GenieTown Helps You Find Help When Needed

A new startup out of Palo Alto is launching in public beta today named GenieTown. GenieTown hopes to help you find experts which they call Genies when you need help. The help can be for around the house, dog walking, painting, shopping, etc. During the beta, the service will only be available for the San Francisco area.

Back in my early days I ran a computer fixit business in Brooklyn and used a city newspaper to promote my services. GenieTown is attempting to replace the "services" section of local newspapers by moving the transactions online.

I’d like to see them help with the actual financial transaction – take care of the processing through paypal and a merchant agreement to make life easier for those who post their services on GenieTown. By allowing for Paypal usage, it might add incremental service purchases.

You can post a service request, or post your availability in the hopes that someone needs your skills.  “Specialized local services are the last frontier on the Internet,” said Hassan Chafi, CEO of GenieTown. “Much in the same way that eBay created a new market for collectibles and hard to find items, GenieTown is creating a new marketplace that matches unique services, referrals, and the consumers looking for them.”

How is this any different than Kudzu or even Yelp? Also, I was unable to find any business plan so I am unsure if they are using advertising for monetization or if they will eventually charge for posts. Lastly, I tried to grab some screenshots but there was so much test data in there it wasn’t worth it. Just go to the site to check it out.