TaskRabbit is an online and mobile marketplace that matches freelance labor with local demand, allowing consumers to find immediate help with everyday tasks, including cleaning, moving, delivery and handyman work.
Caviar entered the competitive food delivery space in 2012 positioning itself as the “fancy food” delivery startup. At that time, the market was dominated by two large players, Seamless and Grubhub, with many new players looking to enter. Caviar’s platform architecture allowed it to succeed in difficult circumstances; however, as competition has increased, how should Caviar respond?
Coursera continues to develop it's MOOC platform with over 48 Million learners and 200 partners.
Wikipedia is one of the original online platforms with many structural challenges, yet they are making it work
OpenTable is the market leader in online restaurant reservations. The company has made several strategic decisions to grow its two-sided platforms and has benefited from strong cross-sided network effects. Yet, in a perceived winner-take-most market, OpenTable should continue growing and innovating to stay ahead of competiton.
BloomNation connects customers purchasing flowers with local florists that provide unique and artistic arrangements
One of the latest landmark acquisitions in the start-up space is the $5.3bn acquisition of Plaid by Visa earlier this year. This post examines how Plaid evolved to become the poster child fintech platform of the last decade.
“Anonymous community for the workplace.”
– Kyum Kim, Head of US operations and co-founder of TeamBlind
“Most of our U.S. users are tech employees and there are tons of topics on Blind. Many of them talk about compensation, salary, company environment and issues like sexual harassment. They also talk about trending issues like cryptocurrencies or investments.”
– Sunguk Moon, CEO and co-founder of TeamBlind
BlaBlaCar is a carpooling app for long distance trip and a top player in France. The company has bought Ouibus, a French bus company, and is now offering bus trips on its platform which compete directly with carpooling trips.
In a world crowded with on-demand apps and services, Hello Alfred created an aggregated service platform for recurring and widely demanded services to simplify the life of their customers. The platform is assisted by company employed “Alfreds” who coordinate the delivery of the services. The company adopted a B-to-B-to-C business model where it leverages on the proliferation of on-demand service providers and the relevance of local specialized vendors by using them as suppliers. To capture users, Hello Alfred partners with landlords of buildings that cater to young professionals. Hello Alfred profits from the difference between the wholesale prices it negotiates with its vendors and the retailed price charged to customers.
As of today, Hello Alfred has raised $63 M in venture funding, has completed 4.5 million to-do’s and saved 50 years time to its members. In this post I will discuss the evolution of Hello Alfred’s business model and the strategic decisions they made to scale the business.
