{"data":{"type":"company_profile","id":33333,"entity_id":"wefunder:company:33333","attributes":{"canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/upstack","generated_at":"2026-06-13T10:40:52Z","updated_at":"2026-06-13T05:00:14Z","entity_ids":{"company":"wefunder:company:33333","slug":"wefunder:company_slug:upstack"},"profile_visibility":{"owner_published":true,"public_search_results":true,"site_search_listed":true,"privacy_mode":"promote","invite_only":false},"provenance":{"source":"wefunder_public_company_profile","as_of":"2026-06-13T10:40:52Z","claims":{"total_amount_raised":{"source":"FrontCompanySummary#amount_raised","last_verified_at":"2026-06-13T05:00:14Z","as_of":"2026-06-13T10:40:52Z","confidence":"high"},"total_investors":{"source":"FrontCompanySummary#number_of_investors","last_verified_at":"2026-06-13T05:00:14Z","as_of":"2026-06-13T10:40:52Z","confidence":"high"},"active_raise_states":{"source":"Fundraise.visible(nil, nil)","last_verified_at":"2026-05-27T22:18:46Z","as_of":"2026-06-13T10:40:52Z","confidence":"high"},"latest_fundraise_state":{"source":"Fundraise.visible(nil, nil).order(funding_started_at)","last_verified_at":"2026-05-27T22:18:46Z","as_of":"2026-06-13T10:40:52Z","confidence":"medium"}}},"company":{"id":33333,"entity_id":"wefunder:company:33333","slug":"upstack","name":"Upstack","tagline":"The fast-growing global pool of highly qualified, vetted software developers","elevator_pitch":"We source and vet the best tech talent on the globe and create tech teams for startups.","story":"Upstack provides an all-in-one remote talent solution for fast-growing companies. This innovative platform boasts 340% growth from 2018 to 2020, a 37% Gross Profit Margin, and helps companies easily hire, retain and motivate remote software talent to build successful products. Searching for and vetting qualified software developer candidates can take weeks or months, and many companies don’t have the time to spare in their roadmaps. Our all-in-one solution provides vetted, proven developers immediately.Upstack offers an ever-growing, global pool of highly qualified, rigorously vetted software developers. Our proven process makes it easy for a company of any size to scale their team effectively and on demand in a matter of days. Among 120+ highly satisfied clients that have had a chance to work with one of our 1500+ qualified software developers are Intercom, MealPal, IKEA, Taskrabbit, Juul, and Invision—and this list is growing fast. Our clients have raised over $1.4 billion, and Upstack made $6.9M in revenue in 2020 alone. We have a 37% gross margin on all invoices and have seen a staggering 340% growth in 2020 over 2018. And we’re still accelerating fast.We’re at the crossroads of 4 massive, fast-growing markets (over $30B TAM): recruiters, job boards, freelance platforms and Dev Shops/outsourcing. Big names like LinkedIn and AngelList are moving into the recruitment sphere, and sites like UpWork are doing our legwork of educating the market on this opportunity.Our clients are backed by some of the largest VC firms in the world—including Comcast Ventures, Crosscut Ventures, Menlo, and Accel. We have helped these startups recruit software talent and products that change the world.We have robust plans to rapidly expand our enterprise footprint, build out our referral program, invest back into the developer community, and reach $1B valuation unicorn status and beyond!\u0026nbsp;*These are forward-looking projections and are not guaranteedIt works because it’s simple: Upstack charges clients an hourly rate and pays developers an hourly rate—making an average margin of 37% on invoices. Our gross margin allowed us to spend $332k on ads in 2020, increasingly bringing in new leads and growing our revenue exponentially. Hiring remotely is becoming a global challenge, and big players are starting to move into the space. Upstack already has the developers, technology and brand to scale towards collaborating with Fortune 500 companies and building a community of happy, loyal developers—the lifeblood of most companies. Now, we just need investors to help us capitalize on our momentum and scale fast to dominate this niche.","location":"New York, NY","website":"https://upstack.co","total_amount_raised":391876,"total_investors":325,"is_funded":true,"is_active":true,"quality_score":5,"related_urls":["https://wefunder.com/upstack","https://upstack.co"]},"media":{"share_image_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company/header_media_photo/33333/xxl_cropped_PlatformShowcase_v1.jpg","logo_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company/logo/33333/large_cropped_upstack-squarelogo-1571912604918.png","header_media_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company/header_media_photo/33333/standard_cropped_PlatformShowcase_v1.jpg","cover_photo_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company/header_media_photo/33333/standard_cropped_PlatformShowcase_v1.jpg","profile_video_url":"https://wefunder.wistia.com/medias/npi92fscq3"},"links":{"company_url":"https://upstack.co","twitter_url":"http://twitter.com/upstackhq","facebook_url":"https://www.facebook.com/upstackhq/","instagram_url":"https://www.instagram.com/upstackhq/"},"highlights":[],"quick_facts":[{"index":1,"claim_id":"claim-fact-1","value":"💸 Bootstrapped company: from zero at founding in 2017, to $12M run rate revenue milestone in 2021"},{"index":2,"claim_id":"claim-fact-2","value":"💼 Clients include Intercom, MealPal, IKEA, Taskrabbit, Juul, and