
Justin Kan’s Exec Starts Running Errands For Companies And Startups Today - justin
http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/26/exec-justin-kan-corporate-accounts/
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FelixP
I really like the approach of trying to reduce friction as much as possible.
The main problem that I have with TaskRabbit, fiverr, etc is that while those
services might be able to help me outsource things I don't want to do myself,
they create additional, new work for me in making me draft a proposal, vet
people, and so forth, which is (partially) self-defeating.

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kiwidrew
That's pretty much the precise reason that I don't tend to use these so-called
"collaborative consumption" services more: it takes a lot of effort to ensure
you get a quality experience. It's great that Exec is doing all that work up
front so I won't have to.

It seems to me that a lot of startups go the two-sided marketplace route
because they're unable (for fear of becoming a party to the transaction, as
well as often lacking the resources) to take control and directly manage the
supply side. Airbnb is a great example of this: while they provide a platform
to connect hosts and guests, that's pretty much where it ends. They don't even
require their hosts to keep their availability calendar accurate, which kind
of defeats the point. At least when I go to hotels.com I know that I'll have a
room waiting for me when I arrive.

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FelixP
The other main point of friction I've encountered with AirBnB is the whole
checkin process - it's rare that people lay around their apartments all day
long, so there's always a bit of scrambling as both parties try to sync up
their schedules.

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mikeryan
Its funny the Y-Combinator mafia (and I mean that lovingly) can really be such
a great tool for these personal services companies like ZeroCater and Exec. I
doubt they're forced to participate but its such a great source of initial
users. I think for some of these companies this may be a bigger Y-combinator
benefit then the mentoring/cash or VC intros.

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justin
Our early customers were probably 50% or more YC and we got a bunch of great
initial feedback. So yes, this helps a lot.

There is a pay-it-forward mentality -- Justin.tv serves as an early customer
for many YC startups.

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bvi
I'm quite surprised TechCrunch didn't mention Exec's similarity to TaskRabbit.

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geoffschmidt
Instead, they covered the interesting part, which is the _differences_ between
Exec and services like TaskRabbit (I've used several.)

> Unlike other services, it doesn’t make users manage a bidding process and
> vet offers.

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HeyLaughingBoy
It's a nice perk, but "distracted" by dry cleaning or grocery shopping? What's
next, distracted by sleeping or having a life outside work?

I'd take this kind of thing a lot more seriously if it was at least not
pitched as a way to spend more time in the office.

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justin
Lots of our customers are using Exec as a way to provide their team members
with more leisure time. The way I normally pitch it is that if you want to go
grocery shopping to get ingredients for a special meal you are going to cook
and you will enjoy, then by all means, go for it. If grocery shopping is a
chore that you don't look forward to, then outsource it. You should outsource
the things you don't want to do to leave more time for the things you want to
do.

Personally, I dislike having errands that require me to physically leave the
office disrupt my work day, especially on days where I need solid chunks of
time programming. Our goal with Exec for Companies is to help teams spend more
time doing what they want to do.

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dirtyaura
Justin, I love the idea of Exec.

What have been biggest challenge to get it working so far?

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justin
Just making sure that every single customer has an amazing experience. It is
the core of what we do and there is nothing more important.

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rhizome
So, "quality control?"

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justin
yes

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workhorse
I would be weary of relying on Exec for anything substantial to my company
because if they get acuihired, they could disappear overnight and leave a
gaping hole in my business that could be very difficult to fill.

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justin
I definitely understand this given all the acquihiring going on in tech right
now -- it makes it hard to rely on something for your business.

That being said, for a few reasons I don't think we're likely to go away
through an talent acquisition:

1) The majority of our headcount won't be engineers and product, it will be
operations. This is necessarily the case because we are such a local service.
This means that anyone who wants to buy a team to work on product is paying a
massive premium for all these other people they probably don't want (at least,
traditional tech firms won't want them).

2) I think Justin.tv / TwitchTV will already make me very wealthy. I didn't
start Exec to make money. I started Exec because I want to build something
that will take over the world. I want to be Facebook of labor -- not as in "a
company that opens up your social graph around work" but as in "a company that
fundamentally changes and expands the category it is in, and becomes ascendent
in that category".

That said, it is easy to talk. Watch what we do and draw your own conclusions.

As a side note, if any readers are interested in contributing to this vision
check us out: <http://iamexec.com/hiring>

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throwaway1979
Are average developers really getting paid 150K in the valley these days?
(figure mentioned in the article)

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alain94040
At $150K, you are not "average", you are a good developer, with some
specialized skills that make you hard to replace quickly.

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Drbble
Or a college hire at a famous company (counting equity and benefits) ,

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suhail
Congrats Justin & Co. - Exec was a great experience for us at Mixpanel. It has
that "just works" feel to it which is incredibly hard to create.

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sidupadhyay
Any chance you'll have an API for this in the future? I can see amazing
potential for new business and experiences to be build on top of Exec. If
nothing else, in some sense you can "automate" tasks that occur at less
predictable intervals, such as "clean up my condo after my airbnb guests have
left" or "need virtual assistant when workload exceeds X".

Congrats guys! I look forward to seeing this grow!

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stevenj
That's pretty interesting.

One of the things I've always wanted to learn is how to drive a stick shift.

I'd definitely pay someone $25/hr to learn.

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delinka
Check my profile. If I'm close, I can help with that.

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stevenj
Thanks, but I'm in Seattle.

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leeskye
I forsee a near future where employers offer Exec/TaskRabbit credits or
dollars alongside other standard benefits such as healthcare, 401k, etc. Good
work guys!

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velus
Kozmo.com 2.0?

