Scoutzie (YC S12) Is A More Thoughtful Marketplace For Designers

http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/10/scoutzie-is-a-more-curated-thoughtful-marketplace-for-designers/

by kirillzubovsky • 14 years ago

97 26 14 years ago

techcrunch.com

rhizome• 14 years ago

Are designers required to post a dour image of themselves? "Sigh...another job well done."

The name "Scoutzie" seems much more informal than what they're trying to do here.

felixchan• 14 years ago

Scoutzie is great! they connected me to the top designers in the world which i would never have access to. They put a lot of thought into matching us with the right people. Congrats!

jenntoda5• 14 years ago

Thank you! The right designer for the right project is exactly what we strive towards.

peter_l_downs• 14 years ago

Another dribbble-esque website also focused on mobile is http://meer.li/. Same idea, but imho a much better execution.

jenntoda5• 14 years ago

Quite different from Dribbble, our focus is on connecting customers to designers for projects, not show and tell among designers. Meer.li seems closer to Dribbble in that it appears to focus more on connecting mobile designers to mobile designers too.

justjimmy• 14 years ago

Does the site offer anything else besides bigger Dribbble shots of projects when looking for a designer? Like links to the actual product/website/iTunes store of the app made? I find myself having to manually google the apps of the shots so I can download and try out the app and see how it turned out. Maybe enforce a mandatory rule to include link to the actual product?

Or are the designers suppose to supply the links when they connect with the client? If so, why the run around?

And browsing through some of the designers, I learned that a few of them are no longer taking on freelance work once I visited their own portfolio/personal site.

Maybe all of the above are addressed when you post a project? I don't have a real project atm so can't try it out.

Looks promising! I'll definitely try it out for my next app. Need a sexy icon :)

jenntoda5• 14 years ago

Co-Founder here: Indeed, all of the above will be addressed when you post a project. Link to actual products and in fact much more contextual information is indeed in the works. We've got quite a few great icon designers - just let us know when you're ready :) Thanks for your feedback!

kirillzubovsky5• 14 years ago

Hey. I am the other cofounder. You are right, we should encourage more designers to link their works with actual applications. There is an option and some have, but we need to do that with more apps.

Like Jenn said, we'd love to help when you're ready to do an icon. Let us know and thanks for the comment.

karamazov• 14 years ago

From experience, these guys have fantastic customer service. They'll take care of you if you work with them.

jenntoda5• 14 years ago

Thank you so much! We understand and believe that design is integral to your product's success so we do everything we can to make sure we deliver the design you're looking for.

cindywu123• 14 years ago

Scoutzie is founded by an awesome duo! I've known Kirill from his days in Seattle and met Jenn a few weeks ago in SF. Congrats you two, keep it up!

kirillzubovsky5• 14 years ago

Hi Cindy! Thank you :)

jenntoda5• 14 years ago

Thank you Cindy!

holgersindbaek3• 14 years ago

Nice one Kirill. Looks great. Looking forward to seeing where you can take this.

Lots of luck

Holger, Co-founder of http://meer.li

kirillzubovsky5• 14 years ago

Thanks Holger!

holgersindbaek3• 14 years ago

Are you based in San Fran btw?

codegeek• 14 years ago

clickable in case: http://www.scoutzie.com/

mingfu• 14 years ago

Kirill and Jenn are absolutely relentless in their pursuit of building something truly fantastic. Couldn't be happier for them with this launch.

kirillzubovsky5• 14 years ago

Hey Ming. Thank you! I hear you guys might be ready for some design work soon. If you are, you know where to find it :)

vertr2• 14 years ago

"Zubovsky and Toda insist that Scoutzie is more like a traditional design agency like FJORD or Happy Cog than its most obvious competitor 99Designs, and hold that the curation of the community and emphasis on quality versus getting the cheapest possible option is what sets them apart from the aforementioned."

I don't understand how they can compare Scoutzie to an agency. Do they not realize that agencies deliver significantly more than just design? An agency delivers a package through a proven process. Scoutzie just gives you a relationship to a designer. They are not even remotely the same.

matthewowen• 14 years ago

Indeed! In your dealings with an agency, you might only have one designer working on your project. But (unless the agency is pretty bad) they should be getting input on their work from other designers (especially more senior designers in the firm). And if you really dislike their work, the possibility should exist that the agency will draft a different designer in.

Connecting users to a single freelancer isn't like being an agency. It is valuable, for sure - but agencies offer value in a different way.

vertr2• 14 years ago

Not to mention copywriting, strategy, account management, project management, user experience, and development.

sgdesign• 14 years ago

Didn't know you guys were YC! You're doing great, I'll have to work hard to make sure I keep up with Folyo (http://folyo.me)

sagar_shah• 14 years ago

Awesome service! Kirill is great to work with!

Scoutzie (YC S12) Is A More Thoughtful Marketplace For Designers

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