Invision"},{"index":3,"claim_id":"claim-fact-3","value":"👏 37% Gross Profit Margin"},{"index":4,"claim_id":"claim-fact-4","value":"➚ 340% revenue growth from 2018 to 2020"},{"index":5,"claim_id":"claim-fact-5","value":"🍴 Helped MealPal build their tech team and raise $35M"},{"index":6,"claim_id":"claim-fact-6","value":"🌎 Crossroads of 4 massive markets: Recruiters, job boards, freelance platforms and Dev Shops/Outsourcing"},{"index":7,"claim_id":"claim-fact-7","value":"🏠 Perfect time: COVID-19 has companies going (and staying) remote—Upstack is fully remote \u0026amp; distributed globally"},{"index":8,"claim_id":"claim-fact-8","value":"🐟 Successfully moved upstream to enterprise \u0026amp; Fortune 500 companies, \u0026amp; robust plans to continue this trajectory"}],"team":[{"id":380829,"entity_id":"wefunder:company_role:380829","user_entity_id":"wefunder:user:203177","role":"founder","name":"Yossi Mlynsky","title":"Founder \u0026 CEO","bio":"Software + Product background at Macquarie Bank and Monster. Passionate about building great software products that delight users and change the world.","avatar_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company_role/custom_photo/380829/square_cropped_Yossi.jpg?1703014783","profile_url":"https://wefunder.com/yossimlynsky","linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/ymlynsky/","related_urls":["https://wefunder.com/yossimlynsky"]},{"id":1707489,"entity_id":"wefunder:company_role:1707489","role":"employee","name":"Robert Bojor ","title":"CTO ","bio":"Leads Upstack’s engineering team. 20+ years in engineering and a strong passion for learning new technologies and implementing them in Upstack’s internal tools.","avatar_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company_role/custom_photo/1707489/square_cropped_Robert_Bojor__1_.jpg?1619639348","linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertbojor/","related_urls":[]},{"id":1707507,"entity_id":"wefunder:company_role:1707507","user_entity_id":"wefunder:user:1437426","role":"employee","name":"George Cretu","bio":"Previous serial startup co-founder and current builder of Upstack’s talent, matching, and client success teams from the ground up. In charge of Happiness, HR and Cultural Diversity.","avatar_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company_role/custom_photo/1707507/square_cropped_George_Cretu.jpg?1619674274","profile_url":"https://wefunder.com/georgecretu","linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/gcretu/","related_urls":["https://wefunder.com/georgecretu"]},{"id":1711651,"entity_id":"wefunder:company_role:1711651","role":"employee","name":"Jeremy Guth","title":"Head of Client Acquisition","bio":"Jeremy brings to the table 15+ years of front-line experience in online client acquisition and conversion optimization, and is one of the primary forces driving Upstack's explosive client base and revenue growth.","avatar_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company_role/custom_photo/1711651/square_cropped_Jeremy_G2.jpg?1619718204","linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyguth","related_urls":[]},{"id":2577289,"entity_id":"wefunder:company_role:2577289","user_entity_id":"wefunder:user:1459286","role":"founder","name":"Benjamin Steinberg","title":"CFO","avatar_url":"http://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/user/avatar/1459286/large_cropped_IMG_1637.jpg?1691697073","profile_url":"https://wefunder.com/michaelbenjaminsteinberg","related_urls":["https://wefunder.com/michaelbenjaminsteinberg"]},{"id":3714694,"entity_id":"wefunder:company_role:3714694","user_entity_id":"wefunder:user:3607030","role":"founder","name":"Ben Steinberg","title":"CEO","avatar_url":"http://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/user/avatar/3607030/large_90b8613bd017f5056a0120230622-66-1b30qd.jpg?1691697073","profile_url":"https://wefunder.com/ben.steinberg","related_urls":["https://wefunder.com/ben.steinberg"]}],"featured_investors":[{"id":5479,"entity_id":"wefunder:company_investor_profile:5479","investor_profile_id":986254,"investor_profile_entity_id":"wefunder:investor_profile:986254","subject_entity_id":"wefunder:user:1459286","name":"Benjamin Steinberg","avatar_url":"http://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/user/avatar/1459286/medium_cropped_IMG_1637.jpg","profile_url":"https://wefunder.com/michaelbenjaminsteinberg","investment_total":75000,"investment_info":"Invested $75,000 this round","is_lead_investor":true,"related_urls":["https://wefunder.com/michaelbenjaminsteinberg"]}],"investor_memos":[],"tab_counts":{"posts":6,"ask_questions":21,"featured_investors":1,"faq_entries":5},"active_fundraises":[{"id":23988,"entity_id":"wefunder:fundraise:23988","state":"successful","offering_type":"4(a)(6)","funding_type":"note","structure":"equity","security_type":"equity","currency":"USD","testing_the_waters":false,"min_purchase":100,"max_purchase":9,"funding_target":50084.0,"funding_started_at":"2021-06-23T19:58:36Z","funding_closed_at":"2022-01-18T05:02:45Z","auto_close_at":"2022-01-18T04:59:59Z"},{"id":45556,"entity_id":"wefunder:fundraise:45556","state":"successful","offering_type":"4(a)(6)","funding_type":"note","structure":"ttw","security_type":"equity","currency":"USD","testing_the_waters":true,"min_purchase":100,"max_purchase":9,"funding_target":50000.0,"funding_started_at":"2021-05-27T20:25:01Z"}],"latest_fundraise":{"id":23988,"entity_id":"wefunder:fundraise:23988","state":"successful","offering_type":"4(a)(6)","structure":"equity","testing_the_waters":false,"can_invest_now":false,"funding_started_at":"2021-06-23T19:58:36Z","funding_closed_at":"2022-01-18T05:02:45Z","terms":{"eb":"$80M","nb":"$100M","txt":"pre-money valuation"}},"recent_posts":[{"id":152083,"entity_id":"wefunder:feed_item:152083","type":"FeedItem::Update","visibility":"public","title":"Closing today!","preview":"Hey - last chance today to invest with Upstack - we have had a huge year in 2021 and will be releasing more detailed financials shortly. We have 2x our net income for the year for 2021 over 2020. This will all have a significant rise in our valuation for our next round. Would love to have you as an investor! Jump on board....