For Companies:
There are no fees, dues, or costs associated with registering a Company as a Client User in the Blackdragon Marketplace. There are no penalties or fees for terminating a Company registration. The only time a Company spends money with Blackdragon is when they elect to purchase a product or service.
NOTE: A fully executed Master Services Agreement (MSA) in good standing must be in place beforehand to purchase our CaaS/WaaS products and services. Each purchase of CaaS/WaaS are deal-specific and are executed as mutually exclusive task orders linked the MSA. Blackdragon subscription service agreements are standalone agreements that do not mandate an additional MSA be put into place before making a purchase for AaaS/PLaaS.
For Freelancers:
There are no fees, dues, or costs associated with registering as a Freelance User in the Blackdragon Marketplace. There are no penalties or fees for terminating registration at any time.
NOTE: A fully executed Master Consulting Agreement (MCA) in good standing must be in effect for selection eligibility to work on Blackdragon projects.
For our optional AaaS and PLaaS subscription services, those prices are fixed based on the service level that is right for each client. Once selected, clients may change their preferred service level or terminate at their discretion.
For our CaaS products and our flagship offering, the WaaS Deal Team, pricing is custom calculated by our data modeling and internal examination methodologies which are produced in the Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM). ROM’s calculate tailored pricing for each deal as it fits the client. ROM’s are typically turned around very quickly after the client submits a request by filling out our online questionnaire.
Other incidental WaaS support services represent a small minority of our core business but we are happy to oblige clients on a case-by-case basis if we can be of assistance. Outside of our core products and services, we always prefer to provide whole solutions via fixed price versus hourly support provided by random individuals.
Call us directly to share your requirements and we can explore how best to provide support with tailored pricing for the task.
Comparable to Uber’s “Split Fare” feature where two or more riders can use their respective apps to jointly pay for a single trip, Blackdragon enables subcontractors to volunteer to pay for portions of the project fee on behalf of the prime bidder client.
We have already experienced cases where 100% of the Blackdragon project fee was raised and paid for by subcontractors on behalf of the prime bidder client in exchange for work share. Those prime clients felt like they hit the lottery. Key subcontractors are pitching in, a full complement Blackdragon Deal Team (‘Dream Team’) is leading the charge to create the winning proposal and the prime barely has to do anything to make it all work.
This has been especially appreciated in cases like the following:
The lower service levels of our AaaS and PLaaS optional subscriptions are one alternative for smaller budgets. Occasional strategic investments carefully placed in CaaS products for critical deals are another.
Finally, bidder firms of all sizes are encouraged to register for access to the Blackdragon marketplace—this is where prime and subcontractors freely and equally express their interests in being selected for upcoming deals. Since prime bidder clients pay the bill, it can be very advantageous to subcontractor candidates to compete for bid team selection at no charge within the marketplace.
Subcontractor candidates can even initiate upcoming deals they are interested in by entering them into our online marketplace (no attribution) to see if a Deal Team will form and if a good-fitting prime bidder client will sponsor the project. No downside for trying.
Take advantage of our Bid-Sharing feature.
Yes. Multiple user accounts for the Blackdragon marketplace are allowed. A person may have a Freelance Expert user account while simultaneously holding a user login affiliated with a client company. Both accounts are free of charge and can be terminated at your convenience.
A freelancer is required to fully execute our standard, no-cost Master Consulting Agreement (MCA) at time of registration.
Companies — not their individual employees—execute our standard, no-costs Master Services Agreement (MSA). The MSA is not required at the time of company registration; however, it is required as a baseline agreement to purchase any Blackdragon products or services. The MSA can be executed at any time as long as it precedes a purchase.
The rules for multi-users are simple:
Blackdragon does not regulate company client users. That means companies can have as many registered users affiliated with their company as they wish. However, it is each company’s responsibility to ensure that user accounts linked to their company are legitimate and allowed. In the event a company user leaves that employer, it is up to the company to let us know to remove that user from being linked to their firm in the marketplace.
Also, company individual user profiles are not visible within the marketplace. Only freelance user profiles and Companies are visible.
No. Freelance experts are encouraged to tee up and work on as many projects as they can. Per our Master Consulting Agreement (MCA), it is against our policy for a freelancer to work on the same bid project with multiple clients. Said another way, if a freelance expert gets selected as a team member for a Blackdragon project then that freelancer may not also engage with another client for the same deal. Any Blackdragon caught doing this will immediately be removed from the Blackdragon project for its entirety and we will seriously consider terminating the MCA with the freelancer. It’s just bad business. Don’t do it.
