Ania Smith

Founded in 2008 by Leah Busque Solivan as RunMyErrand, Taskrabbit is a marketplace that connects customers with reliable, skilled “taskers.” These Taskers perform a wide range of work from furniture assembly to home repairs, yard work, and many other tasks. Taskrabbit was acquired by IKEA in 2017 and operates in thousands of cities across the globe.

Ania Smith is an accomplished executive who became CEO of Taskrabbit in 2020. Ania is uniquely suited to guide Taskrabbit in their growth as she is a marketplace veteran with accomplishments that include heading up operations for Uber Eats, Airbnb, and Walmart. At Airbnb, she was passionate about improving the experience for hosts on the platform, and at Uber Eats, she lent her operations expertise to driving excellence on the supply side of the fast growing marketplace.

Importantly, her perspective is also shaped by her experience as the daughter of Eastern European immigrants, who often worked multiple jobs to make ends meet. This gives her an intimate understanding of the supply side of the Taskrabbit marketplace. As someone who knows how difficult it is for hourly workers to achieve the necessary income, Taskrabbit’s mission to connect capable workers with available tasks resonates.

It was so hard to try to manage the hours and always have more hours because they needed money..in some ways, this word can have a negative connotation, but they were really hustling and had these types of platforms existed in the 80s, I know that not just my parents, but their friends and the whole community would have leveraged [them].

_{Source: Ania’s conversation with Kashyap Deorah and Gaurav Deshpande for the leader’s journey meeting for the Top 50 Leaders nomination, March, 2024} 

With such a strong background, it is no wonder that Ania has the top job at Taskrabbit as they navigate the changing requirements of the on-demand economy and bring innovation to the future of work. 

Taskrabbit is a proven leader among on-demand skills marketplaces. Its tenure, expertise, and relationships in the home task arena make it uniquely positioned to provide reliable services to those who need help with various home services. 

Relationship with IKEA 

Taskrabbit was acquired by IKEA in 2017, and their relationship continues to benefit the platform overall. The relationship allows for customers to easily leverage Taskers to assemble recently purchased IKEA furniture. 

Quality of Tasker

Taskrabbit builds trust by ensuring that clients validate the quality of each task. The review system encourages users to rate how each job is completed, so this helps subsequent users know who is doing the task and whether they can be trusted to accomplish the requirements of the specific task.

Scale

Taskrabbit has over 200,000 workers on its platform. With coverage in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Monaco, Taskrabbit has among the widest reach of on-demand marketplaces for gig workers. 

Taskrabbit’s infrastructure processes millions of transactions per day as it connects workers with tasks around the world. From customer support to building relationships with retailers and developing a tech stack to support such a vast footprint, Taskrabbit is a model of success in the on-demand economy and a leader in creating the foundation for the future of gig work.

Taskrabbit’s success depends on how well the platform can support the goals of Taskers. As the supply side of the equation is optimized, the experience for all users of the platform is improved. Since Taskers are the backbone of the Taskrabbit solution, creating opportunities for ownership and autonomy is the future of the platform. What does this look like in practice?  

The platform is constantly evolving to sustain income growth and relevant opportunities for Taskers. As Ania mentions:

Our average hourly wage is over $40 an hour in New York City and the upper 30s. elsewhere. So this is really good. And so today, we find that we're helping Taskers build up their small businesses.

_{Source: Ania’s conversation with Kashyap Deorah and Gaurav Deshpande for the leader’s journey meeting for the Top 50 Leaders nomination, March, 2024}

Taskrabbit spurs the growth of businesses for the Taskers on their platform. Taskers can deliver their services to more people more frequently and this supports the overall health of the platform. 

There is a symbiosis between the autonomy of Taskers and the strength of the Taskrabbit platform. Taskers seek autonomy and a meaningful income; Taskrabbit’s growth strategy is intertwined with meeting both objectives. Accordingly, leadership wants to make matching the Tasker to the right clients at the right time more convenient and cost-effective.  

So that means it's machine learning and AI that can really help think about who is the best Tasker to help you or we know that you just got your TV mounted, who is the best person to help you think about what you may need next. And there are the best ones to support you at the right price and the right location, with the best skills. And I think we're just getting started with that.

_{Source: Ania’s conversation with Kashyap Deorah and Gaurav Deshpande for the leader’s journey meeting for the Top 50 Leaders nomination, March, 2024}

Going forward, AI and machine learning will have a role in making these matches faster based on predictive analysis. With this technology, continued specialization, and evolving relationships with retailers, Taskrabbit is just getting started. With Ania at the helm of this influential marketplace innovator, we look forward to the growth ahead!