Stop trying to make Polywork happen. It’s already happening. You may be busy reading this.
PolyWork is a venture-backed startup building a professional network to help people define their multilingual work lives. In other words, if you are a reporter, who also wants to write podcasts, a book and one day you want to help teach in a university, Polywork wants to give you, well in this case, a place to express that. And according to CEO and founder Peter Johnston, the name intentionally sounds like a verb that “works like this.”
PolyWorks announced today that it has raised $28 million in Series B funding led by former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and Caffeine Capital. Other investors also participated in the round, including Instacart CEO Fiji Simo and the founders of Instacart, Strip, Lyft, Clubhouse, Lattice, Minted and Divi Homes. Andreessen Horowitz, who led Polywork’s $13 million Series A financing, participated in the round but did not lead it.
The round marks Polywork’s official launch outside of private beta. While founder and CEO of Polywork Peter Johnston He declined to share specific user numbers, noting that they are growing, indicating confidence in the platform’s ability to give users a place to express themselves.
Image Credits: A lot of work
In other words, the startup believes it has found product-market fit. Since its inception, Polywork has tracked subscribers to better understand who wants to do what – beyond self-disclosure – once they’ve landed on the website. The call to action, Johnston explained, soon became helping people find opportunities to collaborate with each other.
“If LinkedIn is a network of full-time opportunities, we are a network of collaborative opportunities,” he said.
Not all features are open to the public. For example, PolyWorks is launching Private Beta Circles, a dedicated group space designed to help people collaborate. Consider a group of people who have collected badge-based logins and experience verification. In PolyWork, there is a moderator who facilitates collaboration within the groups.
The company’s early adopters are mostly people who work full-time in tech looking to expand their hobby, such as angel investors, podcasters or newsletters. The founder explained that some see the rise of multiple circumcisions as another example of glorifying the rush culture. For that, “This human generation gets energy by doing a lot.” It doesn’t tire them out or burn them out. Meanwhile, some reports show that millennial and Gen Z workers are experiencing the highest burnout rates at 59% and 58%, respectively. Other reports say more Americans are taking second jobs to fight inflation, not because they want to. At the same time, more than 50 million people, according to Fast Company, consider themselves as creators.
The conflicting trends give rise to a demand for a more fluid professional network and a contrast to the realities that make multilingual work more prominent.
“Their ability helped them try those many things at once,” Johnston said. “A lot of things go back to money and people looking for extra income, but it really started more with people wanting and needing energy from it — and breaking down what they’re doing when the pandemic happens… This allows them to try something new. in a simple way.”
Polywork does not have a revenue plan as it focuses more on growth and production. Future monetization may look around customizing user polyyork templates or advanced search similar to LinkedIn premium.
PolyWorks is facing the same challenges as any marketplace. If the value proposition is more collaborative opportunities, how can it be possible to research not only people who want a book agent, but also enough book agents? Everyone may be looking for a podcast co-host, but what if everyone has their own ideas and doesn’t necessarily want to join another?
The future of collaboration is fruitful yet complex. But, smartly, Polywork focuses on the future, exploring people’s hopes and dreams beyond the past or the present.
