Each year we see hundreds of impressive applications to TechCrunch50 — unfortunately, we always have a number of great companies that deserve attention but don’t quite make the cut as finalists. That’s why we have our TC50 DemoPit, where we invite a few dozen other strong startups to demonstrate their wares in the conference building’s main hall. Each conference attendee is given two TechCrunch50 tokens — one for each day — which they use to vote on their favorite startups in the bunch. We then tally up the votes and give the top two companies the chance to present on stage.
The first winner for today is oDesk, which is today launching a new iPhone application that allows project administrators to monitor the work stream of their team members while they’re on the go. The stream features photos of your team’s workplace, keystroke events, and lets you know when your workers are checking in and out. Alongside the launch of the iPhone oDesk will also be bringing the new stream functionality to the desktop with a desktop app.
oDesk has been around for a while, offering a “marketplace for talent” that makes it easy to hire workers remotely. The company currently has over 340,000 providers, with 12,200+ jobs that are open.
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Other Coverage:
TechCrunch50: oDesk Launches oDesk Challenge to Provide Startups a New Way to Hire Their Online Workers Trends Updates.
Been waiting for this for a LONG time! Yes!
oDesk iPhone app. The concept of the application is needed one for management of information systems and also to partially support e-commerce activities. Performance monitoring through mobile version of apps will give good result in business development. It helps to keep track of employees and the status of tasks completed.
Is there a list of demopit companies somewhere?
I can’t find the odesk app when I search the app store.
Sounds good but the web site is a bit confusing (to me). Can you use that app to manage billable hours and tasks updates for a small team of full time employees, using it also as some kind of simple asynchronous communication tool? I would love an iPhone app to do just that in the simplest way, with a web front end too for reports and whatnot. Or are you tied up to their marketplace thing?
I have been a fan of eLance for over a year now and haven’t tried oDesk but it is next on my list along with GetFriday.
This is really COOL! Great work oDesk!
odesk needs to focus on the usability of the website before making an iphone app. the functional design of the site is atrocious.
Problem: Big brother watching you as free-lancer.
ODesk will screen shots at random during work.
If people deliver, why you need to control them?
Congrats on what seems to be a great execution! I’d also caution against using this tool anywhere and everywhere, this behavioristic approach to management will not work in every situation. Also, it seems to be focusing more on activity than delivery, but perhaps I need to look more at it.
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And yes, a system that would help managing freelancers would be really nice.
Anyway, great to see there’s a way up from the pit
I have been waiting for odesk. should be here a.s.a.p.
I don’t get this – hasn’t oDesk been around for years? And isn’t TC50 suppose to be about new/ emerging technology companies?
How were they even allowed in and how do they win?
Seems like a big TC50 fail to me for all of the other companies who actually did truly launch for the first time at the conference.
Also, is a big disappointment to me as someone looking for the next big thing to write about – oDesk is old news.
Still can’t find the app anywhere does anyone know how to get it?
THEY DON”T HAVE AN IPHONE APP THIS IS DISSAPOINTING – where is it? is it out?