60 second start-up: PeoplePerHour

PeoplePerHour founder Xenios Thrasyvoulou goes against the Smarta stopwatch.

0-5 seconds: Sum your business up in a sentence

PeoplePerHour is an online marketplace which allows clients to for outsource work to freelancers

5-10 seconds: What's the business model?

We take a percentage commission on the value of work done, as well as up-selling features like premium freelancer accounts and premium listing options.

10-15 seconds:  Who are your competitors?

Mostly US-based companies: Elance, ODesk and Guru.

15-20 seconds: What's your USP?

We're the first company of our kind in Europe.

20-25 seconds: How have you funded it so far?

We've taken angel funding.

25-30 seconds: What were you doing before?

I did another start-up: a bricks-and-mortar business that hired-out professional PAs by the hour (see the connection?).

30-35 seconds: Where did the idea come from?

From my previous business. I started thinking about how it could become so much more scalable if the model was turned on its head with an eBay-style community matching freelancersto work, rather than the traditional 'broker' model

35-40 seconds: What's the smartest thing you've done so far?

Get started!

40-45 seconds: What's the stupidest?

Listening to VCs' recommendations.

45-50 seconds: If your business was a biscuit, what would it be?

Carlsberg (it doesn't exist, but if it did...).

50-55 seconds: Which idea are you a bit jealous of?

Google.

55-60 seconds: Where are you going to be in 12 months' time?

Expanding outside the UK.

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