No. It’s a big world and there are lots of opportunities for everyone to work on. We respect the fact that bidder clients and freelance experts may have professional working relationships outside of Blackdragon and we fully support an open market. We also understand that Blackdragon may be a catalyst to some deals that are never actuated within our marketplace despite client interest in pursuing it.
However, it is not the spirit of Blackdragon that we are viewed as a job-dating service where parties express interest in working together on a specific deal via Blackdragon and then one party attempts to establish a private side-deal for the same project outside of Blackdragon. We appreciate your professionalism and cooperation on this rare, but sensitive issue.
Most WaaS Deal Teams form within a matter of hours to a few days of being posted within the Blackdragon marketplace, depending on the specific opportunity and the matching process with the seriousness of best-fitting bidder client candidates. Teams vary in size and are dynamic, meaning they are subject to expand and contract throughout the project lifespan daily, but frequently consist of 6 – 18 people working as core Deal Team members. An additional 8 – 24 competitively selected expert color reviewers will also participate throughout the lifespan of the project although they considered outsourced help to the project and are not voting members.
It is common for Deal Teams to be comprised of the following:
Recall that all members of a WaaS Deal Team compete to be selected from a larger pool of candidates. WaaS Deal Teams are self-forming, self-managing, self-adjusting, and self-paying. They are largely in control of their own earning potential both as a group and individually.
Exclusive to Blackdragon, freelance experts that make the cut for final team selection internally compete for task assignments in a healthy way throughout the project compared to waiting for them to be doled out over time. Those members who make the most contributions in the eyes of their peer teammates are scored the highest and therefore, become the best rewarded.
Each WaaS Deal Team experience is unique and ultimately, is what each member makes of it.
The WaaS Deal Team experience is what you make of it. Typical project contributions of every Deal Team Member may include some of the following, but are not limited to:
WaaS Deal Teams enjoy sharing full autonomy of decision-making and accountability alongside their bidder clients (aka, ‘project partner’). Working as an elite, high caliber team designed for a special purpose—to ensure the chosen client wins the targeted contract—members appreciate the bonds of trust built powered by the uplifting esprit de corps that unites and inspires them to achieve their goal.
The happiest and best-compensated Deal Team members tend to be the ones who are pleasant, easy to get along with, visionary thought leaders, motivated action takers, extremely responsive and reliable, decisive yet humble leaders, more focused on achieving success as a team than as individuals.
Blackdragon. Our name is all about being bold, being exceptional, being different than anyone and everyone else. It’s about being the first name one thinks of when regular will not be good enough. Our dominant name represents our formidable strength, shrewd cunningness and stealthy presence.
The way we look at it is, if we could not be highly innovative and artistic in naming our own company that we are marketing as the go-to company clients should hire to win contracts more imaginatively and inventively than ever before, then how exceptional and groundbreaking could we truly be for our clients if we had settled for a boring name? Think of it this way—average names are for average companies who produce average things. We are not average. Far from it.
An inadvertent tongue in cheek play off the infamous company named Blackwater, the final decision on our name was admittedly as much a surprise to us as it was to others. We spent inordinate amounts of time coming up with clever names that we were sure could be a hit, but we opted for a 5th name to prevent a possible tie vote in the public poll we were planning.
The name was unlike all the others and somewhat thrown into the hat at the last minute in jest. Yes, we are a crowdsourcing company that crowd-sourced our name via an open poll. The poll was unanimous—none of our clever names were picked, and therefore we proudly became Blackdragon.
What could never have predicted how much the name is liked by so many and in so many different countries around the world. It’s been perfect for us. Another success story for the power of crowdsourcing, perhaps.
The Shield — It is known that in ancient history, the classic shield conveys or represents the symbol of protection or force. However, we like it because of the relationship it has with notions of security, offensive power, commanding control, strength, safety, and defense.
Dragon — The dragon is a symbol of permanence, power, resolve, strength, and good luck for those who are worthy of it. It also symbolizes potent and auspicious powers over major weather phenomena, particularly control over water, rainfall, typhoons, and floods. Ours is the Black Dragon, the most revered of all dragons due to its notorious nature of unpredictability, craftiness, sophisticated poise and potential for becoming a menacing threat.
