HandyBook Provides a Quick Way to Book Handymen

Small Business Spotlight: HandyBook, @HandyBookHQ

Who: Oisin Hanrahan

What: An online service for booking handymen

When: 2012

Where: New York, NY

How: HandyBook lets customers book services like handymen and home cleaners online.

“It’s all about tech powering a brand that helps people solve the problems in their home,” says founder Oisin Hanrahan. HandyBook offers a one-touch booking experience, and currently operates in eight cities.

The company has raised over $2.4 million in funding.

Biggest challenge: Hanrahan says the company faced tremendous demand early on, which posed a challenge, as they tried to provide a large enough number of contractors.

One moment in time: Hanrahan is proud that HandyBook is enabling its service-providers to make a living.

“One provider from Boston had two children – he was a Polish immigrant. He had just returned from the UK to see his daughter sing, and used the money [from HandyBook] to pay for his flight,” says Hanrahan. “It made it real to see people doing cool things with the money they’ve earned.”

Best business advice: “Focus on the people,” says Hanrahan, who says that it’s necessary to fill in the gaps in your staff to make up for the skills you don’t have.