New App May Potentially Change Fashion Start-Ups Forever

Photo: Hello Alfred 

Uber, TaskRabbit, ZocDoc, Car2Go are just a few brands that appeal to the social-sharing, on-demand economy that is constantly growing around the globe. Just the other day, we reported on Swipecast, which is an app that promises to make models/talent 90 percent of its commission.

Now, two recent business school graduates are hoping that their company will catch fire and change the lives of millions of Americans. Marcela Sapone and Jessica Beck created ‘Hello Alfred’ the smartphone app that connects customers to people to run errands for a moderate pay-for-play model.

Inspired by the World’s Greatest Detective’s butler Alfred Pennyworth, the two graduates started the company in 2013 and hoped to take it all by storm. “We’re taking the cognitive load of thinking about your to-do list out of the equation,” Sapone said. “I want to be defined by ‘I got to go and build an awesome company,’ ‘I got to go to the gym,’ ‘I got to talk to my mom today and to the degree that I have help in my life that lets me do those things.’ I don’t think that is lazy at all,” Beck said.

The Disrupt Battlefield SF winner has raised $12 million plus, set up shop in New York City, and tripled the number of employees on the team. With a service costs ranging from $15 to $42 per week, depending on the number of visits, ‘Hello Alfred’ promotes on-demand services (groceries, laundry, packages, etc.) and coordinates those services through a weekly visit from your very own trusted Alfred.

This person has a set of your keys and over time learns how long it takes for you to go through a carton of milk or where your dry cleaning goes in your closet. Instead of ending up with grocery bags and boxes, you come home to a closet full of clean clothes, a stocked fridge, and sorted mail. More than 4,000 households in New York and Boston are currently using the app, as the company has plans to expand to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Chicago.

Beck and Sapone say that Alfreds go through a very rigorous interview and checking process before becoming a part of the crew. “We bring them into the office for about three hours because they’re in your home and dealing with a lot of kind of private things,” Beck told CBS News. Out of 100 percent of those who apply to become Alfred, only 3 percent are accepted. Those who work full-time receive benefits and a contract.

“A contract is a relationship. And we wanted to have the best possible relationship with the most important people in our business,” Sapone said. This correlation differs from the aforementioned shared-economy, on-demand services, like Uber, who consider their workers independent contractors. “The disadvantage of having them be W-2 employees is simple. It’s cost. It’s more expensive,” NYU Stern School of Business professor Scott Galloway said.

With concern about ‘Hello Alfred’ and its ability to remain afloat in what is becoming an oversaturated, on-demand economy, Galloway says, “Consumers talk a bigger game about social responsibility than their purchases would indicate,” he said. I think their chances of survival are better than most, which puts it at about 1-in-10.” Do you think that having an Alfred will be like having an Instagram or having a Twitter? More than three million workers are already involved in the on-demand economy, and that number could more than double in the next five years.

The industry seems to be making our lives easier, but it also opens an interesting conversation about whether it’s good for the economy.

[via CBS]

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