Originally published on Youthradio.org, the premier source for youth generated news throughout the globe.
By Robyn Gee
Need money to fix your bike, but you're a college student with empty pockets? A new website might be able to help. Agentanything.com allows college students to run missions for money.
On the start-up's website, people post missions of any kind: alphabetizing files, picking up dinner ingredients, picking up dry-cleaning, or walking the dog. They decide how much they are willing to pay for the mission. A college student can sign up to run the mission. "It doesn't matter, Agents can do ANYTHING," reads the website.
Co-founders Harry Schiff and Oliver Green launched the website last month. Since then, it has grown steadily. "We have between 600 and 700 visitors to the website every day. We currently have 300 registered agents and 200 - 300 clients. Approximately 10 missions get completed every day," said Schiff. He explained that a mission is likely to get picked up based on the money offered and the geography. "If you post a simple mission and you live near a university, it will get picked up in five or ten minutes," said Schiff.
The website explains, "When you have completed this Mission, simply mark the Mission as Accomplished. When the Client confirms Mission Accomplished, you will immediately be paid through PayPal. You don't have to have a PayPal account to run a Mission, PayPal will send the money directly to your university e-mail account."
So why agents? "We wanted people to want to do it," said Schiff. "It's not really cool to be an errand boy. We wanted to emphasize that this service is not just about one thing. You can use it for anything: research, computer help, groceries, moving, or handing out flyers. If travel agents book your travel, and real estate agents sell your houses, then college students can be agents of anything."
This service is only available right now in New York, but the start-up is actively taking feedback about where it should expand. "We're following our customers. We only marketed at four college campuses in Manhattan, and now we're seeing missions pop up in Brooklyn, Queens, and New Jersey," said Schiff. This website had the college student's schedule in mind. The typical college student has two hour breaks between classes. Just enough time to run a mission.
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