Each week on CNBC's "The Pitch" series, an entrepreneur gets an opportunity to blind pitch his or her company to a secret investor. The investor doesn't know anything about the business being pitched, so it's the entrepreneur's one shot to sell it.
One start-up is putting a unique spin on matchmaking—by matching you with the perfect virtual assistant.
"I've always felt that my energy should be spent on the things that I could only effectively work on, and everything else should be delegated," founder Maren Donovan told CNBC.
This mentality led Donovan, who was in college at the time, to hire a virtual assistant based in the Philippines. The boost to her productivity garnered interest from friends and colleagues, so Donovan began to connect those around her with assistants abroad.
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However, "outsourcing to an individual overseas came with no guarantees of skill, ability, turnaround issues and possible communication setbacks," Donovan said. Her solution: Zirtual.
Zirtual is a U.S.-based virtual executive assistant service. Zirtual Assistants, or "ZAs," as the company refers to them, assist with administrative and organizational tasks, research, travel and reservations.
"Anything an EA could do outside of get your coffee," Donovan said.
She was given 30 seconds to blind pitch her company to feisty "Shark Tank" millionaire investor, Barbara Corcoran. After hearing the pitch, Corcoran worried that overseas competition would give the start-up a run for its money.
But Donovan remained confident in Zirtual's prospects.
"We differentiate ourselves by the fact that our ZAs are employees hired for their traits, and trained for their skills," she said.
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Monthly subscription plans on Zirtual start at $399 a month, which provides 16 hours of assistance, and can go as high as $1,200 a month. Zirtual Assistants are available from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in either the Eastern or Pacific time zones.
"We plan on rolling out 24/7 at the end of this year," Donovan said.
Launched in January 2011, Zirtual has raised $2 million in its seed round from key investors including Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, Mayfield Fund, VegasTechFund and Recruit Holdings. According to Donovan, the start-up has a reached a $10 million run rate.
Headquartered in downtown Las Vegas, the company employs 350 assistants full time.
Correction: This story has been updated to properly reflect the various packages offered by Zirtual.
