Apply HN: Patron – Uber for the Service Industry

[Patronapp]

Patron- patronapp.org Get Sh*t Done

I often find myself not having time to complete chores such as shopping and cleaning. Along with this I found it incredibly costly to hire a maid or caretaker therefore I founded Patron, an app that allows people to post tasks and set their own prices. Well who does the work? I'm doing what no other similar service on the market does, anyone can download the app and complete tasks to earn money. I am hoping to build Patron to be the Uber of the service industry where anyone can be their own boss and work on their own schedule.

Right now, I got a completely working application and am focusing on polishing it for publication.

How (are you going to make money): We take 10% of the total post cost.

Where (are the competitors): UberEats and Taskrabbit are our closest competitors. They all have the issue of quick expansion as they have an actual employee system.

[zelloworld]

If a customer gets to know a good service provider via you, e.g. a house cleaner, they are likely to create a direct relationship with him/her, and skip going via your app the next time they need a cleaner. How are you going to get repeat customer orders for the same kind of service, i.e. house cleaning ?

AFAIK, this is one of the issues HomeJoy faced.

[Patronapp]

As long as you use our service, you have access to that dispute system. Also we aren't just for cleaning or repeat services like homejoy. People will still use the app when they're in a quick need of something, as this is the niche its meant to fill.

[gpsgay]

Interesting! Would you do some kind of "Quality assurance" of the services providers? How do you make sure they keep paying you once you find someone? Maybe some kind of rating based on number of tasks completed?

[Patronapp]

I'm currently working on adding in a rating system. The back-end is set up in such a way that your credit card is authorized when you make a task, and charged when you hit "Confirm Task". If your task is accepted and its been 5 days and you haven't hit confirm or dispute, it automatically charges the card.

[jenny291]

I own a small brick and mortar store and sometimes need a bunch of help unpacking or moving inventory. I can see myself utilizing this

[thesnowsm]

Yea good way to get cheap labor

[fiatjaf]

TaskRabbit has an "actual employee" system? If so, it's probably because the law has forced them.

[saraphine1]

This has some major growth potential. As long as its secure, of course.

[Goalie27]

How are you vetting both sides?

[Patronapp]

What do you mean?

[sharemywin]

Any kind of background checks?

[Patronapp]

We have a rating system in place, and thats about it currently. Background checks seem like a good idea! We'll look into it

[cab9904]

I would definitely use this!