Ever have one of those days where you have a?million things to do and just not enough time? Well, a new company called Fetchmob can come to the rescue. Here?s how it works: just go online and find someone in your area who can do your errand for you.?
The minds behind Fetchmob.com are Alisa Boguslavskaya and Crisson Jno-Charles, who previously worked together at hedge fund D.E. Shaw.?The co-founders launched Fetchmob in?November 2010. On the site, users post shopping requests for others to take on.
The idea for Fetchmob came from a personal experience. Says Jno-Charles, “In terms of what prompted the launch of Fetchmob, it was actually a story from a close friend.?He had recently moved to North Carolina, which is not exactly metropolitan in most parts, and one day came down with a really bad flu.?He was so ill that he couldn?t get himself out of bed.?Not feeling particularly comfortable asking the few people he knew for help, he told us that at that particular moment he was willing to pay any amount of money for someone (who lived close enough to make it possible) to bring him some medicine directly to his apartment?immediately.?My now-co-founder, Alisa, and I looked at each other and wondered why there isn?t a comfortable, convenient way to do so.?Soon afterward, Fetchmob was born.”
Going into the tech world was new for both co-founders, and they faced various hurdles. “As far as obstacles, the most significant obstacle to building Fetchmob is that neither my co-founder nor I had any skills to actually do so,” recalls Jno-Charles. “Neither of us was a web designer or developer.?Though I had dabbled in some programming in my then-current job, I am a mechanical engineer by education (and a hedge fund project manager by experience). Therefore, the first step to us making Fetchmob a reality was to teach ourselves what we needed to know.?I taught myself to program and Alisa taught herself Photoshop and user interface design.?It was a long road, but we did it, and that makes us feel even more proud of what Fetchmob has become today.”
While signing up is free, when someone does an errand they receive some payment, as does Fetchmob. Currently Fetchmob is only open to college students, but look for the company to expand in the near future. But don?t look to Jno-Charles to give any details about the company?s growth.?”Unfortunately, I cannot give you any details on developments?past or future.?We only discuss features and improvements with our users,” he teases. “Knowing what?s coming is one of the perks to being a Fetchmob user.”