\u0026nbsp;","published_at":"2022-01-17T20:54:01Z","author_name":"Yossi Mlynsky","url":"/feed/152083","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/feed/152083"},{"id":149342,"entity_id":"wefunder:feed_item:149342","type":"FeedItem::Update","visibility":"public","title":"Massive $200M round!!","preview":"Andela - one of the other players in our space - have just done a massive round valuing their company at $1.5B led by Softbank. To me - this is exciting news and further validation that we are on the right track. We are on track to hit similar revenue numbers as Andela and beyond. Jump on board the Upstack train as we help developers build the best software of their life!!\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/29/softbank-sinks-200m-into-andela-propels-company-into-unicorn-territory/","published_at":"2021-10-06T17:25:55Z","author_name":"Yossi Mlynsky","url":"/feed/149342","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/feed/149342"},{"id":149278,"entity_id":"wefunder:feed_item:149278","type":"FeedItem::Update","visibility":"public","title":"New CFO hired. ex J.P Morgan (and good friend!)","preview":"Some great news to share with you all today. Ben Steinberg, has joined the team as CFO. He has been involved with Upstack behind the scenes for some time, but now it's official. He is fully committed to the vision of Upstack and is onboard to take us to unicorn levels and beyond!\u0026nbsp;","published_at":"2021-10-04T21:05:49Z","author_name":"Yossi Mlynsky","url":"/feed/149278","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/feed/149278"},{"id":149021,"entity_id":"wefunder:feed_item:149021","type":"FeedItem::Update","visibility":"public","title":"400k milestone met","preview":"Some good news on the raise. We only recently started to open up our round to the wider community and we are already at the 400k mark!!\u0026nbsp;Meanwhile we are still growing getting really close to a $13M run rate ($12.88M based on the past 3 months of numbers) and $4.5M net revenue, this is ~2x our 2020 revenue!!!\u0026nbsp;Please ping me if you have any more questions - we still have 100k left on our early-bird terms. Excited to keep sharing updates with you.\u0026nbsp;","published_at":"2021-09-27T02:07:26Z","author_name":"Yossi Mlynsky","url":"/feed/149021","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/feed/149021"},{"id":147351,"entity_id":"wefunder:feed_item:147351","type":"FeedItem::Update","visibility":"public","title":"We hit a big milestone! 300k of the round closed already.","preview":"We are almost 1/3 of the way there and only just starting to open up to the world. Our round so far has been focused on our developer community and our core team who wanted to own a piece of Upstack! The support has been amazing and makes us realize that we are building something really special. Our growth is a mix of new business and also growth of our existing client base. We are working hard across the business to support this growth and are having fun along the way!\u0026nbsp;Please ping me wi...","published_at":"2021-08-24T15:04:49Z","author_name":"Yossi Mlynsky","url":"/feed/147351","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/feed/147351"},{"id":146561,"entity_id":"wefunder:feed_item:146561","type":"FeedItem::Update","visibility":"public","title":"$12M ARR - We are growing! (fast)","preview":"As you know - we did $6.9M top level revenue in 2020. We are already up to a $12M Annual Revenue Run Rate as of July. This is really exciting growth and want to share this with you as soon as I could!\u0026nbsp;","published_at":"2021-08-03T16:58:28Z","author_name":"Yossi Mlynsky","url":"/feed/146561","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/feed/146561"}],"q_and_a":[{"id":153744,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:153744","question":"1) I apologize if I somehow missed it, but what's the cost of shares? 2) You appear to be operating in a crowded field. How are you differentiating yourself from similar companies like Arc, and what's your competitive advantage? 