Andrew Pearce: Powwownow

Andrew Pearce
Age: 32
Company: Powwownow

Once isn’t enough for Pearce. Having started call centre company Inkfish, which was sold for £12m with him taking a seat on its FTSE 400 board, he’s doing it all again. This time, with co-founder Paul Lees, Pearce is applying the easyJet logic to voice conferencing, offering low-cost calls without bridging fees or registration. With just seven in-house staff, Powwownow is operating in seven European countries, plans to be in the US and Japan next year and expects to see turnover grow from £1.25m to £6m in 2006. Pearce is conscious of not becoming a one-trick pony and plans to diversify the company’s offerings.

2017 update:

Powwownow grew to have 207,000 people and businesses using its service across 15 countries. It was sold to PGI in December 2013 in a deal worth a reported $52.5m. Pearce went on to found Thortful in 2015 – a company that connects consumers to artists and designers from around the world creating unique greetings cards.