About Smith
Smith is the marketplace for the AI generation — where driven people use the best AI tools to build things clients actually need, and clients get outcomes faster than ever before.
The traditional hiring model is broken for AI-era work. Resumes measure where you went to school. Upwork measures how many five-star reviews you've accumulated. Neither tells you whether someone can take a half-broken Loveable project and ship it to production this week.
Smith's mission is to build a marketplace where what you ship matters more than where you studied. We believe the next wave of builders won't all have computer science degrees — they'll have the curiosity to master the right AI tools, the judgment to direct them, and the drive to deliver. Smith is built for them.
For clients, that means getting real outcomes — not just proposals — with payment held safely in escrow until the work is done and approved.
AI tools like Claude, Cursor, and Replit have compressed months of engineering work into days. A single motivated person with the right toolkit can now build, test, and ship things that would have required a team two years ago.
We believe this creates a new category of worker: the AI-native builder— technically literate, tool-fluent, fast, and outcome-focused. Smith's vision is to be the platform that identifies, vets, and connects these builders with the world's demand for AI-assisted work.
Long-term, we see Smith as the layer that certifies AI-era skill in the same way GitHub certifies open-source contribution — through a track record of shipped work, not paper qualifications.
Low barriers, high standards
Anyone can apply to become a Smith — no portfolio required, no expensive credentials gate. But the AI-powered vetting process sets a real bar. We evaluate judgment, communication, and demonstrated ability, not paper qualifications. Getting in is accessible. Staying in requires delivering.
Escrow protects everyone
Client funds are held in escrow from the moment a proposal is accepted. Smiths work knowing they will be paid. Clients pay knowing the money only releases when they approve. No payment disputes between parties — only an outcome to agree on.
Platform as arbitrator
When things go wrong, Smith mediates — not courts, not lawyers, not a 90-day dispute process. We make a binding decision on escrow disbursement within 30 days. Our dispute resolution is built into the Terms every user agrees to. Fast, final, fair.
IP always belongs to the client
The moment payment clears, every deliverable — code, design, documentation — is the client's. Smiths can showcase past work only with explicit client permission. There is no ambiguity, no license workaround, no retention of rights.
Smith itself was built by a small team using Claude Code, Supabase, and Fly.io — the same AI-native tools our Smiths use every day. We didn't write a spec and hand it to an agency. We shipped it ourselves, fast, with AI. This is not a philosophy. It's how the product was built.