Were you always going to start a business or was Paperound the result of stumbling on an unfulfilled need?

Paperound started in my room as a side project whilst I was working for another startup. We kept having conversations about maximising productivity and the team just wasn't big enough to cope with the amount of work we had. We needed extra people (that didn't cost the earth) to jump on tasks with us.

It made me think back to how desperate I was as a student trying to pick up real work, blasting out my CV to any business that would read it...

Both sets of people just needed matching up. )

At what stage did you think there is a real business here?

I built the platform in two weeks (during my other job), then recruited some students from my old university (Lancaster) and put it out there to my friends and startup network. I didn't count those first few users as customers - the first ‘real' transaction was when a complete stranger signed up and booked a student.  Then I was like "ok this is a business, let's do this".

Launching during the peak of the pandemic definitely helped us - all of a sudden every business had to be open to working in different ways and it opened up this idea of activating a project quickly by sharing docs, video calling and virtual working. In addition to that, there was still this feeling of ‘local' for the businesses because the students are always UK based and have that context - so for businesses, it became a flexible way to tap into a type of resource they are familiar with.

How does it work?

Students sign up for Paperound and have to pass a pre-selection interview before joining - we look for students that have a great attitude towards work, and relevant skills that a business will find useful.

Businesses can browse Student Taskers on the site and message them directly, or they can Post a Task out and have Taskers respond to them.

Once they've found someone suitable they book them in just for the hours they need - at that point we capture the card details but don't take any payment. The business and student then work together on a project in whatever way suits them, and when the project is complete, the business signs off on the work to release payment to the Student Tasker and leaves a review.

For businesses, it's a way to tap into affordable extra resource when they need it. For students it's a way to earn money and build experience towards a graduate job. (152)

What would look like success for you at the end of 2022?

I've got big ambitions for Paperound - and there's lot of stages of growth to go through (as many founders who navigate venture capital funding know). For us, we've launched a first version of the platform and we're starting to grow - so in 2022 it's about showing that those numbers consistently go in the right direction and under the right constraints, plus showing extra validation through the organisations we can partner with.

Being honest, I struggle with being proud of my achievements. I rarely take time to reflect as all of my mental energy is focused on what's next. Other founders can probably relate - we spend 100% of our energy looking forward, and 0% looking back. If I was to put a flag in the ground for one thing though, it's that the model is working: Businesses have left 100% positive reviews of our Taskers so far, and Students have started to land skilled graduate jobs as a result of building their experience with Paperound projects. Some have even got hired by the business that started booking them out in the first place - which is really great to see.