tispr: Connecting Community Talent and Building a Movement

A personal trainer finishes up a presentation on fitness and nutrition to a small audience of techies and non-techies alike. He opens up the newly converted warehouse for the questions and answers portion during which a woman in the audience asks, “Is pork okay to eat? I have heard mixed scientific studies some saying it’s the lowest of meat.” The trainer inquires about her background and approximates based on her potential genetic profile (outside of doing an actual DNA scan) whether or not pork would be good for her. Who knew our DNA mattered? Later the same personal trainer gives advice to a man looking to obtain a beach body quickly without any harmful dieting. “If you want high speed weight loss,” the trainer says, “Wake up in the morning and first thing go for a run or a bike ride — and do this before eating or drinking anything.”

There’s something about getting quick tips from an expert – a real physical person with experience and talent as opposed to just Googling. Something about the event feels like a movement.

Later, a skincare blogger gives style tips about remaking yourself and staying grounded. This kind of make-up tutorial is traditionally centered around the superficial aspects however she spends an equal amount of time offering up the golden rule of never spending more than 30 seconds on a selfie. Thus, reminding the audience of millennials and genXer’s to be less narcissistic.

“It’s great to look good and feel good but try to stay more aware of what’s actually going on in the world around you.”

A man in the audience tells a story of his style evolution from monolithic Swedish fashion to the “burnout” silicon valley look. He confesses that the transition from suit-and-tie-guy to professional casual came in a series of steps; Swedish style, Palo Alto style and now Venice style. It is not until he confesses to the crowd, “We had a potential employee come in for an interview in a suit and tie but it didn’t fit in with us, with tispr culture.” The man talking is Sebastian Gyr, the brains behind tispr and the event. We are not at another Los Angeles self-help forum, a Cosmo convention or Man Buns anonymous. Nope, we’re at tispr headquarters in the midst of their prolific first meet-up entitled “New Year, New You.”

tispr (pronounced tiss-per) stands for Talented Independent Skilled PeRsons (à la the name) and the idea is simple. Connect talent, any kind of talent, from coders to gardeners, surf teachers to piano teachers, connect the most mainstream of talent to the most obscure and allow them to make a living pursuing their passion. It’s the promise of what the internet would become in one tidy, cute app that connects people while capitalizing on the rapidly growing freelancing trend in the American workforce.

In layman’s terms, the tispr app makes it easy to discover, connect and collaborate with local talent, all from the convenience of your smartphone.

Back to the real world – the place where startups attempt to “uberfy” every little life task (god forbid we should ever do anything ourselves!) and fast forward a few months to tispr’s next event. It’s bigger, denser, and the warehouse is loaded with people. Real people! We’re at “tispr’s Talent Fest Number One” and as we cross the threshold and enter its obvious tispr is growing fast. Having been featured in Built in LA then Forbes magazine as Startups to watch out for – activities are going on everywhere. Something of a culture is being gestated. To your right is a boisterous Italian chef instructing eager onlookers on making the world’s most perfect ravioli (to be immediately consumed upon completion of course, yes, in your real stomach), to your left’s an almost wall-to-wall bar with trendy young servers concocting specialty craft cocktails (I’ll take five Moscow Mules please, it is a Friday).The rest of the space is lined with vendors – Caribbean, Mexican, barbecue, Greek, comfort food, and some of the world’s best donuts (trust the skinny, it’s good for you.) And all are fresh, ripe for the pickin’. All at their own individualized booths alongside their preparers, eager to chat about their food and business. People are talking, people are connecting and people are laughing. It’s a rave without the rave. Keep venturing and you’ll discover an epic photo booth that’ll print out commemorative pics for anyone posting with the hashtag tispr launch. Want to rave? Ok well there is also a DJ spinning trancey beats so you might find it impossible not to bust at least one move.

What’s the catch here? Is this for real? Every single person you see (and don’t see who are behind the scenes) have all been sourced from the tispr app, making it the first function of its kind completely created by talents on the platform.

Are you getting the picture here? tispr is breaking down the barriers and constructs of what people think the Silicon Beach movement’s all about. They’re trying to be more human, trying to give back and build the community that keeps them afloat by encouraging connection rather than most business’ preferred style of comfortable disconnection. Since their inception in a cramped but cozy Venice loft, tispr has been turning its local users into friends by fostering engagement through regular interaction.

Stop by the office on a Friday at 4:00 for one of their weekly open houses and you may just find yourself leaving with a portfolio of photos for your jewelry line, shot and modeled by tispr employees. Strike up a conversation with the founders outside Gold’s Gym and you might be offered a $10,000 “commercial for you” as a marketing technique, to be completely produced by tispr’s highly-vetted creative team. Meet the CEO at a tispr party and a couple weeks later you and your partner may be sitting at your own desks in the office, hired to update the company’s website. These are things that REALLY happened within this corporation and the inspiration generation they’re helping to create, as nothing’s more important to tispr than the happiness and success of both the people on the platform and their in-house team.

This couldn’t come at a more opportune time, as right now we live in a world where 80% of working men and women are unsatisfied with their jobs due in large part to increased workloads, benefit cuts and diminishing job security. Right now, as Venice is gentrifying at a rapid rate with Snapchatters and Google employees demanding a certain expectation of life in conflict with artistic locals who can’t compete. Add to that the new generation of millennials looking to do what they love in a highly flexible and entrepreneurial fashion, and you get a steep decline in traditional employment. Things have changed and we need solutions to bridge the gap.

As exuberant tispr CEO, Sebastian Gyr, declares:

“Freedom is the sensation that you feel when you do what you love to its fullest extent. That’s when you start excelling and find your space in the world. It’s a sensation that as an independent professional you can seek in the profession that you do: the value of freedom, the value of doing what you want to do with your life.”

That’s where the tispr talent platform comes in! The app was conceived in April 2015, launched in October 2015 on iOS, and expanded to Android in February 2016. They also launched a stream feature early March called tisprEXPLORE, making it possible to browse the unique services tispr talents are offering. And oh how unique they are! Where else are you going to find a pantomime, drone flyer, and underwater photographer all in the same place?

Next time you need a spearfishing teacher, lion tamer, or “wingman at the club,” do you know where to look? These are just some of the obscure and fascinating skills that are currently being offered on the platform – wouldn’t you like to add yours? Witness firsthand how mobile platforms are revolutionizing the workforce by way of connecting to clients rather than to jobs. Forbes believes “tispr will make the invisible workforce visible again, locally and in the palm of your hand,” and Built in LA calls tispr “the first step in unifying a fragmented workforce.”

So don’t miss your opportunity to join the new home for work aiming to foster talent, education, support and preparation for its highly valued community – download the app on tispr.com!