me do it

Something good about covid. Jyrki noticed that now it is time to implement the vision. Thanks to corona he had more time for not travelling so much. Additionally, he found a funding instrument that could kickstart his project. 

Jyrki gathered a team to start building the product. First, they focused on the matching of freelancers and as soon as the platform was ready, he started inviting freelancers on board. After this Jyrki started developing internal team management with project resourcing functionality.

Mission to find meaningfulness 

Johannes felt weird. Something was missing. In theory he had everything he could have ever wanted. A well-paying stable job, colleagues that were best friends and hobbies that filled his free time with adrenaline and exercise. It was during one of those adrenaline-filled moments, when Jyrki called Johannes. 

Jyrki had found Johannes from Kiuas Inside. His profile seemed to match the next step of Jobexio: commercializing the platform. From the very first phone call Johannes felt like this is the missing piece. Being involved in a business which helps freelancers to find new customers easier and thus support them in their career. In a business which helps consultant companies to have a clearer overview of their resourcing and thus limiting the chances of overbooking individuals. This sounded like the meaningful position that Johannes had been looking for.

Johannes had seen the effects of overbooking closely in his past. He worked in a company that was growing fast and which had employees who were willing to sacrifice their own time to fulfill the customer’s needs. This was not done intentionally, but instead it happened because of poor visibility of the available resources.

Despite loving his current position, the decision was easy.

“I’m in.”

Help me get rid of this 

Johannes had been contacting an ambitious and youthful tech consulting company for awhile. Finally, he managed to book a meeting. In this meeting, the CEO showed an excel that they were using to manage their consultants’ skills and availabilities.

“Help me get rid of this.” was the statement that the CEO used when Johannes asked how Jobexio could support their business.

And oh boy, we helped. This customer was the first one to use Jobexio platform to its full potential.

Say it in one sentence 

Ok, let me try: Jobexio is a resource management platform for technology consulting companies and a place to find assignments for freelancers.

Jobexio will help you find the perfect match from your internal consultants, existing subcontractors, and freelancers. On the other side Jobexio helps freelancers to find the perfect assignment that matches their skills.

Looking for a new assignment as a freelancer? Check this: https://www.jobexio.com/talent

Looking for freelancers to support your growth? Check this: https://www.jobexio.com/

Looking to manage your tech consulting business easier? Check this: https://www.jobexio.com/team

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Kiuas Ax'22 questions for Johannes Torppa, Sales Director and co-founder of Jobexio

Who or what inspired you to be an entrepreneur?

My father. He’s a serial entrepreneur and I grew up working in one of his companies. During those times I decided that I will never be an entrepreneur because of the huge amount of work that I saw my father “struggle” with (he didn’t really struggle, he seemed to be enjoying). Now that I’ve grown up, I have noticed that everyone is working their asses off, but as an entrepreneur you have your freedom: you get to decide what to prioritize in the big picture. This of course can change in the start-up world quickly when the investors come in the picture, but let’s worry that later.

Additionally, I must mention one old school buddy. He posted to LinkedIn that his salary was cut in half, his working hours were off the roof and the benefits were suddenly really shitty. He had become an entrepreneur and he was loving it.

If you could get back in time and to any location, where would you go?

Right here, right now is the best place and time I could ever be in. I love to travel, and I would like the idea of seeing dinosaurs, but in the end I am very happy where I am and where I am heading. 

What is your favourite sports team?

Oh man, I don’t really follow sports. I prefer doing it by myself. Except wakeboarding, which isn’t a team sport, but in the end all the wakeboarders are one team, pushing each other to just send it bigger. Shout out to Janne Kilpiö, Petteri Väisänen, Pekka Rintala and of course the vlog master JB O’neil (Spot the landing, bend your knees and ride away).

If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be?

Well, prejudice sucks, so I think that should be gone.

Pick a gadget and explain your choice: a) a tablet with unlimited calculating power, b) a brain implant to teach you absolutely anything you want instantly, c) a teleport to travel instantly where ever you want.

This one is easy. Not a) because even though I work in a tech company, I wouldn’t know how to benefit from all the calculating power. Not b) either, because I think that the old Finnish proverb “knowledge adds pain” has a point. So thus, I would choose c, because with that teleport I could see all the beautiful places out there, learn different cultures and widen my knowledge about the people and the planet.

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