You find the perfect vintage car on Craigslist and as you’re ready to pull the trigger, you find out it’s located two states away. Doubt creeps in as you’re about to buy a pricey item without seeing it, plus, it may be a scam (Nigerian prince, anyone?). WeGoLook can send one of its “Lookers” to check on that vintage car (or any other item) for you — all via their app. They can ask questions, inspect the merchandise, and provide a report for you at the end.
“If you have to send an employee to a location that’s a few hours away just to perform a simple task like taking photos, that’s a half day of lost productivity in driving alone,” says CEO Robin Smith. “Our Lookers are like having a local employee who can quickly take care of low-complex tasks help companies run more efficiently.”
Here, Smith and her team share how they are standing out in a very crowded gig economy, their explosive growth (they have 30K+ Lookers available right now), and what’s coming down the pipeline.
Where did the idea come from?
One of our friends was looking at a high-end projector on eBay and thought the seller was misrepresenting the item, but the seller was across the country. He said, ‘I wish I knew someone there to go look at it for me.’ This was late 2009. I did some research and couldn’t find a company providing that service. I thought that was crazy because nearly everyone I knew was buying off eBay. With thousands of people buying pre-owned cars, boats, and other high-ticket items online, I wanted to provide a verification service to mitigate a shopper’s risk.
For a year, I developed a basic model and recruited her first group of ‘Lookers.’ I used mobile notaries, process servers, inspectors, and photographers. We worked really hard and recruited about 4,500 Lookers. Then we worked with a software developer on the first platform and created our website.
Today, WeGoLook is the official eBay motors inspection list, works directly for Tesla and Hyundai and works with Fortune 500 companies nationwide.
How does your product stand out in the gig economy?
Known as the Uber of Inspections, WeGoLook is an on-demand field services company using mobile technology and 30,000+ ‘Lookers’ (independent contractors) who are dispatched, on behalf of customers, to capture onsite asset data (inspect items) and to perform custom tasks. Data collection services can be performed on any asset, such as vehicles, commercial and residential real estate, heavy equipment, boats, and more.
How does the app work?
When WeGoLook receives an order, a notification is sent to Lookers based on required skills and proximity to the task. Then, WeGoLook staff will confirm the order details with the on-site contact. After a Looker claims the Look, he/she will schedule an appointment with the on-site contact. Next, the Looker drives to the site and performs the task or data capture (photos, video, answers to questions). Once the job is complete, the data is submitted through the app to WeGoLook headquarters where our quality assurance team reviews before sending the final report to our customer.
All Lookers must pass a background check, dress and appear professional, work with onsite contacts in a friendly manner and have the ability to perform their “Looks” via a smart phone.
WeGoLook began recruiting the first 4,500 Lookers by reaching out to mobile notaries, process servers, inspectors, and photographers. Now WeGoLook has 30,000+ Lookers across the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Australia.
What’s your revenue model?
WeGoLook charges on a per Look/report basis. It’s truly an on-demand service to capture asset information or complete custom tasks when and where you need it. The price per Look can vary by volume, asset type, the amount of required data capture, and Looker expertise required. While we are a transaction-based business, we have piloted platform subscription/licensing among enterprise clients which have expressed significant interest in our mobile capabilities.
Where are you with funding?
We’re currently in a Series B round to continue scaling existing enterprise accounts, add sales team members, expand across key verticals, and enhance our affiliate relationships to reach more consumers.
What’s your market impact — especially as e-commerce expands?
There are a variety of on-demand consumer services in the market, but we’re really only now starting to see the “gig economy” gain traction for enterprise services. By allowing access to on-demand Lookers around the country at any time of day, WeGoLook is helping enterprise clients transform the way they do business. By improving operating efficiency, our client’s customers are also receiving a better experience. In the consumer sector, we’re improving online marketplace transactions. While a large number of platforms offer buyer guarantees or protection, nobody likes to deal with a case of misrepresentation. An on-demand inspection from WeGoLook is an ideal solution for reducing the risk of buying online when the buyer and seller are states apart.
Anything else in the works in the next 6-12 months?
Our near-term efforts are focused on continued platform automation and real-time customer visibility into inspection status and report data. Looking ahead, we’ll be adding exciting features to our services, such as live video streaming and virtual asset measurements, as well as adding licensed drone operators.
