The Story of Incluzion

We started in 2018. It's been a long, crazy journey, and we've only just begun.

From company owner to freelancer

In 2011, founder Jibril Sulaiman launched and grew his very first tech company using talent hired from a popular freelancing platform.  As a former small business owner, he'd always assumed anyone he hired would be a full-time or part-time employee of the company.   But Jibril didn't have the money to commit to having someone on the payroll for this new venture.   He also didn't want to face laying off someone who was solely dependent on the venture for his or her salary.  He needed help, but in a way that could allow him to quickly access skills on a temporary basis.  He found the solution in hiring remote professionals on a freelance or contract basis, through an on-demand talent marketplace. 

And oh boy, did he find the help he needed!!  As the company grew, Jibril hired talent for legal work, accounting, app/web development, design, voice-overs, video editing and more.  Over 7 years, he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on hiring a remote team of on-demand talent.  Because of the various skills he was able to quickly access, he scaled the company to #484 in the 2016 Inc. 5000 list for 700% growth and $9.8M in yearly sales.

In many instances, success doesn't last and this is true for Jibril's first tech startup.  Due to a change in market conditions, Jibril was forced to transition from a client that hired talent, to a freelancer himself.  But he had an added advantage, publicity from making the Inc5000 list.  Because of this press, other companies sought out his skills as a Black developer in order to bring additional perspective to their projects.  Ironically, Jibril had also sought diverse talent for his own projects and he knew this type of underrepresented talent was hard to find in the US, especially on existing platforms.  

The Birth of Incluzion

After exiting his first startup, working on projects as a freelancer and pivoting from another startup that also focused on diversity, Jibril continued to reflect on how he could use his life experiences to help others.  For 2 years he'd worked as a board member for his hometown's African American Chamber of Commerce, creating relationships with local Black, Hispanic and Women business groups to provide solutions for economic empowerment. 

He was also able to grow a successful company and create his own economic empowerment, by accessing the right people at the right time, while providing the talent he hired with the opportunity to earn money in a remote and flexible way.  

Jibril's solution was providing access. He wanted to provide other minority and non-mority owned companies with a similar opportunity to access the skills of diverse professionals and empower professionals with the opportunity to access flexible work.  

So he launched Incluzion.

• On the frontend, Incluzion is an industry-agnostic freelance talent marketplace that provides companies with the ability to post opportunities, search skills, plus manage milestones and payments. Incluzion has been compared to Upwork to the extent that we acknowledge that we're a diversity-focused version of the freelancing site.
• On the backend, Incluzon supplements it's marketplace by providing contract staffing & direct hire placement for talent with emerging tech skills.  In other words, we act as a temporary staffing company, helping to get tech professionals jobs on 3-12 contracts with companies.
• Incluzion also provides a dedicated social community that serves as a safe space for talent to network, collaborate and share.
• With the freelance talent platform combined with our direct hire and contract placement offering, Incluzion cover all avenues for job placement and will be well-positioned to provide talent to companies than need to hire thus, promoting a diverse and on-demand future of work.

The Big Shift 

In 2011, Jibril was on to something because, in 2019, more companies are realizing that they can save 30% in costs by hiring on-demand talent vs full-time employees. Technology is providing hiring managers with a way to circumvent recruiters and staffing companies through talent platforms and marketplaces.

Workers are also shifting.  By 2027 more than 50% of the workforce will be professionals who want to sip cocktails on the beach and work. Talented professionals are increasingly wanting more flexibility and technology is giving them the opportunity to do so.  

There's a major shift in the way companies hire and the way workers work. But as companies search for diverse talent, no recruitment firm, staffing firm or talent marketplace is focused on highlighting Black, Latinx and Female on-demand talent. 

View Our Diversity Hiring Survey Results

Here's our pitch for Product Hunt Atlanta:

We're the first startup focused on diverse on-demand talent

Yes, you read correctly, we are first-to-market! We are the only startup focusing on connecting companies with Black, Latinx and Female on-demand talent.

We're a double-sided marketplace. We reach clients by pitching hiring managers on the benefits of introducing diversity into their organization. 

Candidates join our database of talent as they see the opportunities posted by Incluzion on social media and job boards.

How do we make money?

Incluzion generates revenue in multiple ways:

• Platform fees that occur when a company hires and pays for talent through the Incluzion Marketplace.
• Commissions earned when talent is permanently placed with a company through recruiting activities. 
• Margins earned as part of the bill rate when a company hires contract talent from Incluzion in a technical staffing scenario.  

The Team

Incluzion has a team whose experiences comprise of startup operations, entrepreneurship, business strategy, HR leadership, workforce development and technical experience.