3) When can we expect to see your Form C and financials?","author_name":"Kevin Hardman","votes":5,"created_at":"2021-06-14T19:41:14Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/upstack#question-153744","answers":[{"id":158223,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:158223","answer":"Hello Kevin, thank you for your questions. For questions 1 and 3 please refer to the financials and the link to Form C which is at https://wefunder.com/upstack/details. Regarding the second question, while we agree that the industry attracts commercial attention, Upstack differentiates itself through a scalable culture and service value proposition that our competitors are not able to meet. Our purpose-built platform allows for our team to put a greater focus on our clients and our developers while they work together and build great products and in the backend, the operational aspects of hiring are automated. We hope that we managed to answer your questions, if there are any more curiosities, we are here.","author_name":"Yossi Mlynsky","votes":0,"created_at":"2021-07-15T11:04:35Z"}]},{"id":154647,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:154647","question":"If you generated $6.9 million revenue in 2020, why does your Form C list only $2.3 million for that period? This greatly impacts price-to-sales and my interest in investing.","author_name":"Kenneth Alan Jackson, Jr.","votes":3,"created_at":"2021-06-23T20:31:52Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/upstack#question-154647","answers":[{"id":158226,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:158226","answer":"Hello Kenneth, thank you for your question! $6.7mm is a gross revenue figure for 2020, $2.3mm is a gross profit (less cost of sales) for the same period.","author_name":"Yossi Mlynsky","votes":0,"created_at":"2021-07-15T11:09:44Z"}]},{"id":154340,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:154340","question":"The listing indicates that it is a priced round. Is the stock being issued Preferred or Common?","author_name":"Leonard Grover","votes":3,"created_at":"2021-06-21T22:36:21Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/upstack#question-154340","answers":[{"id":158227,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:158227","answer":"Hello Leonard, thank you for your question! Preferred.","author_name":"Yossi Mlynsky","votes":0,"created_at":"2021-07-15T11:10:51Z"}]},{"id":153380,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:153380","question":"By investing in upstack, how are the investors going to be getting the return? In form of shares? Where can I read this information from?","author_name":"Amber Ashraf","votes":3,"created_at":"2021-06-10T02:40:01Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/upstack#question-153380","answers":[{"id":158228,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:158228","answer":"Hello Amber, thank you for your question! Investors will be offered preferred stock and you can see the details of this in the \"details section\" of our Wefunder page here: https://wefunder.com/upstack/details. Also at the bottom of the page is the link to our Form C.","author_name":"Yossi Mlynsky","votes":0,"created_at":"2021-07-15T11:11:42Z"}]},{"id":188358,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:188358","question":"Have a few questions which would enable my decision to invest: 1) What is the LTV /CAC ratio. 2)What is the NPS score 3)what is the % of revenue that your largest customer rakes in.4)What is the quick ratio 5)Logo Retention Rates by No of months since acquisition.6)How will the funds raised be used .Thanks","author_name":"Lyndon D","votes":2,"created_at":"2022-01-14T12:31:38Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/upstack#question-188358","answers":[{"id":223831,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:223831","answer":"Hey Lyndon, thanks for your message. Our average figures for LTV and CAC is 14 months and $15,000 respectively. Our NPS has averaged 9.3 over the last three years. Our largest client accounts for less than 25% of regular income. Our quick is 2.5 times. Funds have been used for (1) marketing and sales expanision (2) strategic hires (3) platform development","author_name":"Benjamin Steinberg","votes":0,"created_at":"2022-10-26T23:13:32Z"}]},{"id":175600,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:175600","question":"Hi. Since Benjamin Steinberg is hired a CFO now, are you planning to change the lead investor? If not, is it in line with Wefunder regulations and how do you prevent conflict of interest?","author_name":"Zohrab Mammadov","votes":2,"created_at":"2021-10-24T11:38:27Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/upstack#question-175600","answers":[{"id":223832,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:223832","answer":"Hi, thanks for your question. The lead investor will not change unless there is another capital raise, and even then, someone will have to out bid Ben and invest more than him. We see no conflict of interest in having our CFO as a lead investor and in fact this is a demonstration of his confidence in the future potential of the company.","author_name":"Benjamin Steinberg","votes":0,"created_at":"2022-10-26T23:14:49Z"}]},{"id":157119,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:157119","question":"Which Q1/Q2 numbers for 2021 can you share with us?","author_name":"Andras Konya","votes":2,"created_at":"2021-07-09T17:27:49Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/upstack#question-157119","answers":[{"id":158229,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:158229","answer":"Hello Andras, thank you for your question! Revenue YTD is $4.7mm representing a 34% gross margin against the cost of sales.","author_name":"Yossi Mlynsky","votes":0,"created_at":"2021-07-15T11:12:17Z"}]},{"id":187817,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:187817","question":"For a final update, can you give Q3/Q4 numbers?","author_name":"Andras Konya","votes":1,"created_at":"2022-01-11T21:50:22Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/upstack#question-187817","answers":[{"id":223833,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:223833","answer":"We have doubled