8 ms·

Justin Kan’s Exec Starts Running Errands For Companies And Startups Today

92 points by justin 15y ago

stevenj 15y ago
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.
- delinka 15y ago
  Check my profile. If I'm close, I can help with that.
  - stevenj 15y ago
    Thanks, but I'm in Seattle.
- carguy1983 15y ago
  Here's a tip for when you first get started: practice giving the throttle very small amounts of gas. In fact, when you first start out - don't even touch the gas. Idle the car on a flat parking lot in neutral and just let out the clutch very slowly and smoothly after shifting into 1st - you'll start moving forward. Everyone always tries to learn how to perform a powered start right off the bat and that's a recipe for disaster.
- tptacek 15y ago
  For what it's worth, people who drive stick are conditioned not to help other people drive stick, because new stick drivers are murder on clutches, and clutches are notoriously expensive to replace.
- Drbble 15y ago
  Start with a Motorcycle Safety Foundation class.
HeyLaughingBoy 15y ago
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.
- justin 15y ago
  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.
  - dirtyaura 15y ago
    Justin, I love the idea of Exec. What have been biggest challenge to get it working so far?
    - justin 15y ago
      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.
      - rhizome 15y ago
        So, "quality control?"
        justin 15y ago
        yes
FelixP 15y ago
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.
- kiwidrew 15y ago
  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.
  - FelixP 15y ago
    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.
bvi 15y ago
I'm quite surprised TechCrunch didn't mention Exec's similarity to TaskRabbit.
- heretohelp 15y ago
  That would damage their attempts at hagiography.
- geoffschmidt 15y ago
  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.
mikeryan 15y ago
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.
- justin 15y ago
  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.
- suhail 15y ago
  A large part of our success thus far is due to that at Mixpanel as well. The founders in our batch gave us tons of feedback for everything they could want. In fact, 60-70% of every new Y Combinator batch is generally using Mixpanel prior to launch - Exec being no exception ;)
throwaway1979 15y ago
Are average developers really getting paid 150K in the valley these days? (figure mentioned in the article)
- alain94040 15y ago
  At $150K, you are not "average", you are a good developer, with some specialized skills that make you hard to replace quickly.
  - Drbble 15y ago
    Or a college hire at a famous company (counting equity and benefits) ,
- emmett 15y ago
  No, but the average developer costs the company $150k/year at least. Fully loaded employee costs are much higher than salary.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
suhail 15y ago
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.
workhorse 15y ago
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.
- justin 15y ago
  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 http://iamexec.com/hiring
leeskye 15y ago
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!
sidupadhyay 15y ago
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!
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
velus 15y ago
Kozmo.com 2.0?

92 points by justin 15y ago

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.

delinka 15y ago
Check my profile. If I'm close, I can help with that.
- stevenj 15y ago
  Thanks, but I'm in Seattle.
carguy1983 15y ago
Here's a tip for when you first get started: practice giving the throttle very small amounts of gas. In fact, when you first start out - don't even touch the gas. Idle the car on a flat parking lot in neutral and just let out the clutch very slowly and smoothly after shifting into 1st - you'll start moving forward. Everyone always tries to learn how to perform a powered start right off the bat and that's a recipe for disaster.
tptacek 15y ago
For what it's worth, people who drive stick are conditioned not to help other people drive stick, because new stick drivers are murder on clutches, and clutches are notoriously expensive to replace.
Drbble 15y ago
Start with a Motorcycle Safety Foundation class.

HeyLaughingBoy 15y ago

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.

justin 15y ago
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.
- dirtyaura 15y ago
  Justin, I love the idea of Exec. What have been biggest challenge to get it working so far?
  - justin 15y ago
    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.
    - rhizome 15y ago
      So, "quality control?"
      - justin 15y ago
        yes

FelixP 15y ago

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.

kiwidrew 15y ago
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.
- FelixP 15y ago
  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.

bvi 15y ago

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

heretohelp 15y ago
That would damage their attempts at hagiography.
geoffschmidt 15y ago
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.

mikeryan 15y ago

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.

justin 15y ago
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.
suhail 15y ago
A large part of our success thus far is due to that at Mixpanel as well. The founders in our batch gave us tons of feedback for everything they could want. In fact, 60-70% of every new Y Combinator batch is generally using Mixpanel prior to launch - Exec being no exception ;)

throwaway1979 15y ago

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

alain94040 15y ago
At $150K, you are not "average", you are a good developer, with some specialized skills that make you hard to replace quickly.
- Drbble 15y ago
  Or a college hire at a famous company (counting equity and benefits) ,
emmett 15y ago
No, but the average developer costs the company $150k/year at least. Fully loaded employee costs are much higher than salary.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

suhail 15y ago

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.

workhorse 15y ago

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.

justin 15y ago
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 http://iamexec.com/hiring

leeskye 15y ago

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!

sidupadhyay 15y ago

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!

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

velus 15y ago

Kozmo.com 2.0?