“I was the first TaskRabbit”

So let's talk some more about the beginnings of TaskRabbit because again, this was before Uber when most of us thought it was kind of weird to get into a stranger's car, right?

Yes, yes. And so when you were approaching funders for TaskRabbit, were there people who just looked at you and thought, are you nuts?

I mean having some stranger come to your house to run errands for you? LEAH: All the time.

I mean those early days, 2008, 2009, you know, I was living in Boston. I had a little 49cc Honda Metropolitan scooter, I'd ride around Boston doing errands on for TaskRabbit. And I'd...

Oh, you did the errands yourself?

I was the first TaskRabbit.

What kinds of errands were you doing?

I was picking up drycleaning. I was picking up groceries. I was mailing packages. I mean, I remember vividly kind of trucking around Boston on this little scooter. And I also remember trucking around to all these investor meetings on the scooter. And you know, those early days were tough because in 2008, we had just had this huge economic downturn, right? Everyone was being laid off. The stock market had crashed. Investors were not investing. No one was writing checks to early stage you know, technology companies, particularly in the Boston area for consumer businesses. And so it was a really, really tough time to be raising money. But I think, you know I just kind of realized that this was the best time to start a company like TaskRabbit because it really changed the way people looked at working. It changed the way they were able to make money. And so I stayed the course. And eventually, you know it snowballed into what it is today.