on-demand services

On-demand laundry has proven a tough business for some. Washio folded up its business last year, selling its assets into competitor Rinse. At the time Rinse’s founder Ajay Prakash told…

A startup called Verifly is making insurance on-demand, and per-flight, available to drone users today with a new mobile app and service that’s been in the works since late 2014.…

I recently posted on Facebook a short rant about digital transformation for established enterprises. The skinny is that there are endless amounts of why and barely no opining on the…

Senator Elizabeth Warren has some choice words for Uber, TaskRabbit, Alfred and all the other companies taking part in the “so-called gig economy,” as she put it in a speech…

Zirx was originally created as an app that let individuals order valet parking service, on-demand. But facing crushing costs, the San Francisco startup recently shifted its focus to the “mobility”…

If the on-demand economy was a young pup in the late 2000s, then it has since evolved into a much more sophisticated animal: strong, resilient and capable of adapting to…

This past year will be remembered as the year of the on-demand economy. For many people, especially those outside of Silicon Valley, it seemed to come out of nowhere. On…

My life just keeps getting easier. These days, I don’t have to run out to the store to replenish my pantry — within an hour, Amazon Now will deliver my…

Over the past several months, a handful of on-demand startups reclassified their independent contractors as employees. Others have publicly acknowledged they’re considering the same move, and have been hailed as…

When it comes to evolution, many focus on those special specimens that survive, known as the “fittest.” But what about the losers? Those that couldn’t adapt and simply fell off…

Most people are familiar with Uber as the ridesharing king; it has taken the world by storm, with much fanfare. Less has been written about its new family member, UberEATS,…

You see them everywhere. Throngs of young and old, men and women, heads down on their smartphones, fingers rapid fire, mouths curling into smiles as they soak up the joy…

Intuit recently released an eye-opening new survey reporting that there are currently 3.2 million American workers who participate in the on-demand economy. By 2020, it’s estimated that there will be…

Parking. It’s an issue that impacts everyone who owns a car. People might not think about it or talk about it, but it certainly can be one of those daily…

While Uber and TaskRabbit have become household names, and the on-demand economy continues to boom, the problem of worker classification continues to bedevil companies in the on-demand marketplace. For new…

Service marketplaces have recently become Silicon Valley darlings. The marketplace model has been a popular way for VCs to efficiently tap into the local economies at scale, specifically the $800…

While companies like iCracked have extensive repair networks allowing you to get a phone or tablet repaired in just hours, getting a laptop repaired normally requires making an appointment, dropping your device…

I’ve always been fascinated by how labor markets work. People are the foundation for how things get done. How we organize across and within companies impacts both creativity and efficiency.…

We recently had the opportunity to participate in two important conferences focused on the future: one on the on-demand economy (On Demand Economy 2015) and the other on mobile communications…

On the heels of Homejoy’s failure, the fundamental “on-demand marketplace” model has come into question by investors, the media and even consumers. That questioning is very relevant, as there has…

Since the days of the horse and buggy, there has been a fundamental relationship between vehicle and driver. The advent of driverless cars will invert this dynamic as we all…

Every region has its evil. In Hollywood, it’s content pirates, and in New York, it’s banking regulators (or Michael Bloomberg if you live outside Manhattan). In Silicon Valley, though, we…

Many fast-growing companies in Silicon Valley have one thing in common: they cater to a small, affluent, urban population — the 1percent. Residents in high-cost cities like San Francisco, New…

The recent ruling by a hearing officer with the California Labor Commission in a case involving an Uber driver is bad public policy. The issue this ruling addresses — whether…

Amid controversy around nail salons following several reports of poor and hazardous working conditions, a startup called Pamper is hoping the moment is right to change how the business works.…

Tech companies old and new are powering an on-demand revolution, letting us get everything from house cleaning, to lunch, to products, to almost literally everything where we want it, when…

With their twelfth batch of companies set to demo to investors and the press next week, 500 Startups is announcing the thirteenth batch of companies to go through its accelerator.

In just a few weeks, Shyp co-founder and CEO Kevin Gibbon will join us at Disrupt to chat about the evolution of on-demand services and the impact easier returns could…

Sprig, a food delivery service that specializes in healthy on-demand meals in San Francisco, has raised $45 million in a funding round led by Social+Capital and Greylock Partners. The company…

America is finally discovering what Asia has known for years: mobile messaging is a commerce platform.