The Human Cloud Community

Welcome to the only community built exclusively for the entrepreneurs building the flexible workforce. Our members are founders, CEOs, and platform executives building the companies that power the flexible workforce.

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About the community

Making flexible work the new talent standard.

Why we exist

For too long we've been building in silos. Our own industries, our own regions, our own corners of the world — building good businesses, but hitting the same ceilings in growth.

Who runs it

Human Cloud, the industry's connective tissue. Since 2018 we've educated, evangelized, and grown flexible talent into an industry of its own — so a rising tide lifts all solutions in our space.

What we do

For the community, we curate the right people, conversations, and data — so we can all champion this industry together.

Upcoming Events

Monthly Call

HC Community Call - October 2026

Thursday, October 29 · 12:00 PM EDT

Google Meet

Where flexible talent fits amidst the broader talent ecosystem. Flexible talent has spent a decade promising to disrupt staffing, professional services, and the talent world. Yet...it has not. This call is about where it actually fits, why it hasn't "crossed the chasm", and how solutions can learn how to win in it without losing what makes you special.

Topics

Flexible TalentStaffingProfessional ServicesIndustry DisruptionGo To MarketEnterprise SalesSearch Trends

Experts

Ian DavidsonFounder, Signol Labs

Charlie McGinnPresident, Recruiting Business Divisions, Safeguard Global

Matthew MottolaCEO, Human Cloud

Tony BuffumCo-Founder & CSO, Human Cloud

Agenda

•SIA & PEI Deep Dive: What we learned from Staffing Industry Analysts' annual CollabX and Private Equity International

•The science of candidate profiles that convert: Ian Davidson on what actually moves a hiring decision when someone reads a profile, which signals get trusted, and how solutions build profiles that convert.

•How EORs partner with sourcing solutions: Charlie McGinn on where an EOR fits next to a sourcing solution, and how staffing is evolving into specialized sourcing.

•Where flexible talent fits: Staffing, professional services, and the broader talent world already have the buyers, the budgets, and the procurement paths. Where does flexible talent sit inside that map, and where is it competing for the same dollar?

•What disruption has looked like: Who has actually disrupted this industry, how they did it, and why flexible talent has not disrupted it yet.

•Copy what works, keep what is special: How flexible talent solutions borrow what works in the existing world, like contracts, compliance, account management, and procurement fit, while keeping what makes them different.

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Industry News

The stories moving the flexible-workforce market — curated Monday, Wednesday & Friday.

Wednesday, October 21

Randstad Q3 Revenue Rises 3.9% Amid Growth in North America
Randstad's Q3 revenue grew 3.9%, with North America leading, signaling staffing demand is recovering in key markets.
Staffing Industry Analysts · Oct 21
ManpowerGroup Names Becky Frankiewicz CEO as Jonas Prising Moves to Chair
ManpowerGroup named Becky Frankiewicz as CEO, with Prising becoming executive chair, a leadership change at a top-three staffing firm.
Outsource Accelerator · Oct 19

Industry Insights

Everything happening in the flexible-workforce industry — acquisitions, funding, stats, and terminology. Curated by Human Cloud.

Community-curated events across HR, Tech, Workforce & more.

Event	Dates	Location	Category
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026	Oct 27, 2026 – Oct 29, 2026	San Francisco, CA, US	tech
EOR Global Summit	Nov 3, 2026 – Nov 4, 2026	London, UK	eor
SaaS North	Nov 4, 2026 – Nov 5, 2026	Ottawa, Canada	startups
SIA Healthcare Staffing Summit	Nov 5, 2026 – Nov 7, 2026	Las Vegas, NV, US	workforce
Web Summit Lisbon	Nov 9, 2026 – Nov 12, 2026	Lisbon, Portugal	startups
Future of Work Europe	Nov 18, 2026 – Nov 19, 2026	London, UK	workforce

6 upcoming industry events tracked by the community

Industry Benchmarks

Preliminary

2026 Flexible Workforce Study · in partnership with Independently

Take the solution survey

Key findings

64%

of companies expect to use more independent talent over the next three years

Company survey · Q11

37%

of companies had a contractor compliance issue in the past three years

Company survey · Q34

58%

of solutions are willing to supply talent through a third-party RFP platform

Solution survey · Q14

What buyers value vs what solutions think they value

Share ranking each factor in their top five

Companies Solutions

Key questions

CompaniesCompany survey · Q11

Usage of independent talent, three years out

77% increase · 12% decrease

Increase significantly

46%

Increase moderately

31%

Remain approximately the same

17%

Decrease

12%

Unsure

SolutionsSolution survey · Q30

Enterprise demand, three years out

77% increase · 12% decrease

Increase significantly

46%

Increase moderately

31%

Remain the same

17%

Decrease

12%

Unsure

CompaniesCompany survey · Q46

Evaluating a new solution in the next 12 months

77% likely · 21% unlikely

Very likely

46%

Likely

31%

Neutral

17%

Unlikely

12%

Very unlikely

Unsure

SolutionsSolution survey · Q14

Willing to supply talent through a third-party RFP platform

Yes

46%

Possibly, depending on the opportunity

31%

17%

Unsure

12%

All questions

Pick a question on the left to see its chart.

SolutionsOrganization Profile · Solution survey · Q1Previous questionNext question

Which best describes your organization?

