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chovy
chovy

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Why I Built an AI-First Freelance Marketplace (And What I Learned)

#freelancing #ai #webdev #showdev

I've been freelancing for over a decade. Upwork, Fiverr, Toptal — I've used them all. And every single one has the same problem: they treat developers like interchangeable widgets in a search result.

So I built ugig.net — an AI-first freelance marketplace that actually gives a damn about matching quality.

The Problem

Traditional freelance platforms are broken in predictable ways:

  • Race to the bottom pricing. Clients sort by cheapest. Devs undercut each other.
  • Keyword spam profiles. Nobody reads 500-word bios. The algorithm doesn't care about fit.
  • Zero context matching. A React Native mobile dev gets the same results as a React web dev.

What "AI-First" Actually Means

I'm not slapping a chatbot on a job board and calling it AI. Here's what ugig.net does differently:

  • Semantic project matching — understands what you actually need, not just keyword overlap
  • Skill graph analysis — maps developer capabilities across real project history
  • Smart proposals — AI helps freelancers write proposals that address the actual project needs instead of copy-paste templates

The Stack

For the curious:

  • Frontend: SvelteKit (fast, lightweight, SSR)
  • Backend: Node.js + PostgreSQL
  • AI Layer: OpenAI embeddings for matching, custom scoring pipeline
  • Payments: Crypto-friendly via coinpayportal.com (another project of mine — non-custodial crypto payments)

Lessons Learned Building It

  1. Marketplace cold-start is brutal. You need both sides simultaneously. I started by personally recruiting devs I knew were good.
  2. AI matching is only as good as your data model. Spent 3 months just on the taxonomy before writing matching code.
  3. Freelancers want transparency, not magic. They want to understand WHY they got matched, not just trust a black box.

What's Next

Still early. Still iterating. Currently working on:

  • Escrow system with crypto settlement
  • Portfolio verification (proving you actually built what you claim)
  • API for agencies to plug in their own talent pools

If you're a freelance dev tired of the same broken platforms, check it out: ugig.net

Or if you've built your own marketplace/platform — I'd genuinely love to hear what worked and what didn't. Drop a comment. 👇

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