"Why stop there?" asks the 32-year-old, recalling his moment of inspiration. "What about housecleaning? What about auto detailing? What about errand services, and all these other things? What if you could put them all online?"

Now, of course, those questions are being answered. Mixing software with servitude, McGarvey's company -- appropriately named mylackey.com -- is no longer just an idea. It's a reality, albeit an odd one. Since January, Seattle residents have had lackeys at their service; after setting up an account through the mylackey Web site, they can schedule a time (with at least a day's notice) for a lackey to do their dirty work. Just a couple of weeks ago, the lackeys arrived in Portland, and by the end of the year, mylackey.com, following the national expansion path of other Web-meets-the-street delivery companies like Kozmo and Webvan, will arrive in 12 other cities.

CLO ("Chief Lackey Officer") McGarvey couldn't be a happier man. After 11 years of managing sales teams at e-commerce services companies like eCharge and iCat, McGarvey is eager to be in touch with the consumer. And he is apparently enjoying the requisite silliness of start-up culture: In a press release announcing a $6.5 million investment from WaldenVC, mylackey.com said the funds would go toward marketing, expansion into new markets "and to purchase a dog."

Just how far will mylackey go? My roommate's dog, for instance, is sick and has been spraying diarrhea all over the house -- will you come and clean that up for me?

That's part of housecleaning and we'll come do it. If it's more work, it just costs additional time. Housecleaning is pretty simple: a two-hour job, which is our minimum, is $50. That will take care of a two-bedroom apartment; a small house. If you have additional things that need to be done -- and it sounds like you do -- it will take additional time, so it will cost more. But we'll take care of it.

What are your most popular services?

The most popular service we provide today is housecleaning, and a close second is dry cleaning, auto-detailing and errand services. Lawn care, on-site massage are also popular.

What are some of the stranger requests that you've had?

Oh boy, there's quite a few. We had a University of Washington student call us on Saturday morning and say, "I'm preparing for this final and I have all this research that needs to be transcribed. Can you do this for me?" We're like, "Yeah we can do it -- what's it about?" It was all about coffins. So we had a lackey sent over. He picked up the tapes and the papers. We typed it all in, e-mailed it back and it cost him $40.

We've also had people call us to chop their wood. Then we had a woman call and say she needed some videos returned. We wondered why she didn't return them herself until we saw them. They were porno tapes.

The Free Software Project
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