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The Toptal Blog is the top hub for developers, designers, finance experts, executives, and entrepreneurs, featuring key technology updates, tutorials, freelancer resources, and management insights.

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Toptal core team members share their experience, expertise, and perspectives on the Toptal Edge Blog

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Is $4.2 Billion Reasonable? How to Evaluate Instacart's Valuation

Grocery delivery startup Instacart has recently been valued at $4.2 billion. In this article, Finance Expert Patrick Gaffney works backwards and uses some basic assumptions to determine if the valuation is reasonable.

With companies opting to stay private for longer, analyzing private companies in this way can help us better understand industries typically shrouded in secrecy and provide clarity on the efficacy of certain business models.

17 minute readContinue Reading
Patrick Gaffney

Patrick Gaffney

Ranked #1 by Institutional Investor for his coverage of EMEA real estate, Patrick specializes in equity research and financial analysis.

What Game UX Can Teach Us About Product Design

As several successful big brand products have demonstrated, designers can leverage game design concepts by adopting a game designer’s mindset to design better, more engaging products.

8 minute readContinue Reading
Guilherme Ricardo Bova

Guilherme Ricardo Bova

Guilherme specializes in design thinking and UX. He worked for clients including Intel, Panasonic, Bayer, and Johnson & Johnson.

A New Frontier: Blockchain Energy Solutions

Innovative energy companies are deploying blockchain to streamline operations and improve customer experience. Building on our first article, we explore case studies in energy and highlight similar themes and lessons for exploring real-world blockchain applications.

10 minute readContinue Reading
Matt Dixon

Matt Dixon

As a sales and finance specialist, Matt has raised over $30m for his businesses, in addition to founding his own wellness company.

Earnouts: Structures for Breaking Negotiation Deadlocks

The discipline of mergers and acquisitions is a complex and labyrinthine one, peppered with its share of false starts, thrilling chases, and heartbreaking shortfalls.

Toptal Finance Expert Javier Enrile explores the use and structuring of earnouts as one of the most effective tools for the M&A practitioner seeking to break negotiation deadlocks and mitigate risk.

14 minute readContinue Reading
Javier Enrile

Javier Enrile

Javier has 16 years of experience in mid-market M&A and VC, with 35 completed transactions and hundreds of others evaluated and negotiated.

Virtual Reality: Catalyzing the Future of Work

Often associated with gaming, virtual reality has the potential to drive the future of a wide range of industries. This article outlines how virtual reality will change the face of healthcare, manufacturing, and journalism.

8 minute readContinue Reading
Toptal Research

Toptal Research

In-depth analysis and industry-leading thought leadership from a panel of Toptal researchers and subject matter experts.

How to Conduct Effective UX Research: A Guide

Effective user research doesn’t have to cost a fortune. There are many low-cost methods available, all of which will put a designer on the road to designing better products.

10 minute readContinue Reading
Ivan Annikov

Ivan Annikov

Ivan’s competencies are in UX, interaction, and UI design. In the past five years, he’s been mostly focused on designing enterprise products.

Startup Financing for Founders: Your Companion Checklist

Attention on the financial aspects of startups tends to focus on the external measure of fundraising. Yet before this, there are many aspects for an entrepreneur to consider regarding setting their business up for financial success.

In this article, we address eight vital considerations to take around the equity, budget, and valuation components of a startup.

14 minute readContinue Reading
Carolyn Deng, CFA

Carolyn Deng, CFA

A Wharton MBA and CFA, Carolyn has executed 20+ VC/PE deals, managed a $700M portfolio and is a fundraising, growth and M&A specialist.

Wearable Technology: How and Why It Works

The wearable technology revolution is shifting our long-established patterns of how we utilize data in our daily lives and social interactions. In many ways, it’s a lot more personal.

9 minute readContinue Reading
Antonio Autiero

Antonio Autiero

Antonio is a digital art director and UX designer with experience in information architecture, brand development, and product design.

A Practical Approach to Gamification Design

Successful products and experiences offer more than pure functionality. They are designed to engage human emotions and motivate users to forge ongoing interactions that are both meaningful and memorable.

13 minute readContinue Reading

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