Gajus Kuizinas

Contra - A new kind of professional network

Contra is the new professional network for flexible work. We provide the tools and infrastructure needed to successfully build your career around the life you want, with zero commission fees.

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Gajus Kuizinas
Contra's co-founder story is sometimes confused with Match.com ad. ❤️ I got a text message from this guy to meet him at the Jane on Filmore. I arrived and was looking for a tall, dark and handsome guy. We shared a meal and discussed our dreams. The reason for me coming to SF matched with what @ben_huffman was building. I wanted to match engineers with opportunities in great companies based on who they've worked with in the past. Ben had a grander vision of a future where people's work relationships shape their online professional identify and unlock new opportunities. When we realized that our goals were aligned we've committed to building this together. From there on we'd meet every morning, share breakfast, brainstorm on the whiteboard (very old school I know), work together, & take long walks way past sunset. Our friendship grew stronger and so did our conviction about the size of the opportunity. And once we realized how big this thing could be, we started recruiting our engineering, design, community team, ... all around the idea of giving everyone the freedom and opportunity to work independently We've since moved to SF permanently. We've hired a ton of extraordinarily talented & caring people. We've raised. We've built an amazing technology stack. With today’s release, we are giving people the tools to describe their proudest career moments, publicly thank the people with whom they’ve worked with, and begin accepting inquiries for future opportunities. This is the first Contra drop of many that will shape the new pr*fessional n*twork for your independent journey.
Zoe Colivas
@kuizinas Glad you and Ben met at The Jane that day 🚀
Fajar Siddiq
@ben_huffman @kuizinas congrats on the launch, is there a way to change my username handle to /fajarsiddiq - currently is https://contra.com/fajar_siddiq
Gajus Kuizinas
@ben_huffman @fajarsiddiq yeah, you can do it in profile settings
Fajar Siddiq
@ben_huffman @kuizinas Thank you https://contra.com/fajarsiddiq done! ;) will add everything else too
Rahul Nair
@ben_huffman @kuizinas Seems interesting. What is the unique feature of this product? Congrats team to make it real.
Samantha Taylor
Before joining the Community team at Contra, I was a freelancer who desperately wanted to make new connections with clients and other freelancers. Though -- don't get me wrong, I didn't just want to network for the sake of networking. I wanted to make relationships with people who I could learn from and be inspired by. When using other freelancing sites, I realized I needed more from these platforms, not a quick one-off project with strangers (I don't dig transactional interactions). So it thrills me to say that I am apart of a stellar team who are changing the way people work. Flexible work is the now and the future, join us! 🥳 Find me on Contra: https://contra.com/samantha
Gajus Kuizinas
@samtaylorr15 Samantha, you are killing it. It is a pleasure working with you. ❤️
George Okanga
@samtaylorr15 @kuizinas Sam is such an amazing community lead, offering all round support and opportunities. Safe to say she was my favorite person throughout the pre-launch journey!
Zoe Colivas
@samtaylorr15 you are the dream team member! Thanks for joining the Contra team ✨
Samantha Taylor
@vgolfk Thank you so much, George! Love having you in the community!!
Samantha Taylor
@zoe_colivas So happy I get to work with you everyday!
Amrit Pal Singh
It's been wonderful to be a Contra Ambassador. It made me re-visit all the perks of being an independent creative. I loved giving feedback about the platform as an avid user and a product designer. It's lovely to know Contra team cares so much about what they are building and I think its a brilliant start. Can't wait to see the platform growing and thriving.
Zoe Colivas
@amritpaldesign Thank you so much for sharing your experience as an ambassador! You are the best!
Gajus Kuizinas
@amritpaldesign Amrit, your work is insane. Huge congrats with the NFT sales too! If you have not seen Amrit's work, check out https://amritpaldesign.com/
Ben Huffman
@amritpaldesign I loved the Toyface library. Congrats on the NFT sales!
Samantha Taylor
@amritpaldesign Amrit, you were an amazing Ambassador and I am so grateful to have had the chance to have you on board!
