I think its a misunderstanding or misuse of terminology. "Take" may refer too the difference of what the agency bills vs what the freelancer/developer is paid out.
E.g., agency bills at 50% markup (40-60% average in agencies in the technical space (I was a tech recruiter for 3 years)) $90 / hour to the company, while paying the developer $60 / hour.
Perhaps the founder is saying the agency is "taking" $30 from the developer, but this is a poor way of representing their service as comparative to third-party agencies and is not necessarily reflective of what the developer could make themselves directly with the company [1].
I can see why this is hard for 10x to get across, because stating "third-party agencies markup the pay for developers by 50%, we only mark it up by 15%" or "we take the 15% pay out of the developer," ergo, the developer needs to be negotiated higher in pay to make up that 15% fee.
[1] part of why companies pay the bill rate to third-party agencies is liability, taxes, ease of hiring/firing, avoiding SOW's and LLC / 1099 freelancers, etc.
Savvy developers will of course negotiate their fee's / pay upwards, but that is what 10x and others seem to be trying to take care of.
Its interesting, but misstated by the founder for "50%" take from the developer.
E.g., agency bills at 50% markup (40-60% average in agencies in the technical space (I was a tech recruiter for 3 years)) $90 / hour to the company, while paying the developer $60 / hour.
Perhaps the founder is saying the agency is "taking" $30 from the developer, but this is a poor way of representing their service as comparative to third-party agencies and is not necessarily reflective of what the developer could make themselves directly with the company [1].
I can see why this is hard for 10x to get across, because stating "third-party agencies markup the pay for developers by 50%, we only mark it up by 15%" or "we take the 15% pay out of the developer," ergo, the developer needs to be negotiated higher in pay to make up that 15% fee.
See also this good comment by scottru https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5529001
[1] part of why companies pay the bill rate to third-party agencies is liability, taxes, ease of hiring/firing, avoiding SOW's and LLC / 1099 freelancers, etc.
Savvy developers will of course negotiate their fee's / pay upwards, but that is what 10x and others seem to be trying to take care of.
Its interesting, but misstated by the founder for "50%" take from the developer.