The solution that makes it easier to form your own tailor-made team

When Iikka Virkkunen came up with the idea of a solution for Sitra’s challenge competition, he invited a group of acquaintances he felt would be suitable to join the effort for dinner. By the time they had finished dessert, the team was assembled. But what if he had not happened to know just the right people?

In the future, such a team could be assembled using GoCo. It is an application that people can use to assemble teams for current projects.

“Platforms such as Spotify and the App Store and a sharing economy has taught us that capital doesn’t have to be in companies,” says Virkkunen.

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GoCo is an application that people can use to assemble teams for current projects.

GoCo addresses the challenges created by a changing working life: an increase in temporary jobs, the difficulties for young people to find employment and the need for work to be more meaningful. Even Prime Minister Juha Sipilä has stated that work in the future will consist of fragments and several different paths. According to Virkkunen, new models are needed for working – a team economy.

“Important work is done through co-operation. It not only affects how meaningful people perceive work to be, it also affects the national economy. People are better able to utilise their expertise and get paid accordingly.”

Examples might include arranging a wedding, creating a website or outfitting a sailing boat to cross the ocean. These are the kind of projects that are difficult for a single person to complete alone, but where you may not want to assign the full responsibility for the project to an external project manager. GoCo offers a platform where you can browse for the types of projects available and sign up to join them.

“You do not have to engage in sales or postings. People who are best at solving them gravitate towards the problems,” says Virkkunen.

Sometimes there are competing alternative solutions, resulting in a choice between several teams. Through the platform, users can review the work history and recommendations of the team members. When the buyer approves the project plan and team, a contract is created and the team delivers the work. GoCo’s work is done and it charges a small slice of the projects completed on the platform.

According to Virkkunen, GoCo can be used to extend careers, whatever stage they may be at. Young people or others that have difficulty finding employment are able to accomplish one project at a time, without having to first convince an organisation that they should be hired. Pensioners or the parents of small children are able to work the amount they wish.

“Productivity increases, as people are motivated and the tasks are targeted. People have more power over what types of projects they participate in.”

There is also a demand for GoCo within existing organisations. For example, it gives companies new methods for attracting people for job assignments. “Employees are able to select projects in areas where they would like to develop their expertise.”

The prototype already exists and now funding is being sought for building and marketing the platform. GoCo builds on many pre-existing partial solutions.

“The innovative and topical nature of the idea has surprised even us a little. GoCo is the final step or leap that no one has seen. I’m mainly worried about whether we are going to be the ones to do this or whether someone else will beat us to it.”

Read the original Finnish version of the article here.