our revenue over 2021 period. For more details please email ben@upstack.co","author_name":"Benjamin Steinberg","votes":0,"created_at":"2022-10-26T23:15:45Z"}]},{"id":158720,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:158720","question":"How are you different than all of the competitors you mentioned above and why and how do you sit in the middle of 4 massive markets?","author_name":"Michael Nadler","votes":1,"created_at":"2021-07-18T20:33:39Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/upstack#question-158720","answers":[{"id":159063,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:159063","answer":"Hello Michael! Thank you for your question. Kevin Hardman's question already touches on this - while we agree that the industry attracts commercial attention, Upstack differentiates itself through a scalable culture and service value proposition that our competitors are not able to meet. Our purpose-built platform allows for our team to put a greater focus on our clients and our developers while they work together and build great products and in the backend, the operational aspects of hiring are automated. You can think of it in terms of a greater front-end capacity to scale and focus on high-touch client service and sales based on a platform that is designed to transform all the post-sales operational aspects of business into a low touch and automated model.","author_name":"Yossi Mlynsky","votes":0,"created_at":"2021-07-21T11:46:42Z"}]},{"id":156445,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:156445","question":"Almost a month since the first comment here, and no responses yet. Not an encouraging sign. Please follow up soon; still interested in participating once it's all clarified.","author_name":"Kenneth Alan Jackson, Jr.","votes":1,"created_at":"2021-07-06T14:42:17Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/upstack#question-156445","answers":[{"id":158230,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:158230","answer":"Hello Kenneth, We sincerely apologize for the delay!","author_name":"Yossi Mlynsky","votes":0,"created_at":"2021-07-15T11:14:22Z"}]},{"id":227267,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:227267","question":"Hi, are there any updates you can share? I must have missed one in October if it went out","author_name":"Duke Duncan","votes":0,"created_at":"2022-11-30T23:43:44Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/upstack#question-227267","answers":[{"id":227753,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:227753","answer":"Hey Duke - thanks for checking in. For more detailed updates please email me directly at ben@upstackhq.com or ben@upstack.co 2022 is tracking well for UpStack I am pleased to say. We've achieved significant growth in line with expectations, our gross margin has risen over the year while our a focus on our operational expenses has meant we are even more profitable than ever. As expectations of market conditions deteriorated over Q1 + Q2 we pivoted from a growth led strategy to one focussed on value and net profit. We believe this has positioned UpStack well for the headwinds that we see in 2023 where we will continue to grow even further.","author_name":"Benjamin Steinberg","votes":1,"created_at":"2022-12-05T11:59:01Z"}]},{"id":219038,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:219038","question":"Hi, can you please share latest update? Thanks.","author_name":"Varun Gupta","votes":0,"created_at":"2022-09-18T00:33:44Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/upstack#question-219038","answers":[{"id":219051,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:219051","answer":"Hi Varun, we are planning a more comprehensive update mid-OCtober. Stay tuned and thanks everyone for your patience.","author_name":"Benjamin Steinberg","votes":1,"created_at":"2022-09-18T07:22:37Z"}]},{"id":215973,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:215973","question":"Hi Yossi, I see that most of the data is from 2021, and congratulations on delivering great results for FY 2021. Would you have any updates for Q1 and Q2 2022 yet? Revenue growth, net profit, CAC? Thank you","author_name":"Ravneet Singh","votes":0,"created_at":"2022-08-20T01:29:23Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/upstack#question-215973","answers":[{"id":223834,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:223834","answer":"Hello, thanks for your question, Q1 + Q2 for 2022 continue our trend to grow. We doubled revenue over this period and increased our bottom line through tightening expenses. For more information please email ben@upstack.co","author_name":"Benjamin Steinberg","votes":0,"created_at":"2022-10-26T23:17:08Z"}]},{"id":187745,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:187745","question":"Hello, I have a few questions: 1. You state $6.9M in revenue in 2020. However, in your financial statements revenue for 2020 is $2.25M. Is the $6.9M figure gross revenue while $2.25M is net revenue after paying the developers? 2. You stated that you expected to grow your 1500+ developers network by 50% in 2021. How much did you manage to grow it? 3. $6.9M revenue / 1500 developers = $4600 per year in gross revenue per developer. This seems rather low. Are your developers primarily engaged elsewhere? 