Ben Huffman
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a strong correlation between remote work and independent / flexible work. Today, most digital knowledge work can and will be done remote and async, unlocking a new category of work -🚀- Flexible. We are seeing fatigue from professional networks like LinkedIn, where the signal to noise ratio of your professional “connections” is completely out of whack. It's now more important than ever for the digital workforce to lean on our trusted networks to access opportunities. Thats where Contra comes in. Our team is solving a very personal problem that will open up new opportunities for digital workers everywhere. Check me out at https://contra.com/ben
Zoe Colivas
@ben_huffman Grateful for your vision to build Contra ✨
Galia
@ben_huffman I feel like this is what we needed all along; the challenge that comes with building a career around our day-to-day life is immense; glad there's a platform like Contra connecting us
Sky Palmer
@ben_huffman hey my name is Sky founder of Pressful. Congrats on the launch, everything about Contra looks sleek and sexy, great job! I would love to invite you guys for a free Press interview. Let me know if your interested, you can visit us at www.pressful.com
Kulshekhar Kabra
We need to either love what we do or do what we love if we are to do anything well and stay happy and fulfilled. It may sound unrealistic but if you can get together with a group of people, or even just one person, who shares your passion and enthusiasm for something, this is exactly what happens as you go about building your thing. If this is what you want (and why wouldn't you?), how do you go about finding your tribe? How do you collaborate and work with them to build something - something that not only you deeply care about but also rewards you handsomely for your time, effort and skills? And most importantly, how do you make sure, you can arrange all of this around the life you want? I've worked as an independent for most of my career and Contra is something that I would've loved to have for as long as I can remember. I could've used a platform like Contra - a platform that could give me, instead of meaningless connections, the ability to collaborate and work with someone from anywhere in the world building things I love to build. A platform that would help me leverage my network of partners and collaborators to discover new opportunities I wouldn't have otherwise come across. A platform which wouldn't charge me a hefty commission despite providing no value to what gets built. That is exactly what we at Contra are trying to build. We're growing rapidly and with a lot of new features and capabilities coming up, now is the time to sign up and influence how Contra shapes up. Join us on our journey to build a platform that can bring true freedom and opportunity to work independently to every person all around the world.
Mayur Jobanputra
Thanks for sharing @kulshekhar. What you wrote deeply resonates with me as well. I too have worked mostly independently.
Zoe Colivas
@kulshekhar This is so well written! We couldn't be happier to have you on the Contra team 🎉
Allen 'Drexel' David
I have always wanted to be a contra ambassador since I got to know about Contra - even If I don't get paid for it. I am a sucker for anyone or anything that helps me have a great work-life balance and that's exactly what I see with the Contra community - with as simple as reading through the motivations, checking through approved opportunities, learning from others and yea the small-wins inspiration too. Shout-out to Zoë and Samantha. Go Contra🚀
Ben Huffman
@allendrexel Thanks so much!
Samantha Taylor
@allendrexel This is so sweet Allen! Thank you so much for sharing :)
Zoe Colivas
@allendrexel Thank you for all the <3
Gajus Kuizinas
@allendrexel Thank you Allen 🙏
Alex Brown
It is incredible to be a part of something that is changing how we work. I know the struggles of being an independent, but also how exhilarating and rewarding it is to work the way you want. Contra is working to enable the future of flexible work by giving independents the tools they need to collaborate and succeed. I so strongly believe in the statement that we work to live and not vice versa. Thrilled to be working on a product with such an important mission and impact 🌟
Zoe Colivas
@alxndrabrown YAYYY so happy to have you on the Contra team Alex! 🎉
Samantha Taylor
@alxndrabrown I agree! Love having you on the team, Alex!!
Erin Horner
I believe everyone should have the opportunity to build their career around the life they want. While it won’t be easy, Contra is genuinely trying to create a better platform for flexible work. The team has big plans — this is just the beginning. Looking forward to getting feedback from the amazing Product Hunt community 💛
Zoe Colivas
@erin_horner BIG PLANS! Grateful to work with you every day Erin. 💛
Samantha Taylor
@erin_horner So grateful I get to work so closely with you, Erin! You are a powerhouse!
Aishwarya Agrawal
I found out about Contra through Instagram and I'm so glad that I did! I've only been part of this community for about a week and the people I've interacted with have already given me so much to be grateful for- I've gathered feedback on my work from professionals, gained access to book, video and course resources relating to my field, helped people out with their queries, and so much more! I cannot wait to see what more this platform has in store for me!
Ben Huffman
@aishwarya_agrawal2 Thanks so much! you rock.
Zoe Colivas
@aishwarya_agrawal2 AH you are amazing! Thank you sooo much!
Samantha Taylor
@aishwarya_agrawal2 We are super thankful for you!! The community is such an amazing space for people to connect! Happy you found us.
Noelle Hoffman
As an independent designer, I must involve myself in communities that will encourage positive growth and showcase my work to the right audience. Contra has given me that and more. With a refreshing take on the current industry, Contra encourages its members to build a career around the life they want. The Contra team knows the future of work is flexible, so they created a platform that reflects that. With Contra, I can curate and promote my work, collaborate with other members, and find opportunities to take my career to the next level. The best is yet to come!
Ben Huffman
@hellohinoelle I love your portfolio. Thanks so much for hunting!
