 | Helping Hands: RunMyErrand Personal Assistance ServiceFinish tasks on the quick with the help of web-based personal assistance service RunMyErrand. Simply post what you need done and interested runners (who’ve been fully vetted and are rated by other users) respond — usually within ten minutes. |
 | Women 2.0’s Female Founder Successes of 2009This list of Female Founders is limited to founders of technology companies (defined as a company with an engineer on the founding team). A “success” for this list is a company launch, significant product launch, significant milestone reached, funding received or similar success. |
 | Lifetips Radio: Craigslist meets Ebay with RunMyErrandTune in to LifeTips Radio - Its Craigslist meets Ebay as we talk with Leah Busque, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of RunMyErrand.com, an online community of Errand Senders and Errand Runners joining together to get things done. |
 | RunMyErrand Picks Up $1 Million from West Coast Venture FirmsRunMyErrand, the Boston-based online clearinghouse where busy people can recruit temporary helpers to complete tasks around town, doesn’t have a branch in the San Francisco Bay Area (yet). But if it did, founder and CEO Leah Busque might be using it to pick up checks from Baseline Ventures and Maples Investments this week. |
 | Advancing service networking as the industry standardMany famous discoveries, inventions and businesses begin with an aha moment. Consider Sir Isaac Newton and his head-banging apple, said to have helped him discover gravity. Karl Bühler, the German psychologist credited with coining the term aha experience almost a century ago, described it as “a peculiar, pleasure-oriented experience within the course of thought that pops up with sudden insight into a previously intransparent context.” The lightbulb only turns on however, when the person experiencing that moment acts on it. Seeing a flash of genius through to execution is rare - we remember Newton, not the scores of others hit by falling objects before or after him. |
 | RUN MY ERRAND - SO I CAN DO SOMETHING BETTER WITH MY TIME!Many famous discoveries, inventions and businesses begin with an aha moment. Consider Sir Isaac Newton and his head-banging apple, said to have helped him discover gravity. Karl Bühler, the German psychologist credited with coining the term aha experience almost a century ago, described it as “a peculiar, pleasure-oriented experience within the course of thought that pops up with sudden insight into a previously intransparent context.” The lightbulb only turns on however, when the person experiencing that moment acts on it. Seeing a flash of genius through to execution is rare - we remember Newton, not the scores of others hit by falling objects before or after him. |
 | Too Many Chores? Use the Web to Get Someone Else to Do ThemYou’re busy. You need to get the groceries, return the camera you borrowed, and pick up the kids. Oh, and you have work. You can’t do it all, nor do you want to. So what do you do? RunMyErrand, a Boston-based startup funded in part by Facebook’s (Facebook) FbFund, aims to solve this problem with a simple premise: get someone else to do your chores for you. It lets you post an errand for someone else to complete, usually for under $10. |
 | RunMyErrand Outsources Your ChoresLooking for someone to pick up your dry cleaning, make a grocery or IKEA run, or tackle other errands for you and don't mind paying a few bucks extra for the convenience? Web service RunMyErrand might be worth a look. This isn't the first service of its kind—previously mentioned DoMyStuff is a similar offering—but where DoMyStuff lets anyone offer to run your errands (and could be a nice way to make some extra cash for yourself if you want to run a quick one), RunMyErrand only puts your errands in the hands of background-checked runners. Most errands can be tackled for $10 or less, and they cover the gamut of food delivery, courier services, IKEA runs, grocery trips, dry cleaning pick up, and more. |
 | Small start-up takes an idea and runs with itSo far, the first-time entrepreneur has done just about everything right. She has a great origin story: One night in February 2008, she and her husband, Kevin, were heading out to dinner when they realized there was no food left for their Labrador retriever. Musing over Mexican food about the possibility of a service that would handle small tasks like buying and schlepping a big bag of dog food, Busque used her iPhone to check whether the Web domain RunMyErrand.com was available. She snapped it up, and spent the next few months researching the idea. |
| ‘Rev’ing’ it up with FacebookAfter a national competition, RunMyErrand was one of 25 companies invited to be part of Facebook’s fbFund Rev 2009 incubator program this summer in Palo Alto, CA. The program will last 10 weeks, and RunMyErrand team members from the engineering and business realm will be participating. We arrived into SFO late the night of Tuesday, June 16, drove to Palo Alto Wednesday morning... |
 | Online marketplace for help with errandsBesides simply helping busy people get things done, RunMyErrand promises environmental benefits by aggregating errands more efficiently and also offers sellsumers a flexible way to earn a little extra money as runners. |