Colors — The black color signifies a mysterious sense of obscured existence and it is considered the color of the night, where the unknown is manifest. It also represents the germinal state, the beginning sure to grow. As a color that seems indifferent, black encapsulates the mark of humility and respectability. Our other color is gold which symbolizes wealth, power, and prosperity.
Cross of Malta — The Maltese Cross formally adopted by the Knights Hospitallers of St. John in 1126, stylistically owes its origins to the crosses used in the crusades, when it was identified as the symbol of the “Christian warrior”: Its eight points denote the eight obligations or aspirations of the knights, namely “to live in truth, have faith, repent one’s sins, give proof of humility, love justice, be merciful, be sincere and wholehearted, and to endure persecution”.
‘Free Company’ Background
Mercenaries are soldiers who fight in exchange for a gain or material compensation. If we look back in history, such military forces have been used very successfully for thousands of years in Ancient Greece, Egypt, and the Roman Empire. A ‘Free Company’ refers to a late medieval army of highly skilled mercenaries acting in unison for a common purpose independently of any government, and thus “free.”
During the later Middle Ages, Free Companies were formed, consisting of companies of mercenary troops. Nation-states lacked the funds needed to create or maintain adequate standing forces, so they tended to hire free companies to augment their armies during wartime; in some cases, they comprised the majority or even all of the forces. Such companies typically formed at the ends of periods of conflict, when men-at-arms were no longer needed by their respective governments or when political winds shifted and the armies found themselves abruptly without a sovereign leader.
Free Companies were very professional and often highly sophisticated relative to other military forces of their age—they were the elite and ultimately, the most feared. They had established command structures making them highly organized, well managed and even incorporated designated professional accountants within the enterprise to allocate the loot across those who earned it. This made them not only dominant in their respective fields of expertise, but also wealthy and powerful. Given their entrepreneurial approach matched with high stakes in the practice of war, they were renowned for being cunning, inventive, resourceful and uniquely motivated to succeed at all costs. Ultimately, these Free Companies had profound, long-lasting impacts upon the respective societies of their era.
Developing Trends for Soldiers of Fortune
If we fast-forward to present times, mercenaries have (again) become a distinguishable type of business that is expanding in both scale and impact on world events. With defense budget cuts being made around the globe, mercenary services are organizations drawing increasing levels of investors’ attention. Much like the Free Companies of the past, business is booming for growing armies of private military contractors, who take their advanced military training and offer it to the highest bidder. In fact, modern-day mercenaries are stationed throughout the world fighting conflicts for governments that are reluctant to use their own troops. More and more, these companies are becoming integral parts of government plans and operations.
It is important to note that these soldiers of fortune only take contracts deemed to be financially advantageous. Governments contract them to improve their respective country’s military capabilities. Just as the distinction between combat arms and non-combat arms is becoming blurred during operations, the distinction between “advising” and “doing” for these contractors is similarly blurred. The reality is that most of these companies’ operations are progressively becoming integral parts of their clients’ military capabilities. If these enterprises ceased work during hostilities, the host government’s military would not be able to function near its perceived capability.
Blackdragon Is A Modern-Day Free Company
Just like modern armies for hire have greatly emerged as formidable solutions for their government clients in recent years, Blackdragon is a new breed of the Free Company serving federal bidder community urgently dependent on winning new contracts for its survival. Gone are the days of big investments in advanced training and maintaining expensive deep benches of overhead talent. It is now more cost-effective to hire the right expertise in bite-sized portions on-demand than to create and carry their operating costs. As cost-cutting continues, scores of expert industry craftsmen shaped and seasoned over decades are losing their masters despite their unique value. Blackdragon is a federated coalition of superbly trained, extraordinarily sophisticated, and remarkably experienced business professionals all working together in a united spirit on behalf of our clients.
“Per Unitatem Vis” is the Latin phrase that translates to “Through Unity, Strength”
Absolutely not. On-Demand’s cost advantages are more than likely to make it the standard business model of the future. Most businesses today still operate more or less as they have for the past four thousand years. But, citing all kinds of historical tech adoption statistics tends to leave doubt in that past performance is not always indicative of future results.
When looking at technology, it’s worth looking at how things operate today and how they will operate in five years. One thing consistent to almost all on-demand business models is the need to “immediately deliver” products or services.
