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Homejoy says goodbye

blog.homejoy.com

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Re: Homejoy says goodbye

#71

Post by brianmcconnell »

fraXis wrote: post #7

I used Homejoy and I liked it's ease of use. But after the cleaning lady they sent me was done, she offered me her direct phone # and told me I could contact her directly for any future cleaning needs. I always wondered how this business model was going to work if Homejoy's contractors could just give out their phone # at the end of their first service and the customer could just contact them directly for any future…

A prediction about "sharing economy" companies. Almost all of them are tacking on a thin rind of web/mobile UI and smart dispatch technology to an existing service. The long-term winners will be companies like Flywheel that recognize this and focus on providing that service to existing operators, much like payment processors. This, of course, is perceived as a smaller market since they can't count revenue the same way.

EDIT: on the other hand, an advantage is they don't have to worry about acquiring customers, drivers, etc, nor the regulatory overhead of the underlying business, but instead just focus on customer experience, schedule/dispatch, etc.

Re: Homejoy says goodbye

#72

Post by sosuke »

justinzollars wrote: post #12
fraXis wrote: post #7

I used Homejoy and I liked it's ease of use. But after the cleaning lady they sent me was done, she offered me her direct phone # and told me I could contact her directly for any future cleaning needs. I always wondered how this business model was going to work if Homejoy's contractors could just give out their phone # at the end of their first service and the customer could just contact them directly for any future…

This is exactly their problem. I wonder if LawnLove will have the same problem?

Or Handy

Re: Homejoy says goodbye

#73

Post by product50 »

tptacek wrote: post #16

I get the sense that many of the people involved in Homejoy are well-intentioned and hardworking. But I can't say that I think it's a bad thing that tech startups are finding it difficult to monetize unskilled labor. The technology that most companies like these offer (with the possible exception of Uber) is a commodity. The real asset they have is the network effect. Which makes the balance of power between the tech…

I think you have it wrong here. The fact that HomeJoy was actually playing in a market which required skill labor was responsible for their downfall. Think about it - if there is an HomeJoy operator who's actually good and did her job very well (and thus is skilled), next time I will want to deal with her directly (to save on cost) and not deal with HomeJoy at all. I certainly did this. In fact, many HomeJoy operators proactively offered to do this.

However, for unskilled labor, like Uber, I care a lot about needing a car right now - and dealing with drivers directly is not efficient at all. As such, Uber is doing so well in this market.

Re: Homejoy says goodbye

#74

Post by joshstrange »

jjarmoc wrote: post #34

When I hear about companies like this going under, I always think how odd it is that I've never previously heard about them. Then I realize, that may have been part of the problem.

I had heard of them but with most companies that spring up then wind down a little later they never expanded to where I live. I would have loved to try them though.

Re: Homejoy says goodbye

#75

Post by aestetix »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #61
aestetix wrote: post #11

If your company cannot afford to stay in the black with real employees (as opposed to contractors), you need to re-evaluate your business model. Edit: and the downvotes are rolling in! Would anyone who has downvoted this comment care to share why?

Or perhaps we need to re-evaluate our laws surrounding employment. Events like this (supposing they were caused by employment laws) are perfect illustrations of how overregulation kills jobs.

There are laws surrounding employment? California is an at-will state. Further, 1099 contractors don't get health insurance, workers comp, or any coverage by the employer. There's also no assurance of long-term employment, thus no reason for the company to be loyal.

Re: Homejoy says goodbye

#76

Post by telecuda »

reagency wrote: post #44
stevejohnson wrote: post #28

For a house with 4 roommates, this service worked great as a solution to the "tragedy of the common [space]" problem. We've been using them for a year or more now and I'll be sad to see them go. I hope they follow through on putting people in touch with the actual cleaners.

How are you not in touch with the person who cleaned your house for a year?

Easy (Homejoy customer here). They show up at the scheduled time, say hello, clean, leave. I'm sure it's a personal relationship for some customers but wasn't for me.

Re: Homejoy says goodbye

#77

Post by loganu »

arihant wrote: post #52

Could they operate as small business and/or flip the company as a running small business? I imagine home cleaning is sort of loyalty space, where they must have a good number of regulars? It's also interesting that they are managing a workforce of around a 1000 cleaners, and they burnt through $40 MM. That's the amount of seed Elon Musk needed for SpaceX.

I'm assuming they folded before burning $40m. IMO, it would be hard to go through that much money when you have (hundreds of?) thousands of customers and (should have) a decent profit margin. I'm more inclined to believe that HomeJoy was sold to investors as the beginning of a platform, and when it failed to hit traction, or growth potential seemed to stall, the investors decided to cut their losses and move on.

Re: Homejoy says goodbye

#78

Post by _sentient »

justinzollars wrote: post #12
fraXis wrote: post #7

I used Homejoy and I liked it's ease of use. But after the cleaning lady they sent me was done, she offered me her direct phone # and told me I could contact her directly for any future cleaning needs. I always wondered how this business model was going to work if Homejoy's contractors could just give out their phone # at the end of their first service and the customer could just contact them directly for any future…

This is exactly their problem. I wonder if LawnLove will have the same problem?

Founder of Lawn Love here. We think a lot about disintermediation risk.

We do a number of things to prevent it, but it ultimately comes down to providing enough value to the supply side of your market. If you build a product that drives real, ongoing value for your service pros, they will be much less incentivised to cut you out of the transaction. The same is true for the demand side.

Also, lawn care has a reduced risk profile compared to services that take place inside the home (maids/babysitting, etc). There is no key hand-off and the nature of the service is somewhat less intimate. Our customers don't need to be present for the work, which both reduces this risk and boosts the value of our platform as a means of managing your service.

Re: Homejoy says goodbye

#80

Post by toephu2 »

jjarmoc wrote: post #34

When I hear about companies like this going under, I always think how odd it is that I've never previously heard about them. Then I realize, that may have been part of the problem.

You were probably not their target audience, or probably never google'd for home cleaning services, if you did, you would have heard of them.
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