Coffee & Power Creates Marketplace for Small, Fun Jobs

Started by Philip Rosedale, the founder of Second Life, San Francisco-based Coffee & Power today launched its website, iPhone app, and first co-working space on Market Street. An online marketplace where people can buy and sell small jobs, Coffee & Power enables a new breed of mobile workers to connect in a way that’s fast, low-friction, and fun. Coffee & Power’s innovative marketplace includes its own virtual currency and payment system, live communications and public chat, a game-like rating and review system, and a real-world facility where users can meet and work together.

Coffee & Power workclub (Photo: Business Wire)

"What can you do for someone else, right now? There are so many amazing and useful things that we could all do for each other if we just had a way to quickly find, explain, and pay for them," says Philip Rosedale, co-founder of Coffee & Power and former chief executive officer of Second Life. "The remarkable range of jobs and services in Second Life was the inspiration to create Coffee & Power - we wanted to bring the same thing to the real world. Work is really about directly providing value to others, not where or when you do it. Coffee & Power provides a shared space, both virtual and physical, where people can meet and do small, interesting jobs for each other."

Coffee & Power’s listings, called “missions,” range from software development services to hula-hoop lessons and custom artwork. The Coffee & Power marketplace successfully matches buyers and sellers through live communication, rich profiles and reputations, connections to social networks, and searchable transaction histories. Coffee & Power’s virtual currency further drives trade among its users. Using their own skills to build their account balance, people can spend the money they earn on services from others.

As a way of easily trying out the service, new users can also give free missions – or gifts – to friends from their social networks. “Giftable” missions range from the useful to the whimsical, enabling users to give a friend anything from an expert copywriter’s review of their resume to a Tarot card reading.

Coffee & Power’s adoption is increasing at a rapid rate. Beta Coffee & Power users have exchanged over $10,000 in hundreds of missions ranging from graphic design to language lessons and custom Halloween costumes. A broad mix of services and people are available on the site at any time.

Coffee & Power’s Key Differentiators:

• Seller-Driven Marketplace: Like a farmer’s market, Coffee & Power aggregates interesting sellers of a variety of small services in one place, creating a compelling shopping experience for buyers browsing services.
• Community and Live Communication: A live chat space is available to sellers and buyers, so they can help each other, share feedback, and develop trust.
• Trust through Transparency: Buyers and sellers establish a persistent identity through fully transparent transaction histories, helping buyers and sellers vet one another and establish credibility.
• Virtual Currency: Coffee & Power users build account balances either through credit purchases, or through their own earnings from missions. Sellers can spend their virtual currency by buying services from others, or optionally turn it back into dollars.
• Physical Hubs: In addition to the launch of the site, Coffee & Power has opened its first co-working space in San Francisco where users can meet in a safe public area to work together. The inviting cafe-style space at 1825 Market Street offers free coffee, power, and great Wi-Fi. Coffee & Power will open additional spaces in other locations as the service expands.

Coffee & Power in Use

Coffee & Power’s workers are helping each other across a broad spectrum encompassing online research, expert advice, copywriting, and even burrito deliveries. Many use it as a new channel to meet new people and pick up extra work. User ‘Keiko’ comments, “Coffee & Power allows me to offer my services and hire talent for small-dollar projects that just need to get done. It's fast, easy, and fun.” Another Coffee & Power user, ‘BlakePanic’, adds, “What I find most exciting about using Coffee & Power is the uniqueness of every mission. I’ve done a lot of food deliveries on bike, so each mission has allowed me to visit new food spots in the city and deliver to new people. It is a blast!”

Success breeds more success on Coffee & Power, a consequence of its design emphasis on profiles and transaction transparency. User ‘CynthPop’, who sells copywriting services on the site, comments: "Coffee & Power is the perfect mix of personal and professional-- far better than just posting an ad or a resume because people get a snapshot of who I am and what I do without having to dredge through a lot of information.”

Buyers in need of specific services have found Coffee & Power to be a uniquely effective channel, for both typically professional and off-the-beaten-path services alike. According to Rosedale, “For everyone who has received a quick language tutorial or MYSQL primer via Coffee & Power, we’ve had some delightfully different missions happen. One user got help in sprucing up his online dating site profile. Another ran a mission for some online research she needed on New York dance clubs for an upcoming bachelorette party. Every day we see remarkable and unexpected transactions happen on Coffee & Power.”

About Coffee & Power

Coffee & Power, a San Francisco-based technology company, has developed an online marketplace where people can buy and sell small jobs. Coffee & Power includes its own currency and settlement system, live communication, a rating and review system, physical co-working spaces to facilitate commerce, game mechanics, and connections to social networks. The company’s technology was also developed using its own platform, found at http://www.worklist.net, enabling software developers around the world to contribute and receive payment for small chunks of code. The three founders, Philip Rosedale, Ryan Downe and Fred Heiberger, bring together skills in virtual worlds, software development and entertainment.

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