In today’s rapidly shifting world of work, flexibility isn’t a trend — it’s survival. But while many companies fear the idea of working with freelancers, contractors, or fractional experts, others are building entire engines of innovation powered by independent talent.
One of the pioneers of this new operating system is Nuri Demirci López, Principal Program Manager at Microsoft 365 & AI Copilot, professor, AI startup founder, and author of Leading the Unknown and The Inevitable Future of Work.
Across our conversation for The Independent Workforce podcast, we realised one thing: Nuri isn’t just hiring freelancers. He’s reshaping global workforces with heart, community, and AI.
This is the story of how he built one of the world’s most advanced freelance-powered ecosystems — and what every leader can learn from it.
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The Uber Ride That Changed Microsoft
The journey began not in a meeting room, but in the back of an Uber. Nuri laughed when he admitted he didn’t even know Uber existed at the time. But that ride — and the driver’s life-changing story — sparked something big: “Thanks to Uber, work comes to me rather than me having to find work.”
That sentence didn’t leave him.
At Microsoft, he was already leading a massive support organisation. He suddenly saw how this mindset could transform enterprise operations.
He didn’t pitch a $10 million plan. He started with $5,000, a handful of freelancers, and a mentor who believed in experimentation. Eight years later?
- Microsoft now invests $1.2M per month in its freelance-powered support ecosystem.
- 900+ freelancers.
- 72 countries.
- One of the most complex and resilient global delivery engines ever created.
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Why Freelancers? Curiosity, Agility & Peak Performance
When we asked why independent talent plays such a big role, his answer was refreshingly human:
Most freelancers are curious. They’re hungry to learn. They’re constantly exploring because they’re already thinking about their next opportunity.
He’s worked with 5,000–6,000 freelancers over the past eight years. And 80–85% of them, he says, display a level of engagement that energises entire teams.
Freelancers aren’t just flexible. They expand a company’s intelligence. They scale up during crises — like when floods devastated Valencia, and insurance companies couldn’t keep up.
As Nuri put it: “Scaling is essential. You must scale with talent, competence, and compliance.”
The Earthquake-Proof Business Model
Yurii shared with him his metaphor of freelancers being like the flexible foundations under earthquake-resistant buildings. He didn’t miss a beat:
Exactly. And companies are moving in that direction because uncertainty is the new normal.
COVID proved that. Layoffs continue to prove that.
The difference between companies that survive and companies that evolve comes down to adaptability, and freelancers provide that elasticity.
How Do You Trust Them?: The Most Common Corporate Fear
Every leader who considers freelancers asks the same thing: “How do you trust people you don’t control?”
Nuri smiled, because he has heard it a thousand times. His answer was one of the most important insights of the entire conversation:
Even a full-time employee — even a U.S. Marine — can make mistakes or do harm. Trust is not about employment status. It’s about systems.
Microsoft’s freelance ecosystem includes:
- Multi-stage screening
- Background checks
- Technical interviews run by senior freelancers
- A psychologist observing onboarding sessions for behavioural cues
- AI tools that detect whether candidates use AI to solve technical tasks
- Real-time monitoring for compliance
- Instant kill-switch access controls
Trust, in other words, is engineered, not assumed.
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Freelancers Hiring Freelancers: The Self-Sustaining System
One of our favourite moments was when we realised: Freelancers built the system that hires freelancers.
They conduct the interviews.
They manage onboarding.
They built the AI tools that screen new applicants.
They mentor incoming talent.
They lead teams.
And yes, they even built the AI digital twin of Nuri, so freelancers can ask him questions any time of day.
This is what modern workforce design looks like.
Mi Casa Es Su Casa: Building a Global Freelance Community
Most companies treat freelancers as temporary labor. But Nuri treats them as community.
He shared one story that floored me:
They created a program where freelancers in different countries could swap homes for holidays and social good missions. A freelancer in Slovenia exchanged houses with someone in Kenya. And this became normal.
Another initiative:
An internal freelance job market, where freelancers post opportunities and hire each other into side projects. Why does this matter?
Because: “When you win their hearts, the entire ecosystem becomes unstoppable.”
Freelancers weren’t just executing tasks. They were building friendships, trust, collaboration, and loyalty at a global scale. No contract can buy that.
The Secret to Onboarding Freelancers Fast
For companies overwhelmed by “how to start,” Nuri’s advice is simple: “Go slow. Start small. Iterate until it works.“
And most importantly: “Hire freelancers to design the system for freelancers.”
They know what they need. They know what doesn’t work. And they’ll build onboarding tools faster and cheaper than any internal team.
Managing the “Unmanageable”
We asked him something many leaders struggle with: How do you manage people who aren’t ‘manageable’ in the traditional sense?
His answer was poetic:
When people understand the ‘why,’ and when they work with their hearts — not just their brains — you don’t need to manage them. You collaborate with them.
Their monthly “all-hands” isn’t called “all-hands.” It’s called All Hearts.
Culture isn’t a slogan in Nuri’s world. It’s a system. And freelancers feel it.
For Companies Hiring Freelancers for the First Time
- Start small: Don’t hire 50 freelancers at once. Start with 3–5 and learn.
- Bring HR, legal, compliance & security into the room early: They shouldn’t be blockers — they should be co-designers.
- Choose curated platforms, but the keyword is always: c u r a t i o n.
- Share results early and often: This builds buy-in internally. And remember:
Work is no longer about where you go, or even what you do. It’s about who you can become.
Freelancers accelerate that becoming.
Nuri is building isn’t just a workforce… It’s a new social architecture.
A world where:
- Work is flexible
- Talent is global
- AI extends capability
- Community fuels performance
- Human connection remains at the center
He’s not building a team. He’s building the operating system for the future of work.
And his vision echoes long after the recording stopped:
The only workforce capable of expanding your intelligence — inside and outside your company — is the independent workforce.
I couldn’t agree more. And it’s only the beginning. Volume 2 of this conversation is definitely coming.
The future of work isn’t coming. It’s here. And freelancers are already leading it.
