This month Thumbtack did something really exciting and totally new. To celebrate the roll-out of our new Thumbtack brand, we hosted 300+ Top Pros for a day of training, networking and celebration in San Francisco. We’re calling it our Self Made event — and these days, we’re all about the Self Made. Who are they? They’re hard-working professionals like you. Folks who turned a lawnmower into an enterprise, who have a nine-to-five and run a five-to-nine on the side.
The event focused on all aspects of being Self Made. The glamorous: building your company’s vision. And the stressful: securing funding and growing your team. We’re already brainstorming new and exciting ways of bringing pros together for our next Thumbtack event. Until then, here’s a recap of what we covered at Self Made.
Possibility.
CEO Marco Zappacosta spoke about the new Thumbtack, and how we’re working with small business owners to strengthen your local economies and help you get more done:
“By bringing you more of the work you want, by getting you hired and putting money into your pockets, we hope to help you make a local economic impact that — when replicated over and over again, across the country — can have a real, measurable influence on the American economy at large: more jobs, more work getting done, more money being put into your communities. That’s a lot of people power.”
Ease.
You’ve probably noticed that there’ve been a lot of changes on Thumbtack recently (including our new Self Made brand). Head of Product, Noam Lovinsky spent some time explaining why:
“The main motivation behind all of these changes is to build an experience customers love. More than that, we need to build the experience customers have come to expect from their phones because that’s the best thing we can do to deliver more paying jobs to all of you.
First and foremost, customers want to see options instantly. We also know that customers prefer to see more options rather than fewer. Together, this increases the likelihood that a customer will choose a pro to reach out to, but of course it’s then on us to spread the customers around and make sure that all of you — and not just some of you — are getting jobs you’re excited about.”
Accomplishment.
Head of Marketing Nikki Pechet moderated a panel with four Self Made pros discussing the highpoints and hurdles of owning their own business. That included Pastor Darrell Ross, a school principal who moonlights as a wedding officiant, teen lawn care magnate Reid Somloi, military veteran and handyman Brian Cotter, and Geraldine Oribhabor who came to the U.S. from Nigeria for medical school and (when the economy went under) stayed to start a successful photography business on Thumbtack.
Their stories are a reminder of the diversity of talents that exist on Thumbtack, and that so often, the people behind those talents are just as interesting as the work they do.
Community.
The Self Made event was all about building community among you, our pros. We realize how important opportunities like these are, and we want to keep the conversations going. So we found a way to take that community home with you.
Thumbtack’s Pro Community is a brand new resource that harnesses our biggest strength as a company: you. As a pro, the Community is your place to share your expertise and ask questions of your fellow pros — whether that’s, “Where should I post for open positions?” or “How do I set my travel preferences on Thumbtack?” Because you know way more about the ins and outs of running a small business than we ever will. When the community launches in June, you’ll have a place to share it.
Check back for news of our next big Thumbtack event as well as resources from the Self Made sessions.
