Tathastu, a WhatsApp Based Personal Assistance Service
About a year ago, a bunch of IIT-Bombay students started a WhatsApp based local personal assistance service called Tathastu that helps people get various day-to-day tasks done such as getting a pizza delivered, booking a flight ticket, running an errand and so on. Now after a month of its launch, Tathastu (meaning ‘so be it’) is all over the internet, and has also been named the best startup in India by Quora community.
Basically, behind the WhatsApp interface, there are human agents who run all these tasks. For now, the service is available in Mumbai only but the founding team has plans to launch it pan-India in coming months. Following snapshots will give a clearer picture on what kind of services Tathastu provides:
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| Tathastu app Snapshot |
While Tathastu is getting all the attention from media and people (and also the praises for the idea), there are many predecessors of Tathastu in the personal assistance service marketplace. Here are a few:
Magic: A California based personal assistant mobile app with same service as Tathastu
GoButler: Prime competitor of Magic in the US
Haptik: An India based mobile app that assists people in performing day-to-day chores that can be done using online resources – such as finding a good shopping deal, checking movie timing and booking, etc.
TARS: A Bangalore based personal assistance service that uses WhatsApp platform like Tathastu (and yes, the name TARS is inspired from the movie Interstellar)
DudeGenie: Another Bangalore based service that besides WhatsApp platform also has a mobile app
Operator
As of now, Tathastu team is excited to launch their services in other cities. However, we see some hurdles down the line. Tathastu is touching various online and offline services all at once, and presently they don’t have the manpower to handle that. So, scaling the business seems like a pretty difficult task for now. But even with sufficient manpower, bringing different markets and services together seems like creating a cumbersome situation for the business. So, it would be interesting to see how they scale.
What do you think about Tathastu’s personal assistance services? Do you find them interesting and would like to see them in your city? Tell us in comments section.
