uTest
Company: uTest, Southborough, MA
Company Description: Since 2008, uTest has leveraged its crowdsourced community of 35,000+ professional testers in 170 countries worldwide to help industry leaders like Microsoft, AOL, Intuit and Groupon successfully launch their web, mobile and desktop applications. Thousands of companies—from early-stage startups to global enterprises—rely on uTest for functional, usability, security and load testing services.
Nomination Category: Company / Organization Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Most Innovative Company of the Year - Up to 100 Employees
Nomination Title: uTest
Tell the story about what this nominated company achieved since January 1 2010 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:
“Will crowdsourcing and atomized employment be the full-time job of the 21st
Century?” --Maureen Farrell, Forbes Magazine (February 25, 2011)
In the midst of this challenging economic climate, a brand new business model
is gaining momentum and providing fresh opportunities of supplemental income
for people around the world. It’s called crowdsourcing.
At the forefront of the movement is uTest, based in Southborough,
Massachusetts. In 2008, uTest revolutionized software testing by pioneering
the first global marketplace for web, mobile and desktop application testing.
The company introduced crowdsourced software testing, an innovative alternative
for customers to test their applications through a community of professional
testers from around the globe.
In less than three years, uTest has succeeded in assembling a network of nearly
40,000 professional software testers across 175 countries. These testers work
as freelancers, providing on-demand testing services from remote locations for
uTest customers.
Many testers make hundreds and thousands of dollars per month working on uTest
projects; while others have found it so lucrative, that they have been able to
quit their day jobs entirely.
** Growing the Business **
In the past year, uTest has:
- Had 3x revenue growth YoY…for the second year in a row
- Raised $13M in c-round financing
- Expanded to 55 full-time employees, and opened an office in Silicon
Valley
- Expanded our worldwide territory to make our testing services available
in 175 countries (13 more than 2010)
- Been featured in Forbes, Business Week, TechCrunch, Venture Beat, Read
Write Web and others http://www.utest.com/press
- Won and retained hundreds of customers such as Google, Facebook,
Microsoft, AOL, Virgin Airlines, Aetna, Walmart & BBC
** Innovation in Crowdsourcing Community Management **
In such a nascent industry like crowdsourcing, innovation isn’t a “nice to
have,” but absolutely critical to problem-solve the inherent challenges of this
new frontier. Perhaps the most recurring, obvious and critical question is,
how can we scale to manage a globally distributed network of 40,000 testers?
Incentivizing our Community to Engage and Excel
Over the last year, uTest added a new feature to our online testing platform
called Public Tester Profiles & Badges. Essentially, testers earn ratings of
bronze, silver or gold based on the quality of work they accomplishment. Since
these badges are publicly displayed within the community on the tester’s
profile, the program has proven highly successful in motivating uTesters to
become more involved, accept more projects and deliver exemplary work.
** Innovation in our Service Offering **
Launch of uTest Express for Mobile
uTest Express is a service aimed at giving startups affordable access to the
company’s community of professional testers. Prior to its availability,
uTest’s service was only affordable for mid- to large-size companies like
Microsoft. uTest Express lowered the bar, making reliable, credible, and
professional mobile app testing attainable and easy-to-use for small companies
and independent developers—the demographic which builds the majority of mobile
apps available today.
Partnership with Mozilla
In April, uTest announced a partnership with Mozilla to jointly develop an
inexpensive and easy-to-use test case management system that helps companies
create, manage and execute their test case libraries. It’s innovative because,
the test case management space is highly fragmented, and robust tools have been
historically available only to larger enterprises with big QA budgets.
List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:
SUPPORTING LINKS
uTest Raises $13M in c-round financing http://www.utest.com/press/utest-closes-13-million-series-c-funding
Launch of uTest Express for Mobile
http://www.utest.com/press/utest-express-launches-ctia-wireless-making-mobile-app-testing-accessible-early-stage-startups
uTest/Mozilla Partnership
http://www.utest.com/press/utest-announces-partnership-mozilla-build-test-case-management-system
TOP NEWS ARTICLES
Forbes: “Crowdsourcing and Atomized Employment” (February 25, 2011)
http://blogs.forbes.com/maureenfarrell/2011/02/25/crowdsourcing-and-atomized-employment/
BusinessWeek: “Meet the Microworkers: A new breed of online worker is paid by
the task” (February 1, 2011)
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2011/tc20110131_021287.htm?chan=technology_special+report+--
+ceo+guide+to+the+micro+workforce_special+report%3A+ceo+guide+to+the+micro+workforce
SF Examiner: “The Future of Cloud-Based Workforce: Models of Crowdsourcing”
http://www.examiner.com/green-careers-in-san-francisco/the-future-of-cloud-based-workforce-models-of-
crowdsourcing?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
CIO: “Human Cloud' of Skilled Workers Growing in Importance”
http://www.cio.com/article/645963/_Human_Cloud_of_Skilled_Workers_Growing_in_Importance?taxonomyId=3172
Internet Retailer: “Fraud protection is the top concern for online shoppers,
says new study”
http://www.internetretailer.com/2010/12/09/fraud-protection-top-concern-online-shoppers
Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader of this nominated company:
Doron Reuveni co-founded uTest in 2007 and, since its inception, the company
has provided software testing and usability services to companies from around
the globe. Doron is a recognized expert in web-based technologies, software QA
methodologies, as well as start-up formation and entrepreneurship.
Prior to uTest, Doron was the SVP of Technology at Enigma, delivering large
scale software implementations, while effectively managing a global team of
professional software engineers, QA testers and project managers. Doron has
more than 20 years of experience in software and solution development,
delivering software solutions to Fortune 500 companies as well as many
innovative startups.