Tamara Lucas started My Panda because she knows everyone can use some help with their to-do list. The Atlanta-based personal assistant app found an eager customer base: Busy parents who wanted to enlist the help of assistants (known as Pandas) to keep up with the daily tasks like folding laundry, walking the dog, and emptying the dishwasher.
But last year, Lucas expanded her offerings into the employee benefit space. That was a strategic move, given that companies are looking for new and innovative ways to improve employee satisfaction and retention.
Lucas told Hypepotamus that My Panda is currently available as a “discounted employee perk” at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Google’s Atlanta office, and LOCAL Industries.
Circles by Sodexo, an internal concierge team that services Wellstar Health System, hired Pandas to help with holiday gift-wrapping.
The marketplace has put up some important and impressive metrics recently. 88% of users are repeat customers. And in an important sign of traction, most new customers join through word of mouth.
Gaining Traction and Support
At its heart, My Panda’s technology is all about connecting and helping community members. So it makes sense that the community has rallied to help her raised needed capital.
Earlier this year Lucas turned to WeFunder, a crowdfunding platform that is popular in the startup world.
“I decided to launch the Community Round on WeFunder because I heard from many customers and supporters that they would love to be a part of our growth, but they weren’t accredited investors and only had a little money to contribute,” she added. “Having a supportive and engaged community of support is a crucial first step in succeeding with this type of funding and we have that in spades. Getting started on the WeFunder platform and spinning up the campaign was surprisingly simple and quick and their support team has been outstanding.”
My Panda raised $50K in just over 2 weeks. Nearly…
Read the full article here
