The founders may want to drink their own champagne, and hire a designer for their own site. The bizarre gray textured box that expands upon hovering over the dropdown was an immediate turn off within seconds of visiting the site.

Any design related platform should expect an inordinate amount of aesthetic & UX criticism, so I don't think this comment is out of line.

To offer something constructive, I would suggest developing an overall theme to the thumbnails (e.g. tight cropping on a detail, bringing in the color palette). This will give the homepage a higher level of aesthetic consistency. Your homepage is the most vital marketing piece in regards to convincing high quality talent to get on board.