Blackdragon is the first and only ‘platform’ business of its kind throughout the federal contracting industry and we use ‘demand-side’ economics. Many firms in our line of work—helping bidders win contracts—are ‘pipeline’ businesses-centered on ‘supply-side’ economics.
Common supply-side pipeline businesses in our line of work are conventional consulting shops with existing personnel actively seeking temporary billable gigs; hyped exchanges presenting themselves as ‘matchmakers’ but are little more than catalogs of resumes peddled by the hour or sharing of unsophisticated lists; firms selling training and certifications; orgs hawking templates and outlines; software firms offering their various sales, contact management, capture, and proposal tool; and so on.
Growing evidence consistently shows that when a platform enters a pipeline firm’s market, the platform almost always wins. The disruptive idea of building an online platform to sell offline products and services on-demand is what differentiates the on-demand economy from other business economies.
Platforms have existed for years. Malls link consumers and merchants; newspapers connect subscribers and advertisers. What’s changed in this century is that information technology has profoundly reduced the need to own physical infrastructure and assets. IT makes building and scaling up platforms vastly simpler and cheaper, allows nearly frictionless participation that strengthens network effects, and enhances the ability to capture, analyze, and exchange huge amounts of data that increase the platform’s value to all. You don’t need to look far to see examples of platform businesses, from Uber to Alibaba to Airbnb, whose spectacular growth abruptly upended their industries.
To understand how the rise of platforms is transforming competition, one needs to examine how platforms differ from the conventional “pipeline” businesses that have dominated the industry for decades. Pipeline businesses create value by controlling a linear series of activities—the classic value-chain model. Inputs at one end of the chain (say, materials from suppliers) undergo a series of steps that transform them into an output that’s worth more: the finished product.
The move from pipeline to platform involves three key shifts:
The Power of Network Effects
The engine of the industrial economy was, and remains, supply-side economies of scale. Massive fixed costs and low marginal costs mean that firms achieving higher sales volume than their competitors have a lower average cost of doing business. That allows them to reduce prices, which increases volume further, which permits more price cuts—a virtuous feedback loop that produces monopolies. Supply economics gave us Carnegie Steel, Edison Electric (which became GE), Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, and many other industrial era giants.
In supply-side economies, firms achieve market power by controlling resources, ruthlessly increasing efficiency, and fending off challenges from any of the five forces. The goal of strategy in this world is to build a moat around the business that protects it from competition and channels competition toward other firms.
The driving force behind the internet economy, conversely, is demand-side economies of scale, also known as network effects. These are enhanced by technologies that create efficiencies in social networking, demand aggregation, app development, and other phenomena that help networks expand. In the internet economy, firms that achieve higher “volume” than competitors (that is, attract more platform participants) offer a higher average value per transaction. That’s because the larger the network, the better the matches between supply and demand and the richer the data that can be used to find matches. Greater scale generates more value, which attracts more participants, which creates more value—another virtuous feedback loop that produces monopolies. Network effects gave us Alibaba, which accounts for over 75% of Chinese e-commerce transactions; Google, which accounts for 82% of mobile operating systems and 94% of mobile search; and Facebook, the world’s dominant social platform.
Blackdragon focuses primarily on the US federal contracting community both in CONUS and OCONUS. However, we have some clients operating solely in the State and Local arenas and we have a handful of new developments involving prospective deals with foreign entities.
We envision expanding our US operations abroad in the future in addition to embarking upon new industries as well. Essentially, any industry where the participating companies must produce winning proposals to generate revenue, the Blackdragon technology platform model is a strong candidate to be a rising star to transform that industry. Stay tuned for where we go next.
Any US or naturalized citizen aged 18 years or older.
Moonlighters of all types, skill sets and experience levels are welcome to join. OCI’s are managed on a case-by-case basis.
Hint: To date, members range from accomplished C-level leaders of large orgs to former politically appointed Directors of federal agencies to recently retired Generals / Admirals and senior executives from all aspects of federal service. There are at-home mothers, disabled veterans, retirees, former elected politicians, lobbyists, veteran former US Intelligence agents, law enforcement, military and govie types of all backgrounds including special operations, EOD, VIP physical security, force protection and so much more. We have talented thought leaders that specialize in just about anything, including some who thrive on being real jack-of-all-trade wizzes on their laptops. There are coders, testers, technologists, engineers, cryptologists, hackers, cybersecurity fanatics, AI geeks, cloud gurus, linguists, translators, ERP nerds, SATCOM professionals, inventors, analysts, published authors, business development & capture folks, proposal managers & specialists, graphics illustrators, journalists, photographers, lawyers, financial managers and technical solutions architects of every kind imaginable. We have amazing technical writers, recruiters, pricing strategists, desktop publishers, and a wide assortment of other individuals located all over the world with incredible skill sets, rare institutional knowledge, remarkable insights, experiences and unique capabilities.