 | RunMyErrand startup in Facebook incubator programBoston startup RunMyErrand is running to Palo Alto. The consumer web company, which provides an online marketplace for odd jobs and errands, has won a spot in Facebook Inc.’s fbFund REV incubator program. The 10-week program starts in June... |
 | Facebook’s fbFund ‘09 Names First Batch Of WinnersFacebook has just named 25 of the finalists for the latest round of fbFund, the social network’s joint program with Accel and Founders Fund meant to help foster quality applications on Facebook Platform. ... a select number of winners will be invited to the incubator program, where they can receive as much as $100,000 in equity investment along with training alongside Facebook executives and mentors. The program’s latest round has also shifted focus from solely applications built on Facebook Platform to include those using Facebook Connect both on the web and the iPhone. |
| Need some errands done? There's a place on WebRunmyErrand.com is now up and running ... serving Bostonians who are willing to pay someone else to pick up diapers at Target, bags of mulch at Home Depot or dry cleaning from around the corner. “It’s like eBay meets Craigslist,” said Busque, 29, recently at Zume’s Coffee on Charlestown’s bustling Main Street. “It’s about taking social networking and making it more useful.” |
| RunMyErrand retrieves early-stage fundingFor now, Busque said she plans to focus on business development in Boston, seeking to add corporate clients. Current clients include real estate agencies, retailers and food service companies, she said. Cold Stone Creamery in Charlestown uses the site to offer delivery service, hiring ad hoc runners to ferry ice cream to customers, Busque said. |
| 'Service Networking' Startups Find Niche Matching Workers With Odd JobsRunMyErrand founder and CEO Leah Busque has an apt term for the new phenomenon: “service networking.” While RunMyErrand is a place to outsource small jobs, “what we are actually doing is harnessing the power of a community,” Busque writes on her blog. “Social networking has obviously become quite popular in recent years, and capturing this essence and leveraging it to get real things done in people’s every day life is some pretty exciting stuff.” |
RUNmyERRAND pairing with Polka Dog Bakery
Polka Dog Bakery, a South End treat boutique for dogs, has taken advantage of Busque’s business to pick up items at Home Depot and deliver dog food or birthday cakes to customers. "Dog food is really heavy," said Polka Dog co-owner Deborah Gregg. "People don’t want to carry around a 30-pound bag, and cakes are fragile and perishable, people prefer to have them delivered. This is a good way to make our customers happy."
Got Errands?
I may have just found simply the coolest, most awesome, most convenient, time saving, money saving, most awesome (did I say most awesome?) service in downtown Boston - RunMyErrand.com. RunMyErrand is owned and operated by bootstrapped techie and entrepreneur peer - Leah Busque a local resident of Charlestown, MA (like me too!). Never heard of it? Well RunMyErrand is a cross between Ebay and Craigslist. Ok - today was my first experience with RunMyErrand and I am here to share it with all of you...
Local online company lends Harvest on Vine food pantry a helping hand
Harvest on Vine food pantry will receive a much-needed boost, thanks to the efforts of Charlestown-based online company RUNmyERRAND. On Dec. 1, RUNmyERRAND launched its Holiday Drive to benefit Harvest On Vine, as well as two shelters: the Dennis McLaughlin House at the Constitution Inn YMCA and CASPAR (Cambridge and Somerville Program for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Rehabilitation). While RUNmyERRAND, which was launched by husband-and-wife team Leah and Kevin Busque and fellow Charlestown resident, Brian Thomas in September, allows people to post errands they need run and puts them in contact with people willing to perform the chores, the new Holiday Drive feature will allow users to donate to the aforementioned charities and solicit its runners to deliver the goods.
Two local businesses forge partnership
Charlestown-based RUNmyERRAND, has formed and a partnership with Cold Stone Creamery through which the online service will now offer deliveries for the City Square ice cream parlor. “If you want ice cream at 10 o’clock and you’re in your pajamas, RUNmyERRAND can now make it happen,” said Meredith Bryan, who has owned Cold Stone Creamery at 100 City Square since it opened in February of 2004. RUNmyERRAND was launched Sept. 15 by husband-and-wife team Leah and Kevin Busque and fellow Charlestown resident Brian Thomas. Its Web site (RUNmyERRAND.com) allows people to post errands they need run and puts them in contact with people willing to perform the chores. For a set delivery fee of $8, residents can now get Cold Stone Creamery ice cream cakes, pies and to-go quarts sent to their homes via the online service.
RUNmyERRAND offers high tech convenience
The Charlestown Patriot Bridge, October 16, 2008: Charlestown resident Leah Busque credits her 100-pound yellow lab Kobe as the inspiration for her new business, RUNmyERRAND. In February, Leah and her husband, Kevin Busque, were waiting for friends to join them at their home before a night out at a Boston restaurant. Leah realized they were out of dog food, but didn’t want to inconvenience their cab driver by stopping to pick some up on their way home.