Work Simplr

Work Simplr operates an AI-assisted project delivery platform that connects employers with vetted college students to complete defined units of work. Clients describe a need in plain language; the platform scopes and prices the engagement with AI, matches student workers, distributes tasks across teams of roughly 1 to 100 workers with quality-assurance steps, and returns a finished deliverable rather than staffing hours. Typical engagements are structured as sprints delivered in two to four weeks.

Project categories include online research and data research, data entry and data cleansing, user acceptance and product testing, user research, content creation, campus marketing, lead generation, and technical builds. The company positions the model as an alternative to staffing agencies, freelancer management and traditional internships, describing each engagement as 'projectized' with a defined scope, milestones and tasks. Student-side branding includes the Sprint-Terns designation for workers deployed to sprints.

On the supply side, the company describes a talent pool of student freelancers recruited across many U.S. schools, with proprietary technology used to match, rapidly train and quality-check workers. The platform also tracks project progress and handles worker payment.

Founding story

Work Simplr was co-founded by Jodi McPherson and Leah Jewell, both former Pearson executives with a combined 45-plus years in the education industry. McPherson previously served as VP of Product Strategy and User Experience for Enterprise Services at Pearson. The stated aim is to bridge students seeking real-world experience and skill development with organizations needing an on-demand workforce for repetitive, mission-critical tasks.

Business model

Employers submit project briefs and purchase completed deliverables rather than hiring or managing workers. Work is priced per sprint according to scope and complexity, with AI-generated instant estimates; most projects are stated to run $500–$5,000 per sprint with delivery in two to four weeks. Student workers are sourced, vetted, matched and paid through the platform.

Per-project (per-sprint) fees paid by client companies, priced on scope and complexity, generally in a stated $500–$5,000 range per sprint.

Traction

Public client testimonials cite processing more than 180,000 data records in three weeks with a team of 60 students for U.S. News & World Report, approximately 6,000 leads generated for Poolit, 600 user tests for Wiley, roughly 5,000 districts researched for CEMD, a two-week end-to-end user testing turnaround for Education Design Lab, and 75% time savings and 50% cost reduction on lead generation and database cleansing for Cloverleaf. The co-founder's professional profile describes over 20,000 student freelancers activated across 500 schools and hiring time cut by more than 70% for client companies.

Latest developments

Participation in Techstars Workforce Development Denver (March–June 2025), in partnership with Strada and WES, and in a Google accelerator cohort for early-stage AI startups (June–July 2025).