Zirtual: Difference between revisions
m categorization/tagging using AWB |
Scarykitty (talk | contribs) added Category:Online companies of the United States; removed {{uncategorized}} using HotCat |
||
| Line 22: | Line 22: | ||
{{Reflist}} |
{{Reflist}} |
||
{{Uncategorized|date=June 2015}} |
|||
[[Category:Online companies of the United States]] |
|||
Revision as of 20:53, 22 June 2015
Zirtual, founded in 2011, is a privately held American company that provides virtual assistant services to professionals, entrepreneurs and small corporate teams. Zirtual is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada with offices also in San Francisco, California. The company employs over 400 virtual assistants, called “Zirtual Assistants” or ZAs, in 39 states, making it an all U.S.-based workforce, that serves clients in both the U.S. and internationally.[1] Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh was a seed round investor and is an active board member and advisor to the company.
Zirtual is considered a part of the sharing economy, similar to ride-sharing services Uber and Lyft, car-sharing service Zipcar, and home-sharing service Airbnb.[2][3] Zirtual assigns ZAs to serve multiple clients within their time zone to perform administrative tasks. Each client, however, interacts with one, dedicated assistant. ZAs perform duties such as: responding to emails, scheduling meetings and appointments, researching and ordering products, services and gifts, making travel arrangements, coordinating events, performing market research, and other tasks as requested.
Zirtual hires ZAs as full-time employees, rather than independent contractors, providing employment benefits such as health insurance, paid vacation, on-the-job training, growth incentives, and 401k program.[4] This full-time employment model safeguards Zirtual against lawsuits related to employment status in the collaborative consumption industry, such as those faced by Uber and Lyft.[5][6][7]
Company History
Zirtual was founded by Maren Kate Donovan, who currently serves as CEO. Donovan launched her first startup in college selling jewelry on eBay. While bartending to pay for college, she launched a second business, a social marketing firm powered by offshore assistants and remote-working college students. During this process, she started the blog “Escaping the 9 to 5.”[8] In 2010, Donovan applied to participate in The Founder Institute, an entrepreneur training, and startup launch incubator program. Donovan developed the Zirtual business model during the four-month program and launched the company upon graduation.
Donovan has been a guest contributor to numerous media outlets, including Fortune, Fox Business News, Recruiter and Bloomberg on the subjects of mentorship, sharing economy, telecommuting and entrepreneurship.[9][10][11][12][13][14]
In January 2013, Zirtual acquired $2 million in seed funding from Zappos.com founder Tony Hsieh, the VegasTechFund, and Mayfield Fund.[15] In October 2014, Zirtual received $250,000 in debt financing from TenOneTen Ventures and Melo7 Tech Partners. In December 2014, Zirtual secured an additional $2 million as a convertible note from TenOneTen Ventures, Mayfield Fund, Structure Capital, 10.10.10, Jason Calacanis, VegasTechFund and Recruit Strategic Partners.
The company is an active participant in the Downtown Las Vegas project aimed at revitalizing downtown Las Vegas.[16][17]
Awards & Recognition
Donovan was recognized by Entrepreneur magazine as an Entrepreneur to Watch at the 2014 South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas.[18] She has also been featured in CNN Money 40 Under 40 to Watch,[19] served as a moderator at the 2015 Collision Conference in Las Vegas and is a regular contributor to Fortune’s Most Powerful Women column.[20][21]
References
- ^ CrunchBase. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
- ^ Hamari, J., Sjöklint, M., & Ukkonen, A. (2015). "The Sharing Economy: Why People Participate in Collaborative Consumption". Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology.
- ^ Sundararajan, Arun. "From Zipcar to the Sharing Economy". January 3, 2013. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
- ^ Zirtual Company Overview. FirstJob.com. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
- ^ Rogers, Kate (March 16, 2015). “What the Uber, Lyft lawsuits mean for the US economy.” CNBC Small Business. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
- ^ Kessler, Sarah (February 17, 2015). “The gig economy won’t last because it’s being sued to death.” Fast Company. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
- ^ O’Donovan, Caroline (April 27, 2015). “Here are the on-demand companies getting rid of contract labor—and why.” BuzzFeed News. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
- ^ Donovan, Maren Kate. Escaping the 9 to 5. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
- ^ Donovan, Maren Kate (May 22, 2015). “The easiest way to find a mentor.” Fortune.com. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
- ^ Donovan, Maren Kate (April 22, 2015). “How to avoid burnout at work.” Fortune.com. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
- ^ Author profile – Maren Kate Donovan. Fortune.com. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
- ^ Fallon, Nicole (October 10, 2014). “8 work-from-home myths debunked.” Fox Business Small Business Center. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
- ^ “In the Loop” Bloomberg Television (May 19, 2015). “Virtual Personal Assistants for Business Realities.” Retrieved June 1, 2015.
- ^ Kosinski, Matthew (April 9, 2015). “Not just for Millennials: 4 reasons why baby boomers should think about telecommuting.” Recruiter.com. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
- ^ Farr, Christina (January 14, 2013) “Zappos CEO invests in Zirutal, a virtual assistant service.” VentureBeat News. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
- ^ Pratt, Timothy (October 19, 2012). “What happens in Brooklyn moves to Vegas.” The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
- ^ The Downtown Project. http://www.downtownproject.com/
- ^ Iliaff, Rebekah (March 17, 2014). “SXSW’s entrepreneurs to watch.” Entrepreneur. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
- ^ VanderMey, A., Cendrowski, S., Leahey, C., Arora, R., Newmyer, T., Dunn, C., Epstein, E., Roberts, D. (September 13, 2013). “40 Under 40: Ones to Watch.” Fortune.com. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
- ^ Collision Conference. https://collisionconf.com/speakers. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
- ^ Most Powerful Women, Fortune.com. Retrieved June 1, 2015.