Paperound

Paperound

Outsource company tasks to UK students on-demand

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Paperound helps busy founders get more done with access to affordable, flexible resource. And helps students earn money and build their experience during university.
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Launch tags:Productivity
Launch Team
Anima Playground
AI with an Eye for Design
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What do you think? …

Ray Rafiq
Uber for real work experience. Nicely done Jake Fox. How has the uptake been so far? Any interesting challenges the community could help with?
Jake fox
Paperound
Maker
@ray_rafiq Thanks Ray! So far so good, for a relatively simple Product v1 we've managed to facilitate 200+ projects and Student Taskers have earned a collective £12k from us which is great to see (obviously the experience itself is worth just as much). Challenges - I guess figuring out Product Market Fit: How do founders see this in regards to their alterntive options for resourcing/freelancing platforms? What are the main skills that are going to be instantly useful on an ad-hoc basis? And, how do I find people at the time they need the extra pair of hands..
This looks really interesting - tend to agree you have a challenge versus other resourcing/freelancing platforms… I can think of two angles that might be worth marketing on - time zone and language
Jake fox
Paperound
Maker
@maxwellcdavis Hi Maxwell, 100% For now, we're focused on the idea of locality ('UK students working with UK busineses', and in some cases, even in the same city). There's been some evidence so far that users like the idea of someone close to them, partly because they may become a future hire but also language, time zone, ease of working etc
Younghwi Cho
Mint Club
This is such a brilliant idea! Is there a verification process to check whether they are actual university students?
Jake fox
Paperound
Maker
@andrew_cho Yep :) We do this via their University ac.uk email address (and allow students to stay on the platform up to a year since their graduation)
Jake fox
Paperound
Maker
I’ll be honest, I had a frustrating time trying to get relevant experience during university.. Blindly sending out my Cvs and hoping something stuck, attending careers fairs that were full of corporates (when I was interested in small business/startups), I did way too many bar shifts and offered my labour for free just to get something on my CV. Then when I did finally manage to get involved in startups and small businesses, I spoke endlessly to busy business owners desperately trying to prioritise their time, and work on the stuff that really mattered to their businesses’ growth. They needed the extra pair of hands to jump on tasks like design work, BD outreach, data admin, social media content... So I’ve built paperound to make it as easy as possible for a student and a business to work together on a project. Whether that’s an hour or a few days. No application forms to fill in (for either party), a trusted transaction process, and the ability to come together just for the time required. Oh and all the students are pre-vetted before joining. So founders can trust that the student they’re working with is the sort of person that completes the project first time. Would love to hear your thoughts. PS - we’re a team of three right now. We use Paperound taskers ourselves to get things done. PPS - Some of our students have just landed graduate jobs using their Paperound experience. Mission accomplishing...
Leo J Barnett
Photosweep
Looking forward to using this! Great work! Will you be building the ability to post tasks and have students apply to take them on?
Jake fox
Paperound
Maker
@leojbarnett Hi Leo, thanks for the comment. At the moment we're going to see if this flow works. I didn't want to build something where businesses receive a ton of applications from desperate students who (unfortunately) don't fit the bill. This way, it's on the businesses to choose who to work with and beginnthe conversations (although we're wanitng to add more features to help you get to that person as fast as possible).
Leo J Barnett
Photosweep
@jake_fox1 Understood! Thanks Jake. For me personally as someone who is usually time poor. A simple job post would be useful and I'd trust that only the right students would apply. Especially if it's a nice tasks that may be difficult to source students via the filters available. Best of luck with things mate!
Martin Rothwell
Just as an idea can employers and academics post briefs for 'practice' or challenge therefore increasing uptake on the platform by increasing member base and hopefully converting some of those students to paid work. As an academic we are always looking for ways to evidence engagement with employers might be a win for all and allow you a shot during induction events to engage a wider audience? In no way am I saying get students to work for free - just a way for Uni's to compete on live employer generated briefs and help them filter to which Uni might be more aligned with their skill requirements etc.
Rob McDowall
Looks great! Can this be used for call transcription?