Inviting an expert you already know
Ask the person you already trust to quote, and keep the job off the open board if that is what you want.
What it is
On the panel that publishes a task, under the scope and the budget, there is a short list headed "Invite someone you already know". It holds the experts you have a real relationship with: anyone you have hired on this account before, and the person who introduced you to LaunchValid if somebody did. Each name carries a line saying which of the two they are, so you are never guessing why a stranger's name is on your screen. Press Invite beside a name and they are told about the job by name.
It is a list of people you can actually hire, not a directory
There is no search box and nothing to browse, because a browsable list of every expert on the platform is a different product with different privacy answers, and inviting somebody at random is no better than publishing openly. An expert whose profile is still waiting for approval is left out too, since inviting a person the bidding rules would then refuse only buys you a wait for a quote that can never arrive. When there is nobody to offer, the panel is not there at all rather than sitting empty and unexplained.
Private, or open with the person you want told
Once somebody is invited you get a choice. Leave it alone and the job goes to the marketplace as usual, with the people you invited told about it and everybody else still free to quote, which is the right shape when you want a familiar quote alongside a few others. Or tick the box that says only the people you invited can see and quote for this, and the job is genuinely invisible to everybody else: it is not in their list, it is counted in nothing on their screen, and opening it by its address answers not found. A job somebody can read and can never take is an advertisement for work they will not get.
The refusals, and why each one is there
Publishing privately with nobody invited is refused, and you are told to invite at least one person or to publish it openly, because a founder who meant to invite one person and got the whole marketplace has been badly served and a private job nobody can see is not a job. Inviting yourself is refused. So is inviting somebody who is not an approved expert. And the rule lives on the action rather than on the button, so somebody who is not the project owner cannot invite anybody by any route.
What the expert is told
They get an email naming the job and saying you asked for them specifically, and it reaches them even if they have turned instant alerts off, because one founder asking for one person is not a match alert and muting it would make the whole thing useless. The mail says which kind of job it is: open to other experts as well, or private to the people you named. Inviting the same person on the same job more than once sends one email rather than several.
A ceiling, for the same reason
Because that email is the one message an expert cannot turn off, it is also the one nobody may be buried under, so invitations run out at fifty jobs a day and you are told plainly when you reach it. Taking an invitation back is never refused by the ceiling, since withdrawing sends no mail and locking somebody out of undoing their own mistake would be exactly the wrong way round.
Who can do it
The project owner, on the plans that can hire: Starter, Pro and Business. Everything else about the job works the way it always does. Bids arrive on the task, the money you agree sits in escrow until you approve the delivery, and the twelve percent platform fee comes out of the payout rather than being added to your price.
Common questions
Can I invite somebody who is not on LaunchValid yet?
Not from this panel. It offers the experts you have already worked with here and the person who introduced you, because those are the people the platform can vouch for and pay. Somebody new to us is welcome to set up a seller profile and be reviewed, and they can quote once they are approved.
Does inviting someone stop other experts bidding?
Only if you say so. Leave the privacy box alone and the job is a normal open job with your invitees told about it. Tick it and the job is visible to nobody but the people you named.
Can I change my mind after publishing?
Yes. Invitations can be taken back and given again, and the privacy setting comes back the way you left it when you return to the panel, so an ordinary edit to the budget never republishes a private job to everybody.
Does this cost anything extra?
No. Inviting somebody is free, and the job is priced by the quote you accept, with the same twelve percent platform fee taken from the payout as on any other task.
Try Inviting an expert you already know
Describe your idea once, and the research, your documents, your prototype and your live page are all written from it. Starter is $55 a month, with fourteen days to change your mind.
Set up my posts and my pageRelated features
- Buying one finished piece of work outrightPay once for the one piece of work you need, and have the finished thing the same hour.
- Trying it without committingFourteen days to change your mind, a first research run on us, and a first project that spends none of your credits.
- Changing your mind, and what happens if a payment failsAsk inside the window and the whole amount comes back, and a card that stops working never costs you your work.