STAFFVIRTUAL is led by Ike Stranathan, who co-founded the company in 2009, and his fiance Fiona Lideza, who serves as the COO.
Our History
STAFFVIRTUAL’s remarkable journey showcases the transformative power of outsourcing to the Philippines. Ike Stranathan co-founded STAFFVIRTUAL in 2009, alongside New Zealand native Roger Cox, who he met at the Rotary Club of Manhattan Beach, in Manhattan Beach, California. A major inspiration for the company came from Timothy Ferriss’ bestselling book “The 4-Hour Workweek.” This brilliant book introduced Ike to new concepts like “Location Independence,” “Labor Cost Arbitrage,” and using “Virtual Assistants” to automate business processes. These concepts were groundbreaking at the time, marking the dawn of the “remote work” era. Motivated by these revolutionary ideas, Ike hired his first Virtual Assistant (VA) from the Philippines, and was highly impressed by her capabilities and the support she provided.
Around the same time, Ike’s good friend Shane Garrett established an offshore operation in Mandaluyong, Philippines. Ike admired Shane for his innovative thinking, as Shane was his first .com millionaire friend. As the founder of one of the first online flower stores, now called Flower.com, Shane also created one of the internet’s first “zero inventory” business models. He then pioneered outsourcing to the Philippines, setting up an 80-person call center and fulfillment center, quickly achieving impressive results. Shane invited Ike to visit and see the operation firsthand. Impressed by the team’s efficiency and the significant improvements in customer service and cost savings—over $2 million annually—Ike decided to move to the Philippines and start his own business process outsourcing company.
In 2009, Ike moved from Redondo Beach, California to Makati, Philippines and started STAFFVIRTUAL in Makati, quickly securing their first client. Since then, the company has helped over 120 businesses around the world establish offshore teams and created over 2,000 high-paying jobs in the Philippines. Ike now shares management duties with his business and life partner, Fiona Lideza, who hails from Cebu. Together, they manage the company while raising their two wonderful boys, Charles and William. Ike focuses primarily on strategy and sales, while Fiona oversees day-to-day operations, supported by a team managers.
With a proven track record and a refined process developed over 15 years of building high- performing, dedicated teams, STAFFVIRTUAL remains a top choice for innovative companies expanding to the Philippines. Among tens of thousands of global BPO companies, STAFFVIRTUAL is currently ranked #212 by Outsource Accelerator, the definitive resource for all things BPO. The company has grown primarily through word of mouth, and spends very little on advertising. Recently, STAFFVIRTUAL expanded to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, to tap into technical talent in programming, data science, and math. The company continues to grow, achieving over 25% annual revenue growth for the past seven years. With a continuously growing global footprint, the future in indeed bright for STAFFVIRTUAL.
STAFFVIRTUAL’s CEO, Ike Stranathan, receiving a gift from His Excellency Mr. Sherzod Shermatov, Uzbekistan’s Minister of Digital Technologies.