Today we’d like to introduce you to Dave DiVerniero.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was 19 when I produced my first feature film. I was pursuing an advertising degree at the time but I fell in love with production. I ended up getting my first job as a video editor in the broadcast department of an ad agency, combining my education with my new passion.
After I left the agency I spent nearly a decade in the TV and Film industry as a freelance producer and editor. I got the opportunity to work with some exceptionally talented people on a range of exciting projects. While I continued to work on many advertising projects, from content to big budget national broadcast ads, I also got to explore the world of documentary and reality TV, with shows like Biggest Loser, Tanked, and Hell’s Kitchen.
But despite my full schedule, there was a nagging problem I had with the way freelance talent was recruited- both as a producer who hired freelance crew members and as a freelancer who was constantly going through one recruitment process or another.
When hiring, a getting a crew member through a referral was always ideal, but there were no services or platforms that could provide anything remotely similar. So 2 years ago I founded Black Chip Collective, a service that provides hand-selected, industry-vetted freelance video talent at no additional cost to clients. The goal was to create an ideal scenario for both freelancers and clients, and by all indications, we’ve succeeded by every metric.
Has it been a smooth road?
Any entrepreneur who tells you it’s been easy is either insanely lucky or trying to sell you something. It’s been immensely difficult getting Black Chip off the ground. I thought my extensive experience in the industry and as a freelancer would help me avoid some of traditional business launch stumbling blocks. I was wrong. Very wrong. There is no question that my experience helped, but there is so much to learn that it wasn’t nearly as big of a head start as I had imagined.
My primary struggle was and continues to be client acquisition. I never expected it to be so difficult to sell a free service, but the truth is that the hardest part is explaining what Black Chip Collective, is, exactly. Being the first of a kind makes messaging difficult, because, especially with a service like Black Chip with multiple, sometimes complex, competitive advantages over different alternatives, there isn’t a great ‘logline’ that succinctly demonstrates our unique value.
We’re not offering something straightforward, like a boat. I can’t tell clients anything as simple as ‘It’s like a car but on water!’ or ‘If you want to go out on the ocean, but not drown, you need one of these!’. Most of our attempts to simplify sound like hollow fluffery: ‘The ideal way to hire video crew’ might be true but no one will believe that without a tedious informational layer. It’s tempting to compare us to a service with a similar function, like a staffing agency, but it’s also a mistake, we’re trying to be everything that a staffing agency isn’t, so our ideal client isn’t looking for a staffing agency.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Black Chip Collective story. Tell us more about the business.
Black Chip Collective saves clients save time and money by providing them with hand-selected video freelancers, at no additional cost. To build a service that worked for clients we had to build one that worked for freelancers, so we started by creating a system of services that meet freelancer needs. This has allowed us to attract and retain an extremely high level of talent.
The next piece that makes Black Chip unique is our infrastructure. Because our services allow us to retain freelancers, we’ve been able to create a robust network of prevetted talent across the US. This allows us to respond to client requests faster and often provide data on candidates from previous projects. The key part of Black Chip Collective’s competitive advantage is our industry knowledge. Candidates are vetted and recommended by experts in the field, so not only are we better able to identify top talent, we’re more able to understand and meet client needs.
Finally, Black Chip provides this service to clients for free. We take our margin from the freelancer side so there are no staffing fees for clients to pay. Ultimately we’re able to provide better candidates, better service, better value, and fix the process from a freelancer perspective.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
As production gear becomes cheaper and more accessible, ‘pro-sumers’ will increasingly flood the market. It’s been happening with photography for years. And like with photography, many talented video freelancers with unstable incomes will be forced to reduce their prices to compete with pro-sumers. However, there will always be a place for professional quality talent, and that’s where we plan to stay.
Contact Info:
- Website: blackchipcollective.com
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlackChipColl
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