Ep. 133: Mike Wilner Founder & CEO Upside, Scaling Freelancers, Agencies, and Consultants through Peer to Peer Referrals

Leaders, the freelance economy is quickly growing from a marketplace dominated industry to a robust ecosystem with 10 different segments. 

One of the most fascinating segments is the freelancer focused tools and solutions that enable freelancers to scale their businesses without needing a platform, or in tandem with a platform. 

Upside is one of these exciting new startups leading the solopreneur charge. By monetizing referrals, Upside enables freelancers, consultants, solopreneurs, whatever you want to call us, to monetize our network in a way that’s a win-win for us, our clients, and Upside. 

In this episode, we’ll open up the hood to why Mike is building Upside, how he got to the insights of starting Upside (hint…he has been in this space for a while), and where he sees the freelance economy going.  

You will also meet an incredible founder, Mike Wilner. Before Upside, Mike built a freelance web design marketplace in 2015, Co-Authored the book Oversubscribed, and worked at Amazon Web Services. 

Key takeaways:

• Traditional marketplaces face challenges in retaining top talent and generating demand.

• Upside is a partnership platform that empowers individuals and small firms in the professional services industry.

• Successful referrals are the core metric for Upside, enabling users to share opportunities and collaborate.

• The future of the freelance economy lies in uncapping the potential of individuals and creating infrastructure for collaboration and business development.