For 10 months, ending April 2015, I ran my startup Paesli, which connected people for comprehensive, affordable help with home services (cooking, cleaning, and organizing). Paesli served as the matchmaker, connecting clients and providers directly with one another, as part of the sharing economy (like Uber, Airbnb, etc.). We paired clients with a provider they could depend on, and to work together on a regular, recurring basis.
Business Model
Match meets Care.com; Paesli.com was an online marketplace that lets users (clients and providers) connect directly with one another to ‘match’ for affordable help with home services (cooking, cleaning, and organizing). I targeted busy families and professionals who needed just a few hours of help per week, not the private jet types who hire full-time staff.
What went well
I vetted the business model before building ‘the real thing’. Saved myself a bunch of time and money by working out more about the need & market, before I built the whole platform. I iterated quickly – it works or move on. I did the math – based on our first x customers, I projected the cost of a customer, value of a customer, and forecasted how these would change under various uncertainties. I was able to keep the perspective that I’m the #1 investor, and I’m only going to build what’s worthwhile to me. There were other pivots of the business model (potentially more viable pivots) that I didn’t pursue because they weren’t what I wanted to build, or what I wanted my company to be.
What I’ll do differently next time
Move FASTER – literally 5x faster. Truly plan for scaling the business model – Can I find a model that works with 100x, 1000x, 10,000x? I thought I was planning for scaling the business model, but as I gathered real customer interaction data, I realized there would be more ‘touch’ required than expected, which doesn’t scale well. Also, I’ll be more direct in asking questions of customers, both those that express interest but didn’t follow through, or those that left.
Susan Morey 