Startup Cherry.com launched a new service on Tuesday that lets drivers to park, check-in (on its website or with an app), and have their car washed while they're away.
"Believe it or not there’s a lot of technology involved," says CEO and Co-Founder Travis VanderZanden, who was the first employee at Yammer.
About 20 cleaners that the company has hired in the San Francisco area have their own version of the iPhone app that they use to update their locations. When a customer requests a cleaning, Cherry.com's software automatically locates a Cherry employee nearby who can make the trip, and gives the customer an estimated arrival time.
The customer also gets text messages when the the washer arrives and leaves.
Cherry.com plays in a similar space as companies such as grocery delivery service Fresh Direct, car service Uber and task-on-demand site Taskrabbit -- the space in between digital and real worlds. VanderZanden says that he hopes to expand to similar services that make real-life tasks easier through technology.
For now, he's focused on expanding beyond San Francisco. Not needing to establish brick and mortar stores, along with $750,000 in seed funding from Yammer CEO David Sacks, PayPal founder Max Levchin and Square COO Keith Rabois, should help it do so quickly.
In order to succeed, however, it will need to convince people that it's OK to leave their cars unlocked (the company covers damage or theft) and that a car wash is worth its flat fee of $29.