On this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI features a talk by Leah Solivan, General Partner at Fuel Capital and Founder of TaskRabbit from the in-person Traction Conference.

The idea for TaskRabbit came about in 2008 around the time the iPhone first launched, while Leah was living in Boston and bootstrapping the company.

In the process of bootstrapping, the entire trajectory of her journey changed. She went from being an engineer at IBM with no network or entrepreneur friends, all the way to raising her first million dollars in seed from a 15-minute meeting with Tim Ferriss.

Today, Leah shares lessons learned from her time at TaskRabbit, scaling the business from nothing to 40+ cities and acquisition by Ikea.

More specifically, Leah covers:

1:57 - The story of founding TaskRabbit: transitioning from an engineer to an entrepreneur and 5 tips to build a successful startup

2:32 - Why ideas are everywhere

6:51 - Experiencing vuja de, the opposite of déjà vu

8:02 - Why you should tell everyone about your idea

16:25 - The serendipitous network of happenings

17:41 - The importance of big, hairy, audacious goals

21:54 - A story about a big corporation with aggressive sales goals

Learn more at https://tractionconf.io

Connect with Leah Solivan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leahsolivan/

Learn more about Fuel Capital at https://www.fuelcapital.com/

This episode is brought to you by:

Each year the U.S. and Canadian governments provide more than $20 billion in R&D tax credits and innovation incentives to fund businesses. But the application process is cumbersome, prone to costly audits, and receiving the money can take as long as 16 months. Boast automates this process, enabling companies to get more money faster without the paperwork and audit risk. We don’t get paid until you do! Find out if you qualify today at https://Boast.AI.

Launch Academy is one of the top global tech hubs for international entrepreneurs and a designated organization for Canada's Startup Visa. Since 2012, Launch has worked with more than 6,000 entrepreneurs from over 100 countries, of which 300 have grown their startups to seed and Series A stage and raised over $2 billion in funding. To learn more about Launch's programs or the Canadian Startup Visa, visit https://LaunchAcademy.ca

Content Allies helps B2B companies build revenue-generating podcasts. We recommend them to any B2B company that is looking to launch or streamline its podcast production. Learn more at https://contentallies.com

5 Founder Lessons From Building and Scaling TaskRabbit

Traction Podcast