In his earlier look on the podcast, in November 2022, Jai Dolwani was the CMO of a wine subscription firm that might shortly declare chapter. It was his third struggling startup, he says, prompting “severe self-reflection.”
He pivoted to entrepreneurship and launched The Starters, a market for fractional ecommerce expertise, in late 2023. The corporate has thrived, having attracted greater than 600 freelancers and 500 shopper manufacturers.
In our latest dialog, Jai addressed the demand for ecommerce expertise, suggestions for hiring freelancers, and plans for 2026 and past.
Our total audio is embedded beneath. The transcript is edited for size and readability.
Eric Bandholz: Inform us what you do.
Jai Dolwani: I’m the founding father of The Starters, an organization that helps ecommerce manufacturers entry top-tier fractional expertise by way of a curated, vetted market. We join manufacturers with skilled entrepreneurs, creatives, and technologists — professionals who’ve helped construct a number of the world’s greatest firms — to allow them to rent flexibly and effectively.
Earlier than that, I used to be CMO at Winc, a wine subscription firm. We had lately gone public, however behind the scenes, the enterprise struggled. A number of weeks after my final dialog with you, Winc declared chapter and was later acquired. I used to be provided a job, nevertheless it marked my third startup in a row to fail financially, prompting some severe self-reflection.
I questioned whether or not it was dangerous luck or my very own shortcomings. Finally, I made a decision I wanted full possession of outcomes and have become an entrepreneur. I bootstrapped the enterprise with a $5,000 private funding, and it’s grown steadily since. My mission now’s twofold: assist freelancers discover significant, versatile work and assist ecommerce manufacturers construct lean, environment friendly, and worthwhile organizations.
Bandholz: You’re constructing a two-sided market. How did you entice expertise early and create traction?
Dolwani: From day one, my philosophy was to draw the perfect expertise first, and types will observe. Manufacturers are at all times on the hunt for prime expertise. To try this, we constructed what I consider is probably the most talent-friendly market within the trade.
We don’t cost freelancers a fee. In contrast to platforms resembling Upwork or Fiverr, 100% of what freelancers invoice goes on to them. We provide non-public profiles. Many prime performers have already got jobs and don’t need a public market profile seen to employers, so entry is proscribed to vetted manufacturers. We additionally keep away from the race to the underside. Most marketplaces change into transactional and price-driven, with median charges of $10 to $15 per hour. We keep extremely curated and vetted, specializing in strategic match over value.
Because of this, expertise on our platform competes on experience, not worth. The median price is about $90 per hour, reflecting high quality and outcomes. We’ve attracted executives from nine-figure firms and world-class specialists who would by no means be a part of typical freelance platforms.
Early on, it was exhausting — sourcing and onboarding the primary freelancers myself. Over time, sturdy experiences generated word-of-mouth from freelancers and types.
Bandholz: If expertise retains 100%, how does your small business earn a living?
Dolwani: We monetize solely on the model facet. Manufacturers pay $295 per 30 days to entry the platform and rent expertise by way of us. We cost the price upfront, earlier than they’ll view or contact freelancers, which ensures excessive intent. If a model isn’t happy or we are able to’t meet its wants, we refund the price.
This mannequin is straightforward and honest. We’re not attempting to construct a billion-dollar, venture-backed firm. We’re bootstrapped, and the pricing displays the worth we offer whereas permitting freelancers to maintain 100% of their charges.
Funds to freelancers undergo Stripe. We by no means contact that cash — funds transfer straight from the model to the freelancer. We orchestrate the expertise and facilitate the connection, whereas the working relationship stays direct.
Most of our shoppers are ecommerce manufacturers incomes $1–10 million that want help however aren’t prepared for full-time hires, although we additionally assist pre-launch and nine-figure firms.
Bandholz: How do manufacturers work with expertise in your platform, and what kinds of experience can they entry?
Dolwani: Engagements are versatile and depend upon what the model and freelancer agree on, however I like to recommend a transparent development. Begin with a small, capped hourly trial — round 5 hours — to guage high quality. If the work doesn’t impress you instantly, it doubtless gained’t enhance. After that, work collectively for one to 2 months on an hourly foundation, with a cap, to know the output, velocity, and communication.
As soon as expectations are clear and issues are working nicely, shifting to a month-to-month retainer is sensible. Retainers cut back time monitoring and maintain everybody centered on outcomes somewhat than hours.
We now have simply over 600 vetted professionals on the platform. Our core strengths are advertising and marketing, inventive, and expertise — the whole lot from media consumers and fractional CMOs to designers, inventive administrators, Shopify builders, and heads of knowledge and analytics. We’ve lately expanded into operations, product improvement, provide chain, finance, and retail enlargement for client bundle manufacturers, with extra development deliberate for 2026.
We’ve succeeded at our preliminary purpose of serving to ecommerce manufacturers entry higher fractional expertise than they’d discover elsewhere. However the world is altering. As AI reduces the necessity for human execution, the worth shifts away from process completion towards specialised data and higher decision-making.
Firms will win as a result of they’ve deeper human perception guiding technique. That’s the place I see us going. Past a freelancer market, we’re constructing a house for ecommerce experience.
Which means making data accessible by way of programs, guides, webinars, dwell Q&As, consulting calls, and ongoing advisory relationships — hiring being only one possibility. Lengthy-term, we hope The Starters turns into a vacation spot for ecommerce manufacturers to construct their “human benefit” to create differentiated methods and win.
Bandholz: The place can folks observe you? Rent some freelancers?
Dolwani: Our website is Hirethestarters.com. I’m on X and LinkedIn.