In the business world of yesterday, ownership was everything.
In today’s On-Demand world, Access is better than Ownership. This very simple concept is causing reverberations throughout the economy, spurring on tectonic shifts across entire industries. Access is better than Ownership is a fundamental principle of the on-demand economy. It asserts that it is better to temporarily rent something than to buy it permanently. Likewise, on-demand businesses rely more on freelancers, rather than the hiring of full-time employees and contractors. Sounds great for clients, right?
But check this out…
The incredible tectonic shift in power that Blackdragon provides is that now…unlike ever before…independent freelance experts of all backgrounds and skillsets can proactively self-form into their own super-strong “Dream Teams” around upcoming projects they already know they will be a great fit with respect to driving the contact win, possibly long before they know who the final paying client will be.
This means talented Dragons don’t need to live reactively, hoping a bidder client will eventually start the process of seeking them out for a Deal Team. By contrast, it is the Dragons themselves who can take the lead in starting the value process and more effectively monetize their respective value (who they know, what they know and/or what they can do) on their own terms as it relates to winning targeted contracts on behalf of our bidder clients.
It’s amazingly liberating and empowering compared to the old way of going company-to-company and competing with peers trying to get hired full-time or part-time in a support role. Or worse, long waits to receive a call or email for a job prospect that too often are not good fits, don’t pay very well, include painful commutes, or all the above. Powerful Deal Teams that form around upcoming specific contract opportunities essentially become the market threat or opportunity that inspires bidder clients to respond by competing for the Deal Team’s selection as their prime bidder sponsor. Buyer power has shifted to Seller power!
Even more empowering that all that, Deal Teams have autonomy over their projects. That means they are sharing equal voices with their fellow teammates and their clients on every detail pertaining to how best to win. Deal Teams are not there to provide ‘support’ to a client who calls all the shots but, in our case, we are helping our clients as their partners because we are both accountable for the same thing.
Like all other platforms, the best way to get value out of it is to use it. Participate. If you register for eBay, you must buy or sell something to maximize its value. Uber does you no good if you never seek a ride. Everyone’s experience with Blackdragon is different but those who participate the most get the most out of it.
Some helpful hints to maximize your experience:
There are four ways to make money at Blackdragon. It is possible to earn money on a single project via one, a mixture or all these avenues at the same time.
The company generates revenues by charging clients for products and services that freelance experts create and provide. Freelancers are paid most of the fee and Blackdragon takes a uniform cut of each transaction.
New projects begin in the marketplace. Marketplace users, both freelance experts and companies alike, can enter upcoming deals they are familiar with and/or interested in becoming selected for as a Deal Team forms and the hunt for the right prime bidder client begins.
To initiate AaaS or PLaaS products—which later become internal projects to be completed—clients may purchase those services via our website or contact us directly to get started.
To initiate CaaS or WaaS services—which later become internal projects to be completed—clients must take the first step of submitting a ROM request by filling out our brief questionnaire.
Freelancers are compensated based on the value they create.
For projects involving two or more Dragons, the fee pool serves as the basis for compensation but allocation to each member is based on the value of contribution for the undertaking. Time is generally not tracked because it is not what we are trying to incentivize. Ours is entirely a merit-based methodology where anyone who works hard with a good attitude, is responsive, resourceful, reliable, and provides key expertise can earn healthy pay and stay in high demand—regardless of their years of experience, education credentials, professional certifications achieved, or fancy titles once held.
Members keep transparent logs of their contributions to each project within the portal and at the end of the project, everyone who contributed assigns scores to the others. Averaged scores determine each person’s allotment of that fee pool. It’s all transparent—every project member knows how much their fellow members make. The key to earning bigger checks with Blackdragon is to get onto as many good-fitting projects as you can—where your strengths are needed, and once there, give it your very best because you already know that’s how your fellow project members intend to operate.
