Toptal
 | |
| Private | |
| Industry | Freelance marketplace, Online outsourcing, Employment website |
| Founded | 2010 Silicon Valley, California, U.S. |
| Founders | Taso Du Val, Braenden Beneschott |
Key people | Taso Du Val (CEO) |
| Website |
www |
Toptal is an American company that provides freelance software engineers and software designers to companies. The company has received coverage for being a completely virtual organization without any offices.[1][2]
History and operations
The company was founded in 2010 by Taso Du Val, who serves as the company's CEO[1] and Braenden Beneschott, who was a student at Princeton at the time.[2] The original business model was to provide highly skilled software engineers to large corporate clients. The company reportedly has over 2,000 clients.[3]
On October 7, 2015, Toptal announced the launch of Toptal Designers, to provide software designers to clients.[1] In November 2015, Toptal was also ranked the #1 fastest growing talent marketplace in North America by consulting firm Deloitte.[4]
In April 2016, Toptal acquired Skillbridge, an online platform for elite business freelancers, for an undisclosed sum. Toptal described the purpose of the acquisition as a way to "catalyze and accelerate [Toptal's] launch into the business talent category".[5]
The company's investors include Andreessen Horowitz,[6] Adam D'Angelo of Quora, and Ryan Rockefeller.[7] Toptal clients include Airbnb,[8] JPMorgan Chase, IDEO, Axel Springer SE, Pfizer, and Rand McNally.[3] Toptal has no offices and is a completely remote team distributed throughout the world.[9][10]
Controversy
In July 2013, LinkedIn started removing Toptal ads that featured professional headshots of female developers in response to complaints by LinkedIn members about the images.[11] Toptal responded and labelled the removals as a case of sexism in the technology industry.[12] LinkedIn restored the ads shortly after, maintaining that the ads were rejected in error.[11]
References
- 1 2 3 "Massive Freelance Engineer Marketplace Toptal Now Sells Designers". techcrunch.com. 2015-10-07. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
- 1 2 "This startup has no offices and unlimited vacation, and its cofounder has lived in more than 30 countries in 5 years". businessinsider.com. 2016-09-17. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
- 1 2 "Toptal Delivers the Top Three Percent of Developers Worldwide to Help Companies Address the Shortage of Elite Technical Talent". MarketWatch.
- ↑ "Deloitte's 2015 Technology Fast 500 - Deloitte" (PDF). Deloitte.
- ↑ Darryl K. Taft (6 April 2016). "Toptal Buys Skillbridge to Advance Freelance Tech Market". eWEEK.
- ↑ "A16z Seeds - Andreessen Horowitz". a16z.com.
- ↑ https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/toptal/investors
- ↑ "How To Build A Killer Team--Sight Unseen (Infographic) - Inc.com". Inc.com.
- ↑ "Companies Find Tech Talent In Robust Freelance Market".
- ↑ "Why an Ex-Google Coder Makes Twice as Much Freelancing".
- 1 2 "LinkedIn Shuts Down TopTal Ads That Featured Photos Of Female Engineers". The Huffington Post.
- ↑ "A Look at Sexism in Technology for Female Software Engineers - Toptal". Toptal Engineering Blog.