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The freelancing industry and part-time job opportunities not only help job seekers find comfortable and adaptable jobs, but also help company and startup founders leverage talent to build their ventures. One such company/startup is Indie, founded by Jon Scagos, which aims to revolutionise the way castings are done for commercials, television shows, film, and voice acting.
Jon Scagos is an American entrepreneur, a former PwC consultant, and now the founder of Indie. Jon frequently sources flexible and skilled talent, relying on professional freelancers for marketing, front-end development, community engagement, and design. Hiring freelancers enables Jon to access top Georgian talent in a way that is flexible to the needs of the business and aligned with his available budget.
But before we get to the interview part, we would like to tell you more about the ways to partner with the right freelancers.
♟️Here are the strategies you can also use for sourcing flexible & skilled talent:
- Explore LinkedIn Recruiter - leverage the full capabilities of LinkedIn to identify the best candidates
- Use various search engines - Conduct advanced Boolean searches on LinkedIn, Google, and job boards to uncover candidates not easily found through standard searches.
- Create personalized outreach - Develop tailored messaging strategies based on candidate profiles, roles, and industry trends to increase response rates
- Lean on referrals - Collaborate with internal teams to identify potential referral candidates
👥Building and Managing Remote Teams
Build remote teams on the premise of trust. This model is unique, but it results in unmatched performance. Moreover, freelancers are well-suited for remote arrangements. They’ve often developed the discipline needed for managing their time and focusing on the high-quality outcomes, which is essential for their next projects.
👩💻The role of freelancers
Recently, freelancers have been a central part of the startup evolution, and their work has been fundamental, not just operational. Many founders use freelancers for various other reasons:
- Cost-efficiency - hiring freelancers, especially during early stage development, is more affordable than hiring long-term employees
- Speed - Freelancers are often faster to onboard and deliver than full-timers
- Global reach - Access to top-tier talent outside your geography
- Diverse perspectives - Freelancers bring exposure from diverse industries and clients, offering innovative insights and new ideas
You can find similar talent on HERIO App, which connects freelancers and companies/startups to connect.
🇬🇪Why Georgia?
Now before starting the interview, let’s specify why Jon landed to Georgia. One unique aspect Jon has observed is Georgians’ pragmatic approach. His own American upbringing tends towards over-optimism, but Georgian collaborators help balance that with a rational and clear approach to what’s realistic. This kind of balance is extremely valuable in decision-making.
Furthermore, the Georgian startup ecosystem, supported by organizations such as GITA, is growing steadily. This opportunity offers founders a cost-effective base to experiment, and that factor has been crucial in Indie’s development. That’s why we wanted to Hear the perspective of Jon.
Q&A with Jon
Tell us a bit about your background
I am from the US (Rhode Island) but moved abroad to live and work abroad fifteen years ago, starting with Dubai at PwC, and then later ended up in Tbilisi where I have been based for the past 5 years and started my own management consulting company called ‘Syndikati’, as well as a start-up called ‘Indie’ which is an app for actors to find auditions, for which I am grateful to have received a GITA grant.
What made you confident enough to leave PwC and start your own journey as the founder?
I had a painfully slow exit, I had always wanted to do my own thing and was always telling everyone I was going to… but somehow after 6 years of that I still hadn’t. Then, I told my PwC coworkers and even my boss at the time I was going to quit and start my own thing, but still a year afterwards I hadn’t submitted my resignation, at which point they were like… “so you’re still here?” That mild shame and having scratched together about a year’s worth of savings to live on finally gave me the ‘confidence’ - if you can even call it that (more like begrudging submission) - to hand in my resignation.
What is Indie? Tell us a bit about its founding
Indie is a casting app for actors to find auditions in commercials, TV shows, voice acting, and films, and for casting directors to find talents they haven’t worked with before. The idea came from my own experience in directing my first short film (which I shot in Georgia), and how I struggled to find actors. We’ve been developing Indie slowly over the past few years in Georgia, funded by income from my consulting company as well as GITA grant support, and recently re-launched an improved version last month.
How are you utilizing freelance talents to grow Indie?
I have used talented freelancers for marketing, front end development, back end development, community management, and design. Since Indie is an app with a long development cycle before having any chance at revenue, I have had to watch every lari spent, and freelance talents allow me to access top Georgian talents in a manner flexible to the needs of the business, as well as my own available cash flows.
What do you look for when hiring freelance or part-time team members?
