To the creative set, the pairing might seem incongruous. While Fiverr has built its brand on providing small businesses a wide range of easy-to-access and budget-friendly creative services, it’s not known for its creative cachet.
Admittedly, the WNW founders didn’t see this coming either, until they spoke with the Fiverr team. “It was a surprise to us too,” admits Gignac. “We were skeptical because WNW is our baby, we’re very protective of it and very protective of the community. When we were thinking about acquisition potential over the years, Fiverr is not a name that ever really came up. But every conversation we had, our vision, our goals and how much we care about our community, is aligned.”
“We share a similar belief that talent is borderless and technology can be used to provide global opportunities,” said Micha Kaufman, Fiverr CEO in a statement. “This acquisition expands our penetration into high quality creatives and freelancers and gives them the opportunity to tap into our technology and know-how to help them bring global demand to their community.”
The Working Not Working brand will continue as before, with Gignac and Tompkins at the helm. Only now, the founders say, the acquisition will enable WNW to finally clear all those hurdles that had dogged its growth over the years, in terms of building up its offerings to subscribers as well as expansion into other marketer around the globe. Though it’s not apparent on the front end, Gignac and Tomkins have never had more than 15 people on staff over the years, so Fiverr’s resources and infrastructure will provide a welcome boost.
“We’ve always had a small team, with just one designer, one developer,” says Tompkins. “I don’t know how many people they have in their tech department, but I bet it’s definitely more than one.”