Similar to how users of other popular platforms provide ratings for one another to indicate how their transaction went, Blackdragon profile ratings are very important. Freelancers and companies alike can receive candid ratings that help other members gain a sense of perspective on what it might be like to work with that person or company on a project. Think of it as an objective vetting source. They also help users and companies know where to make improvements for future transactions.
Keeping the playing field fair for both sides through honest and fair feedback is a crucial part of our on-demand economy system.
Ratings also play important roles in our internal data modeling and analytics.
Blackdragon pays freelancers in many ways, according to their preference. The most common form of payment is Direct Deposit to their checking accounts.
The Federal Industry Has Changed Forever
There used to be two worlds: the virtual internet world and the real, brick-and-mortar world. These two worlds are starting to converge into one.
Our industry is currently at a major crossroads. No longer is business ‘as usual’ an acceptable practice. For some, these are perilous times while for others, this is the moment to capitalize on the dynamic market shifts. In the era of flatlined and shrinking federal budgets, too much supply is chasing too little demand and companies are going bankrupt in the process. Today, the stakes are higher, competition is unforgivably fierce and there is no measurable victory for being the second-best bidder.
Simultaneously, the government aims to award larger shares of contract dollars to small businesses and has made it clear that popular contract vehicles are planned to play bigger roles. Albert Einstein is credited with once saying, “You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.” For the most part, Mr. Einstein’s sage counsel is right. However, we at Blackdragon prefer another of his alleged quotes which states, “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” Blackdragon does not seek to play the game well or even better than it has been played; we seek to change the rules of the game into our favor entirely. We are the game changer.
Blackdragon Brings the On-Demand Economy to the Federal Industry for Winning Contracts
Platform businesses are often successful because they are highly disruptive to their industry. They are disruptive because they have found a better way to do things.
Blackdragon has ‘productized’ the full spectrum including everything it takes for the right companies to win the right federal contracts. Our robust portfolio of on-demand products and services are made-to-order, deliverable-based, fixed price solutions which better align with the industry’s growing appetite for higher quality, greater convenience, increased speed, lower costs and simplicity.
The On-Demand Economy is defined as the economic activity created by technology companies that fulfill consumer demand via the immediate provisioning of goods and services. The On-Demand Economy and the businesses within it are empowering a revolution across their respective industries.
Supply is driven via an efficient, intuitive digital mesh layered on top of existing infrastructure networks. The On-Demand Economy is revolutionizing commercial behavior around the world.
The number of companies, the categories represented, and the growth of the industry is expanding at an accelerating pace. Businesses in this new economy represent the manifestation of years of technological innovation and an evolution in consumer behavior. Fast-moving technology companies competing in this arena have developed new models that are transforming industries which have historically been slow to innovate.
In crowdsourcing, you can outsource the task to not only a small group of people, but perhaps tens of thousands of people. That’s the genuine advantage of the crowdsourcing, bringing in mass intelligence to solve problems of all kinds with affordable price.
The on-demand economy is here to stay and represents one of the quickest and largest growing commerce sectors since the advent of Internet commerce. As consumers look for more convenience, speed, and simplicity or the tasks in their lives, service providers will continue adapting to meet their need. Sooner than we realize, we’ll be able to satisfy nearly every need or desire with just the tap of a button, no matter where we are.
The main attraction to crowdsourcing so far has been its lower price, compared to the price for hiring a dedicated professional either full-time or as an hourly consultant (don’t forget the associated locating, recruiting, negotiating, management and billing headaches that can happen with hourly workers). Also, there is the benefit of a high number of people who are ready to work on a virtual project anytime.
Projects are performed by virtual teams. The dispersed business landscape, as well as the technological progress of today, have made a nurturing environment that has allowed global virtual teams to thrive. Because we are a platform business with an ecosystem of talent spread all over the world, most of our products and services are created remotely. There are some exceptions, but they are a small minority.
There are many reasons why this is a good thing to both the freelance experts and our clients. In fact, we are getting so good at successfully recruiting, forming, launching and operating virtual teams that we have already established our own brand of matured processes, tools and protocols that work even more to our advantage. Just one of many examples is, Blackdragon has developed tailored performance milestones in the proposal development process that enable us to accomplish much more work in a fraction of the time compared to the rest of industry still clinging to their “industry best practices” and championing their certified processes they purchased from some training vendor.
