Featured Startup Pitch – ExpertBids.com: A free marketplace that connects potential clients with professionals

Company: ExpertBids.com

Website: www.ExpertBids.com

Headquarters: Chicago

Year Founded: Launched in November 2010

Founder: Nick Cronin 

Investors: Self-funded, in addition to a small angel investment 

Employees: 3

Company Description: ExpertBids.com is a professional services marketplace where clients can get personalized bids from lawyers, accountants and consultants.

By Nick Cronin, Founder and CEO

Product Overview

ExpertBids.com is an easy-to-use platform which connects clients and professionals saving both parties time and money.

The site works like this: Clients register and post a service request which either lawyers, accountants or consultants can view. Professionals then search the requests by location, category, and other criteria. When they are interested in a service request, they can send the client a personalized bid using either a flat fee or an hourly rate. The client can then review the details of the bid and the professional’s profile, which includes information such as their name, educational information, licenses, websites (i.e., Linkedin, Facebook, etc.), and finally, past client reviews of the professional’s work.

Using this information, the client can choose any of the bids. An email is then sent to the selected professional, and they can then pay a small fee of $14.95 to receive the client’s name, phone number, and email address and the two parties can connect.

Founder’s Story

My background is as a corporate lawyer. I worked in the legal departments of two publicly-traded corporations and in these positions I needed to hire many lawyers throughout the United States. In doing this, I found the process of finding a lawyer to be very inefficient. It was a very time-consuming process of having to locate and then call many different lawyers to find one that was interested in the case and had applicable experience. Even after I would find an acceptable fit, it was very difficult to pin the lawyer down on a set price. As so many other businesses start, I felt there had to be a more efficient way.

I then created LawBidding.com, a site where people could get bids from lawyers. After gaining traction and learning many clients shared my problem is when I decided to quit my job as a corporate lawyer and focus on building ExpertBids.com, a marketplace which includes not only lawyers, but also accountants and consultants. ExpertBids.com was launched in November of 2010. Our goal is to make the process of finding a lawyer, accountant or consultant much more efficient and transparent.

Revenue Model

Our site is 100 percent free for clients to use. For professionals, the site is free to register, search and bid on service requests. Our pay-only-for-performance model, where only the selected professional is charged, removes all risk for the professional because the only time they will be charged a fee is if they obtain a new client. This eliminates the need for inefficient marketing.

Current Needs

We are currently in the process of raising a small A round of investment.

Conclusion

Chances are, at some point in your life, you will need a lawyer, an accountant or a consultant. The next time you are looking, ExpertBids.com may save you time and money in finding the right service professional.

ExpertBids – www.expertbids.com