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About SkilledUp Life

One founder, a global movement.

SkilledUp Life is a two-sided marketplace where skilled professionals volunteer to help early-stage tech startups survive and grow, while gaining the experience and references to accelerate their own careers. Run by its founder, and powered by tens of thousands of Volunteers.

70,000+
Volunteers
158+
Countries
225+
Startups helped
6+
Years in operation
Our story

Born to give everyone an equal footing.

SkilledUp Life began with a simple observation: talented people everywhere need real experience to move their careers forward, and early-stage tech startups everywhere need skilled help they cannot yet afford. Both problems solve each other.

So we built a platform where the two meet on fair, transparent terms. Volunteers contribute their skills to real startups solving real problems, and walk away with demonstrable experience, references and global connections. Founders extend their runway and build capable teams for the price of a subscription.

It is a genuine win-win, and it's open to anyone, anywhere.

Experience is the currency

Demonstrable experience with real companies beats another certificate, every time.

Fair by design

Strict rules keep volunteering voluntary, transparent and valuable for both sides.

Borderless by default

Talent and opportunity should not be limited by geography. Ours never are.

Our mission

To give every tech entrepreneur and every professional an equal footing to start, grow and accelerate, no matter where they are in the world.

The team

One at the core. Thousands alongside.

SkilledUp Life is deliberately lean. Our founder holds the vision and the platform together, and everything else is powered by Volunteers, the very community we serve.

Manoj Ranaweera

Manoj Ranaweera

Founder & CEO

Serial entrepreneur and the driving force behind SkilledUp Life. Manoj sets the vision, builds the platform and leads the seven Volunteer teams day to day.

70,000+

Powered by Volunteers

Everything beyond the founder is delivered by SkilledUp Lifers from 158+ countries, gaining real experience as they help build the very platform that helps others. The team is the community.

How we are organised

Seven Volunteer teams keep it all moving.

Our founder is supported by seven functional teams, each staffed by Volunteers building real experience. This is the same structure our customer tech startups learn to build for themselves.

💻

Product Development

Builds and maintains the SkilledUp Life platform: engineering, design, QA and product management.

Volunteer roles
  • Product Manager
  • Business Analysts
  • UI/UX Designers
  • Laravel PHP back-end developers
  • Vue.js front-end developers
  • QA and Playwright automation
  • Penetration testing and cybersecurity
  • Product Marketers
Career pathway →
📣

Marketing

Grows awareness and reach through content, social media, SEO, video and brand.

Volunteer roles
  • Head of Marketing
  • Graphic Designers
  • Video Creators
  • Social media engagement
  • Events management
  • Marketing Campaigners
  • Website SEO and GEO
Career pathway →
🤝

Sales

Brings tech startups onto the platform and helps them subscribe and succeed.

Volunteer roles
  • Head of Sales
  • Country Sales, one for each country
  • HubSpot Specialist
Career pathway →
💬

Customer Success

Supports founders and Volunteers so everyone extracts maximum value from SkilledUp Life.

Volunteer roles
  • Head of Customer Success
  • Live chat support (Tawk.to)
Career pathway →
🧑‍💼

Human Resources

Recruits, onboards and cares for the Volunteer team, and keeps the agreements fair.

Volunteer roles
  • Head of HR
  • HR Recruiters
  • HR Operations
Career pathway →
🌐

Partnerships

Builds relationships with Accelerators and Education Providers to widen access and opportunity.

Volunteer roles
  • Head of Partnerships
  • Education Partnerships
  • Accelerator Partnerships
🌱

Volunteer Acquisition

Welcomes new SkilledUp Lifers into the community and helps them get started well.

Community · Growth
Join us

How to join the SkilledUp Life Volunteer team.

Want to help build SkilledUp Life itself while gaining real experience? Our own opportunities are posted on the platform, just like any other tech startup. This is how to apply.

1

Sign up as a Volunteer

Create your free Volunteer account on the SkilledUp Life platform.

2

Build your Volunteer profile fully

Complete every field, including the optional ones. A full, honest profile is what gets you shortlisted.

3

Find our current opportunities

Visit app.skilledup.life/company/skilleduplife to see SkilledUp Life's live Volunteer Opportunities.

4

Apply to your best-fit role

Apply to the opportunity most aligned with your chosen career path, and tell us why in your own words.

Be part of the movement.

Whether you join our team or volunteer with another tech startup, your next step starts the same way, create your account.