doing this in their spare moments and so they’re making the kind of money you might expect,” Bencke said, adding that Spare5 is not designed to be a job. “We think of it literally as, got a few free minutes? Let’s do something productive, hopefully it’s fun, it’s certainly easy.”
There are some very active users for whom Spare5 must file with the IRS because they’re earning $600 or more on the app. I can imagine an Uber driver rapidly rating vacation rental photos and calling spas to confirm their hours in between fares.
For most Fives, though, the earnings—paid through PayPal, though other modes of compensation are in the works—are akin to pocket change you might have spent at the video arcade in an earlier era. “People got trained by the freemium gaming economy to spend a dollar or a nickel or a quarter here and there, and I think Spare5 is sort of the natural evolution of that,” Bencke said. “Hey, if you can spend money here and there in your free time, why not make a little bit of money?”
Spare5 charges businesses on a monthly basis. Its standard package includes 20,000 light tasks or 4,000 medium tasks or 2,000 complex tasks a month for $1,995.
Spare5’s co-founders are Bencke, former TeachStreet chief technology officer Daryn Nakhuda, Urbanspoon co-founder Patrick O’Donnell, and Feedburner co-founder Matt Shobe.
The idea for the company was cooked up by Madrona’s Greg Gottesman and serial entrepreneur Joe Heitzeberg, and validated by the Madrona Venture Labs team. Madrona then recruited Bencke, formerly a senior vice president at Getty Images (now a Spare5 customer), to take the startup to its next phase as CEO.
(The Labs effort continues, with new ideas forthcoming, a Madrona spokeswoman said via e-mail. Meanwhile, Madrona’s Scott Jacobson is the lead managing director working with the Labs team, taking over for Gottesman, who has shifted to the role of venture partner.)
Bencke said the funding will be used to expand Spare5’s team in Seattle, which currently numbers 13, and to expand Spare5 to platforms beyond iOS.
