We have two cats for whom we currently hire a local professional caretaker when we go away. We used to ask friends, but we didn't want to keep asking them again and again. A couple of them like doing it, but we still felt like we shouldn't take them for granted.
Assuming we want to ask friends for help, my first reaction on seeing this was that it's useful, but on second thoughts, I'm not so sure.
You probably get this question a lot, but if you're just using Facebook, why can't I post the message myself on Facebook instead of going via you? Or as we used to do, just call or email them?
If the value you are adding is management of the arrangement info, then I'm not sure how useful that is. Facebook messaging or email is good enough for doing that and fits in with everyone's usual mode of communication.
I know this is an MVP and I'm sure you will add more useful features, but you really need to start with the most useful feature, otherwise it will be hard to get people onboard.
Helping people find good professional caretakers would probably be much more useful and will give you a direct way to make money via referrals.
If you are really seeing a lot of interest on the part of non-pet-owners to take care of pets, then this could indeed be an AirBNB-type opportunity - empowering non-professionals to become sellers on a new marketplace. Then, trust would be an issue and there may be other legal hurdles, but those are signals for opportunity.
Edit: One way to establish trust is to enlist people who live in my neighbourhood. The person we currently hire lives on our street, which has increased my trust for them a huge amount. When I can literally walk past their door every time I go out, I feel more comfortable hiring them. You could use online local forums to gauge interest and get people to sign up.
"We used to ask friends, but we didn't want to keep asking them again and again. A couple of them like doing it, but we still felt like we shouldn't take them for granted."
This is exactly the first problem we aimed to solve. Spotwag is a way for your friends to opt-in to help and removes that awkwardness for you feeling like you're taking them for granted. If they're not up for helping, they can simply ignore your request. I mentioned in another comment you'll often be surprised by friends that do want to help toom friends that you wouldn't expect.
You're right about MVP. We have a lot of ideas for making Spotwag more awesome. We want to make it easier to schedule help on Spotwag than it is to call/email/text a bunch of people.
One of our short term priorities is to bring professionals on board and 2nd degree connections. After speaking of hundreds of pet owners, we feel strongly that finding someone you trust is key and a straight airbnb model wasn't going to work.
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We have two cats for whom we currently hire a local professional caretaker when we go away. We used to ask friends, but we didn't want to keep asking them again and again. A couple of them like doing it, but we still felt like we shouldn't take them for granted.
Assuming we want to ask friends for help, my first reaction on seeing this was that it's useful, but on second thoughts, I'm not so sure.
You probably get this question a lot, but if you're just using Facebook, why can't I post the message myself on Facebook instead of going via you? Or as we used to do, just call or email them?
If the value you are adding is management of the arrangement info, then I'm not sure how useful that is. Facebook messaging or email is good enough for doing that and fits in with everyone's usual mode of communication.
I know this is an MVP and I'm sure you will add more useful features, but you really need to start with the most useful feature, otherwise it will be hard to get people onboard.
Helping people find good professional caretakers would probably be much more useful and will give you a direct way to make money via referrals.
If you are really seeing a lot of interest on the part of non-pet-owners to take care of pets, then this could indeed be an AirBNB-type opportunity - empowering non-professionals to become sellers on a new marketplace. Then, trust would be an issue and there may be other legal hurdles, but those are signals for opportunity.
Edit: One way to establish trust is to enlist people who live in my neighbourhood. The person we currently hire lives on our street, which has increased my trust for them a huge amount. When I can literally walk past their door every time I go out, I feel more comfortable hiring them. You could use online local forums to gauge interest and get people to sign up.
Thanks for the feedback. A few things:
"We used to ask friends, but we didn't want to keep asking them again and again. A couple of them like doing it, but we still felt like we shouldn't take them for granted." This is exactly the first problem we aimed to solve. Spotwag is a way for your friends to opt-in to help and removes that awkwardness for you feeling like you're taking them for granted. If they're not up for helping, they can simply ignore your request. I mentioned in another comment you'll often be surprised by friends that do want to help toom friends that you wouldn't expect.
You're right about MVP. We have a lot of ideas for making Spotwag more awesome. We want to make it easier to schedule help on Spotwag than it is to call/email/text a bunch of people.
One of our short term priorities is to bring professionals on board and 2nd degree connections. After speaking of hundreds of pet owners, we feel strongly that finding someone you trust is key and a straight airbnb model wasn't going to work.