How Taskrabbit is Changing Work | Fortune Daily

0:00Allyson Shontell: AI can write your resume, but can it mount a television? TaskRabbit CEO Ania Smith says that hanging TVs and building shelves are still a job for humans. Her company handled three million tasks last year alone, but as AI reshapes desk jobs, hands-on work is also getting re-evaluated. And with robots learning household tasks, how long does that human advantage really last? Hello from beautiful Santa Barbara, where it's day two of the Fortune Most Powerful Women's Summit. I'm Ellie Austin, and this is Fortune Daily.

0:42Allyson Shontell: Anya, thank you so much for joining us at NPW this year. Thank you for having me. So TaskRabbit has grown enormously since you took over as CEO in 2020. What do you attribute that growth to?

0:55Ania Smith: I think this is the case with everything. Of course, some of the things that we're doing have been really helpful. And then there's obviously just a little bit of luck, too. Right after the pandemic, as you can remember, everyone needed to stay home. And people did a lot of work to make their home space be just a little bit more comfortable. And TaskRabbit was right there to help them do that. So, you know, that was a lucky break to start off my journey at TaskRabbit. But since then, we've just done a lot of work in really improving how we match our taskers to our clients so that there is a greater possibility that the project is going to be just extraordinary and done really well.

1:40Ania Smith: We also have deepened our partnership with IKEA. Which owns you. Which owns us. And so that has been, you know, just an amazing amount of growth. we made it very easy for customers to be able to check out and order assembly. It's about 20 some percent of our business so it's a large portion and having a very strong partner like IKEA has been really helpful but we've also started working with other partners including Wayfair and few others and so that has also fueled our growth. There's been multiple multiple reasons.

2:17Allyson Shontell: There's a lot I want to pick up on there but first of all tell me what a match made in heaven on TaskRabbit look like? You talked about matching taskers with customers. Take me inside that and how you do it.

2:27Ania Smith: Yeah. So it's really, so many components come into it. We want to make sure first and foremost that the tasker has the skills that you need, right? So if you're trying to get furniture assembled, they're really good at that. But if you need your TV mounted, they're really, really good at that and have done that a lot. We want to make sure that they provide the right value, right? They're priced correctly. We want to make sure that they're nearby so it works out better for the tasker and the client, that they're available at the time that you're going to be home. So there's so many components that make them match really important.

3:01Allyson Shontell: Right now TaskRabbit is a very human-centric business in that you have a tasker, a human tasker, come to your home and help you. One thing we talk about a lot on this show is the advancement of humanoid robots and how they are becoming more dexterous all the time and how the future of factory work, for example, could really revolve around them. How are you thinking about that at TaskRabbit? Is there a future where your workforce is part robot, part human? But we're thinking less about the robots because

3:31Ania Smith: it does still seem very far away that a robot is going to be delivered to your home, is going to be able to unpack your brand new TV, it's going to be able to take down your old TV and then change out the entire mechanism in order to mount your new TV, dispose of the old TV, drive it to wherever it needs to drive it to, and then dispose of all the waste and junk around it. We're still very, very far away from that. It doesn't mean that we're not aware that these things are going on and it's, you know, at some point down the line, but we've been in this sort of future world of we're going to have robots that can do this for a long time.

4:14Ania Smith: And I just don't see it actually moving that fast.

4:17Allyson Shontell: Let's talk about the taskers a bit themselves. So we're seeing lots of headlines right now about AI eating away at traditional white collar entry level work and young people really having to rethink what their higher education and employment paths might look like. We've covered on the show the fact that trades are in many ways seen as the safer bet at this moment. Are you seeing more young people show up on the platform as taskers?

4:41Ania Smith: We're just seeing more people.

4:43Allyson Shontell: Give me a sense of demographics.

4:45Ania Smith: Last year, we had almost a million people apply to be taskers onto our platform. And that number has really grown every single year. And that's because we provide a platform that just allows for so much flexibility and autonomy. You set your own rate and you decide which tasks you are really good at, and those are the jobs that we provide. I do think that, you know, more than almost more than half of the U.S. working population is in some ways doing gig economy or some contractor work, and that number we've also seen grown, not just in the trades, but, you know, also in many other professions.