4. What were gross and net revenues in 2021 and what percentage of that was profit? Don’t need exact figures, rough figures will do. Thank you.","author_name":"Georgiy Grigoryan","votes":0,"created_at":"2022-01-11T13:16:18Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/upstack#question-187745","answers":[{"id":223835,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:223835","answer":"Hello, thanks for your questions. For 1. Yes that is correct. 2. Our network has grown by 50% while we also improved the quality of vetted candidates which made it more difficult for them to qualify 3. 1500 is the size of the developer network whether it is active or not, whereas gross revenue per developer would be a factor of active engagements - not all developers in our network are actively engaged. For more detail on this number, which as you suggest is much higher please email ben@upstack.co 4, Send us an email for this information. Happy to discuss it directly.","author_name":"Benjamin Steinberg","votes":0,"created_at":"2022-10-26T23:22:51Z"}]},{"id":173270,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:173270","question":"What do you anticipate your end of year ARR to be?","author_name":"Adam Sampson","votes":0,"created_at":"2021-10-08T07:06:34Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/upstack#question-173270","answers":[{"id":173593,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:173593","answer":"Hey Adam. We expect our ARR to be at least $15M by the end of the year and potentially as high as $19M based on our targets. We are targeting 9%-10% MoM growth and so far we are on track for 2021.","author_name":"Yossi Mlynsky","votes":0,"created_at":"2021-10-11T14:13:36Z"}]},{"id":170996,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:170996","question":"One additional question that I think is worth an in depth response relates to your valuation. I see someone had asked about this initially, but I wanted to provide some additional commentary and thought to the underlying methods and techniques which derived a $80-$100M valuation. Upstack is largely a professional service organization providing their customers a service - at a $100M valuation, you are valuing at a 14.3x revenue multiple (assuming $7M in gross revenue), a 44.4x gross margin multiple. I'm struggling to wrap my head around the valution aspect of this and derive the same value, can you help me bridge the gap? Traditionally, companies in this space do not command such high multiples and while you emphasize revenues, revenues are highly interdependent on how many customers you have without factoring in margin (ie. you could do $500M in revenue but if you have $499M in costs, your revenue figure is less meaningful). Margin's, which you emphasize are very important, but a young Company operating in this space should be focused on EBITDA and even when adding back advertising costs, the EBITDA multiple is 250x. The tech space can command wild EBITDA multiples, but not quite this high. Can you please provide some insight and analysis into how the $80-$100M valuation figure was derived and calculated?","author_name":"Ethan Malofsky","votes":0,"created_at":"2021-09-23T22:24:57Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/upstack#question-170996","answers":[{"id":171359,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:171359","answer":"Hey Ethan, another great questions - we really need to grab some time to chat and go deeper into these questions. Really appreciate you taking the time! As for valuation - we have gone with a 20-30x multiple on our take (net revenue), which is standard for many marketplaces. (on our current revenue of $13M ARR, ~4M net revenue = $80M - $120M For example: Fiverr - ~$300M revenue - Market Cap $7.4B = around 24x multiple. https://investors.fiverr.com/press-releases/press-releases-details/2021/Fiverr-Announces-Second-Quarter-2021-Results/default.aspx AirBnb = ~5B revenue and ~100B market cap etc.. Happy to book a session to talk about this further as you are totally right - if you look at Upstack a pure professional services company - the valuation would be high. Not only that - our EBITDA would not be the right place to focus as we are focused on growth and reinvesting all we can into making that happen. We are of course much more than that with an end to end marketplace built / being built to attract and manage the top engineers on the planet!!","author_name":"Yossi Mlynsky","votes":0,"created_at":"2021-09-27T01:55:42Z"}]},{"id":170890,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:170890","question":"Hello, I have some questions I was hoping you would be able to answer: 1) Curious as to why your reviewed financial statements would present \"Revenues, net\" vs. the traditional Revenues, COGS, and Gross margin lines? I would think you would want to show great emphasis on your margin given it is a metric repeated throughout the pitch. 1a) What types of costs roll up into your COGS figures? Is this primarily costs paid to your developers working under contract? Are these developers all 1099 EE's or do some/any roll up as W2? 1c) How are your developer contracts managed and negotiated? Does the company negotiate with each developer on their desired hourly rate and Upstack pocket the difference (high level) or, is there a set rate that you offer prospective developers looking for work? 2) While I agree you are unlikely to see a shortage of demand for your services, what concerns do you have surrounding the ability to maintain good talent to continue to appropriately staff and service the needs of your clients? Developers have always and will remain in high demand for the foreseeable future - many companies are looking to hire their own internal dev's vs. outsource and pay the high rates that go along with that - what separates Upstack from other traditional staffing/service agencies in regards to your ability to source strong talent to service your clients? 