How I Built This with Guy Raz

TaskRabbit: Leah Solivan

Jul 11, 2022

Leah Solivan, founder of TaskRabbit, shares her inspiring journey from IBM engineer to entrepreneur. She recounts how a snowy night led to the idea of an on-demand errand service. Leah discusses the importance of technology convergence in launching TaskRabbit and the challenges of securing funding. Highlights include her marketing tactics, the company's rebranding, and the transition to a new booking system. Now in venture capital, Leah reflects on her connection to TaskRabbit and her life after her divorce.

01:15:14

Episode guests

Leah Solivan

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Intro

2min

From Snowy Dilemmas to Innovative Solutions: The Birth of TaskRabbit

4min

From Engineer to Entrepreneur

15min

From Concept to Reality: Launching a Service Marketplace

3min

From IBM to Errands: A Startup Journey

11min

Innovative Marketing Strategies for User Acquisition

2min

Navigating the Startup Funding Labyrinth

12min

Rebranding and Growth Challenges

18min

From Bidding to Booker T: The TaskRabbit Transformation

9min

10.

Updates and Personal Reflections on TaskRabbit

2min

One snowy night in Boston, Leah Solivan ran out of dog food for her 100-pound yellow lab. She wondered: shouldn’t I be able to resupply Kobe without going to the store? That was the origin of TaskRabbit, an online errand service that matches users with “taskers” to do deliveries and other chores. When Leah left her IBM job to start coding the service, the peer-to-peer economy was still in its infancy. But she saw that three important developments—mobile, location services, and social media—were about to converge. She recruited errand-runners from Craigslist, and took an expensive gamble on a 15-minute meeting with Tim Ferriss to get advice and investors. After some management hiccups and a difficult rebranding, TaskRabbit sold to IKEA in 2017.

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