Stint — Connecting Students and Small Companies

Virtual freelancing platform empowering students and companies to work together anytime and anywhere

The Problem

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, job security became a frightening concern for many students. Students everywhere were scrambling to find work because they understood the importance of gaining professional experience. Stint believes that there is an oversupply of student talent and a severe lack of immediate work opportunities in the market. The process students undergo to position themselves for a promising career is inefficient and undermines their current skills and abilities. Likewise, small companies struggle to gain access to college communities and student talent.

What The Company Does

Stint provides college students with flexible and paid opportunities that allow them to grow professionally through short-term work with smaller companies. These opportunities guarantee that students receive the industry experience that extra-curricular activities are unable to provide while circumventing the physical and time constraints of a traditional internship. On the business side, Stint opens the door for smaller companies to gain access to college communities and skilled pre-professionals at some of the most prestigious universities in the U.S. before they are hired by larger companies. Stint is unique from other freelancing sites due to its focus on the college student demographic. Student freelancers are often deterred from competitors such as Fiverr and Freelancer.com due to having to compete with professional, reputation-backed freelancers on those platforms.

The Market

Stint believes there are currently 30.2 million small businesses in the U.S., of which 7.8 million are relevant to Stint due to their potential for virtual freelancing partnerships. The average yearly costs for hiring are estimated to be $3,600, yielding a $28B market potential.

Business Model

Stint follows a two-sided digital marketplace business model, where Stint makes money primarily through service and transaction fees. Stint takes an industry-standard 15% commission on all successful partnerships between students and companies.

Traction

Stint is currently backed by the Builders Incubation Program at Harvard and FoundersXcel. With the recent launch of Stint’s beta, its virtual platform has been growing users on the student side and is supported and used by five company partners on the business side.

Founding Team Background

The idea for Stint came to life through the efforts of the founding team. Clare Zhou, a Boston College graduate, leads business development and operations. Linda Qin, a Harvard graduate, leads product. Charles Ma, a Boston University graduate, is the technical and back-end lead and Leland Wu, a Tufts graduate, who joined the team most recently, is also a technical lead.

What They Need Help With

At the moment, Stint is looking for introductions to interested companies as well as advisers who are experienced in growing a two-sided marketplace business. Connect with the Stint Team.

Subscribe To The Buzz To Get More Startups In Your Inbox