After working in PR in the UK for 12 years, specialising in the creative industries, Trigr founder Gavin Duffy decided it was time to move home and try something new.
Trigr is a Freelance Management System that takes care of the entire freelancer process for businesses, from onboarding freelancers for projects to their final payment upon job delivery.
After his 12 year stint in the UK, Duffy took a leap and turned his dreams for Trigr into a reality.
“Most of my Back for Business group, including myself, are sole founders so just sharing experiences, knowledge and practical information about grants and other support systems was invaluable and a great time saver”
“The idea for Trigr was formulated while I was moving back to Ireland,” explains Gavin. “I’ve managed freelancers and I’ve also worked as a freelancer, so I’ve seen both perspectives and I found the payment process in particular to be unnecessarily difficult. I spent many years wishing for a simple IT solution to make the process easier and eventually decided to create my own platform.
“Trigr is an online management tool that helps businesses onboard freelancers, manage them on projects and even process payments through the platform. At the moment we are focussing on the music industry as there are a huge proportion of freelancers in that sector and I worked primarily in music PR for over a decade in London, building a strong network of contacts in the industry. We plan to expand on this in the future as there are so many businesses using freelancers now. This platform can realistically be used by any business that outsources to freelancers.”
Solving outsourcing bottlenecks
In late 2019, the initial prototype for Trigr was built and Gavin has been talking to large UK based record labels (with names like Noel Gallagher, Paul McCartney and Mumford and Sons on their rosters) to get an idea of the problems they encounter when outsourcing work and how Trigr can solve these problems.
“Since talking to these companies, we’ve moved away from the idea of a freelance marketplace and are now focussing on the effective management of freelancers. So, for example, a project manager within a record label will need freelancers to make videos, take photos and design the album cover for an album release and with our platform they can manage and pay the freelancer in a more efficient and simple way.”
Going solo, but not alone
Being part of a support network like Back for Business has helped Gavin talk through these changes and get advice throughout the journey.
“Through Back for Business I met lots of entrepreneurs, it was great to speak to others who are going through or have already gone through similar experiences to me. Most of the people in my group, including myself, are sole founders so sharing experiences, knowledge and practical information about grants and other support systems was invaluable and a great time saver.”
Based in Salthill, Galway, Gavin says Trigr is currently in the beta phase and undergoing some exciting updates. “The process for the next version of the website is ongoing and we have perspective customers lined up for our launch this year.
“Trigr is based in Ireland but will launch in the UK market first because of my contacts there, and following that we’ll be looking at Europe and the US. The plan is to also move into other industries such as film and advertising and, of course, expand the team here in Ireland.”
Main image: Gavin Duffy, Trigr
This is the fourth year of the very successful Back for Business developmental programme, which is funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs. Since the call for applications was launched in mid-December by Minister of State for Overseas Development Aid and Diaspora Colm Brophy, TD, there has been great interest in the initiative. To learn more click here
Published: 21 January 2021
