March 19, 2025 • 8 mins
Paul Corvino sits down with the CEO of Airtasker's, Tim Fung. Airtasker is a community marketplace where people can post tasks they need done and "Taskers" offer to complete them, connecting those seeking help with local service providers for a variety of tasks.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is CEOs you should know with division president of iHeartMedia,
Paul Corvino. Today I have the honor and privilege of
talking with Tim Funk, the CEO of air Tasko, an
app that allows you to post any task and get
it done. Welcome Tim, Thanks for having Paul. So give
me a sample of what type of jobs are posted,
(00:22):
what type of needs are people posting, and then what
type of people are responding.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
So the top five categories are things like cleaning, gardening,
handyman jobs, moving homes and furniture assembly like off an
Ikea or you know.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
I need this task. I need someone to come over
with the two bucks.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
That's right. So those are the top five categories, but
I think they make up about half the marketplace. The
other half of the marketplace is all of this crazy
stuff that you can't even really imagine. So, you know,
the Billie Eilish concert was on, and so people were saying, Hey,
I need people to line up to get me Billie
Eilish concert tickets, or I need you to line up
(01:02):
to get me merch for the for the store, or
you know, here in LA people might be like, I
Magnolia Bakery, he's got a new new dessert coming out.
I want you to go and fetch some of that
and deliver it to me. So the other half of
our marketplace is the weird and wonderful bits that you know,
really only a tasker can help you with.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Give me example some of the some of the unique.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Things, name my second child we've had. You know, I've
got seven dogs that need to be trained, and so
I'm willing to pay six thousand dollars to have someone
train my seven my seven dogs who really don't like cats.
That was the side information that was provided. We've had
(01:46):
someone in La who really needed someone to decorate their
house to get rid of the horrible juju. And recently
we've had a spate of people saying, I'm really scared
of rats and mice, and so I want to task
her to come over and get rid of that pesky
rat that's in my driveway.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
It's interesting. So it's hair for the more traditional and
then the other hair for more unique.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yeah, and I'd say that unique stuff is really where
it's really only Air Taska that can help you with this.
You know, like if you need someone to just get
rid of a rap in your driveway and you're willing
to pay forty dollars for that. There aren't too many
places to go to for that, and so you know,
air task ends up kind of getting famous for those
for those kinds of jobs.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Okay, so now you've got got this business growing, you're profitable,
you're in Australia.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
What year is this?
Speaker 1 (02:33):
This is twenty twenty, twenty twenty COVID hits. How does
that affect you?
Speaker 2 (02:38):
So we saw about a thirty percent drop day on
day when the lockdown's happened, and I remember getting together.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
With surprisingly thirty percent if people can't leave and go
to do a task.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yeah, I mean we I sat down with our border
and we were getting ready for it to go to
zero because we were like, you know, it should go
to zero. What it turns out is that it's really
cool when you run a community platform because rather than
us having to adapt, the community adapts to the situation.
And so what we noticed is that things like domestic cleaning.
No one wanted, you know, a cleaner in their home
(03:12):
whilst the lockdowns were happening, but people needed help to
do shopping deliveries. You know, if they couldn't leave the home,
they needed shopping. People were working from home, so they
needed home I set up. There were a lot of
like remote fitness trainers, so companies were posting up, is
I want someone on Airtasker to teach a remote fitness
class because all of my staff are are working home
(03:34):
and we want to be together. And so we realized that.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
There's always an opportunity, yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
That the entrepreneurs in our community would sort of sort
it out for us.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
And so so you're an entrepreneur and a business that
helps entrepreneurs totally.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
I mean we're basically just here to like inspire other
people to be creative about how they could use air
Tasker to you know, either help them build a business.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Now you're expanding two other countries, what's the next stup?
Speaker 2 (04:02):
So the first stop was we are we launched in
London and so I guess the big learning there was
we've done this you know, media for equity television deal
in Australia, and we said, hey, we want to go
and do this again in in in London. And so
we we partnered up with Channel four, which is one
(04:24):
of the big TV networks in in the UK, and
you know, they're great to have as a shareholder and
they're helping us on the mission to build our Task
in the UK before coming here to the US. It's
been a really interesting journey here in the US. You know,
the US is you know most Americans know is you know,
lots and lots of different communities and cultures together. And
(04:48):
so we've tried a lot of different things here and
here in the US, but our current focus has been
on growing here in Los Angeles. And the reason why
we're doing LA and target being you know, the Angelino
market is because you know, it's really the taste maker
for the rest of the country. And so if we
(05:08):
if we're here to like inspire people about what they
can do. It's great to convince the Angelinos that this
is a good way of doing stuff, because you know
they're gonna.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Angelina's find the service. Where where did they go to?