Freelancer Platform / Marketplace

46%

Talent Marketplace

31%

Agent of Record (AOR)

17%

Employer of Record (EOR)

12%

Compliance Provider

MSP

Workforce Technology Provider

Staffing Company

Advisory / Consulting

Other

How do you compare to the companies and solutions in the study?

Every question in both surveys, cut by company size, industry and solution type, updated as responses land.

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Respondents receive the full report before it publishes.

Co-authored by Human Cloud and Independently. About the study

Take the solution survey

Market Map

The Human Cloud Market Map · Q4 2026. The top 5% of every segment, updated quarterly.

Download the map

Board-ready PNG at print resolution, no watermark. Brief your team with it or drop it straight into the business case.

Q4 2026 edition

Download the Market Map

Shape the next edition

A vendor we missed, a wrong placement, a pricing model that has moved. Tell the team that builds the map.

The whole industry. One page.

Every quarterly edition of the Market Map, ready to download, plus a direct line to the team that builds it.

Get access

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Resources

Videos, presentations, and more.

Videos

Members only

Behind The Talent Sam Acquisition (Part 2)

Michael Bassin on Simera's CEO preferring to acquire people rather than hire them, and the vision that made the deal make sense: proprietary verified candidate data and AI-guided candidate profiles.

Shared by Michael Bassin

Members only

Behind The Talent Sam Acquisition (Part 1)

Michael Bassin on why Simera acquired Talent Sam: the South Africa foothold, the headcount, the post-hire HR function they had not built, and why the deal was structured around bringing the founding team onto the executive bench.

Shared by Michael Bassin

Members only

The State of AI — Cory Hymel

Cory Hymel educates the community on the current state of AI.

Shared by Cory Hymel

Members only

How to Win Business From LLMs

Martin Plejdrup (Worksome) presents on how to position your business to be recommended by AI models like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini.

Shared by Martin Plejdrup

Members only

How To Win & Grow Through RFPs

Full webinar recording: Matthew Mottola on making RFPs a growth driver — breaking the $10M ceiling, the buyer on-ramp, the 5-day process, and how to win.

Shared by Human Cloud

Presentations

Members only

Stop Trying to Swap Talent for Tokens (Tony Buffum, PEI)

Tony Buffum's Private Equity International keynote: why AI workforce cuts headlines but not value, and what redesigned work looks like instead. Sourced slide deck.

Shared by Tony Buffum

Members only

September, HC Community Call

Executive briefing on the 2026 Annual Flexible Workforce Study: preliminary results from companies and workforce solutions, fielded Aug 31 to Sep 21 with Independently. Presented by Matthew Mottola with analysis from Tony Buffum and Jeff Nugent.

Members only

Executive Briefing: How Leading Organizations Are Rethinking Flexible Talent

Procurement executive briefing on how leading organizations are building flexible talent into their workforce strategy.

Shared by Human Cloud

Members only

August, HC Community Call

The summer blowout deck: platform stats and what buyers are budgeting for this fall (Matthew Mottola, Tony Buffum), fall event planning with Ray Culver, two-click-to-talent programs with John Healy, and The Bench on rebuilding their platform with AI.

Members only

July, HC Community Call

HC Community Call deck: why solutions should go through the front door rather than around it. Glen Hodgson on the EU Platform Work Directive and the December 2, 2026 deadline, and Jeff Nugent on compliance as a go-to-market advantage.

Members only

July 1, State of the Freelance Industry

Breaks down the state of the freelance industry, looking at the lessons the freelance world has for our now flexible talent world

Shared by Human Cloud

Members only

What is Flexible Talent

Introduction to flexible talent — what it is and why it matters.

Shared by Human Cloud

Members only

What AI Will Do To Talent

Executive briefing on AI's impact on the future of talent and workforce transformation.

Shared by Human Cloud

Members only

The Business Case For Flexible Talent

For Work Summit presentation on building the business case for flexible talent models.

Shared by Human Cloud

Members only

How to Win Business From LLMs — Slides

Presentation slides on AI visibility and generative engine optimization.

Shared by Martin Plejdrup

Members only

How to Make RFPs a Growth Driver

Matthew Mottola on turning RFPs into a growth engine: breaking the $10M ceiling, why RFPs are the buyer's on-ramp, the 5-day path from need to partner, and what makes a winning response.

Shared by Human Cloud

This is a closed-door community.

Membership is reserved for the top-performing solutions on the platform — the ones setting the standard. No public links. No open invites. If you're here, you earned it.

Get Accepted

Top 20% of solutions on the platform are invited to join. You can't buy your way in.

Calendar Invite Appears

Monthly calls land in your calendar automatically. No forums, no public meeting links.

Show Up

That's it. No busy work. Just show up and connect with your peers.

Who's leading this.

Practitioners, not moderators.

Tony Buffum

Co-Founder, Human Cloud

Former public company CHRO. Led workforce transformations across Stanley Black & Decker, Koch Industries, and 50+ Fortune 500 companies. Designed and scaled enterprise flexible talent programs before the category existed.

Book time with Tony

Matthew Mottola

Co-Founder & CEO, Human Cloud

Led Microsoft's signature flexible workforce product and helped Microsoft scale their flexible workforce to $50m+ in annual flexible talent spend. Built Human Cloud to make that playbook accessible to every company.

Book time with Matthew

Plus an expert network of

Leaders from every leading talent solution in the industry.