Released on: February 28, 2008, 7:54 am

Press Release Author: PHPR Ltd.

Industry: Human Resources

Press Release Summary: The results of a poll on PeoplePerHour.com, the leading
online skills marketplace, shows that more than half of small business and freelance
operators believe the credit crunch is affecting them.

Press Release Body: UK
The results of a poll on PeoplePerHour.com, the leading online skills marketplace,
shows that more than half of small business and freelance operators believe the
credit crunch is affecting them:

Q: Is the credit crunch affecting your business?
Yes 57.1%
No 20.4%
Not sure 9 18.4%

Xenios Thrasyvoulou, CEO of the online skills marketplace, PeoplePerHour.com says:
\"UK small businesses traditionally use mortgage-backed loans for external funding.
The current property and credit squeeze will mean that fewer small business owners
will be able to leverage the equity on their home, forcing them to make their cash
work harder. One way to do that is to use PeoplePerHour.com to bring in a whole
range of talent on a fixed-project, fixed-price basis, to grow their business faster
without costly investment in staffing or infrastructure.\"

PeoplePerHour are already the UK leaders for the online skills market with over
5,000 members. To date over 1,200 projects posted by UK businesses on
PeoplePerHour.com have been successfully completed by a selection of 3,700+
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 service providers get paid fast on completion through a
combination of their unique escrow facility plus PayPal.
The busiest work categories are (in descending order): web development &
programming, design, admin support, writing (including translations and
transcriptions), marketing & PR, and research.

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.

ENDS (background information follows)

For further comment, interviews, or photos please contact Penny Haywood at PHPR on
0131 669 5190 (day or evening - voicemail is monitored if I\'m not at my desk) or
email penny@phpr.co.uk.

PeoplePerHour.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.
* 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.
* 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 on
http://www.peopleperhour.com

Web Site: http://www.peopleperhour.com

Contact Details: For further comment, interviews, or photos please contact Penny
Haywood at PHPR on 0131 669 5190 (day or evening - voicemail is monitored if I\'m not
at my desk) or email penny@phpr.co.uk.