For years, computer engineer Odysseas Tsatalos longed to work with his Greek high school classmate Stratis Karamanlakis. But Tsatalos lived in California; Karamanlakis, in Athens.
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So Tsatalos figured out a way to collaborate with his old friend using a webcam and shared computer screen before such technology was in fashion. Seven years ago, they co-founded a company based on their experience, a venture called oDesk that lets employers manage freelancers across the globe as if they were in the same room. Coincidentally, oDesk’s technology allows the 45-year-olds to continue their trans-world partnership. Tsatalos (his full name is pronounced oh-DE-say-us tsa-TAL-os) is oDesk’s chief technology officer. Karamanlakis is oDesk’s Athens-based vice president of development.
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Based in Menlo Park, Calif., oDesk has become the world’s largest online marketplace for freelancers — based on monthly hours worked and payroll — by making it easy for employers to find, oversee and pay contract workers, all on the Web.
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Colleagues attribute its success to Tsatalos’ infectious enthusiasm and uncanny resilience in the face of adversity. A fidgety fast talker with darting brown eyes, an easy smile and a penchant for pacing, he embodies the company’s core message of workplace mobility — an unlikely executive whose nervous energy puts him in near-constant motion. He wears shorts and a T-shirt in the office and can just as easily be found toiling in restaurants, habitually armed with a small device that affords him Wi-Fi anywhere.
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My personal vision is to see a world that can work from wherever they want, says Tsatalos, who packs big ideas in run-on sentences. People don’t have to move to where their job is. They’ll move to where their family and friends are.
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Distinctive yet Controversial
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ODesk’s most distinctive, and controversial, feature takes frequent snapshots of workers’ computer screens and records their keystrokes and mouse clicks so employers know…