Zoe Colivas
@hellohinoelle Your portfolio looks 💥
Ry Magno
Flexible work no longer means you need to sacrifice stability. Our goal at Contra is to not only help folks navigate their independent journey to find higher quality, fulfilling work, but to thrive while doing it. We could not be more elated to help solve this problem together with the PH community.
Zoe Colivas
@rymagno Grateful for you and everything you bring to the Contra team! ⚡️
Henry Ollarves
I remember the "click" moment I had when speaking to @kuizinas for the first time. The world was in a deep state of change, most of my friends had lost their traditional jobs and were frantically looking elsewhere for something to do, a tool that could help them put their skills and experiences in a spotlight. Traditional platforms are oversaturated with a marketing approach, spammy posts and soulless information. This tends to give the upper hand to social whales that can leverage their massive connections and resources, while leaving talented professionals on the sidelines. In a world where rapid change is needed, the current way of things was inefficient to say the least. That's when @kuizinas told me about Contra, and it just "clicked". This is the solution. A platform built by independents for independents. A platform that treats people's work with respect, a "platform" in the most true and pure form. No hidden fees, no complex requirements, no spam. Contra is a professional temple, true and assertive. Nobody knows how the future plays out, but I'm 100% Contra is in it. It's only natural, it's only innovation doing what it knows best. Solving problems. Only that in Contra, we also do it with style 😏
Joseph Hall
@kuizinas @ollarvesh 🤩 It has been a delight to get to know you Henry <3
Zoe Colivas
@ollarvesh Appreciate your hard work and positivity each and every day
Samantha Taylor
@kuizinas @ollarvesh Love having you on the team -- I never miss out on some inspiration!
George Okanga
When I first joined the Contra community, I couldn't have imagined what the team at Contra were really up to. Now, after many months of growth, and the several opportunities for community members to partake in every step of the growth process (ambassadors and other programs), I see how much those early stage decisions meant for positioning the product in today's independent working ecosystem. Contra didn't just build the best freelance platform, but equally encouraged new and old freelancers alike, on how to stay on top of their game and own their stage. That is it for me; the community support and constant desire to help everyone grow. Best place, hands down!
Zoe Colivas
@vgolfk So grateful for your support George!! 💛
Ben Huffman
@vgolfk Thanks so much George!
Samantha Taylor
@vgolfk Loved this message, George! You rock!!!!
Muhammad Arslan
It is amazing to see how Contra has managed to its community even before the, they have totally debunked the theory of not creating the hype. Hope that it goes as planned. Fingers crossed, Good luck Contra Team.
Zoe Colivas
@iarslandogar Thank you so much for your support in the Contra community! ✨
Ben Huffman
@iarslandogar Thanks so much!
Samantha Taylor
@iarslandogar Ahhhh -- thank you SO much! The community is everything 😍
Ebby Amir
Love the design, Contra makes freelancing fun and exciting!
Ben Huffman
@ebby_amir Thanks Ebby!
Zoe Colivas
@ebby_amir Thanks so much Ebby!!!
Samantha Taylor
@ebby_amir Woohoo -- thanks Ebby!
Amanda Robson
So unbelievably excited about this launch 🎉 Contra is building the infrastructure for the future of how we work & the 🤠 team is honored to be on the journey!
Samantha Taylor
@amanda_robson Thank you Amanda! Everyone is so thankful for you here at Contra!
Zoe Colivas
@amanda_robson Thanks for all the support from the Cowboy team!!
Kevon Cheung
We want to be able to own our future, so independent work fits right in the life we all want. I've been lucky enough to be involved with Contra to see the product and the community grow over time. I'm excited about this launch so that all the independent workers out there can come together to find work and collaborate! Kudos to the team!
Samantha Taylor
@kevonc Kevon, you rock! We absolutely loved having you as one of our Ambassadors. You helped us get the product to where it is today!
Zoe Colivas
@kevonc thank you for being such a supporter of Contra!!
Harrison Ekpobimi
This is awesome
Ben Huffman
@harrison_ekpobimi1 Thanks Harrison!
Zoe Colivas
@harrison_ekpobimi1 So glad you are excited!
Samantha Taylor
@harrison_ekpobimi1 Thank you so much, Harrison!!!
Dharmesh Vaya
Definitely looking at exploring this platform, big fan of remote working communities and Contra is certainly on top.
Samantha Taylor
@drvaya That's what we like to hear!
Zoe Colivas
@drvaya YAY! Glad to hear!
Bill Taha
It is difficult to wrap it up in just a sentence, but if meant to be, I would say: It is insane not to be with this bunch of upbeat people driving change; and it is fun @kuizinas good you "matched" with Ben.
Zoe Colivas
@bill_strategist this is such a good message! Glad they matched too haha