141–150 of 410 posts
what happened?
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 never ordered from a cleaning service before Homejoy, and I doubt I'll bother with it after Homejoy. It's a useful service to me, but I'm not going to call half a dozen random guys on their cell phones to find one that will work for me.
Similarly, ride volumes are way up after Lyft and Uber come to town. Before, there is a lot of demand that is simply going unfilled.
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 wa…
I don't think this creates a very big moat - that's essentially what Uber started out as (dispatch for private driving companies that already existed); they started letting anyone drive in order to meet demand.
If all the services are interchangable (and now, at least for ridesharing, it seems like they are), the winner will be the app that's used by default.
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I feel this way about AirBnB as well.
I'd wager that most AirBnB stays are one-offs on vacation. Home cleaning is recurring, making it more vulnerable to the "here's my phone number" weakness.
Our regular cleaner(which I found through nextdoor) recently had to quit. It was enough to upset me for a bit because finding a quality and consistent and affordable cleaner is very hard. Luckily I was able to find another promising cleaner from nextdoor.
When looking for a regular cleaner, one of the things I have learned is that you want a "career" cleaner. You don't want someone who is doing it as a past time to make some extra cash. That might work with Uber/driving but it doesn't seem to work with cleaning that well. If a non-serious Uber driver cancels the ride, you just call another one. If your cleaner doesn't show up, you can easily lose a day before finding a replacement(and hoping he/she delivers).
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I've had the exact same experience with Vint ( https://www.joinvint.com/ ) - Go through personal trainers until you find one you like and then move off the app. The hourly cost will be lower but the personal trainer will still make more money. I've also had Uber Black drivers give me their personal limo service business cards. The difference is that a cab is a commodity while a personal trainer is something that need…
It's not just that rides are a commodity, they also have an immediacy effect. I don't care who drives me, but I care that they pick me up in the next 3 or 4 minutes. When an uber driver gives me a card that's great, but it's kind of worthless because they're unlikely to be nearby. Hell in the time it takes me to call them I can likely have another car at my front door if I just use the app.
"Unfortunately, we cannot process any refunds or credits at this time." Ouch. What would cause them to not be able to offer refunds?