Compass

Tech talent and services for small businesses

Small Businesses struggle with their

digital presence

It starts with the lynchpin of their digital presence...

websites

More than 45% of businesses don’t have a website yet

Of the small businesses that do have websites, 93% of them are

not mobile responsive

Meanwhile...

90% of consumers prefer to look at a businesses website to

inform their purchasing decision

50% of all searches are done on mobile devices

So how are small business doing

with websites?

While agencies can do quality work for clients with deep pockets, they’re simply

not practical for small businesses

Highly custom, hard-coded websites → Way too expensive

And often, really shitty...

So what’s going on?

someone paid

$5,000 for this

“A year ago, I started shopping

around for an ecommerce site to sell

my products, and the quotes were

around $10,000, so I wrote it off”

So what about freelancers?

So what about freelancers?

Freelancers are great, and more affordable

than an agency, but they require a lot of work to

manage.

Agencies and freelancers have remained

impractical avenues for small businesses

because they have a high variance in

quality, and require too much of a Small

business's most valuable assets:

Time & Money

But wait… isn’t that what companies like

Squarespace, Wordpress, and Weebly are

meant for? To make it cheap, fast, and easy?

“Squarespace is the easiest way for anyone to create an exceptional website.”

“Weebly gives everyone a surprisingly easy way to create a unique site”

“WordPress is web software you can use to create a beautiful website or blog.”

“Customize with Wix' free website builder, no coding skills needed”

Unfortunately, while these tools make it easy to

create high-quality websites, they still haven’t

made it easy enough for the masses

More than 70% of all websites are still

created by professional developers

Only 2% of registered users for these

sites actually end up with a final product

What if we empowered smart, tech-savvy

people to use some of these products forsmall businesses?

Enter Compass

Compass connects the dots.

Compass empowers a well-vetted freelance network to create

websites for small businesses in the most affordable, efficient,

and transparent way possible, without sacrificing quality

Market

23 million small businesses (1-500 employees)

23 million nonemployers (founder, 0 employees)

Approximately 543,000 new businesses get started each month

Note: we have some work to do here. We need to figure out which part of this huge

market we want to FOCUS on penetrating

How? What will Compass do differently?

Fleet of freelancers Small businessesTools

By leveraging some of the amazing website creation tools and resources that

exist, a freelance network really smart digital natives that are NOT professional

developers, and Compass processes to remove overhead, we can simplify

website creation, and provide it at a fraction of the cost

Not professional developers.

Not professional designers

Really impressive soft skills

Recommended by Compass Network

Tech-focused (i.e. works at a tech company, loves online tools)

It’s like UberX for freelancers. You don’t need to have a black

car, and you don’t need to be a professional driver

What makes a Compass freelancer?

1. Information gathering: We’ll use a Turbotax-esque web form that helps

customers communicate their needs and detail what they want on their site

2. Freelancer match-making: We’ll use information about the client and

project to find the right freelancer for them

3. Streamlined project definition and agreements: We’ll handle the legal

overhead and make sure all parties have aligned expectations before a

project begins

4. Automation of dirty work: things like transferring files, importing product

lists, and data entry will be handled by Compass to save the freelancer

time

5. Project management: We’ll make sure projects are meeting both time and

quality expectations, and moderate feedback between the client and

freelancer

Compass’ proprietary processes

These processes lower costs and can all be

automated

Fewer touchpoints

Faster project kickoff

Lower overhead for both parties

Fewer changes in scope

Customer satisfaction

So how does this work in practice?

Compass’ proprietary processes Key Metrics

1. Information gathering

2. Streamlined project definition and

agreements

3. Freelancer match-making

4. Automation of dirty work

5. Project management

Lower costs

Happier freelancers

Happier clients

Scalability

Case Study

A Detroit-based investment firm needed a website, and came to us.

They needed a basic, aesthetically pleasing, informational site so prospective investors could learn

more about the fund.

