When your biannual business event has been satirized by Mike Judge, you need to level up, which is a casual phrase humans say to other humans. And, oh, what a level this year’s TechCrunch Disrupt “Battlefield” showed us. Corruption! Hubris! Exploitation! Investment from Michael Arrington! Butlers! It truly had it all.
The startup that took home a $50,000 is called Alfred because the last tech bubble already took Jeeves. Just as Uber introduced the world to its private driver, Alfred brings butlers to the masses at the low-low-wait-that’s-an-unlivable-wage price of $99/month for weekly home visits.
And The Winner Of TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2014 Is…Alfred! | TechCrunch
After three days and incredible pitches from our 26 Battlefield companies (plus two Audience Choice …
Read on techcrunch.com
But it gets even more absurd, Alfred is a butler that manages your other on-demand startup services. Before companies like Homejoy (book a maid online), Washio (book dry cleaning delivery online), and Instacart (book food delivery online) can prove that they will be profitable, there is already a middleman on top of them. Washio doesn’t even own a dry cleaning operation, its just a service that brings dry cleaning to your door. Alfred says it will “go the extra meter” and move that dry cleaning from your door into your closet or milk to your refrigerator.
The Problem With Profitless Start-ups
Should middle-class retirees be subsidizing my delivery meals and car rides?
Read on nymag.com
It’s middlemen all the way down, people. Startups siphoning off startups. Innovators are now focused on how to make it easier than pressing a button.
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