Marco Zappacosta explains Thumbtack's shift from a hiring platform to a proactive home-care partner that guides homeowners on maintenance and planning. The company is moving upstream to reach customers before they need tradespeople, since home jobs are infrequent and high-ticket unlike commodity services.
Chapters
And, you know, you guys made the big announcement as far as the new era for Thumbtack. So could you maybe share a little bit more about that with us?
Yeah. So I described one of our bets and then I got distracted and I didn't describe the second one. And so fulfillment is kind of the evergreen strategy on helping people hire more efficiently. But something that we came to believe over the last couple of years and ultimately sort of really took to heart was that we have to do more for our homeowners, for our customers, in that if it's simply just an easy place to hire, we're likely not going to earn all of the projects and needs that they have. And really what we're going to earn is, is the, the emergency jobs, right? Something broke, something's in need. I need a solution. Let me go to Thumbtack and find a pro. But that doesn't cover all of a homeowner's needs because there's a bunch of stuff that they're trying to think through proactively and to help them do those types of jobs when it comes to, you know, maintenance and also home improvement, we likely need to meet them earlier in the funnel. And so what you see us having launched in April, beginning of April, is kind of the next evolution of the Thumbtack consumer experience where it's no longer just a place to hire. but really a partner to you in the care of your home, providing personalized guidance around the home maintenance you could and should be doing. And through that, a way to sort of plan and get things done proactively and not just reactively. And that's been, been huge. It's a couple of years in the making. You know, it's kind of scary to shift the whole value prop of the business to the customer kind of mid-flight. But we think it's critical and it's really critical to earn us kind of a broader share of wallet. You know, our challenge, which I'm sure is true of some of your marketplaces, is simply in just frequency of use, right? Huge ticket. You compare us, I did this at some point, you know, the average Uber ride is about $18. They're earning about like, you know, $1.40 in terms of gross profit to them per ride. Our average job is about $1,000. So it's just a totally different mental purchasing process. Right. And through that, something that doesn't happen nearly as often as an Uber ride. And not surprisingly, sort of Uber being the other end of the spectrum, it's a pure commodity. The only thing that matters is low price and fast availability. That's basically it. You have no real loyalty besides that. And then we're on the other side where, you know, yes, you care about efficiency. Yes, you care about convenience. But you also want to know, hey, am I being a smart homeowner? Am I doing the right proactive maintenance? Am I getting a good deal? Am I being savvy? And that is sort of a different need to solve. And that's why, yeah, home care is, is the new Thumbtack.
