We talked to Mukesh Ghatiya, one of Beegle's co-founders, about creating an app that helps users find personal assistants in India. As professionals in product management and operation business, the two Beegle co-founders struggled to find another co-founder with a technical background. When they decided to build Beegle without any coding, Bubble was the most powerful no-code platform that let them accommodate rapid market reactions.
Tell us about your app and what it does.
We give you extra hands!
Beegle is an India-centric platform where people can find assistants to help with chores and sundry errands at home and work. Our platform matches the needs posted with people, skilled or unskilled, who are registered and ready to help on an hourly basis. Our endeavor is to make life easier so that a user can concentrate on core activities and leave the rest to us.
Along with folks who are skilled in cooking, gardening, driving, plumbing, etc., we also have helpers who are registered to perform “fuzzy” tasks that do not necessarily require a technical skillset or know-how. For example, one can get a person for a few hours to assist senior citizens by checking in on them, getting groceries and medicines, taking them for their check-up at the hospital, reading out their emails, and performing other tasks where they need support.
Beegle is a platform to brings the community together. COVID-19 has been tough on all, and much more so on people such as domestic help or the office help or shop assistants who are dependent on daily wages to make ends meet. Many of these folks have lost their jobs and livelihood. Beegle attempts to give them additional opportunities by bridging the gap between them and those needing help.
How does your app work?
There are two key user personas of Beegle. One is the person who is seeking help, and the other one is the person who is available to provide help.
Help Seeker
People seeking help can browse through our directory of helpers to see our coverage and depth of helper database. They can then post a need on our platform specifying their requirements like the need they are looking to fulfill, specific tasks they require to be done, a time frame, specific skills, and the location of service. They can opt for a one time need or a recurring need, following which they make a payment for the booking or can opt to pay after the service is rendered. We reach out to them personally to understand their requirements. We have built a backend engine to help us find the right match for them. We call those helpers, find out who is available, and fix the appointment. The helper then goes to the customer’s place and performs the task as per the need.
Help Provider
People providing help can post their basic details like phone, name, and reach out to us, showing their interest. We reach out to them personally to understand what they can do, know where they are located, and where they can serve and what they are willing to do. We also collect their identity details. Then they undergo training with us where we train them on customer interaction and COVID-19 safety guidelines to be followed when attending to a customer need.
Tell us a little about your background and how you discovered no-code tools like Bubble.
We are two co-founders. Mukesh is a product management professional, and Shiv has been running an operation-driven business. While we do have technical history, we have not been in touch with technology for long and are in no position to develop a software application ourselves.
When we thought of starting up, we did hunt for a tech co-founder but found it very hard to do so. Getting an application built by a third-party development team was not viable for us, as they were very expensive and didn’t make sense for us when we were yet to validate the idea in the market and find product-market fit. That is when we started hunting for solutions that didn’t involve any coding, yet we could build applications.
Why did you build your app on Bubble?
Bubble was at the top of charts in most of the recommendations that we got from friends and over the internet. We explored a couple of tools ourselves and found Bubble to be quite powerful, hence decided to go with it. We have rolled out quite a few design variations of our application so far. In the early validation phase of the application, requirements change quickly, and we need to keep adapting to market reactions accordingly. Bubble lets us do that while we are in control, and that is a big plus.
What have been your milestones or successes so far?
It has been about two months since we have gone live. Here are some of our current milestones;
- We have been getting a good response from the market, which validates the need for such a platform. People continue to reach out to us with their varied needs. Some of them come from out of state, which gives us hope that there is potential in addressing needs across multiple cities.
- We are also being reached out to help partners to get assignments that they can work on.
- We have started generating cash flows.
- We have built a good robust backend operations management system too (also on Bubble) that helps us serve the incoming needs in a short period of time.
- We have been able to quickly implement changes on the platform based on feedback from our customers and team.
We are in the process of streamlining our operations further to build a sustainable business.
What are your future plans for your app?
We intend to build a fully self-serve platform, including a mobile app where people can post their requirements, helpers can post their availability calendar, and matching can be done automatically. We are looking to build a scalable and sustainable business where we utilize technology to the best extent possible.
Learn more about Beegle: Website | Facebook | LinkedIn
About Bubble
Bubble is a leader in the no-code movement. Bubble offers a powerful point-and-click web editor and cloud hosting platform that allows users to build fully customizable web applications and workflows, ranging from simple prototypes to complex marketplaces, SaaS products, and more. Over 400,000 users are currently building and launching businesses on Bubble - many have gone on to participate in top accelerator programs, such as Y Combinator, and even raise $365M in venture funding. Bubble is more than just a product. We are a strong community of builders and entrepreneurs that are united by the belief that everyone should be able to create technology.
Do you want your app featured by Bubble? Reach out to us and tell us about your app. In addition to this series, we sometimes select our best apps to showcase on our website.
