A.Team is a new startup that helps companies easily and quickly assemble teams of vetted specialists to design, build, and bring digital products to market.
Their focus on teams is referred to as the Hollywood model, which is often touted as the future of work. The 2015 New York Times article What Hollywood Can Teach Us About the Future of Work describes this model as:
"A project is identified; a team is assembled; it works together for precisely as long as is needed to complete the task; then the team disbands."
A.Team is already described as using the Hollywood model and even has Hollywood celebrities as investors. Key quote from the Forbes article Tech Talent Startup A.Team Raises $55 Million From Investors Like Adam Grant And Jay-Z:
"Like a Hollywood producer that brings together talent to make a movie, A.Team's business model is based on matching top-tier talent with worthy projects. That means vetting and restricting who gets on its platform, soliciting the right client work, and creating community through content, connections, and conversation."
Freelance teams are not new. We started Emergent Research two decades ago using this model - and we still use it today.
Also, large freelance talent marketplaces like Fiverr and Upwork released teaming services several years ago. There are also many niche firms providing project teams.
For example, Communo provides creative and production teams for marketing and media projects. There are similar firms in a variety of fields.
We find A.Team interesting for several reasons.
First, as the A.Team chart below shows (click to enlarge), their focus is on larger, longer term projects (they call them "missions") that use highly skilled labor.
Others are also doing this. But A.Team illustrates that the appetite for high end freelance teaming continues to increase.
We also like their stated focus on building community among their freelancers. Again, others are also doing this. But so far, few have cracked the code of making freelance communities genuinely effective. We'll be interested to see if A.Team figures it out.
BTW, we think A.Team should sign Mr. T as their celebrity spokesperson. No doubt we're not the only ones suggesting this.