Some key advantages to our virtual teams include:
Cost Savings – We operate with significantly reduced costs compared to conventional consulting organizations that support big salaries, professional fees and large infrastructures. Our overhead costs incurred for associated services like office space, computer, benefits as well as communication between in-house staff and our virtual staff are minimized. There are also efficiency savings made by the reduction of relocation costs and travel costs. Our low operational costs provide savings passed on to the clients.
We Reward Creativity and Performance, Not Hours Logged – Our Deal Teams are incentivized to win on behalf of the client, not clock in hours. This means the only way to get paid as a freelance member of a team is to take initiative and pitch in where help is needed, be innovative and quick-witted, be fast, work well with others, and ultimately be accountable for achieving tangible results under pressure.
Cherry Picking of Resources –Our virtual teams laser in on each project by carefully identifying the requirements with precision. This means they can target the recruiting of exactly the type, experience level and mix of professional credentials for the ‘just right’ talent much more effectively. This also allows us to strengthen the flavoring of each team’s composition by hiring geographically located resident top experts where the future work of the Government contract will be performed.
Leverage Global Talent – Allows us to tap into hard-to-reach (renowned) experts in their fields, especially if they have other professional priorities and we only need a very small but important piece of information or item from them. This has the benefit of enhanced knowledge sharing as well as greater innovation. That is mainly because the human capital aligned with other organizations share with us their keen understanding of local and even global markets as well as their perspectives on relevant best business practices.
Increased Productivity – Teams have higher focus on the tasks at hand. Our teams stay flat, very agile and highly functional—they work hard to earn and keep one another’s trust. Operating remotely allows them to bypass typical organizational structures and leadership bottlenecks and thus avoid unnecessary bureaucracy that considerably drags down the process of decision making. Business hours for our global virtual teams frequently increases with the more flexibility they are provided.
Speed, Speed, Speed – Because teams are incentivized to win instead of clock in billable hours (recall we are fixed price), project teams self-form, self-manage and self-adjust to optimize their potential for success. This allows some teams to “swarm” or “blitzkrieg” a project with large amounts of talent and resources over very short time periods giving them a unique advantage.
Better Work-Life Balance – Our virtual teams enjoy the benefit of flexibility to strike the elusive and very delicate balance between their personal lives and work lives. Members of our global virtual teams tend to have lower stress levels and maintain healthier lifestyles. And it shows in the quality of their work!
Penetrate Unreached Talent Pools – We are reaching loads of talented specialists located outside traditional employment markets and conventional business channels, those who are less mobile or are hesitant to relocate but can provide extraordinary value to the success of a project.
Higher Retention and Greater Job Satisfaction – Our virtual team members prefer working remotely so much that a number of them have quit their full-time employment in conventional jobs with promises to never return. They see virtual projects as the only way forward for the remainder of their careers.
Scalability – Unlike traditional employment of full-time staff personnel and hourly paid workers that cannot scale in time, costs or quality of output, Blackdragon scales in all these areas with ease. Contrarily, we are opposite from those limitations because the more transactions generated within our platform marketplace, the stronger and more efficient it becomes for all users. Our clients enjoy what others cannot provide: better, faster and cheaper approaches to winning.
AaaS, PLaaS and CaaS are considered product lines that yield custom, on-demand deliverables to clients. While each standardized product is tailored exclusively for a client and the sensitive information within is safeguarded between the parties, Blackdragon is not prevented from engaging an unlimited number of clients seeking any of these products, in any quantity or arrangement.
Exception to above:
Once a WaaS Deal Team project for a specific opportunity is locked in and initiated, all CaaS products created thereafter will be excluded on for that prime bidder client. No other CaaS products will be sold to additional clients for that deal while that WaaS Deal Team project is underway and in good standing. Lock in early if this is a priority for you.
With respect to our flagship service offering, the WaaS Deal Team, Blackdragon only enters exclusive relationships with prime bidder clients. One prime client per opportunity.
Exception to above:
For bid opportunities that include multiple bidder tracks to be awarded, such as HUBzone, SDVOSB and Unrestricted, then Blackdragon may have exclusive relationships with up to one prime bidder client per track
In the event the target opportunity is a GWAC or similar solicitation where there is no advantage to teaming or sharing proprietary information with subcontractors because each bidder competes on an individual “maximizing points system,” then Blackdragon is free to engage an unlimited amount of prime bidder clients.
