[Please treat all information shared in this blog as privileged, private and confidential.]
This post is to share about the fundamental concepts of my business venture, where I see it going, and some of the hypotheses that we’ll inevitably have to test. If you’re interested how I got here, I wrote a preceding post about the background for my career change. (Though, many of you know about this part already).
The Name
My intention for a longer-term brand name is one I’m holding a bit closer to the vest, as it’ll be a bit more common of a phrase and the domain will cost me more money than I’m willing to spend at this juncture. After we secure a bit of funding, it may make sense to buy the domain and start the process of branding the property and building up its search authority.
For the time being, we have a cheap domain called “DIYwithHelp” that we will use to launch our MVP. My eldest daughter Rael came up with this, framed in a question, “what are you going to call your business? Like ‘DIYwithHelp’ or something?” And sure enough, that domain name was available for $12. So, yes Rael. We are going to call it that. For now.
The Idea
The essence of the idea is a marketplace, connecting Do-It-Yourselfers (DIYers) with experts who can help them with their projects via a video-chat consultation. These sites are becoming more common across sectors, think “BetterHelp” for online counseling or “intro.co” for executive-business coaching.
Our idea was born from FaceTiming my always resourceful father-in-law, who found it much easier to give me project advice when I was using the phone camera vs. a typical audio call. After one of these calls, it was obvious to me that creating this service would have widespread appeal. Upon doing initial research, the underlying behaviors and drivers for this business need are incredibly well-established:
- ~33% of Americans flirt with DIY Projects in a year
- 45% of DIY projects end in failure
- 56% of Americans called their parents for how-to instructions
The Competition
I have always felt this idea sat in the middle of a use-case of searching for the perfect solution how-to video on YouTube on one extreme and completing outsourcing the project to professional on the other side. So in that way, there are large established behemoths that offer substitute services.
In a more direct fashion, there are a handful of startups that seem to have a similar concept to mine. These are www.prohow.com, www.diy.coach, and the recently prominent frontdoor.com. The latter, frondoor.com, is owned by a public company that has done home-warranty services for year. They have even started to advertise their offering with expensive TV ad spots ahead of their app launch, which is an oddity in most consumer-internet ventures that start with more digital and word-of-mouth marketing investments.
After I took a couple deep breaths, I reminded myself that a little competition is a healthy thing. These companies can help educate the market, especially since one so intent on spending early on mass-audience advertising. Also, we all seem to have a bit of a different approach. My so far unique approach to launch a marketplace should prove to be the winning model, but getting to scale will be a bit harder up front.
The Vision
I’ve mentioned the phrase “marketplace” a few times, which is a bit of a jargony business word. If you’re unfamiliar, think of ebay.com or even a flea market. It’s a place where buyers and sellers come together. My goal is to attract as many DIY experts or tradespeople such as painters, plumbers, handymen, smart-Tech experts, gardeners, etc. These are the sellers of our marketplace. I’ll allow them to brand themselves, to develop profile pages describing their specializations and the depth of their experience. I’ll let them charge whatever they want to charge, and if the buyer is willing, a scheduled consultation will occur at the seller’s price point. My platform would charge a % fee from the seller.
I believe, eventually, I will find a critical mass of sellers across categories to build out this platform. Underlying economic incentives should play a part. I think a buyer would easily pay anywhere from $20-$100 for a valuable 20-minute conversation that can save their home-projects. Note, since DIY sizable renovation projects can average around $6k! So a $50 call should be a drop in the bucket, if we do a good job of marketing it as such.
For the seller, that phone call on an hourly basis means they could be netting $60-$300/hr. (before fees)! The average tradesperson in the United States makes between $40k-$70k depending on their craft.
Besides the economic incentives for the seller, the desire (or need) to earn money from the comfort of one’s home vs. being under a foundation could be equally motivating. In addition, I’m sure we’ll also find the good-hearted individuals who simply like connecting with, and helping others. Getting a deeper understanding of these motivations will help us attract and retain this seller base. The buyers should be a bit more straight-forward of a marketing challenge, once we get over the awareness hurdle. But, we obviously have a lot to learn along the way.
Ultimately, I see this marketplace expanding. I see it expanding horizontally, taking on more and more categories of subject-matter. Anything from hobby-oriented topics like bicycle repair to knitting. Further, I think there will be a bigger prize once we’ve established the expert-video business in referring local professionals when a job gets too hard. A tagline like the following could be very powerful “could we not help you with your project? Let us book you a professional in your area, and we can refund you your video-consultation fee.”
To summarize, I’m quite bullish on the numerous opportunities for a successful outcome on this one. Which is good, as it keeps me motivated. More to come…