So you are the little guy who is shut out of the game. No longer, says Luke Ryan, as he launches BonusTree that promises to take freelancers, startups and entrepreneurs to the big league of benefits programs.
Ryan previously founded DetailsbySven, a men’s online store, after finding no site on which he could buy the kind of stuff he liked to wear. BonusTree also is the result of another discovery – this time of a market gap and a, so to say, disenfranchised lot.
The Sydneysider says he was shocked to find a well established employee benefits program charging a minimum $15,000 per annum for participation – an unaffordable rate for most small companies, not to mention startups and individuals. Now BonusTree is offering an introductory membership fee of a mere $149 to business owners and an optional monthly access subscription for their employees.
Creating value, savings
“Affordability for small businesses and bootstrapping entrepreneurs is a core value of BonusTree,” said Ryan. “We create thousands of dollars worth of value on the platform which then allows members to recoup their membership fees by using only a handful of incentives.”
BonusTree’s platform is still in beta but has assembled close to 100 benefits programs. Participating companies include 99designs, Optimizely and Zirtual in the area of business services, and Quickflix, Delivery Hero and Naked Wines in lifestyle products and services.
After signup, BonusTree members can log into a closed member area to browse and redeem the benefits. Even though the service is primarily focussed on bringing exclusive benefits and cost savings to members, BonusTree’s vision also seeks to build a “micro-business” community that can share knowledge and create mentoring opportunities. Ryan plans to add member-only networking events later this year.
“Our partners are excited to promote their brand to a captive audience,” Ryan told Anthill. “As BonusTree is a private membership community…our members are committed to using the tools and services that can be found on BonusTree’s platform. These are the exact types of SME customers our partners would like to introduce their brand to.”
It’s the future
Ryan is also taking a longer-term view as the number of independent workers is expected to grow sharply in the years to come.
“With the amount of independent workers such as freelancers, consultants and entrepreneurs predicted to become a majority of employees by 2020 we are building BonusTree to serve this growing community by providing them with the incentives to discover exclusive offers from business and lifestyle brands that will benefit both business owners and their employees” said Ryan.