What's the u r L.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
It's dub dub dub dot air Tasker dot com or
you can download our app in the Apple or Android
app stores.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
The air Task app.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
That's right. So it's pretty Yeah, it's a it's been
a good start here in l A. I think what
we're seeing out here is that people have some really
creative uses of the platform. You know that getting at
getting rid of a dead mouse is you know, is
an l a special cleaning the negative.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Do they charge per rent?
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Yes, it's a per rup basis at the moment, you know,
but I think we're going to see an explosion of
removal task.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Is.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
One of the things about air task is it's really transparent.
You can see all the tasks that are happening around you.
And so when one person posts up a rap removal task,
we see lots of people copy that task and realize
what they.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Said once again, give it a list of some of
the more traditional tasks.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
A honeyman, someone to help with furniture assembly, moving homes,
cleaning and gardening. That's the really standard stuff. Pot come
and test us. We can we can do lots of
stuff with it.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
So if you went to Ikea and you need to
have that uh that entertainment said put together, go to
air tasker dot com. If you need to rat me
move from your driveway, go to air tasker dot com.
If you need someone to come and help you decorate
your home, go to air desker dot com. Right now,
(06:50):
I have I just got a text from my wife
this morning that the blinds just came down in my
living room, which I've been trying. I've been putting up
trying to repair my You did it yourself. I tried to,
it didn't it didn't hold. So I need to go
to air Tasker and I will be able to find
someone that can do that repair for absolutely.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
That is actually a classic. Why don't we hear a
lot about, you know, wives calling in about their husbands
who refused to outsource or refused to find.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
The husbands who broke it and made it worse.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
That's right. In fact, I got a picture of a
fellow founder in Sydney who sent me a picture of
a guy in a hospital with the whole hand wrapped up,
and she said he tried to assemble some feature himself
and has seven off his finger. I told him to
use air Taskar and why did he not use air Taskar.
(07:40):
You need to convince my husband to do that.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Well, thank you Tim. Once again we were here with
Tim Fung, the CEO of air Tasker. It's in an
app that allows you to post any task and get
it done. Like I said, if you need a task done,
go to air tasker dot com. Thank you so much,
Tim for being on with us. This is Paul Corvino,
Division President iHeartMedia saying thank you for listening to another
(08:05):
episode of CEOs you Should Know.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Listen to CEOs you Should Know on the iHeartRadio app
This is CEOs you should know with division president of iHeartMedia,
Paul Corvino. Today I have the honor and privilege of
talking with Tim Funk, the CEO of air Tasko, an
app that allows you to post any task and get
it done. Welcome Tim, Thanks for having Paul. So give
me a sample of what type of jobs are posted,
(00:22):
what type of needs are people posting, and then what
type of people are responding.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
So the top five categories are things like cleaning, gardening,
handyman jobs, moving homes and furniture assembly like off an
Ikea or you know.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
I need this task. I need someone to come over
with the two bucks.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
That's right. So those are the top five categories, but
I think they make up about half the marketplace. The
other half of the marketplace is all of this crazy
stuff that you can't even really imagine. So, you know,
the Billie Eilish concert was on, and so people were saying, Hey,
I need people to line up to get me Billie
Eilish concert tickets, or I need you to line up
(01:02):
to get me merch for the for the store, or
you know, here in LA people might be like, I
Magnolia Bakery, he's got a new new dessert coming out.
I want you to go and fetch some of that
and deliver it to me. So the other half of
our marketplace is the weird and wonderful bits that you know,
really only a tasker can help you with.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Give me example some of the some of the unique.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Things, name my second child we've had. You know, I've
got seven dogs that need to be trained, and so
I'm willing to pay six thousand dollars to have someone
train my seven my seven dogs who really don't like cats.
That was the side information that was provided. We've had
(01:46):
someone in La who really needed someone to decorate their
house to get rid of the horrible juju. And recently
we've had a spate of people saying, I'm really scared
of rats and mice, and so I want to task
her to come over and get rid of that pesky
rat that's in my driveway.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
It's interesting. So it's hair for the more traditional and
then the other hair for more unique.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yeah, and I'd say that unique stuff is really where
it's really only Air Taska that can help you with this.
You know, like if you need someone to just get
rid of a rap in your driveway and you're willing
to pay forty dollars for that. There aren't too many
places to go to for that, and so you know,
air task ends up kind of getting famous for those
for those kinds of jobs.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Okay, so now you've got got this business growing, you're profitable,
you're in Australia.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
What year is this?
Speaker 1 (02:33):
This is twenty twenty, twenty twenty COVID hits. How does
that affect you?
