British startup Satago is a crowdseeded app to get freelancers and small businesses paid on time.
We don't know how it'll do, but from a marketing standpoint, this image (via TechCrunch) is pure gold.
Anyone who has ever been self-employed or run a small business knows exactly what young Scottish CEO Steven Renwick's t-shirt feels like. It's been expressed by every creative who ever took on a job and detailed in a popular presentation by designer Mike Monteiro, who we really hope received credit/licensing money for the t-shirts.
The fury, the helplessness, the sense of being up against a vendor or client whose resources are far greater than yours. You know the client or company is literally stealing from you by delaying payment, crippling your business with cash flow problems and collection labor. Meanwhile their accountants have calculated that delaying payments to freelancers adds up to more interest in the company's coffers than it costs them in time to brush off your desperate phone calls and emails.
Will an app that allows freelancers to anonymously name-&-shame slow payers help little fish get more equitable treatment? It could at least help freelancers or businesses that can't afford cashflow chokages to avoid the worst offenders. We wish you luck, guys!
