#taskhub

Outsource your errands on the go

The app will allow you to outsource your errands quickly by posting a task, saying how much you are willing to pay and then waiting to find someone local who wants to earn some extra cash. 

Earn extra cash

The app also benefits people looking to make money. If you are a Task Doer, you can just browse the Tasks near you, bid on the ones that match your skillset and get paid once you've completed the task. 

You can download the Taskhub App for free here. We hope you enjoy using it!

Get your jackets, coats, duvets and jumpers dry-cleaned

Clear autumn leaves from your garden, drains and guttering

Find a cheaper energy tariff (if possible!)

Ensure your car is winter ready (anti-freeze, ice scraper, new battery)

Plan your budget for Christmas 

Install a draught excluder on your bedroom door

Insulate your home to the max

Plant bulbs now so they flower in spring

If you are too busy to get all this done, you can post your tasks on Taskhub and find someone local to do them for you.

Although Hochard was in the midst of a law degree and her partner, Rahul Ahuja, was an investment banker, the two of them decided to use their savings to create a web site designed specifically for people looking for local help. In their spare time, the London-based couple sketched out what they wanted the site to look like and commissioned an agency.

While the site was under development, Hochard read about Wayra – a new incubator programme being set up by Telefónica Digital. Hochard and Ahuja entered the selection process along with 1,000 or so other entrepreneurs. They developed a business plan, created a demo and pitched their idea to the Wayra assessors.  Although Hochard had to miss one of the interviews to do a law exam, the duo made it through to the last stage of the process.

Drawing on advice from the Wayra mentors – seasoned entrepreneurs and Telefónica staffers – Hochard and Ahuja gave a nerve-wracking filmed pitch to nine potential investors and answered their questions. They were invited to join the Wayra programme in June 2012. “We said: I guess it’s serious now,” Hochard recalls.

Employee number one

In exchange for equity, Wayra invested £40,000 in Taskhub and provided temporary office space, enabling the couple to hire their first employee – a web developer. “Then we felt legitimate,” says Hochard, who completed her law exams in August 2012. Ahuja quit his job in November 2012, one month after the Taskhub web site launched as a private-beta, accessible to only 100 specially-invited people.

As members of Wayra, the Taskhub team got to attend classes for start-ups and mingle with other entrepreneurs and Telefónica employees. Crucially, they were also introduced to Telefónica Ventures, which soon invested a six figure sum in Taskhub and secured the start-up a distribution agreement with mobile operator O2 UK. The investment enabled Hochard to start paying herself a salary - enough to cover the couple’s rent - from January 2013.  The deal also meant that Taskhub could move into Telefónica’s funky offices near Piccadilly Circus in the beating heart of London.

Going commercial

After a public beta in mid January, Taskhub went into full commercial mode two months later. People can sign up for free, enabling them to browse the tasks on offer and post a task for free. “Only at the end do we charge a 15% commission if the transaction actually happens,” says Hochard.  “The one thing we have changed is to get people to enter their payment card details when they post a task, so they are not going to write anything silly.”

With a community-minded ethos, Taskhub doesn’t charge charities and, for now, it doesn’t carry advertising. “The idea is to be clean,” says Hochard

Taskhub now employs two developers – one for the web site and one for the mobile app – a marketing specialist and an intern.  Although Taskhub has done little in the way of formal PR, Hochard contacted local newspapers and the local authority in east London where the couple live. Major newspapers, such as the Daily Telegraph, the London Evening Standard and London’s Metro, have also cited Taskhub as an example of the sharing economy.

Stephen Fry tweet

Taskhub also benefited from Hochard meeting comedian and actor Stephen Fry at a technology event to discuss how to work with charities. Hochard says Fry offered to tweet about Taskhub to his six million followers on Twitter.  “It was amazing, we were all stood at the office and watching the surge on traffic on Google Analytics,” recalls Hochard. “We were shouting in there.”

A former teacher, Hochard also hosts events, such as workshops for students on how to look for part-time jobs.  From time-to-time, Hochard even emails Taskhub users personally from her own email account to see if she can help.  She sometimes invites regular uses of the site into her office. This personal touch pays off – some users now help the Taskhub team monitor the site, flagging any posts that look weird or inappropriate. “Start-ups often focus too much on the product,” says Hochard. “Even if you have just twenty people on your platform, take care of them.”