Note: this is our “traction”

We created a detailed google form for the client, prompting

them to tell us:

● The specific pages they wanted (sitemap)

● An overview of the purpose for each page

● Specific copy for each page

We were also able to discover that they already had:

● a logo that they wanted to use

● a marketing book that supplemental copy

Info Gathering

Streamlined

project definition

and agreements

Freelancer

Match-making

Automation of

dirty work

Project

Management

Key Activities

Case Study

Examples of information we could gather for other projects:

● list of products with details and images

● Fields for a lead form

● media for different pages

We never spoke to the client on the phone, and it took them less than

an hour to fill out the form, giving us

● The 4 pages that they wanted for the site

● exact copy for all of the pages

● logo

● color scheme

● 3 other websites that they liked from companies in their industry

● agreement to use stock photography in the absence of their own

photography

Key Activities

Case Study

Info Gathering

Streamlined

project definition

and agreements

Freelancer

Match-making

Automation of

dirty work

Project

Management

Using the information collected:

● we were able to come up with

a fair price ($500 for the client,

$400 paid to the freelancer)

● We reorganize the information

into a more digestible format

for both parties

● We got the client to sign off on

our definition of the project

Key Activities

Case Study

Info Gathering

Streamlined

project

definition and

agreements

Freelancer

Match-making

Automation of

dirty work

Project

Management

● Based on what we knew about the project,

we suggested it be built with Squarespace

● We sent the project brief to one of our

freelancers who had Squarespace

experience

● He asked a few clarifying questions about

the project before accepting

● He accepted the project and began working

Key Activities

Case Study

Info Gathering

Streamlined

project

definition and

agreements

Freelancer

Match-making

Automation of

dirty work

Project

Management

For this project, we reduced overhead by

providing the freelancer with all of the copy and

specific requirements for the pages

Ways we can reduce overhead overhead for other projects:

● Importing the client’s products to a site builder before the

freelancer even gets started

● Aggregating all of the client’s photography and other

media assets

Key Activities

Case Study

Info Gathering

Streamlined

project definition

and agreements

Freelancer

Match-making

Automation of

dirty work

Project

Management

● There were clearly defined milestones at the onset of the

project:

1. 70% feedback touchpoint

2. 99% feedback touchpoint

3. delivery

● We clearly defined and regulated the type of feedback that

could be provided at each point

● We monitored the feedback to make sure it was appropriate

Key Activities

Case Study

Info Gathering

Streamlined

project definition

and agreements

Freelancer

Match-making

Automation of

dirty work

Project

Management

After only 2 hours of work, our freelancer had completed his first iteration of the

website (the 70% feedback touchpoint)

The client took 1 day to aggregate feedback

Key Activities

Case Study

Info Gathering

Streamlined

project definition

and agreements

Freelancer

Match-making

Automation of

dirty work

Project

Management

Our freelancer spent 1 hour iterating on feedback provided by

the client

We don’t want to share the name of the client publicly, but

they’re site looks great, we promise.

Key Activities

Case Study

Info Gathering

Streamlined

project definition

and agreements

Freelancer

Match-making

Automation of

dirty work

Project

Management

“Pretty impressive bang for your buck.

Definitely pleased.”

(this was via from a super informal conversation via text-- waiting for a more

official testimonial)

Testimonial

Case Study

Client

gave: 2 hours of work + $500

received: a website they love

Recapping the Value-add

Compass

gave: 5 hours of work (which can be

automated)

received: $100

Squarespace

gave: their product

Received: a new customer

($10/month)

Freelancer

gave: 3 hours of work

Received: $400

Case Study

Services and Pricing

We believe that our customers should only be paying for what they’re

getting→ a la carte pricing, no packages1. Website creation has a fixed priced based on complexity

2. Compass tasks- we’re going to disrupt the idea of website “maintenance”

If you need something done…

● adding a page

● adding a product

● changing the layout

...and you don’t want to do it yourself, you can pay us for an on-demand, well-defined

task. This increases the customer lifetime value

Compass takes 20% of all work done by The Fleet (Still TBD)

Scaling the freelance network

We don’t want a huge network of freelancers

We want a committed, loyal community→ The Fleet

We’ll grow The Fleet through referrals from highly rated

Fleet members

Customer AcquisitionHow do you reach a market that’s difficult to reach online?

We’ll incentivize The Fleet and our previous customers to sell Compass

services to the small businesses that they know.

Making personal relationships drive sales for Compass

● Anyone can refer a small business they know to Compass.

● We can offer 10% of our margin (5% to referrer, 5% to new customer) and

maintain a 15% margin on the initial website design

● We capitalize on trust by getting referrals from individuals that the small

businesses know personally

● Compass customers that provide referrals will get 5% in the form of “store

credit”

● Compass Fleet Members that provide referrals will get 5% in the form of

cash

While we’re starting with websites...This model can be applied to dozens of services. We can provide a variety of digital services to small businesses

in a more efficient, affordable, and transparent way

websites Explainer videos Social media Distribution

Imagine a world where small businesses could focus on what they

do best--creating new recipes, training their athletes, or managing

their inventory

For everything else, they go to Compass