How the Rise of the On-Demand Economy Is Driving Flexible Convenience
“Customers drive booking, bookings drive pros, the pros drive availability and availability comes all the way back around and drives customers and booking,” Handy founder Oisin Hanrahan tells Street Fight. His company and others are figuring out over time what works and what doesn’t in local on-demand.
Street Fight Daily: The Benefits of Cross-Device Data, Possible Outcomes of Google’s Antitrust Case
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Why Every Enterprise Will Soon Be Addicted to Cross-Device Data (The Next Web)… What’s Next for Google’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad European Antitrust Case? (Recode)… The Next Big Thing in Retail: Programmatic Commerce (Forbes)…
Dealmakers: On-Demand and Deep-Linking Companies Born Under a Lucky Star
Two areas in the industry I see creating genuine value are in-app search, or “deep linking,” and on-demand tech. In both cases, the value these two segments of our industry bring is in the efficiencies they create. In other words, where and how they reduce friction in consumer transactions is where we will see 2016 investment and M&A activity.
10 Pivotal Moments From the On-Demand Economy in 2015
From huge expansion to Asian markets to massive funding rounds to drone deliveries and new technologies, 2015 will go down as a landmark year for the on-demand economy. As we get ready to watch the ball drop on December 31, it’s a good opportunity to look back at 10 pivotal moments from this past year and their impact on the future of on-demand.
Street Fight Daily: Postmates Acquires Local Discovery Startup Sosh, Facebook’s New SMB Ad Products
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Postmates Is Buying Sosh, a Service for Discovering Local Activities (Fortune)… Facebook’s New Tools Let Merchants Tailor Ads for Nearby Consumers (Adweek)… How Handy’s Founder Oisin Hanrahan Is Scaling His Startup into an On-Demand Powerhouse (The Next Web)…
Street Fight Daily: Google’s Drones to Hit Skies by 2017, Apple’s New Indoor Mapping App
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Plans to Deliver Packages with Drones by 2017 (Business Insider)… Apple’s ‘Indoor Survey’ App Maps Venues Using Radio Frequencies (The Next Web)… Amazon to Open First Brick-and-Mortar Bookstore (Wall Street Journal)…
Street Fight Daily: Snapchat Capitalizes on Local, Uber Nabs Ex-Google Maps Chief
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Snapchat Turns Geofilter Digital Stickers Into Revenue Source (LA Times)… Uber’s Ambitions Grow as It Hires Google’s Former Mapping Boss (Skift)… Starbucks Mobile Ordering Expands To 21 More States, Now Live In Over 4,000 Stores (TechCrunch)…
Street Fight Daily: Handy Eyes Homejoy, Amazon Delivers From Local Stores
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Handy In Talks To Acquire Homejoy As Home Service Startups Consolidate (TechCrunch)… Amazon Now Delivers Food From Local Stores In Under One Hour As Prime Now Expands (GeekWire)… Mobilegeddon A Month Later: Small Business Study Shows…. Nothing Happened (Search Engine Land)…
Street Fight Daily: Facebook Dumps Bing, Consolidation in Ad Tech
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Facebook Dumps Bing, Will Introduce Its Own Search Tool (TechCrunch)… 2014 Was an M&A Bonanza for the Ad Tech World (Wall Street Journal)… Tech’s Push To “Disrupt” Workers Is A Legal & Social Timebomb (GigaOm)…
Street Fight Daily: On-Demand’s Labor Problem, Square Drops Free
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…Handy Sued For Being a Hellscape of Labor Code Violations (ValleyWag)… Square Eschews Free, Starts $29 Pre-Orders For Chip-Based Card Readers (TechCrunch)… HomeAway Integrates Gogobot, Uber and Instacart Into Mobile Services (Skift)…
Street Fight Daily: Google Redesigns Maps, Walmart Searches Inside
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…… Google Maps gets better integration with Uber and OpenTable (Mashable)… Walmart Brings Product Search To The In-Store Experience (Search Engine Land)… Amazon Tries Out Taxi Deliveries In California Cities (CNBC)…
In Building Local Marketplaces, a Choice of Chicken or Egg
The success of Uber and Airbnb have spawned a deluge of startups that have replicated the on-demand marketplace model across a range of verticals. But developing marketplaces locally requires a deft approach to scale that balances a network’s need for liquidity with a startup’s desire for growth…
Street Fight Daily: Uber Wars Thin Out, Jack Dorsey Denies Rumors
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Why A Taxi App With $100 Million In Funding Failed In The U.S. (Fortune)… Jack Dorsey On The Report That Square Is In Talks To Sell To PayPal — ‘FALSE’ (Business Insider)… Amazon and Rise of Mobile Challenge Google’s Search Position, Says Chairman (GigaOm)…
5 Local Marketplaces for Housecleaners
Marketplaces aimed at providing consumers with easy ways to quickly find and book local housecleaners and home services providers are heating up, with frontrunners like Handy and Homejoy enjoying major investments from well-known venture firms like Revolution (led by AOL co-founder Steve Case and Groupon chairman Ted Leonisis), Google Ventures, and Redpoint Ventures. Here are […]
Street Fight Daily: Samsung Teams With PayPal, Amazon Loses Local Commerce Exec
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Samsung is Teaming With Paypal for Mobile Payments on a Watch (GigaOm)… Amazon Loses Key Payments Product Leader to Microsoft (Recode)… More Than Half of US Consumers Don’t Want to Friend a Brand Online (Wall Street Journal)…
Handybook Rebrands As Handy, Says It Grew 10x in Past 9 Months
New York-based Handybook, which allows users to book pre-approved home service providers through a mobile app or website, is dropping the “book” from its name, rebranding as Handy to avoid confusion with — well — books. The company’s chief executive Oisin Hanrahan believes the move will help the company develop the type of brand that has helped to propel Uber and Airbnb into multi-billion dollar companies.
On-Demand Services: Lessons Learned From the Rise and Fall of Homejoy
The news that on-demand home cleaning service Homejoy is shutting down at the end of the month wasn’t a big surprise. Here are a few key lessons that stick out in thinking about the company’s trajectory.