Speaker 2 (02:38):
So we saw about a thirty percent drop day on
day when the lockdown's happened, and I remember getting together.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
With surprisingly thirty percent if people can't leave and go
to do a task.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yeah, I mean we I sat down with our border
and we were getting ready for it to go to
zero because we were like, you know, it should go
to zero. What it turns out is that it's really
cool when you run a community platform because rather than
us having to adapt, the community adapts to the situation.
And so what we noticed is that things like domestic cleaning.
No one wanted, you know, a cleaner in their home
(03:12):
whilst the lockdowns were happening, but people needed help to
do shopping deliveries. You know, if they couldn't leave the home,
they needed shopping. People were working from home, so they
needed home I set up. There were a lot of
like remote fitness trainers, so companies were posting up, is
I want someone on Airtasker to teach a remote fitness
class because all of my staff are are working home
(03:34):
and we want to be together. And so we realized that.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
There's always an opportunity, yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
That the entrepreneurs in our community would sort of sort
it out for us.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
And so so you're an entrepreneur and a business that
helps entrepreneurs totally.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
I mean we're basically just here to like inspire other
people to be creative about how they could use air
Tasker to you know, either help them build a business.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Now you're expanding two other countries, what's the next stup?
Speaker 2 (04:02):
So the first stop was we are we launched in
London and so I guess the big learning there was
we've done this you know, media for equity television deal
in Australia, and we said, hey, we want to go
and do this again in in in London. And so
we we partnered up with Channel four, which is one
(04:24):
of the big TV networks in in the UK, and
you know, they're great to have as a shareholder and
they're helping us on the mission to build our Task
in the UK before coming here to the US. It's
been a really interesting journey here in the US. You know,
the US is you know most Americans know is you know,
lots and lots of different communities and cultures together. And
(04:48):
so we've tried a lot of different things here and
here in the US, but our current focus has been
on growing here in Los Angeles. And the reason why
we're doing LA and target being you know, the Angelino
market is because you know, it's really the taste maker
for the rest of the country. And so if we
(05:08):
if we're here to like inspire people about what they
can do. It's great to convince the Angelinos that this
is a good way of doing stuff, because you know
they're gonna.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Angelina's find the service. Where where did they go to?
What's the u r L.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
It's dub dub dub dot air Tasker dot com or
you can download our app in the Apple or Android
app stores.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
The air Task app.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
That's right. So it's pretty Yeah, it's a it's been
a good start here in l A. I think what
we're seeing out here is that people have some really
creative uses of the platform. You know that getting at
getting rid of a dead mouse is you know, is
an l a special cleaning the negative.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Do they charge per rent?
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Yes, it's a per rup basis at the moment, you know,
but I think we're going to see an explosion of
removal task.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Is.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
One of the things about air task is it's really transparent.
You can see all the tasks that are happening around you.
And so when one person posts up a rap removal task,
we see lots of people copy that task and realize
what they.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Said once again, give it a list of some of
the more traditional tasks.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
A honeyman, someone to help with furniture assembly, moving homes,
cleaning and gardening. That's the really standard stuff. Pot come
and test us. We can we can do lots of
stuff with it.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
So if you went to Ikea and you need to
have that uh that entertainment said put together, go to
air tasker dot com. If you need to rat me
move from your driveway, go to air tasker dot com.
If you need someone to come and help you decorate
your home, go to air desker dot com. Right now,
(06:50):
I have I just got a text from my wife
this morning that the blinds just came down in my
living room, which I've been trying. I've been putting up
trying to repair my You did it yourself. I tried to,
it didn't it didn't hold. So I need to go
to air Tasker and I will be able to find
someone that can do that repair for absolutely.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
That is actually a classic. Why don't we hear a
lot about, you know, wives calling in about their husbands
who refused to outsource or refused to find.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
The husbands who broke it and made it worse.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
That's right. In fact, I got a picture of a
fellow founder in Sydney who sent me a picture of
a guy in a hospital with the whole hand wrapped up,
and she said he tried to assemble some feature himself
and has seven off his finger. I told him to
use air Taskar and why did he not use air Taskar.
(07:40):
You need to convince my husband to do that.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Well, thank you Tim. Once again we were here with
Tim Fung, the CEO of air Tasker. It's in an
app that allows you to post any task and get
it done. Like I said, if you need a task done,
go to air tasker dot com. Thank you so much,
Tim for being on with us. This is Paul Corvino,
Division President iHeartMedia saying thank you for listening to another
(08:05):
episode of CEOs you Should Know.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Listen to CEOs you Should Know on the iHeartRadio app
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