5:30Ania Smith: And so we foresee that trend to continue, especially as white-collar work is, you know, in some sense right now being maybe questioned a little bit. Today, we just see more young people doing it as a space to fill time in between, maybe in between class, in between schoolwork or in between other jobs. And I do feel that they find a sense of security in the platform.

6:03Allyson Shontell: So on that note, obviously TaskRabbit corporate employees have dental, health, insurance. They have all of that. But taskers who are gig economy workers don't have those benefits. So what do you tell a tasker who is looking to get those needs met?

6:18Ania Smith: Yeah, so I think the way our labor laws have been made, they were made for the world that doesn't exist today. They were sort of made for the nine-to-five job. And as I just mentioned, so many people are now really mixing and matching how they do work. And some of them, it means that they do gig economy work full-time. So we believe as part of that environment, we really need to work hard with our state and regulatory authorities, with taskers and the community at large, to create an environment where there are opportunities for taskers and for other gig workers to be able to buy affordable health care and affordable benefits.

7:03Ania Smith: While at TaskRabbit, we can provide them with the autonomy and the way to set their own rates, and that's really what we focus on, because, you know, if you can charge$100 an hour or even more, it gives you a little bit more flexibility when you think about some of your benefits. And so that's what we're focused on, but very much so want to work with the broader community to give people an environment where they can feel safe and secure because not everyone anymore works in a sort of traditional corporate environment that, you know, perhaps you and I are in. And I think it's really important

7:42Allyson Shontell: So what are some things you're doing right now to try and advance those conversations with states and regulatory bodies?

7:47Ania Smith: So, I mean, we just met with Governor Hochul last week in New York. We're talking all the time to state regulators because, honestly, a lot of it ends up being today at a state level as opposed to a federal level. And so we, in California, we continue working with state legislators because we do believe that there is definitely space as the world is changing to provide greater benefits for gig economy workers as a whole.

8:19Allyson Shontell: I want to talk a bit about you. So before stepping into the CEO role at TaskRabbit, you actually made the bold decision to, you were leaving Airbnb at the time, and you took an adult gap year with your family. You spent some time in Asia and in Argentina. And in Argentina. And I've heard you say that you left that year with a real sense of what you wanted your leadership to look like. Tell me a bit about why you needed to take that time off, first of all.

8:44Ania Smith: I just felt that, you know, living in a Bay Area, we are in such a rat race at all times. It seems that we're on a cutting edge at the time, you know, marketplaces were the thing to be. That's where my love still is because I came back to marketplaces. But, you know, now, of course, it's the AI world. I just felt that, you know, at the core of things, what's really important to me is my family. And it's going to be harder to do this later in my career. So actually at the height of the career, it seems like not the right time to do it. But I had so much faith in what we have done and what contribution I can continue to make that I felt that what we are going to gain as a family and what I will gain as a leader, what my husband will gain also as a leader and then us as a couple and marriage together is so beneficial and it has proven to be so beneficial.

9:42Allyson Shontell: Did you have any reticence in explaining that year off to future employers? I mean, when you were talking to TaskRabbit, did anyone say, hey, what the hell were you doing for those 12 months? Because that's something the average worker does think about.

9:54Ania Smith: You know, by the time I got to TaskRabbit, not so much because, as I said, we were in a pandemic years. And so the concept of gap year had become much more common. But when I was leaving Airbnb, there were many, many people, and some of whom are just great mentors, you know, that talk to me like it's going to be very hard for you to explain a gap in your resume for one year. But for some reason, I felt like, well, actually, no. I actually think it's good to take a moment to breathe, to realign, to think about what is my purpose, and to have that space. It's so hard. When you have three little kids and you're working full-time in a high-pressure job, there's just a lot going on.

10:37Ania Smith: It's really hard to take a moment to be grateful and have some grace. And so I think I haven't found that to be the case.

10:47Allyson Shontell: We've talked about the massive expansion that TaskRabbit has experienced in recent years. But tell me a bit about the biggest business issue or challenge that you have to solve for right now to take the company to the next level.

10:58Ania Smith: I think right now we're all trying to figure out how is customer behavior changing. So, you know, obviously for a couple years now we've been talking about LLMs and what's going to happen. But today with dots and instinct and muse and understanding how customer behavior will look like in five years, it's really difficult to predict because, of course, five years ago no one was talking about having this personal assistant who can just go directly, for example, to our site and book a tasker. So really I'm spending a lot of time thinking about what does it mean for TaskRabbit? What does it mean for our brand?

