Earlier quoted context omitted.
randomly noticed. happy 1000th day birthday on HN!
Please don't do this. It does not contribute to the discussion.
Neither does that ^^.
Justin Kan Launches Exec (YC W12) For Real-Time Mobile Jobs
71–76 of 76 posts
Re: Justin Kan Launches Exec (YC W12) For Real-Time Mobile Jobs
#72Exec is awesome. We (ZeroCater) give all our employees Exec accounts and a weekly budget they can use to outsource random tasks outside of our core competencies. Congrats Justin and Co!
We are so going to do that.
Re: Justin Kan Launches Exec (YC W12) For Real-Time Mobile Jobs
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the kind of thing which scales pretty well -- there are lots of unemployed/underemployed people in most markets. I think the difference vs. taskrabbit is that it being realtime requires the task-runners/execs to be higher quality and more committed, so it might not work as well in a market with 0% unemployment where everyone has a 9-5 job. I don't think that's a major risk for the next decade or two. They can…
People relate this to TaskRabbit and I believe that's wrong. But not for the reason you might be thinking. So why is it wrong to relate this to TaskRabbit? Because TaskRabbit isn't competitive, yet. They're about the auction format not the on-demand format. Apples and oranges. That's fine, but take stock in their assets: national brand recognition, solid network effects, a built out rep system, resources. It is only…
It's closer to Uber than Taskrabbit, conceptually.
Re: Justin Kan Launches Exec (YC W12) For Real-Time Mobile Jobs
#74Is there a marketplace like this for quick programming tasks?
I've often wished for a similar marketplace, but more for consulting, than actual programming. When starting out with a new language or new technology (particularly unpopular ones, that don't have good online resources) it would be worth paying an "expert" for an hour or two of their time to ask questions.
Minutebox is trying to do something like that but their focus is not on programming at the moment.
Re: Justin Kan Launches Exec (YC W12) For Real-Time Mobile Jobs
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm talking about quick jobs. Can you hire someone to help you with some Clojure or Ruby code just for an hour? It looks like it takes an hour just to post a job on elance.
I'm curious about what kind of programming gigs you could confidently have completed in an hour?
same here, that's why I recommended those sites.. I'm not sure who could reasonably expect a programming task to be done in 1 hour... for those so-called "emergencies" or critical tasks, you can't hire someone who has NO idea what the project entails, you need an expert who has worked on it before.
Re: Justin Kan Launches Exec (YC W12) For Real-Time Mobile Jobs
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
You guarantee request quality of service, not staffing levels, by using a per-request queue. Beginning with the person most likely to say yes desirably, send out SMSes saying "Exec! New job for you. If you want details reply in next 2 minutes.". If they reply, opportunistically lock job for 5 min while they read. If not, move onto next potential exec. Tune parameters as required until 90% of customers get called with…
There seems to be a disconnect on the points we're arguing here. Task scheduling and routing is (almost) the easy part or at least a pretty solvable equation - there's a whole range of operations and queue theory texts that can make a quick go of managing that. I'm more concerned with the human element. HR overhead, people making sure tasks are getting done well and in a timely manner. " but she doesn't deal with the…
"I'm more concerned with the human element. HR overhead, people making sure tasks are getting done well and in a timely manner. "but she doesn't deal with them like they were IP packets, does she?" - No she (he actually ;-) can't they're people."
That's the point of Exec and of every we-can-disintermediate-this-or-make-it-massively-easier-by-using-IT-and-CS startup. They can treat people like IP packets. At some stage they'll have practically open hiring and most people will wash out fairly quickly but the ones who either excel or consistently fail to fuck up will just keep on getting tasks from Exec, the others won't.