Taskhub is a hyper-local business, so it is tricky to scale fast. “We prefer to go slowly here with communities in London and really establish ourselves,” says Hochard. “You need two sides to have a critical mass – the people asking for help and the people able to help. …You also need trust, so we reward regular users with badges and encourage people to leave feedback.”

Still, Taskhub’s growth is likely to accelerate when the mobile app is launched in the near future. Then it will begin to benefit from O2’s marketing and distribution networks.

Hochard attributes her new-found entrepreneurial flair partly to her experiences at law school. “Friends were getting work experience through contacts, but I wasn’t from this country, so I didn’t have the contacts.” recalls Hochard, a French national. “I decided I needed to change the way I do things and go connect with people. …I was able to get work experience at law firms by just going and talking to people at events.”

But Hochard does admit to moments of doubt over the past two years.  “We have to be patient about our life being a little bit different,” she says.  “It was a gamble for the two of us…..but we always wanted to do something that matters...something that makes you happy everyday.”

I love buying food at Whole Foods so it was a real treat to have a budget to spend there.  Also, Whole Foods is right by my work and North London is easily accessible via nearby Piccadilly Circus station, so the Task was pretty easy going.

The Task did take me three hours to complete and carrying the food and wine on the Tube was a challenge. However, it was definitely worth the money and I got paid on the same day.

For anyone looking to make extra money I would recommend bidding on a Task on Taskhub. You'll meet nice people, help someone out and earn. It's free to sign up and bid on a Task so you've nothing to lose.

Plan a nice breakfast. Having a special breakfast with your favourite morning food will get you out of bed and give you something to look forward to. Sharing the brekkie with your partner or housemates will start your week with on a positive, sharing note.

Prepare your body. Going for a brisk walk or doing some stretches on Monday morning will wake you up and clear your head. It will also get your blood and endorphins pumping. Here are some easy yoga style stretches that you could try.

Get ready for the start of the week. Having things in order, such as, your work outfits, packed lunch, and getting enough sleep will reduce the strain and stress you feel on Sunday night and Monday morning. 

If you don't have time to prepare properly, you can reduce stress by outsourcing your errands and to-dos on Taskhub. 

Find the beauty in your Monday commute. This may sound silly as commutes are generally horrible, but there must be something beautiful you see on your walk to the station or out of the train window. Take a moment to appreciate it.  

Look forward to Monday evening. We don't want you to wish your life away, but planning your perfect night for Monday evening, whether you stay in or go out, will get you over the Monday morning hump.

Mondays are hard but hopefully these tips will help you get motivated for the week ahead. Try your best to love Mondays and remember, we are all in the same boat together. 

Give these tips a go next Monday and in the meantime sign up to Taskhub and post a task today.  

I won a ticket to the WXG, organised by web design agency Kyan, at the Rails Girls event in London that I attended at the beginning of October. You can read about that here. 

The speakers at WXG were all informative and inspiring, but my favourite speakers were Seb Lee-Delisle, Gavin Strange and Frances Berriman. 

Gavin Strange works for the digital team at Aardman Animations (the guys behind Wallace and Gromit). Through a torrent of energy and hilarious anecdotes, he shared his tales of creativity and passion. Gavin follows the tiniest spark of inspiration and showed us that there are 24 hours in the day so why hold back from making your ideas a reality. 

Seb showed his amazing coding skills and how to build digital fireworks. He brought along a rather cool laser and showed us that computer science is pretty darn cool. The PixelPyros show that he has created showed how vision, drive and knowledge can get you where you want to be. 

Frances shared her experience working on the Gov.uk website redesign and explained how to put the user first. At Taskhub, we are always interested in improving user experience so this was particularly valuable. Frances' story showed how you can take the most complicated of websites and make it user friendly by applying (and sticking to) key principles and guidelines.

The Web Expo Guildford was a brilliant day that gave me plenty of food for thought. It will be on again next year and I'd advise you to go along. The talk has some real takeaway value for anyone, not just people in the tech world. 

Thanks to all the organisers at Kyan!