Startup of the Week - Map of Needs

by Startacus Admin

They (whoever they are) often say that these days the world is a pretty small place. The internet has certainly helped bring us much closer to people in all corners of the world and that surely can only be a good thing. Well, for our latest Startup of the Week, linking people with other people is at the very core of what they’re trying to do.

Map of Needs is a new platform which allows people to find people to do things for them, anywhere in the world.
What sort of things you may ask? Well, it’s up to you really. You might want someone to go buy and send you something that you just can’t source at home or you might just want them to send you a pic of a place you once visited - you might perhaps want them to buy a gift and deliver it to a friend they might live nearby. The options are pretty much limitless - provided of course that what you would like them to do is legal of course!

It’s pretty straightforward how it all works.
Simply select a location and upload your need. Other members can then see what needs to be done and offer to help. People helping people - that in essence is what it’s all about.
Map of Needs doesn’t take any brokerage fees for facilitating the connections between people - you can simply negotiate with your helper yourself and work out how and what to pay. There is however an optional feedback fee which you can choose to pay if you would like to give or receive feedback. At the time of writing that fee is pretty reasonable - working out at just over £4 sterling. Not too much when you consider the connections that the site is enabling and also the potential needs it is helping to fulfil.

It’s an interesting concept for sure. How big the community of requestors and helpers will become, only time will tell! We wish them well though - with a motto of “Real People Helping Real People” - they’ve gotta be supported!

Like finding out about innovative startups? Why not check out our previous Startup of the Week.

The Startacus Startup of the Week is supported by Rackspace, the global leader in cloud hosting. Rackspace are committed to helping startups and through the Rackspace Startup Program they offer selected tech startups a whole host of benefits including 12 months free Rackspace Cloud Hosting and Services. Further details on the Rackspace Startup Program can be found here.

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Published on: 17th September 2013