Where Are the Uber-Like Services in B2B?
One thing I love about B2B is the opportunity for idea arbitrage: See what’s working in consumer tech, and then implement it in the business world before everyone else does.
Right now, I see this kind of opportunity with Convenience Tech. By this, I mean the rise of on-demand services in the model of Uber.
Go to a website or app, and in minutes you can:
- Hitch a ride via Sidecar
- Line up a landscaper via Zaarly
- Schedule a house cleaning via Exec
- Order dinner via DoorDash
- Get your laundry and dry cleaning done via Washio done, or
- arrange someone to watch your dog while you’re away via DogVacay
There are dozens, maybe hundreds, of Convenience Tech startups emerging in this vein.
Where’s the B2B equivalent? I mean, have you tried finding a lawyer or accountant or bookkeeper lately? It’s true that TaskRabbit is beginning to target SMBs. If you look hard enough, there are a few emerging business services that fit the Convenience Tech model: Codeable.io (find a Wordpress developer), Scripted (get a blog post written), LeadGeni.us, and Zirtual (get a personal assistant). However, these are few and far between; they tend to be oriented to very small businesses; and they’re typically not mobile in orientation. Contrast this to the spread of SaaS to every conceivable software niche.
There’s no shortage of business services niches with huge markets. Plenty of BPO and managed service businesses already exist in the marketplace, but the best of the current generation look like Bookkeeping Express — the equivalent of a pre-Uber taxi cab company. In my view, they’re ripe for disruption.
So what would Convenience Tech business apps look like? They’d obviously fill different needs but would share the same characteristics as their B2C counterparts:
- Intense focus on an instant and friction-free user experience
- Mobile + web orientation
- Focus on very discrete needs or tasks
- Systematized, process-driven workflow
- In some cases, an element of a marketplace where buyer and sellers can connect
From a business model perspective, Convenience Tech may not be as attractive as SaaS. But the use cases are manifold; the markets are big and well-defined; and the tech requirements are less intense.
The opportunity is wide open.