A Community for Innovators and Makers

What makes VentureStorm a unique platform for startups and developers.

Every overly ambitious entrepreneur claims their idea is entirely novel and unlike anything anyone has ever seen before. Although it’s possible, the odds are against them. The truth is, someone somewhere has thought of that exact idea. Even more likely, there’s probably already several companies doing something similar…the key word there being similar.

Consider ride-sharing apps. Of course everyone thinks of Uber, but that hasn’t stopped entrepreneurs from building similar apps, i.e. Lyft, BlaBlaCar, Chariot, Hovee, and about a dozen others. Same goes for streaming music: Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Amazon Music, etc. The point being, you don’t need to be the first or the only — you just need to be different.

I can’t count how many times I’ve been asked what makes VentureStorm different from our competitors, and I don’t want to. Instead, I’d rather write a short blog about what makes VentureStorm unique from every other freelance platform, co-founder matchmaking site, development firm, recruiting service, talent acquisition tool, etc. So here it is…

A platform that intuitively and affordably provides entrepreneurs and startups the technological resources in human capital to take their venture from point A to B.

I would argue that in the year 2016, most startups are technology related (mobile applications, websites, software solutions, etc.). Many entrepreneurs and early-stage startups lack the technical talent to fully bring many of these concepts to fruition. That leaves them with a few unfavorable options to build their tech startup:

Learn code and comprehend software development to an extent where they are able to build their product on their own

• However, this option is incredibly time consuming, challenging, and will require the entrepreneurs to dedicate their focus entirely on learning development, leaving other facets of the business to lag behind.

Outsource their development using available freelance platforms

• However, this leads to several difficulties with the entrepreneur being able to effectively communicate their vision through language barriers, time zone differences, cultural divergence, etc. Based on interviews conducted by the team, many found this option often leads to an unsatisfactory final product or extreme difficulties with scaling their product in the future due to excessive bugs and lackluster development practices.

Hire a professional development firm

• Despite being the most favorable of the aforementioned options, this one is far and above the most costly. Cost is commonly one of the most prominent constraints for entrepreneurs, making this a non-viable option.

VentureStorm is a niche solution, built specifically for technology related startups to source a viable talent pool of qualified and ambitious developers eager to build the products of tomorrow. The platform provides options for entrepreneurs and startups to connect with exactly who they need — whether they are looking for a contractual developer, part-time, full-time, or even a co-founder. We don’t overcomplicate the platform — in fact it’s incredibly simple and intuitive. We just know every startup is at a different point in the process, and we provide the ability for them to achieve their goals seamlessly.

The exception to all of this is technical founders who are capable of building the initial product themselves. However, every startup reaches a point in which they need to scale their product and grow their tech team, and we have just the tools to make it happen.

A platform by developers, for developers.

Speaking for strictly student developers, there is a tremendous disconnect between learning these skills in the classroom and actually building and pursuing extra-curricular projects on their own. We have personally spoken to hundreds of developers, all who have an overwhelmingly strong opinion about the benefits of pursuing side-projects. Not just limited to students, our platform provides any developer the opportunities to get in on the ground level of ambitiously promising startups, strengthen their resume/portfolio, earn money and/or equity, and build awesome products.

Whereas many of these developers are often overshadowed on large freelance platforms because they can’t compete with the cheap costs of labor overseas, or are out-shined by more experienced senior level developers and full-time freelancers — that is not the case on VentureStorm! We built an incredibly developer-friendly environment, and are continuing to add value and resources to assist the success of each of our users.

Above all else, we are a community.

To be completely blunt — I truly believe the other companies in our space don’t care whether or not their users go on to be successful, as long as they are paying and fueling that bottom line. But that’s not us, because we’ve been there ourselves, and we understand the benefits of having a supportive community. I take pride in knowing our team spends hours reaching out to our users on a regular basis. Whether it’s checking in to see how everything’s going, writing blog posts to publicize the launch of their new app, utilizing our social media channels to promote our companies, or to just to say hi — I know we have a sincere and invested interest in the success of each and every venture.

VentureStorm is the place to go for those interested in building amazing things and changing the world, one new product at a time.

Originally published at blog.venturestorm.com on September 28, 2016.