I’m rarely one to neglect tasks, but here’s a confession, I’ve had photos and paintings on the floor of my bedroom for two years because I’m too lazy to hang to them up. Although my inability to put hammer to nail is likely lesser than the average person, we all dismiss housework due to lack of time or simply not wanting to do it. The result? Not only are the photos not hanging but my room is messy – Two problems, that New York startup Handy can solve in less than 10 clicks.
Two years after realizing their Boston apartment needed cleaning, the young founders have raised over $49 million in funding and expanded Handy to 26 domestic cities and their first international market in London. COO Umang Dua credits the team’s precise focus, thus not getting distracted by possible verticals, to the startup’s rapid growth. Echoing their depth over breadth expansion model, Oisin and Umang emphasize the importance of disruptive startups finding a niche market and sticking to it.
The team’s focus fits into the agile culture where any task concerning company operations is addressed by each employee. Ranging from promptly paying their contractors to making hiring a group task, simply because the team is growing so fast, the work ethic Oisin and Umang set for their team fascinates me and is the driving reason I know they’ll achieve immense success. While they may not be able to keep the group hiring model as they scale it’s exciting to witness how the ownership mentality empowers each employee to impact the company’s fate.
Oisin and Umang’s advice to young founders is to “Think big and move fast,” which they elaborated on in our conversation. Tune in to see how they’re growing Handy to be what many have called the next Uber.