HOW
I GOT STARTED
FOCUS
VENTURE
27
FORTUNE.COM // JULY 2019
WHEN I WAS 8, I asked my dad
what was the highest role in a
company, and he said, “It’s the CEO.” That’s
when I decided what I wanted to be. I started
a recycling program in our elementary school
and set up an office in our basement, where I
was the CEO.
When it was time to go to college, I ma-
jored in computer science and mathematics
with a minor in dance. I graduated from
Sweet Briar College in Virginia in 2001
and worked at a startup that was quickly
swallowed by IBM. I worked on messaging
and collaboration products for about seven
years and learned how to create software that
was used around the globe on a daily basis.
As an engineer, I was passionate about tech-
nology. In early 2008, there was no Apple App
Store yet. I was living in Boston with [my then
husband] Kevin, and we had a 100-pound
yellow Lab. We were getting ready to go out
to dinner one night when we realized we were
out of dog food. I thought it would be great if
I could find someone to help, maybe some-
one who was at the store that very moment.
I grabbed my iPhone and typed RunMyErrand
.com. No such service existed. The domain
name was available, so I bought it on the spot.
I saw the potential of combining emerg-
ing mobile and location technologies with the
Leah Busque
sold TaskRabbit
to Ikea in 2017
for an undis-
closed sum.
EQUAL
TO THE
TASK
Leah Busque made
outsourcing small jobs
and errands easy by
creating TaskRabbit.
Here’s how she built the
web platform that helped
spawn the gig economy.
Interview by Dinah Eng
PHOTOGRAPH BY WINNI WINTERMEYER
