launched in summer 2006 as a two-man outfit with a vision that was bigger than they could hope to possibly accomplish alone. With no initial capital investment, it now has annual revenue of $2 million. The company's success has been built with remote providers. "I realized at the time that the future was with offshore developers," says partner Gregory Silvano. Relying almost entirely on remote providers, they're experts at managing global online workteams — they have 20 oDesk providers and a smaller number of outside contractors — so we asked them for a buyer's perspective on provider relationships.

Q: You've got providers all over the world. What are the tricks and advantages to building a widely dispersed workteam?
A: We have nearly 24 hour coverage ... it’s good to have the team all over the world. I intentionally found providers from several locations in 2006 because I didn’t want one political situation or one tidal wave to wipe out my entire company. We typically focus on Russia, Ukraine, and Philippines."