11:40Ania Smith: What does it mean for our taskers? How are we going to stand out and showcase the fact that we believe our taskers are the best in the industry and that they are the highest skilled people who can really solve your problems in the home? and that is sort of top of mind for me and one of the biggest challenges I think we have to try to figure out especially as the world is so uncertain and the industry is changing so quickly trying to keep up with that it's been fun but also challenging fun and exhausting at the same time I would imagine

12:15Allyson Shontell: and yeah it's a pleasure to talk to you enjoy the rest of the summit well thank you so much I'm very excited to be here as always thank you up next Fortune Executive Editorial Director Diane Brady sits down with Wendy Barnes, the CEO and President of GoodRx, the CEO source.

12:35Ruth Porat: So, Wendy, you are on the front lines of one of the hottest issues in healthcare, which is drug prices. And a lot has happened in the last two years that you've been in this role. Let's start with your sense as to where are we? That's a big question, Diane. Good morning and thank you for having me. Well, I think where we are is that consumers are more informed than they've ever been as it pertains to drug pricing. But I would also note there's still a lot to learn, specifically as it relates to why should we even be asking what a best price is? Why should we even be comfortable or uncomfortable with what our insurance is or isn't paying for?

13:14Ruth Porat: But more broadly, as I step back, I think about the journey that the regulatory landscape has taken, which is this is one of the few issues that I think has bipartisan support on any given day that's saying something in our current culture. Let me go to the direct-to-consumer model. Does health insurance even matter anymore? I think it does, candidly. I mean, I think there are things that need to be reviewed. I think there are things from an adjudication standpoint, networks of physician, credentialing. There are things to do with health care that you want oversight over. You want to make sure that the physicians that you're going to see, in fact, are qualified to be in your network to see you.

13:56Ruth Porat: There are things, I think, just from a safety standpoint that do matter. But what we also know is as these costs continue to go up and up and up, there's only so much that your insurance can do for you. And what it shouldn't do is limit your ability to choose something that potentially could be less expensive, but that for whatever reason, whether it's a high deductible plan, whether it's a percentage copay, whether it was your employer that simply had to make some decisions around what they could and couldn't cover, you should still be able to get that care without playing a detective to figure it out.

14:30Ruth Porat: And furthermore, you should be able to use your HSA or FSA to pay for those things. Those are your dollars that you've put away. And to that end, we've been spending time with legislators in D.C. to try and allow those dollars to be utilized for cash programs. Do you think that this administration has had a positive impact or a negative impact on the whole debate? Gosh, I think it depends upon which issue we're talking about. Well, drug prices and your area of expertise. Sure. I think from shining a spotlight on it, positive, definitively. from a, I mean, I think it's got you and I talking about it.

15:07Ruth Porat: It's got your average consumer saying, is this the best price I should be paying? That's not something that most consumers were asking. I think from a, how much does government get involved in drug price negotiations? Perhaps not quite as positive. I think that question needs to be answered. I think it's one thing that government is involved in Medicare price negotiations. I mean, that is a government-funded program. I think it's a wholly different conversation to suggest that the government may start dabbling in commercial drug price negotiations. We could probably have a debate on that, but nonetheless, there are some things happening that I don't think have been heavily debated inside our political halls, and I don't feel that starting to dabble and interfere in commercial insurance is the best use of our government's time, candidly.

16:03Ruth Porat: Give us a sense as to what health care you think is going to look like, seeing the trajectory we're on. Project out as far as you want. Are you optimistic? And just paint a tiny picture for us. Well, I do think we're going to see a greater merging of covered and uncovered feeling like a seamless experience. I don't think there's any other answer. There's no way from a covered and or insured perspective to afford all of the things that all of us want. There just isn't. I feel for benefit providers trying to manage what an employer can actually pay for. So I think you're going to continue to see the merging that is you and I standing at any counter or standing in any prescriber office and just simply in our hand being able to stare at something that says, this is covered at this cost, this is not, and here's where you can get it.

