The adage “Be your Boss” motivates many people to leap from a fixed salary job to starting a business. The ‘Great Resignation’ is altering the workforce dynamic — maybe for good. Millions of Americans have reevaluated their work life during the pandemic. A record 4.3 million quit their jobs in August alone, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. One-third of working Americans who quit their job started their own business.
As a result, more and more people are willing to come out of their comfort zones to begin their entrepreneurial journey. Despite accounting for 36% of the US workforce, self-employed individuals continue to be the most underrepresented group of entrepreneurs. Managing business setup, taxes and accounting is one of the most time-consuming parts for business-of-one. Traditionally taxes and accounting have been led by old school companies that are designed for anyone and don’t specifically meet the needs of entrepreneurs. There exists a demand to redefine the way self-employed people work by increasing the number of financially successful businesses-of-one. This is where Collective comes into play. It has been specifically designed for businesses-of-one and is innovating the way entrepreneurs operate their businesses. Collective provides the tools and team for solopreneurs to master their finances, optimize their taxes and balance their bookkeeping. Collective’s services are approachable, supportive, and straightforward. It is the first all-in-one, subscription based, back-office platform, designed specifically for self-employed people.
Community & Camaraderie: Driving the Change
Galvea Kelly, Chief Marketing Officer at Collective, met her boss, Hooman Radfar several years ago through mutual friends. Having moved to San Francisco from New York, they became friends as fellow transplants to the west coast. Hooman was a serial Silicon Valley entrepreneur and venture capitalist, and despite working in very different industries, they found common ground in being immigrants with similar values. As she shares, “I grew up in a small village on the West coast of Ireland where the community is a central part of our culture. Being successful in Ireland is all about how much time you invest in your family and community. Professional accomplishments come second. That definition of success has never wavered for me. The values instilled in me by my parents and community have stayed with me throughout my career and personal life.”
Hooman was launching a business with fellow immigrants, Ugur Kaner and Bugra Akcay, which became the perfect opportunity for Galvea to work with them. The Co-Founders entrusted her to lead the development of the brand and go-to-market strategy. Leaning into the community is one of the key facets of immigrant life, it is what inspired them to create a company to serve the most underserved group of entrepreneurs in the US: solopreneurs. As Galvea shares, “As if being an immigrant in America wasn’t hard enough, almost a quarter of all self-employed people are immigrants. So why should it be harder than it already is?”
Galvea has lived in Paris, Bucharest, New York previously while leading global marketing teams. She says, “I started my career in banking before pivoting to marketing. I’ve been incredibly fortunate in my career to have led digital marketing teams for some of the most iconic brands in the world – Revlon, L’Oreal, and Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), as well as having my own digital marketing agency, Brand Nua. The common thread woven through all these powerhouse brands is that community is a central part of their brand DNA and company values.” Galvea’s strong commitment to the community both in her personal and professional life, helped her to expand. She worked with her network in ways that exponentially propelled her forward in life, in fact, the community was the reason which ultimately compelled her to work at Collective. Collective was launched in September 2020 and is headquartered in San Francisco with a team of 80 located throughout the US and internationally. It is the first all-in-one, subscription-based, back-office platform, designed to give self-employed people the technology, team, and community they need to focus on their passion, not their paperwork. A platform the likes of which hasn’t existed until now. An innovative start-up with a vision to create an all-in-one financial platform for self-employed people, which handles company formation, taxes, accounting, and much more. Collective has brought a distinct opportunity which has helped bring a sense of community and camaraderie to this whole new segment of the workforce, the self-employed. These factors have enabled the company to grow over 8x since its inception, and have a waitlist of over 40,000+people. In May 2021 Collective announced $20 million in Series A funding with the backing and support of prominent investors such as General Catalyst, QED, Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary to name just a few.
