Two College Students Want to Cross Errands off Your To-Do List

approved - May 15, 2015 /MarketersMEDIA/ —

Finding a trusted second hand or errand runner isn't the most fun, and is definitely hard to do. Busy Bee, founded by college students Zachary Hurdle and Matt McCullough of University of St. Thomas and University of Minnesota, want to make sure the people of Twin Cities have access to just such a person.

Their site pairs "do-ers," aptly called bees, with people who want new ways to better manage their time. Busy Bee aims to have more than 100 runners by 2016, a few months after the planned launch, all of which will undergo rigorous background and reference checks.

Busy Bee wants to keep things simple. Submit a task or errand - like assembling furniture, jump-starting a car, or grocery shopping - and within minutes a personal assistant perfect for the job shows up.

"This model exists in many other cities, but the Twin Cities is often an afterthought because of how vast the metro area is," said co-founder Zachary Hurdle. "BiteSquad has seen tremendous success in duplicating Seamless's model locally. We think we can do the same.”

Their revenue model is simple, and they plan to take a 10 to 30 percent cut from each paid task. To assemble a new Ikea bedroom set for $100, Busy Bee makes $22 while the bee gets the remaining $78.

Bees range from 18-year-old students to retired mechanics. “The students are our top priority,” McCullough said. “We want to allow college students to embrace the peer-to-peer economy, especially now that it’s becoming more prevalent.”

The bees will be independent laborers, rather than employees or contractors. Both Hurdle and McCullough said that they are ready to earn the trust of the Twin Cities.

When asked how they intend to create safe work practices for the bees, Hurdle said, “Our top concern is the safety of both our customers and our staff. We are looking into AirBnB's model [for vetting renters].”

From a technical perspective, Busy Bee has teamed up with some startup veterans to help them handle the large volume of errant requests, invoices, and payment handling. "We've handed over our technology needs to Josh Brody and his team of consultants at ViableType ... they have a proven track record of helping first-time entrepreneurs like ourselves and have been instrumental in helping us make this happen," Hurdle said.

Busy Bee is projected to launch by the end of the summer 2015. "Just in time for the snow," Hurdle joked.

Release ID: 81812