The problem Flec solves

Global freelance work today relies heavily on trust, but trust is fragile.

Work agreements, progress tracking, and payments all live in separate systems.
Agreements are written in PDFs or chats, progress is tracked in tools like Notion or Trello, and payments are handled manually through banks or payroll platforms.

This fragmentation creates serious problems:

• Freelancers often experience delayed or withheld payments even after completing their work
• Companies struggle to verify progress and enforce agreements fairly
• Payments depend on manual approvals or platform-controlled processes
• There is no reliable way to enforce execution when one party stalls or acts in bad faith
• Disputes escalate because agreements cannot execute themselves

As a result, both sides are forced to rely on human trust or intermediaries, leading to higher costs, delays, and failed collaborations, especially in cross-border work.

Existing solutions only address parts of this problem:

• Payroll tools focus on moving money but leave agreements and execution off-system.
• Freelance platforms act as intermediaries, holding funds and making subjective decisions, which introduces high fees, centralized control, and platform dependency.

None of these solutions make the agreement itself enforceable.

FLEC solves this by introducing programmable work agreements.
Instead of treating agreements as documents and payments as separate actions, FLEC turns the agreement into the system that controls execution.

With FLEC, rules are defined upfront, funds are locked in escrow, and payments are released automatically based on those rules. Execution no longer depends on promises, manual follow-ups, or platform discretion, but on predefined logic that both parties can verify.

Target users

FLEC is designed for teams and individuals who collaborate globally and face recurring trust and payment risks:

• Freelancers working across borders who need guaranteed, timely payments
• Remote-first startups hiring international contributors and contractors
• Small to mid-sized digital agencies managing multiple freelance projects
• Web3 and tech teams working with distributed contributors

These users need enforceable agreements without relying on expensive intermediaries or complex legal processes.

Key features

FLEC provides a focused set of features built around execution, trust, and clarity:

• Programmable work agreements
  Agreements are created as rule-based contracts defining scope, payment type, deadlines, and execution logic.
• Onchain escrow and fund locking
  Funds are locked upfront in a non-custodial escrow and cannot be withdrawn unilaterally.
• Flexible payment models
  Supports one-time payments, milestone-based projects, and recurring payroll.
• Automatic and rule-based execution
  Payments are released automatically upon approval or based on predefined timeout rules, reducing stalling and follow-ups.
• Transparent activity, proof of work, and audit trail
  Submissions can be encrypted, with hashes and timestamps recorded to provide verifiable proof of delivery without exposing sensitive content.
• Dispute lock and arbitration
  In case of disputes, funds can be frozen under a dispute status to prevent unilateral actions. By default, disputes can be resolved through a trusted external arbitrator provided by the protocol. Companies and freelancers can also choose or specify their own arbitrator at agreement creation. In the future, FLEC plans to introduce a DAO-based arbitration layer for decentralized and transparent dispute resolution.
• Integrated chat with AI RAG support
  FLEC includes a built-in communication channel between companies and freelancers. AI RAG is used to surface relevant agreement terms, milestones, deadlines, and prior submissions during conversations. This helps reduce ambiguity, miscommunication, and scope disputes without making subjective decisions or judgments.

Together, these features allow freelance collaboration to move from trust-based coordination to rule-based execution, with clearer communication and fewer disputes.

Business model

FLEC operates as a protocol-level execution layer for work agreements.

Revenue is generated through a 1.5% execution fee per agreement, charged once when funds are locked into escrow. The fee is paid upfront by the company and deducted at agreement creation.

To keep pricing fair and predictable:

• Minimum fee: $1 per agreement
• Maximum fee: $500 per agreement

The execution fee covers agreement deployment, automated execution, and protocol usage. FLEC does not take custody of funds beyond escrow execution and does not charge recurring subscription fees.

This model aligns revenue with actual usage while remaining significantly cheaper and more transparent than traditional freelance platforms or payroll services.

Challenges we ran into

Challenges we ran into

Building FLEC involved several technical and product challenges, especially around scope definition, usability, and trust minimization.

1. Defining a focused MVP scope
There were many tempting features to add, such as freelancer marketplaces, built-in discovery, fiat on-ramps, and complex compliance flows. To keep the product focused and shippable within the hackathon timeframe, we intentionally limited the MVP by focusing on programmable work agreements with escrowed execution. Non-essential features were deferred to future iterations or planned as integrations.

2. Making onchain systems usable for non-crypto users
Smart contracts and wallets introduce friction for users unfamiliar with Web3. We addressed this by designing a Web2-like interface and abstracting blockchain interactions behind the product flow.

3. Designing enforceable agreements without becoming an arbitrator
One of the main challenges was defining how agreements could be enforced without FLEC acting as a judge. We addressed this by making the smart contract purely rule-based, locking funds upfront and executing only what was predefined. Disputes are handled through a dispute lock and external arbitrators instead of subjective platform decisions.

4. Balancing flexibility and simplicity in payment logic
Supporting one-time payments, milestones, and recurring payroll increased contract complexity and edge cases. We solved this by unifying all payment types under a single lifecycle model and extensively testing state transitions using Foundry.

5. Preventing stalling and ghosting scenarios
Manual approvals can lead to one party stalling the process indefinitely.
To mitigate this, we introduced configurable approval timeouts that allow automatic execution based on agreed rules.

6. Reducing ambiguity in communication
Miscommunication often leads to disputes even when agreements exist. To reduce this, we integrated an in-app chat with AI RAG support that surfaces relevant agreement terms, milestones, and deadlines directly in conversations.