16:53Ruth Porat: So to me, that is just the future of all of this. Beyond that, I think it remains to be answered as to whether or not the government steps in and does any more from payer support outside of Medicare for the elderly. I think it's going to be hotly debated, potentially post-midterm, as to whether our government takes interest in any type of coverage beyond what they're providing today. Wendy Barnes, thank you very much. Thanks for having me, Diane.

17:24Allyson Shontell: So is the biggest risk in AI borrowing too much or falling behind? Alphabet president and CIO, Ruth Porat, spoke with Fortune's editor-in-chief, Alison Chantel, yesterday on our main stage here at the summit. And Porat shared a key learning from her experience during the 2008 financial crisis. She told us to find your biggest vulnerability and fix it before the crisis hits. For many companies, that vulnerability is failing to innovate with AI. Take a look at that conversation.

17:59Ruth Porat: I think Google is spending about$200 billion, give or take, this year on it, in particular to AI efforts. But that's not even the biggest in the tech category. Amazon is spending more. And with the four horsemen of tech, it's about$730 billion going into the AI build out this year. A lot of funding these things, though, come down to the right timing, the right demand, all of it working out all at once. When it was 2008, you had a front row seat to a financial crisis at the time you were at Morgan Stanley. Soon after that, you became the CFO of Morgan Stanley. And liquidity was a big vulnerability.

18:33Ruth Porat: We're entering an era where a lot of debt is financing, this AI build-out and AI data center build-out at a time when there is uncertainty. Sometimes the build-out is not happening as fast or we're not able to move as fast as we want. When you kind of look back at your experience from 2008, what are the biggest risks you see in the system now? Are you worried about the amount of debt that's funding this? Not from someone like an alphabet, you guys are clearly fine, but from the larger ecosystem. So it's interesting you use the word liquidity. When I arrived at Google back in 2015, I was asked a lot about the financial crisis.

19:08Ruth Porat: probably one of the most meaningful roles I played in my career was advising then Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson. And one of the key lessons from the financial crisis was that you should identify your greatest source of vulnerability early because and fortify against it because you can't address it in the moment. Now for banks, it was liquidity. Without liquidity, you couldn't run a trading operation. Without liquidity, you shut down. And I've been asked that question frequently since what is the greatest source of vulnerability today? I think for all of us across industry, one of the most important elements is innovation in your business.

19:46Ruth Porat: Because if anyone is connecting with your customers in ways that you are not, because they are using AI and you are not, or if anyone in your industry is looking at how to manage supply chain or other elements, you're at a competitive disadvantage. So that's one part of it. I appreciate that's not what you were asking. You were really going to, But what about this question about funding and financing? And I would say one of the important lessons there from other platform shifts is it is imperative that each one of us is delivering differentiated solutions. I ran technology banking at Morgan Stanley in the late 90s.

20:24Ruth Porat: And what you saw going through the late 90s is those that really kind of sustained growth over the long term were those who were using technology in a differentiated way. At the time, I said, if you're using the Internet just as a way to have an online catalog, that's not a sustainable differentiator. Similarly today, if you're using AI simply to try and extract efficiency from a business, that's nice, but that's not long-term sustainable. The real question is, what should be different? What is available today that wasn't available previously? One of my favorite examples on that, probably because I spent so much of my time in my career in financial services, is in financial services.

21:08Ruth Porat: If you think about the service that was delivered to ultra high net worth individuals for decades, it wasn't available to everyone else because the cost of delivery was too great. But with AI, the ability and agentic AI, the ability to actually aggregate more information, deliver great insights in a more cost effective way means unit economics have gone down. you can deliver for an entire customer base you previously couldn't deliver for. That is better for everyone in society that everybody is getting access to quality information. But most important, when unit economics can change, you can identify new markets that you maybe wanted to identify in the past but couldn't, which is why I think that Demis' comment that we should each look at the most intractable problem, a market you wanted to address, a way you wanted to deliver that you couldn't, and this will make a difference for it.

22:11Allyson Shontell: That's it for Fortune Daily. I'm Ellie Austin. Thank you for joining us from California. Please remember to like, subscribe, and let us know in the comments, as ever, what you thought of today's episode. To follow the summit minute by minute, you can find our live stream on fortune.com. You can also find us on YouTube. And of course, the show also exists on Apple and Spotify. We'll see you tomorrow.

22:38Ania Smith: On to the next.