Recently I’ve been thinking about how I most want to hire people who care. By that I mean that I want them to care about improving their craft, or even their own sense of pride with the work they submit, and most ideally about the type of customers the company serves (actors and filmmakers in our case) and wanting to serve them above and beyond (FYI I’m obsessed with a book called ‘Unreasonable Hospitality’ on this subject--highly recommended). It’s strangely rare for people to care, and sometimes it seems en vogue to not care and be pessimistic, but when someone cares, their eyes light up with curiosity, and it's contagious for me and the team around them. Most of the time, the work in a start-up changes so drastically that I prefer to hire someone who cares because then they will naturally be driven to learn what is necessary to evolve as the start-up does.
Can you share an example of a freelancer who made a significant impact on one of your projects?
I have to give a shout out to Nika Akhalia. He is a rare talent and the best financial modeller I’ve come across in fifteen years in management consulting (across US, Dubai, Georgia, etc). Nika has jumped into consulting projects when I’ve had impossible deadlines and built 30+ tab complex financial models that wow clients’ own financial teams. He also is able to stay remarkably calm under pressure (even when I am not), and cares so deeply about getting the work done to his own high standards that I find myself motivated and even others on the team have told me that being around him elevates themselves as well.
What makes working with Georgian talent unique or valuable in your experience?
I have said to many people for a long-time that Georgian talent is underappreciated. And for a start-up that creates an arbitrage opportunity that is oftentimes critical for survival. Besides that and technical skills, I find that Georgians often have a pragmatism that I sometimes lack with my overly optimistic American upbringing (sometimes nearing the line of delusion), and taking into account their views can be helpful in making more balanced business decisions.
How do you build trust and alignment with remote teams?
This ultimately comes down to hiring the right person. I tell everyone I hire that I do not care about when or where you get work done from, I only care about the outcome. That is easy to say but not many people are able to balance the ability to deliver without having the structure provided. I myself do not like overly structured workplaces which is why I do not do it myself. Therefore, I find the best approach is to start from a place of trust on my part when hiring someone remotely, if the individual is unable to work in this style then it’s usually best to respectfully part ways.
That said, I do find freelancers are able to handle remote arrangements better than full time employees, especially since they have to be more thoughtful about how they spend their time, and are more focused on the quality of their outcome since that is what will secure them the next jobs.
What’s your advice to startup founders who want to stay lean but grow fast?
“Do things that don’t scale” pops into my mind often. It’s a quote from Paul Graham, the founder of Y combinator. It’s counterintuitive because as a founder I feel the pressure to think as huge as possible, but when I do that I risk feeling too self-important to be involved in the small, yet critical tasks that would lead to learnings allowing me to apply and grow faster and with less wasted efforts.
For example, I am currently personally responding to every single customer message I get for Indie. Sometimes it’s a well-known Georgian actress who wants to come in for headshots and join the app, other times it’s a grandmother writing to me lovingly about how her grandson loves to paint which has nothing to do with Indie, but hey, it doesn’t hurt to tap that like button. But more importantly, I am on the front line of my business, I can ‘feel’ what is resonating with people and what is not, in terms of social media posts, or what we are offering. Of course, I won’t always be able to do this, but the instinct I develop from it will inform better business decisions later when working at scale.
What’s next for Indie? How do freelancers fit into that vision?
As of last month, Indie transitioned from being in development, to being in front of real actors and filmmakers. This means our team has grown from only freelance developers to more customer focused roles like marketing and photographers (for headshots we offer actors). I plan to continue with my usual way of working with freelancers, starting with a trial period and limited task, and if it goes well from both of our perspectives then exploring more permanent roles with them, or just continuing the freelance arrangement as our mutual shorthand and trust grows.
Jon’s approach to building Indie and Syndikati offers a valuable model for modern founders. By relying on trusted freelancers, embracing outcome-driven remote work, and leveraging Georgia’s underappreciated talent pool, he’s created a flexible framework that allows for experimentation and successful development and growth.
If you're a freelancer who cares deeply about your work,, thrives in remote environments, and wants to contribute to mission-driven projects - Jon is always open to connecting with new talent.
If you’re a founder looking to scale smart and sustainably, consider building your team the way Jon has: start small, stay close to your users, and don’t overlook the power of freelance collaborators who bring flexibility, speed, and fresh perspectives.
Before the end, let’s mention that Herio is an app that helps employers/businesses and talents/job seekers connect with each other. Whether you're looking for a short-term job or need someone to get the job done, Herio makes it quick, easy and safe. You can find work or workers both locally and/or remotely.
Download the Herio App and start exploring wide range of opportunities 👇
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