DC’s Growth Collective is supporting the fractional workforce movement

In DC, one startup wants to connect marketing talent with the world through the power of AI.

Growth Collective, which operates remotely but is headquartered in DC, is a freelancer marketplace. Founded by ex-Googlers Max Ade and Felix Remennik, Growth Collective was created on the idea that businesses needed more implementation, optimization and access to talent in marketing. After getting acquired by Legion Works in 2021, the company now uses AI to connect others with marketing talent.

“With all the social media channels, it’s really hard to hire one person or even two who you can bring in to try all of these different things because you got to figure out where growth is going to be housed for your business,” CEO Dan Minahan told Technical.ly.

For companies in need of talent, it works like this: Leaders and hiring managers fill out a quick form sharing what their company does and what kind of a specialist they’re looking for (say, an SEO expert or a fractional CMO). It also gives an option to share what kind of budget a company has; whether leaders are looking for a full-time, contract or freelance position; and whether or not it uses any specific tools.

From there, Growth Collective uses AI to match companies with three potential marketers (though the company still offers quality assurance to make sure matches are relevant). Then, companies can reach out, negotiate terms and availability, and get to work.

The AI tool, which launched last month, is a game-changer for Growth Collective, Minahan said. What used to take the company 24 to 72 hours is now instantaneous.

“We’ve got folks who used to work at Google, Airbnb, Pepsi that have years of experience, so you can tap into that talent immediately without the headache of hiring someone full time at the cost of hiring someone full time,” Minahan said.

Growth Collective’s platform was originally built with no code software, but with the new launch, leaders wanted to develop proprietary technology. The new platform is built with Java for the server side, PostgreSQL for the database, AWS for cloud capabilities and TypeScript for the front end with React framework.

Growth Collective works well in the fractional marketplace, which revolves around the idea that someone could be hired for a fraction of the time a typical employee would work. Minahan said that’s key in marketing because so much of it involves testing and figuring out what appeals to customers.