# TaskRabbit: Leah Solivan

- Show: [How I Built This](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this)
- Published: 2022-07-11
- Length: 1h 15m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-07-11-taskrabbit-leah-solivan

## Summary

Leah Solivan, founder of TaskRabbit, explains how a snowy night in Boston inspired her to build a peer-to-peer errand service by leveraging the convergence of mobile, location services, and social media. She details the early engineering challenges, the pivot from a bidding model to a fixed-price 'Book It' model, and the difficult decision to bring in an outside CEO, Eric Gross, which ultimately led to her returning to lead the company through a major restructuring. Solivan also discusses the strategic partnership with IKEA that paved the way for TaskRabbit's acquisition in 2017.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-07-11-taskrabbit-leah-solivan#t=0) Introduction: Leah Solivan and the Origin of TaskRabbit
- [4:15](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-07-11-taskrabbit-leah-solivan#t=255) Engineering Background and the Dog Food Epiphany
- [23:35](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-07-11-taskrabbit-leah-solivan#t=1415) Validating the Idea and Launching the Beta
- [36:19](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-07-11-taskrabbit-leah-solivan#t=2179) Fundraising Struggles and the Facebook Fund Incubator
- [49:36](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-07-11-taskrabbit-leah-solivan#t=2976) Moving to San Francisco and Rebranding to TaskRabbit
- [51:57](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-07-11-taskrabbit-leah-solivan#t=3117) Series A, Hiring Eric Gross, and Scaling Challenges
- [1:07:15](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-07-11-taskrabbit-leah-solivan#t=4035) Product Pivot: From Bidding to the 'Book It' Model
- [1:09:24](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-07-11-taskrabbit-leah-solivan#t=4164) Partnership with IKEA and Acquisition

## Topics

- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)
- [Fundraising & investors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/fundraising)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Growth, exits & acquisitions](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/growth-exits-and-acquisitions)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)

## Most relevant to

founders before launch, early-stage companies, companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- TaskRabbit (product)
- IBM (company)
- ZipCar (company)
- Facebook (company)
- IKEA (company)
- Uber (company)
- Shasta Ventures (company)
- LightSpeed (company)
- Floodgate (company)
- Baseline Ventures (company)
- GoDaddy (company)
- Craigslist (company)
- Tim Ferriss (other)
- Scott Griffith (other)
- Eric Gross (other)
- Kevin (other)
- Brian Leonard (other)
- Todd (other)
- Ann Marico (other)
- Steve Anderson (other)
- John Zimmer (other)

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- [Garrett McCurrach and Canon Reeves (Co-Founders, Pipedream Labs)](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/just-gonna-send-it/2025-12-17-garrett-mccurrach-and-canon-reeves-co-founders-pipedream-labs) (Just Gonna Send It)
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## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-07-11-taskrabbit-leah-solivan. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to How I Built This.