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About SkilledUp Life

A tiny core team, 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 two people, and powered by tens of thousands of Volunteers.

69,000+
Volunteers
148+
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 can't 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 a global network. Founders extend their runway and build capable teams for the price of a subscription.

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

Experience is the currency

Demonstrable work 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 shouldn't 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

Two at the core. Thousands alongside.

SkilledUp Life is deliberately lean. A small permanent team holds the vision and the platform together, while the work is powered by Volunteers, the very community we serve.

Manoj Ranaweera

Manoj Ranaweera

Founder & CEO

Serial entrepreneur and the driving force behind SkilledUp Life, setting the vision and building the community from the ground up.

Asinsala

Asinsala

Core Team

A constant presence keeping the platform, operations and community running smoothly day to day, alongside Manoj.

69,000+

Powered by Volunteers

Everything beyond the core is delivered by SkilledUp Lifers from 148+ countries, gaining real experience as they help build the very platform that helps others. The team is the community.

How we're organised

Seven Volunteer teams keep it all moving.

The core team 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.

Engineering · Design · QA
📣

Marketing

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

Content · Social · SEO
🤝

Sales

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

Outreach · Conversion
💬

Customer Success

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

Support · Onboarding
🧑‍💼

Human Resources

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

Recruitment · People
🌐

Partnerships

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

Accelerators · Education
🌱

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. Here's 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.