There are many benefits to the on-demand economy, chiefly the real-time fulfillment of goods and services, and the ease and convenience of finding a skilled service provider to meet one’s needs.
Businesses prefer the on-demand economy for a number of reasons. First, it allows them to satisfy the needs of consumers in a cost-effective, scalable, and efficient way. It also allows them to offer services and realize astounding levels of profit, without all the overhead costs associated with traditional labor models. There is no staff to hire, train, or provide benefits for, and since work is often service-based, there are no costs associated with materials. The service provider assumes the direct day-to-day operating costs of the business, while the company maintains the technological network.
No. The Blackdragon platform serves as a matchmaking marketplace combining powerful aspects of the Gig Economy, big data plus predictive analytics, business automation, and connectivity that completely rethinks the value chain. However, we understand that matchmaking alone, isn’t everything. Our success also depends on identifying and mitigating risks for our buyers (bidder clients) and sellers (freelance experts); we are matchmakers and risks minimizer.
Our crowdsourcing platform works like a force multiplier for Producers and Consumers. It powerfully matches tailored arrangements of assets maximize PWin for each opportunity, accelerates project to launch rates, boosts competitive advantages, strengthens project control, streamlines processes, minimizes headaches, and reduces risks while enhancing management clients’ return on investment (ROI).
For a platform company like ours, the quantity and value of products or services bought and sold are directly proportional to the amount of risks mitigated which is something we provide to our clients and freelancers differently than all conventional firms in the business of helping bidders win federal contracts. Risk is really uncertainty about outcomes. For a platform seller, that can mean uncertainty about future earnings or the resources needed to create those earnings. For a platform buyer, it can mean uncertainty about the quality of the product or service being offered or even about the reliability of its delivery. We believe our sustainable growth can be achieved only if risks are shared in ways that all parties to a transaction feel are safe and equitable.
Benefits from working with Blackdragon include improving the inefficient process for discovering, qualifying, strategizing, bidding and winning targeted contracts while improving pursuing, overall effectiveness of winning more contracts within existing resources. No more hassles with outdated, mismatched, existing poorly timed, imbalanced or resource-starved approaches to winning that don’t scale or fail to consistently yield predictable outcomes under budget.
With our portfolio of on-demand, fixed price, deliverable-based solutions that are guaranteed to meet or exceed our quality standards assures our clients they know what they are getting before they place the order. In fact, Blackdragon clients may be able to create 2x, or more, bids per year within existing resources.
Dragons are freelance subject matter experts representing the best trained, most experienced, richly networked, immensely talented, and most creative minds in the industry. They proactively monetize their underutilized assets (who they know, what they know and what they can do) within our digital marketplace by getting matched to best-fitting projects, even projects far outside individual awareness. Dragons know in advance what they are signing up to provide, the timelines expected for each completion and command control over their earnable compensation based on their contribution value plus they have greater confidence a client will pay them by way of the bigger corporate enterprise, Blackdragon, in the middle of the transaction.
The on-demand economy has changed the way we think, buy and spend. While more industries get disrupted, people spend less on intermediaries, but more on services. Spending behavior is increasingly dependent on the immediate gratification of people’s needs. In the spirit of better, faster and cheaper, Blackdragon is the first to have productized the full spectrum of everything needed to identify, qualify, pursue and ultimately win targeted federal contracts.
The on-demand economy is defined as the economic activity created by digital marketplaces and technology companies to fulfill consumer demand via immediate access to goods and services. With consumer behavior changing to prioritize fast, simple, and efficient experiences, the on-demand economy is growing at an unparalleled pace. Convenience, speed, and simplicity are at the top of the priority list for consumers looking to have their needs met. The ease of filling spare time and picking and choosing one’s hours is also appealing to those with skills to meet growing consumer demand.
Blackdragon clients can better optimize their precious bid and proposal (B&P) resources for each opportunity by flexibly investing in the right combination on-demand services that best matches their budget and of pursuit ambitions. These products and services are robust yet universal enough to perfectly complement existing client endeavors maximize PWin or they can be mixed and matched as a to complete outsourced alternative.
Blackdragon’s portfolio of services are made available predominantly via fixed price with defined terms and delivery dates which remove objectively uncertainty around consumers what and value when is that being exchange exchanged can be between producers and consumers and when that exchange can be expected.