Product Teardown
URBAN COMPANY - Teardown
“I can’t orchestrate, monitor, and audit home services remotely when multiple people are involved.”
The Orchestration Gap
Urban Company makes it extremely easy to book a service - but surprisingly hard to orchestrate that service when the homeowner is remote and multiple people are involved (parents, tenants, neighbours, staff).
For NRIs and remote owners, the primary concern is not trusting the cleaner, but rather:
“I can’t orchestrate, monitor, and audit home services remotely when multiple people are involved.”
This is fundamentally different from NoBroker’s “trusting strangers” problem. Urban Company’s gap is workflow, not supply quality.
Who are we solving for?
Remote Homeowner / NRI (Primary)
Age 28–45, living in US/UK/ME
Goal: Maintain property remotely. Fix issues without burdening parents. Avoid emergencies.
Pain: Relies on parents/tenants for access + supervision. Lacks visibility into work done. Zero audit trail.
Joint Family Household Manager
Age 30–50
Goal: Recurring predictable services. Coordinating spouse, kids, elders.
Tenant / Paying Guest
Pain: Approval confusion, awkward payment splits.
Service Professional
Pain: Customer unavailable, miscommunication.
Why Prioritize the Remote Homeowner?
- A single bad job → real financial + emotional damage.
- Willing to pay for reliability and orchestration.
- Multiple stakeholders = higher friction.
- Differentiates portfolio from PMs who only design for Indian users.
NRI → Parents/Tenants → UC Partner
Stage 1: Trigger & Need Recognition
Issue discovered by parent (“AC not cooling”) → Passed to NRI via WhatsApp.
Pain: Fragmented, emotional, unclear info. No system of record.
Stage 2: Decision to Use UC
NRI books from abroad OR Parent books from India OR Avoid UC entirely.
Pain: No clarity on who owns the booking. Roles undefined (payer vs on-site).
Stage 3: Booking & Time Coordination
NRI selects time in IST. Must coordinate with parents’ schedule.
Pain: Timezone complexity. Frequent rescheduling. If cancelled, NRI hears after failure.
Stage 4: Service Execution
Partner talks to whoever opens door. Partner calls NRI (wrong timezone).
Pain: Broken communication triangle. Decisions forced on parents with no context.
Stage 5: Payment & Documentation
Payment split (NRI online vs Parents cash). Ratings skewed (“polite 5-stars”).
Pain: Financial opacity. No audit trail. Missing checklist/parts history.
Stage 6: Post-Service Issues
Recurrence of problem. Entire coordination loop restarts.
Pain: Accountability blur. No long-term property history. NRIs lose trust.
The “Big 3” Pains
No Role-Based Access or Shared Ownership
System assumes a single user; reality = owner + on-site contact + sometimes tenant. Roles (payer, scheduler, approver, reviewer) are not modeled.
Fragmented Communication Across Apps
WhatsApp for context + UC for booking + calls/SMS for partner → no single timeline. Owner can’t reconstruct “what actually happened”.
Low Transparency During Execution
No structured “live” view for remote owner: technician arrival, progress, issues needing approval. Crucial decisions made via ad-hoc calls.
P4: Poor Post-Service Audit
Lack of checklists and parts history. Hard to track warranty.
P5: Not Property-Centric
History is user-account-centric. Knowledge doesn’t “live with the house.”
Solving the Multi-Actor Gap
Good Evening, Kamal 👋
Your Homes in India
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P1: Shared Ownership
Urban Company supports only a basic “share booking” link.
Add “On-Site Contact” To Bookings
Owner selects property → Chooses on-site contact (parent/tenant) → Both receive notifications.
Household Roles with Permissions
Owner: Full control + approvals. On-Site Contact: Status only. Tenant: Request services.
Shared Property Workspace
Collaborative hub with shared calendar, role-based approvals, and activity feed.
P2: Fragmented Communication
Splitting chat into Technician vs Household channels reduces noise.
Unified Notes Field
Separate notes for Technician vs. Household (internal coordination).
Universal Service Timeline
Structured log: Booked → Assigned → En route → Started → Approval Pending → Completed.
Property “Activity Feed”
Slack for your home. Every event logged, persistent multi-user audit trail.
P3: Low Transparency
Owners abroad have no way to verify what happened inside the home.
Visible Before/After Proof
Expose existing partner workflow: Photos + Checklist visible to Owner.
Live Remote Status
Push notifications for: Arrived, Started, Extra work recommended, Completed.
Remote Approval Flow
Technician uploads photo + cost → Owner gets approval request → On-site person doesn’t need to negotiate.
Multi-Actor Job Flow
Launch a lightweight multi-actor booking and tracking flow that lets an NRI owner assign an on-site contact, share a unified timeline, and receive structured proof of work.
The MVP Bundle
- ✓Add Roles at Booking: Owner can add On-Site Contact with phone + relationship.
- ✓Shared Status Timeline: Both see: Booked → Partner Assigned → En Route → On-site → Completed.
- ✓Mandatory Before/After Evidence: Photo + checklist attached at completion, visible to both.
Adoption
% Bookings
with Multi-Actor Setup (additional contact added).
Efficiency
Drop in Cancellations
”Customer Not Available” cases should fall.
Retention
Repeat Rate
From identified NRI accounts / remote properties.
Launch Strategy
Initial Users
- Users with foreign phone numbers (+1, +44) but Indian addresses.
- Power users managing multiple addresses.
Channels
- Booking Screen: Nudge to “Add on-site contact”.
- Post-Booking: “Share this booking” CTA.
- Lifecycle: Email to multi-property users: “Manage everything from one view.”