The rise of information technology is enabling the gig economy, where transactions can be easily conducted externally, leading to a shrinking optimal size of firms and the emergence of startups that carve out niches from larger companies.

We ran a test comparing DoorDash drivers and Uber drivers, offering them the same pay, but found that the groups were very different and self-selected based on their preferences. Almost 60% of DoorDash drivers, known as Dashers, are women, and they come from diverse backgrounds, including retail and service jobs, often using scooters or bicycles for deliveries instead of cars.

Companies like Instacart and DoorDash found success in markets that larger tech firms like Google were not interested in pursuing.

I want to explore the human element behind services like TaskRabbit and Uber, questioning how much human interaction is involved and how it affects the user experience.

Technology is rapidly changing urban life, with companies like Uber and Airbnb transforming how people live, and cities that resist this change will fall behind.

The culture of automation and employment is changing rapidly at big tech companies, indicating a shift towards AI-driven labor.

By automating services, we can reclaim our time to do the things we love, similar to how Uber allowed people to stop driving themselves.

In the beginning, Uber was a lifestyle service for a select group of friends, requiring a special code to access the app, which led to explosive viral growth as users shared it with others.

Three trends make it the perfect time to build a home service platform: pervasive technology, increasing comfort with outsourcing, and the rise of the freelance economy.