Tech In Asia Feature : Fynd crowdsources your tech support, gives IT pros more opportunities

This article is originally taken from Tech In Asia's coverage on Fynd. Click here for the original article.

Getting technical support can be tricky, especially if you’re an individual or a small enterprise. The tough part comes with separating honest folks from those eager to milk you for your cash. Finding the right techie for the job is tough too. After all, a person who does server admin may not know how to troubleshoot your laptop.

That’s where Fynd comes in. While its name is bland, Fynd does exactly what it says: matching an on-site tech support geek to your exact need, whether it’s software installation, router and network setup, or IT security.

The Singapore-based company wants to save you the trouble of dealing with dubious pricing. According to Fynd founder George Kuruvilla, each two-hour job will be charged at either S$79, S$99, or S$149 (US$60 to US$114). Alternatively, monthly subscription plans are available, costing S$1,000, S$3,000, or S$5,000 (between US$767 and US$3,800). All payments will be made online, and Fynd takes a 20 percent cut.

On the flip side, Fynd also wants to improve the earnings of tech support personnel by giving them an opportunity to make money using their free time. “The IT industry is changing at an alarming pace and IT organizations are struggling to keep up with this high demand for highly-skilled professionals,” says Kuruvilla.

“It’s unjustified from a business perspective to keep these professionals onboard when there are no projects. At the same time, hiring too little staff stagnates their growth and stalls the entire business.”

In other words, Fynd wants to help tech support firms increase their earnings by better matching supply and demand. The proposition is similar to startups belonging to what’s called the sharing economy. The brightest stars of this constallation of companies are Airbnb and Uber.

If done well, these companies bring real impact to society by improving the lot of the common man. Such testimonies are aplenty in India where taxi apps like Ola and TaxiForSure give some cab drivers more income and bring transparency to the industry. Kuruvilla hopes that Fynd too can make a positive contribution:

“Personally, we have seen IT professionals who work hard but find it extremely hard to afford important things in life like getting married and housing,” he says. “We met older IT professionals in their 40s and 50s who were unfortunately laid off from their jobs due to market fluctuations. They are keen to get work from us as they possess years of experience and skills.”

The company is still in the early stages and is seeking investments. It has verified over 40 geeks and completed 10 jobs three weeks after launch.

All three founders are working on Fynd full-time. Joining Kuruvilla – a former enterprise IT professional dabbling in mobile app design – is Albert Tirtohadi, an entrepreneur who grew point-of-sales (POS) solutions company Edgeworks to a 20-strong team. There’s also Jack Leow, a former auditor and Tirtohadi’s business partner at the POS firm.

The product is still in its early stages at this point, which means tasks are being assigned manually. Nonetheless, it’s building an algorithm that will power a Fynd mobile app for geeks. The app will let them accept jobs based on location, skillset, past performance, and timing preferences. The startup plans to automate the entire process, from customer inquiry to job completion – all in the name of social good.

“We want to redefine work by making it more democratic, where individual work is centered around a platform that connects them to business opportunity, as opposed to working for a company,” says Kuruvilla.