(1888PressRelease)
January 15, 2008 - PHPR serves online and technical businesses all over the UK from an Edinburgh base.
London-based PeoplePerHour.com’s innovative system matches buyers of services to providers directly, through an online bidding system designed to encourage providers to pitch their most effective solutions at their keenest prices. eBay-style user ratings and feedback provide quality control, and PeoplePerHour’s unique escrow system provides credit protection to both sides.
Providers are typically freelance professionals or small specialist businesses with skills on offer including web development & programming, design, admin support, writing (including translations and transcriptions), marketing & PR, plus research.
Xenios Thrasyvoulou, PeoplePerHour.com CEO and co-founder says, “Penny Haywood at PHPR was already using our site and demonstrated an in-depth understanding of our business, combined with an innovative approach to media relations that matched our own approach to business.”
PeoplePerHouse.com Background Information:
Founded in 2007 by two Cambridge graduates: Xenios Thrasyvoulou and Simos Kitiris, PeoplePerHour.com are targeting an estimated £5 billion opportunity. That’s based on the Federation of Small Business (FSB) figures for 2006 showing the total annual spend on part-time, agency workers and casual labour in the UK across all businesses was £70 billion a year. 4.4 million small businesses in the UK are currently growing by 10% annually and account for 35% of the UK workforce, but only 44% of the small business workforce is in full-time employment.
PeoplePerHour are already the UK leaders for the online skills market. To date nearly 1,000 projects posted by UK businesses on PeoplePerHour.com have been successfully completed by a selection of 2,500+ registered providers from the UK (49%), and (in decreasing order) from US, India, Argentina and Spain, enabling UK small businesses to tap into a global labour market.
Buyers choose from an average of five bids per project posted and in many cases can access CV, photo, description, sample work and referee contact details.
PeoplePerHour.com ensures providers get paid on completion through a combination of their unique escrow facility plus PayPal.
The company has already attracted £350,000 of seed investment from prominent angel investors and is in discussions with a number of VCs.
PeoplePerHour practises what it preaches. Their team consists of developers in India, designers in the US, a virtual assistant, PR agent and bookkeeper – all from the site.
Busiest work categories are (in descending order): Web Development & Programming, Design, Admin Support, Writing (including Translations and Transcriptions), Marketing & PR, and Research.
The typical buyer runs a small business (usually less than 20 people). No sectoral bias: companies seem to vary from boutique financial firms, Internet companies, property and PR agencies. See PeoplePerHour in action at peopleperhour.com
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