Last week at TechCrunch50, a slew of great companies were showing off their services in the DemoPit. And although not all of them were able to fully show off how their sites could work on-site, one company, MyJambi, was lucky enough to do just that.
MyJambi is a social marketplace where users can buy and sell services online without the use of anonymous service postings. Anything from childcare to cooking lessons is available for purchase on the site now, which is currently matching about 9,000 buyers and providers since its launch last week.
Once you sign up for an account on MyJambi, you have the option of either providing services for a set fee or looking for people that provide services you’re looking for. Once you find one, you can hook up with that person who will then perform the service.
Privacy and safety issues aside — you are inviting people you don’t know into your home, after all — MyJambi has already been put to good use. According to the company’s founder, his “coffee retrieval” skills were shown off at TechCrunch50 when the team at SuggestionBox bought his services at the conference.
For a fee of $5 per coffee run, the SuggestionBox team sent MyJambi’s founder to the local Starbucks to pick up some coffee. And just as the company promises, it worked as advertised — the founder performed the service and the SuggestionBox team paid up once it was satisfied.
It looks like TechCrunch50 really is more than a launching pad for your startup.
NIce Neat UI and design ..
There was a company in NYC a long time ago that did that. I forget the name but it went belly up. People were offering all kinds of services like tours, classes, etc. I actually wouldn’t mind having something like this again.
Seems like an OK idea, I could see using it for carpentry and other such skilled work.
I’m impressed with the founder offering himself to get coffee. He took an opportunity for the company to stand out without his ego getting in the way. Kudos.
It looks like he’s still available for hire
http://www.myjambi.com/users/1.....ee-fetcher
Thanks to Don and TechCrunch for the great write-up!
We just wanted to provide one quick clarification with respect to the privacy concern. We think the trust factor plays a huge role when buying and selling services and so we allow our users to see who their friends and colleagues recommend and/or have worked with when searching or looking at content on the site.
This hopefully provides that added guarantee that you are finding someone you can trust–you don’t want to invite just any babysitter into your home, you want to hire one you are connected to, and most ideally one with whom your friends have already worked.
Sounds good David, but that adds a major ‘chicken-egg’ problem. Nobody I know uses your service, so their are ZERO recommendations to rely on. Additionally, your logic is partially flawed, imo, because I may work with someone I don’t know and find them trustworthy (it’s happened on craigslist plenty, not always).
If I need a babysitter that I am “connected to”, why can’t I email all my friends and neighbors and ask for suggestions?
I believe it should be about building a reputation on the site, but it is your service and I may be missing something. I already know most of my neighbors and lots of people around town, you should help connect those that don’t know one another.
P.S. Where is your Myspace and Facebook apps?
Hi Frank,
Thanks for your feedback. You are absolutely right that there is a tricky chicken-egg situation at play. We are working hard to a) give providers the best means to show why they make for a good fit (whether it be price, availability, uploaded content, reviews) even if you are not connected to them, and b) make it as easy as possible to port your network onto myJambi. To get at the latter point, we are currently working on applications that will allow users to make the most of their existing networks, including a Facebook app which we’ll be launching later this week.
We really enjoy these types of conversations so definitely send along any feedback you have. It is a fun space and one that keeps us on our toes as we try to make the buying and selling experience a more efficient one in people’s everyday lives. We’re hoping to build a place where you can come so you don’t have to pick up that phone every time you have a service need.
Thanks again,
David
Great story! As Gary Vaynerchuk and Jason Calacanais both say regularly, it’s all about being willing to “hustle.” Reading about MyJambi’s founder and his willingness to deliver coffee tells me that he understands the value of hustle as well!
Rock on.
Aaron | @astrout
The trust factor is a big one. Whenever I hire anyone to work on my house, it is through a recommendation from friends. I like to think of it as a “trail”. The people I hire need to have a history that I can look at. I am normally a very trusting person and I go on instinct, however I have been burned. But that’s all it takes to take down a business. One bad experience for an online user turns into a blog, or comment or FaceBook story. Vetting the posters should be primary, they are the face of your company.
Hey guys. I am looking for alpha tester for labortopia.com. We are helping people sell their services without the candy look. Very easy to use. Email us at support at labortopia dot com
My start-up, Edmodo, was right next to next to MyJambi in the Demo-Pit at Techcrunch50 and I have nothing but nice things to say about them. They seem to have a solid product and were super nice to chat with when we had downtime from pitching people. By far some of the best people i met at TC50 and wish them the best of luck on MyJambi.
I just switched laptops or I would have left a video comment. myJambi offers a great network of people with various skills and as everyone stated, the trust factor is important. How many times have you heard horror stories about contractors or even website designers? I’ll be buying the delivery service from David again, hopefully we’re in NY or closer
Wow, a TechCrunch 50 company with real sales!
(I’m sorry, that was way over the line. It won’t happen again. Can’t wait for TechCrunch 60.)