3) Being a young start-up in need of cash, are there concerns with perceptions surrounding the shareholder taking money out of the Company at 4% interest on a term note extending through 2047? As a prospective investor, what limits on future stockholder draws will be in place to ensure that our money is being used effectively to continue to support the growth of the Company? Further, the note with the shareholder, is that note secured or unsecured? I'd assumed secured solely by his stock and not personal assets, thus I question its presentation as a receivable vs. an offset to equity. 4) Have you received forgiveness on your PPP loan to date in 2021? Is the anticipation that you will still receive forgiveness? 5) How do you define annual recurring revenue? Is the majority of your revenues with new or existing customers and do you operate under individual SOW's for each project with each customer or do you contract with your clients for a certain # of dev hours a month? Are there plans or considerations to alter or modify the current contract structure with your clients?","author_name":"Ethan Malofsky","votes":0,"created_at":"2021-09-23T14:14:35Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/upstack#question-170890","answers":[{"id":171358,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:171358","answer":"Hey Ethan. Thanks so much for the thoughtful questions. 1. I agree - The net revenues is the way the accounting firm we used for the audit represented the income. 1a. Our COGS is the cost of the freelance developer and the credit card processing fees. All developers are 1099 (or billing using a foreign company) 1c. Developer contracts vary per developer based on their experience, location and other factors. 2. We continue to invest in our developer community to ensure that Upstack is an awesome place for them to hang out! We ensure the clients we work with are top tier which is really attractive for developers and massive differentiator. 3. The term note was something done previously and not something planned on being done moving forwards. 4. Yes, we have received forgiveness. 5. We engage with clients on a full time (mostly) or part time basis. There is no lock in period for clients and they continue as long as they want with a 4 week notice period. This approach actually works better that complicated contracts with many of our clients retaining Upstack talent for years. ARR is defined as our previous months revenue multiplied by 12 (or previous quarter multiplied by 4) - no plans to change this structure.","author_name":"Yossi Mlynsky","votes":0,"created_at":"2021-09-27T01:39:00Z"}]},{"id":169257,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:169257","question":"I have invested $100, Early Bird Price is $76.00, how will $100 will be converted in this case? If it's Preferred stock, any plan of dividends? With gross profit of $2.3million, valuation of $100M is too hefty.","author_name":"Rakesh B S","votes":0,"created_at":"2021-09-14T13:59:00Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/upstack#question-169257","answers":[{"id":171286,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:171286","answer":"Hi Rakesh, we are fully focused on building Upstack into a massive marketplace of software talent. If you look at the valuations of companies like Upwork ($6.4B market cap) and other similar companies, our market cap is on point. Also - important to note - our ARR has grown in 2021 to $13M already and will be significantly higher by the end of the year.","author_name":"Yossi Mlynsky","votes":0,"created_at":"2021-09-26T13:27:03Z"}]},{"id":166712,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:166712","question":"Hi Upstack Team, Congrats on the success so far. I like that you have MealPal as a customer—I know the founding team there from when I was in the Miami startup scene. One of my readers passed along your deal to me and asked for my thoughts. I’ve written a first pass of a deal memo (https://muhanzhang.com/upstack/) and had the outstanding questions below: 1. Service Business: Is this a service business? What part of the model is novel and VC backable? 2. Customer Acquisition: How have you been acquiring customers? How do you foresee scaling your sales operation? 3. Market Growth: Do you see demand for remote developers really growing at a VC clip? I don't see the demand for developers in general growing at a VC clip, so I'm curious what you see in the web development landscape. Thanks in advance for your responses. Bests, Muhan https://muhanzhang.com/upstack/","author_name":"Muhan Zhang","votes":0,"created_at":"2021-08-30T20:01:50Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/upstack#question-166712","answers":[{"id":171285,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:171285","answer":"Hey Muhan, thanks for reaching out (sorry for delay - didn't get a notification). GREAT questions! 1. Upstack is much more than a services business, we are a marketplace with a strong community of over 2000 vetted software developers. We have built out alot of tech for enabling the onboarding process of new developers and also creating jobs for clients and matching them up with candidates that are a good fit. Think in terms of Upwork or Fiverr and see how they have built out a strong marketplace model. 