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How TaskRabbit CEO Stacy Brown-Philpot Conquers Everyday Tasks

Zack Friedman

I interviewed Stacy Brown-Philpot, the chief executive officer of TaskRabbit, the online and mobile marketplace that matches freelance labor with local demand to help consumers access immediate assistance for everyday tasks.

Since its founding in 2008, TaskRabbit has grown to include 60,000 Taskers who assist with everything from cleaning and moving to handyman work and delivery.

Stacy and I discussed a wide range of issues, including the secret to hiring great people, the future of work, the gig economy, the role of data analytics at TaskRabbit, how technology companies can help with hurricane relief, her best business advice, and a message to her 20-year-old self.

Zack Friedman: You were raised by a single mom in Detroit, and you have said that she sacrificed a lot to care for you and your brother. If TaskRabbit existed then, how would TaskRabbit have helped your family?

Stacy Brown-Philpot: My mother would have been able to earn a more meaningful income and had the flexibility to do things like pick us up from school and help us with our homework.

At TaskRabbit, we pay five times the federal minimum wage based upon an average hourly rate of $35. That is several times more than she made on an hourly basis.

By using TaskRabbit, she would have been able to free up her time to spend with us.

Zack Friedman: Before becoming TaskRabbit's CEO in 2016, you served as COO for three years. How has your day-to-day role changed now that you are CEO?

Stacy Brown-Philpot: I used to spend my time more on process than strategy.

Now, I prioritize my time around strategy, people and process.

  • Do we have the right strategy?
  • Do we have the right people to execute on the strategy?
  • Are the processes we run internally the ones that will allow us to execute well and win?

My job is also now more external than internal, where I engage more with partners, users and press.

Zack Friedman: Under your leadership, TaskRabbit has been expanding its footprint in cities across America. Tell us more about this initiative, and your future plans for growth.

Stacy Brown-Philpot: TaskRabbit's vision is to revolutionize every day work.

TaskRabbit is not just a coastal business. We're not just in San Francisco and New York. We're in places like Nashville, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Kansas City. This is a service that's really for all Americans. Our end goal is for TaskRabbit to be for everybody and everywhere and every device.

We're now in 40 cities, including London, and so we're on our way to becoming a global business. We've added 21 new cities thus far this year. We're also going to be launching some new partnerships that are coming in the next couple of months.

When we talk about TaskRabbit at every store, you should be able to request a TaskRabbit service no matter where you are. If you're in a store, if you're online and you're buying something and you don't want to put it together yourself, whether it's IKEA furniture or anything else, then TaskRabbit should be available to you.

Above all else, we are really focused on building a business for the long term, and really sustaining our growth.

So if you think about the sharing economy, it wasn't even a thing eight years ago.

And then four years ago, they were like maybe people might get in a car with a stranger.

And so we're charting a course in a new industry.

But at the same time, we want to build something that lasts for the long term. So we've focused on the sustainable, how we grow, how we acquire customers and how we hire employees.


Q: As you expand your footprint, how is TaskRabbit helping to spearhead job creation in communities?

Stacy Brown-Philpot: Most of our Taskers are part time anywhere from 10 to 20 hours a week. There are some Taskers who are full-time, meaning they want to work 30 or 40 hours a week. And that is their primary or only source of income.

But a lot of people have full time jobs somewhere else, and it's just not enough to make ends meet. There's one Tasker who is a great handyman and a nurse. He works a full day, just three days a week.

And then the other three days he tasks on TaskRabbit because the income doesn't afford him the cost of living in the Bay Area, for example.

Zack Friedman: Through its platform, TaskRabbit connects two important constituencies: customers who need assistance with everyday tasks and the labor force that can provide those services. As you look through the lens of the gig economy, what is the future of work, and what role is TaskRabbit playing to help transform the way that we work?

Stacy Brown-Philpot: We are unique because we've really invested in building a two-sided marketplace.

The dynamic that that yields is a high quality supply of Taskers who are available to work for clients on the demand side who are interested in those services. And it has created this balance that has resulted in a high quality experience.

We have about 30,000 people who show up at our site every month who want to task on TaskRabbit.

The next step is machine learning and AI (artificial intelligence).

And in the future, your filter in your refrigerator will run out and need to be changed, and you'll automatically get a Tasker to come and change it for you.

As a result, this has played a big role in how we have thought about growing our data science team.

Zack Friedman: With the growth of machine learning and artificial intelligence, how important is data analytics at TaskRabbit today and how do you incorporate it into the business?

Stacy Brown-Philpot: One of the things that we have focused on from a metrics standpoint is fulfillment.

And that means a percentage of the time that if you want something done on TaskRabbit, you actually can get that thing done. And our fulfillment rate is 86%, which is the highest in the industry.

We really focused on making sure that -- and this really gets into the technology -- how do you make sure that at the zip code level, we can find the right person for the job, and match you with that person.

So the metric is fulfillment. Our data science team has really invested in organizing our data, structuring our data so to get the best insights and fine tune our algorithm.

Zack Friedman: TaskRabbit operates under the twin pillars of spurring innovation and providing a positive societal impact. Given the severe impact that the recent hurricanes have had on our country, is there more that the technology community can do to help?

Stacy Brown-Philpot: I have spent a lot of time these past few weeks reflecting about my experience volunteering to rebuild houses in New Orleans after Katrina. Specifically, I think about how our efforts back then would have been far more effective if authorities could have called upon an “on-demand” workforce to assist with recovery efforts.

As we all know, this same type of workforce is required now more than ever to help with the recovery efforts following Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

Specifically, people in the affected areas need the basic modern-day necessities of food, water, transportation, shelter and communications, which many Silicon Valley “demand-driven” firms, including TaskRabbit, can provide. 

So what I envision is sharing-economy platforms coming together to create a single app which can provide support to those affected by natural disasters. For example, TaskRabbit could help with moving personal valuables out of flooded-out homes, ride-sharing companies could help with providing transportation, etcetera - free of charge. 

The technology wasn’t there during Katrina to make this happen. But it’s definitely available now.  

Zack Friedman: Let's shift gears. Do you have a daily ritual to help prepare you for your day?

Stacy Brown-Philpot: I like to swim a few times a week. It's relaxing and no one can call, email or text me while I’m in the pool. I also like the 15 minute walk to and from the train to the office so that I can clear my mind for what is to come.

Zack Friedman: You have built a great team at TaskRabbit. What's the secret to hiring great people?

Stacy Brown-Philpot: Hire people who can fill white space. Give them the room to grow and make mistakes and learn.

Most mistakes aren’t company-killing, but the learnings can be game changing for the person and the business.

Zack Friedman: You have worked at Google. You're a board director at both HP and Nordstrom. Given your wealth of experiences, What are your three best pieces of business advice?

Stacy Brown-Philpot:

1. You accomplish what you measure.

2. Scarcity brings clarity.

3. Doing your best in this moment puts you in the best possible position for the next moment.

Zack Friedman: What advice do you have for your 20-year-old self?

Stacy Brown-Philpot: Don’t stress so much. The hardest moments of your life in your 20s will provide some of the greatest lessons that will come in handy later.


