When High-Skilled Tech Work is Commoditized
How Tomorrow’s Tech Workers Will Do Business
The way companies build products and teams is radically changing. Sam Altman says we’ll see a 1-person billion-dollar company “pretty soon”. But for that to happen, how we hire high-skilled tech labor must evolve. Gig work today is broken—too slow, too rigid, and too transactional. To build real businesses with AI agents, we need faster, more efficient ways to bring talent on board.
Outpost gives high-skilled tech professionals faster access to meaningful work and gives companies access to vetted professionals for projects up to $20,000.
Outpost will make finding the right person to execute a project 100x faster than today. Our goal is to eliminate endless hiring loops and make work instantly available to qualified professionals who are actively online.
How It Works
Professionals
Imagine you're an ex-Google product designer and want to make some money. Just like an Uber driver opens the app, sets their ride preferences, and starts driving immediately, Outpost works similarly.
Because you’re already vetted based on your past work, portfolio, and job history, there’s no bidding, no waiting. You just open the app and start working.
Requests are priced dynamically based on skills and demand, and scope is shared prior to accepting a gig.
You accept a $100 request and spend 15 minutes reviewing a landing page for a small business, and send back a quick video to share your feedback.
Then, you move onto an $2,000 mini design project, where Outpost pairs you with a software engineer to complete the work. Outpost starts a secure group chat where files are uploaded and you discuss and submit work directly through the chat.
When you’re done, Outpost reviews the work against original request. If anything is missing, you get prompted to adjust before it’s sent to the client.
Companies
Most purchasers start on Outpost because they know a professional who uses it. They might need a quick consultation, feedback on a project, or a small task done—typically in the $20–$200 range. Over time, these small requests turn into larger engagements.
With a low-cost entry point, the risk of hiring is low. Instead of a lengthy process to bring on contractors or full-time employees, companies allocate and pre-load budgets for their employees to hire directly on Outpost. Employees, in turn, spend the money on professionals they trust—often friends or former colleagues. Since every professional has a profile URL showcasing their work, it’s easy to assess credibility without sifting through endless resumes or portfolios.
Everything happens through Outpost’s chat-based interface where users can send messages, upload files, and attach audio or video to communicate clearly. Outpost’s AI determines payment per project—without long-term commitments.
Outpost handles scoping, estimating, and pricing deliverables. It also suggests additional professionals based on the project scope, making it easy to test new talent and build the right team. Ratings, reviews, and reliability data helps maintain Outpost’s high quality.
Why We’re Building
We’ve felt the pain firsthand. Michael has a Ph.D. in AI and if he wants to leverage his skillset, it’d take months of building a personal consulting brand or finding a full-time job.
Dean has personally hired 100s of people. He has spent months and thousands of dollars interviewing—often with business needs changing midway through hiring cycles.
Existing tools don’t solve this problem: Upwork incentivizes workers to cyclicly underbid each other, LinkedIn Jobs creates immense friction with months-long interview loops, and Intro provides guidance but stops short of hands-on implementation.
With lower friction and cost, we offer a low stakes alternative to these platforms. Outpost lets vetted professionals monetize instantly—redefining what it means to deliver high-quality, consistent work.
We’ve secured $126.5K toward our $500K pre-seed and are moving fast. If this vision resonates, let’s talk. Schedule a 20-Minute Call