The Idea
I like strong emotional experiences. I also like starting companies that have strong social commentary. In 2015, I was playing around making landing pages for a variety of services. My now-wife was brainstorming ideas on how to make money, and taking out the trash came up as one of them.
A week later in our 4 bedroom Mission, SF apartment I asked our roommate: “What thing in your life do you hate having to do?”
Their response “I hate taking out the trash.” I had recently seen the rise of EZHome and Doorman and thought “hey, maybe this is a thing?” So, I created a landing page.
The Launch
On the landing page, I described the service, listed a google voice number, and described some pricing plans. Then, right before heading out for a 4-day digital detox at Camp Grounded, I asked a friend in Noe Valley, SF (where a lot of wealthy new parents live) to post the landing page on NextDoor and ask for feedback.
The Reaction
In returning four days later, the world had reacted to Trashday…
People wanted and hated the service…
Fans and reporters Wanted to talk…
Blogs wrote about it…
All the people tweeted…
…including Marc Andreessen (now deleted)
Someone made a parody site…
...which Marc Andreessen was all about (now deleted)
After The “Moment”
As the excitement settled, I chose to just let it be. I didn’t do any interviews, nor publicly acknowledged that I was responsible for the service. It was kind of nice to let this outburst of discourse fade. To think that all of this was just because I spent a couple of hours making a landing page.
I did notice in reviewing the 150+ sign-ups for the service, a lot of them were similar we the below one:
Name: Joe blow Email: Dumbidea@aol.com Street Address: 123 baller court
But there were also quite a few that looked real:
Name: Lisa M******** Email: LM*********@gmail.com Street Address: 47 S***** Ave
So, I thought, how about I earn some money and take some trash cans out for the summer. I called one of the people who signed up and who happened to live close to me.
Would they actually do it?
Would they give me a key to go into their yards to get their trash cans?
I set up a time to meet the customer and showed up. They gave me a key, we talked about their trash schedule. Then we were off and running. I billed them via PayPal and updated them by text message when I took out and returned their cans.
At the time I was working as a contract Product Manager out of Pivotal Labs. It was pretty fun to come home after a day of making mockups and take out a trash can.
One thing that I learned was that most of the serious sign-ups were from new mothers. They were taking care of a young child and seemed to not want to deal with the trash. This makes this tweet a bit ironic (and yet at the same time very true):
Learnings from Creating a Social Commentary Business
For me, this quickly became an art piece. I saw it as a way to see how a collective consciousness can focus on something, deeply dive into it and then quickly flow past it and move on to the next thing.
Some of the learnings I took from this on how to create social a commentary business/art exhibits:
1) straddle the line between useful and inflammatory
As a person who has created 50+ landing pages for a variety of services, it was amazing to see how people were energized by this one. I think the tension was from people on one side who could maybe use the service (who gets meaning or enjoyment from taking out the trash?). On the other side, the idea of a “startup” offering a service that would cater to a group of “rich” or “privileged” people was a lightning rod. It touched a frustration and a division in both our society and possibly in people’s own view of themselves.
2) Produce a “Jump the Shark” Moment
In every trend, there is always a peek. For decades, people have been getting cool points by listening to “that band” before it was popular. Then talking about how “that restaurant” used to be so much better. This “Moment” provided a great opportunity to proclaim “SF has Jumped the Shark” and therefore cash in on all the social media points from people joining on the bandwagon.
3) Allow people to Feel Better About themselves
In a time where the average SF Techie eats out with Uber eats, catches Lyfts around town, and tries our Blue Ribbon for their 3 month trial period. There is the silent realization that we are the problem. We are gentrification. This service allowed for people to look down on other “Techies,” and join the chorus of people saying “Can you believe what these crazy startups are doing?” It is easier to stand in fleeting outrage than it is to look at the systemic problems that are caused by the company giving out your stock options and your 401k match.
Thank you
When moving to an innovation hub and participating in the gold rush of our times, most of what happens falls between a coinflip and a fleeting chance encounter. To all those who participated in the Trashday.co moment: Thank you. We may not know each other and yet, I am grateful that our paths crossed in this small way. Godspeed.