ABOUT THIS EPISODE

This week, Marcus speaks with Founder/Author, Jeff Wald, about giving away a $10m prize in 2040, the future of jobs and work and his book, The End of Jobs: The Rise of On-Demand Workers and Agile Corporations. 

Jeff is the founder of Work Market, an enterprise software platform that enables companies to manage freelancers (acquired by ADP). Jeff is the author of The Birthday Rules and The End of Jobs: The Rise of On-Demand Workers and Agile Corporations. Jeff frequently speaks at conferences and in media on startups and labor issues. Jeff holds an MBA from Harvard University and an MS and BS from Cornell University. 

Jeff is giving away 10m for the Future of Work Prize - he’s a huge X-Prize fan - and explains why, when - and to whom, he will be awarding the $10m.

Jeff talks about the intellectual antecedents (including OnForce) to his startup, Workmarket - the Freelance Management System that was eventually purchased by ADP.

He shares the challenges they faced to raise their first $6m - and the strategy they took. He supports the notion that it’s crucial to get to market as soon as possible - you don’t really know what’s going to happen next until you get the product out to your first 1000 users. Instead of  “The are using it wrong”  they took the position that “They are using it right - we built it wrong”.

Getting going out of the gate with 10-15 enterprise customers allowed them to generate $1.5m in the first year.

The elevator pitch from origination is discussed - Workmarket is enabling corporations to efficiently and compliantly organize, manage and pay freelancers.

Quotes: "Ideas are cheap - the will to execute is expensive”. "Doing it" is what separates people. "Release early, release often”

Jeff thinks that he might change the title of the book given a chance - he was not in love with it, and thinks the irony of the title might be lost due to the economic repercussions of the Covid pandemic. He might have caledl it “The Future of Work is Here"

Jeff shares thoughts on his “Labor equation” to evaluate the shape of the workforce and how to engage labor.

Jeff cites Historic trends, data patterns, corporate decision making and even brings his Mum into the conversation!

The duo talk about regulatory changes due to the pandemic and the impact moving forward.

Jeff does not like “non data-driven” predictions - talks about de-globalization, remote working and Robots and AI.

10-15% of jobs are going to disappear in the next 20 years - but there are plenty of jobs that are going to be created that will come close to balancing the equation.

Marcus asks if the human aspect (in recruiting) can be automated.

Mechanization, electrification and computerization are cited as previous drivers of major shifts in the workforce and the oncoming first services revolution is going to be the catalyst for some major retraining needs.

Connect with Marcus on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusedwardes/

Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffwald/

Get the book: The End of Jobs: The Rise of On-Demand Workers and Agile Corporations.