2. We have acquired alot of our new clients from paid ads, specifically from Google Ads. We are currently branching out to SEO (its starting to get some good traction) and other paid ad channels. Our sales process is strong and we have implemented a CRM system and a funnel process that is working really well. 3. The demand for good software talent is extremely hot. If you look at the size of the market of job boards, freelance platforms and all ways that companies look for talent - the opportunity is significant. Great questions - and might be worth jumping on a call to discuss (we have grown a bunch since we posted the numbers - $13M ARR)","author_name":"Yossi Mlynsky","votes":0,"created_at":"2021-09-26T13:24:39Z"}]},{"id":165647,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:165647","question":"Couple of questions: 1) You mention paid spend of 332k on ads in 2020 - what was the direct return from this spend? 2) 37% margin across the platform seems high. What stops this being heavily eroded / customers looking to bring their employees off the platform once a relationship is built?","author_name":"Byron Van VUGT","votes":0,"created_at":"2021-08-25T11:24:27Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/upstack#question-165647","answers":[{"id":165727,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:165727","answer":"These are great questions! Happy to have you on board! To date - we have generated $2.3M in revenue from new business in 2020. With a ~37% margin - this is over a 3x return. AND we are still active with many of these clients from 2020 - for example - we generated 107k in July 2021 from clients we brought in in 2020. As to #2 - We actually see the margins we are charging being pretty standard in the market - and as we move upstream, into the enterprise world, we see these margins being increased. Surprisingly, clients prefer to stay on the platform and not move it off, due to the simplicity of timesheets, billing, international payments and our client success team. Developers prefer to stay on the Upstack platform too due to the added support they get, the easy of payments and the fun we have with activities like hackathons, webinars and more. Ping if you have any more questions.","author_name":"Yossi Mlynsky","votes":0,"created_at":"2021-08-25T18:38:42Z"}]},{"id":165158,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:165158","question":"A 80M valuation is very rich for a commodity like business plan. What is your core strategy so that the big fish do not vanquish this company ? Convince me, I am on the fence, this is a tough go.","author_name":"Silvr Tabz","votes":0,"created_at":"2021-08-23T16:51:54Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/upstack#question-165158","answers":[{"id":165451,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:165451","answer":"Hey Silvr! Yossi here - Founder @ Upstack. Hear you on the valuation side of things. Important to realize that even though we are doing our first round of funding, we are a pretty mature company with significant revenue. As an indication of this - we had a record month last month of over $1M revenue, so over a $12M ARR. With a 37% margin, our business is in a good place. We are investing heavily in our platform and community to ensure we are a significant player in the space. Happy to chat more!","author_name":"Yossi Mlynsky","votes":0,"created_at":"2021-08-24T14:52:40Z"}]}],"faq":[{"question":"By investing in upstack, how are the investors going to be getting the return? In form of shares? Where can I read this information from?","answer":"Hello Amber, thank you for your question! Investors will be offered preferred stock and you can see the details of this in the \"details section\" of our Wefunder page here: https://wefunder.com/upstack/details. Also at the bottom of the page is the link to our Form C."},{"question":"1) I apologize if I somehow missed it, but what's the cost of shares? 2) You appear to be operating in a crowded field. How are you differentiating yourself from similar companies like Arc, and what's your competitive advantage? 3) When can we expect to see your Form C and fin...","answer":"Hello Kevin, thank you for your questions. For questions 1 and 3 please refer to the financials and the link to Form C which is at https://wefunder.com/upstack/details. Regarding the second question, while we agree that the industry attracts commercial attention, Upstack differentiates itself through a scalable culture and service value proposition that our competitors are not able to meet. Our purpose-built platform allows for our team to put a greater focus on our clients and our developers..."},{"question":"The listing indicates that it is a priced round. Is the stock being issued Preferred or Common?","answer":"Hello Leonard, thank you for your question! Preferred."},{"question":"If you generated $6.9 million revenue in 2020, why does your Form C list only $2.3 million for that period? This greatly impacts price-to-sales and my interest in investing.","answer":"Hello Kenneth, thank you for your question! $6.7mm is a gross revenue figure for 2020, $2.3mm is a gross profit (less cost of sales) for the same period."},{"question":"Almost a month since the first comment here, and no responses yet. Not an encouraging sign. Please follow up soon; still interested in participating once it's all clarified.","answer":"Hello Kenneth, We sincerely apologize for the delay!"}]}}}