Populace – A Text Messaging Tool For Hourly Workers

Entrepreneurship is inarguably one of the most difficult pursuits. Minute after minute, hour after hour, day after day, week after week, fortnight after fortnight, month after month, year after year, entrepreneurs have to find novel and relevant ideas. If they run out of ideas, no doubt, people will be cynical about them.

The void of ideas weighs like a ton of bricks. I took a deep breath and realized that entrepreneurs seldom heave sighs of relief. Twenty minutes into my conversation with Sam Gimbel, co-founder of Populace, an excellent text messaging tool for hourly workers, I realized that justification to one’s profession as an entrepreneur is critically decisive.  Let me throw some insights on this promising startup.

About Populace

Populace is an intelligent text messaging tool that allows the hourly workers to enroll and enlist themselves for work and get paid for the same. There is a built-in scheduling feature that more or less resembles an operation manager. Thanks to this resemblance, clients can communicate with you via SMS and email. Populace is simple to use and makes scheduling and getting paid for your work as easy as sending a link over SMS.  It syncs with your google calendar and money is deposited into your bank account every 24 hours.

Whenever the number of clients increases, organizing and systematizing the work becomes difficult. Populace effectively addresses this problem. To express correctly, Populace is an intelligent text message-based scheduling, payment, and growth planning for personal trainers, dog walkers, tutors, and hourly workers running their own businesses.

This startup is based out of United States of America.

Modus Operandi

How does Populace work? Is it complex? Well, its modus operandi is simple and flawless, both in policy and execution. Enlisted below is a simple three step procedure outlining how Populace works:

• Sign Up: The first and foremost step is to Sign Up so as to avail the services of Populace. Once you sign up, you get a single phone number that can be leveraged to communicate with all your clients. Organize your clients and chat from SMS or email. Put your advertising, referrals, and commerce in one place.
• Start texting: Text a link to your clients that contains your availability and a payment form. Booked sessions sync to your google calendar. Money is deposited to your bank every day. It’s safe and secure.
• Grow: Book recurring sessions and watch the results flow in. Analyze performance and plan for the future from a simple web dashboard. You call the shots.

Target Audiences

From personal trainers to domestic workers, from music instructors to language tutors, Populace caters to the requirements of one and all.

• Personal Trainers: If you are a personal trainer, you can safely do away with expensive cancellations, missed appointments, or wondering who’s paid up and who owes you for last session.
• Domestic Workers: If you are a domestic worker, you can work with the clients who value you the most. Book recurring sessions, and keep your organic-only clients separate from your “just make it shine” customers.
• Music Instructors: If you are a music instructor, keep your students organized and on top of their schedules. Get paid prior to each session and keep tabs on how much you’re making each week.
• Language Tutors: If you are a language tutor, organize your students by language and level, and stay focused on learning languages by getting scheduled and paid up-front and on time.

Why Populace?

On the supposed subject of why one should hedge his bets on Populace, Sam Gimbel mused, “By leveraging AI and placing these tools in the context of the conversations workers are already having with their customers, we reduce the chances of missed appointments, cancellations, and lost payment. Populace makes it possible to manage your entire business from the SMS interface by interacting with a virtual operations manager. To start, we make it easy to get paid on time, keep your schedule straight, and plan for the future. We think you’ll love what’s to come.”

Founders

Let me introduce you to the masterminds of Populace.

• Dylan Butman: He is the co-founder of Populace. He can be followed here on Twitter.
• Sam Gimbel: This entrepreneur is the same cofounder with whom I had a free-wheeling and an immensely insightful conversation. He can be followed here on Twitter.

The Bottom Line

Tech futurist startups have the distinct advantage of getting the industry edge. If a tech startup such as Populace becomes a success, it can be the most sought after destination for holistic, socially responsible and continuously employable professionals. This is an opportune time for the team of Populace to develop the impactful way of doing tasks which can differentiate it from the run-of-the-mill startups.

We, the members of StartupWhale, wholeheartedly wish them all the very best for the long and promising journey ahead.