Airtasker vs Fiverr ($201USD)

Apologies for another thread, hopefully this is more constructive than some of the others.

I'm wondering if anyone has some resources/analysis on Airtasker vs Fiverr? Fiverr listed on the Nasdaq in June 2019 at $21, and is now ~$201 (peaking at $320 last year). Big numbers!




Fiverr is a similar business model to Airtasker, with two main differences I can see: 1) it's designed for remote jobs rather than local jobs, and 2) workers create profiles and advertise their services and then users look over and request to book. Airtasker on the other hand is primarily targeted for local jobs, and the main method of booking jobs is the customer posts a job they want done and then the workers place bids. Both websites look great, are easy to use etc when compared to Freelancer.

Perhaps the remote vs local focus explains the difference between Fiverr and Airtasker, but I have a few thoughts - beyond the obvious of Airtasker expanding into more countries.

First, while AirTasker is advertised mostly for local jobs there's no reason why remote work can't be completed. The top ten jobs on Airtasker are all local, but if you look through the job list there are heaps that can be done from anywhere, and I believe these are increasing. For example I run a business through Airtasker and 100% of my jobs are remote - I know about 40 other people posting on the same tasks doing the same, just in my little niche. I see loads of jobs posted across accounting, writing, data analysis, graphic design, website design, SEO - and so I'm not convinced that Airtasker's profits are restricted because of local transactions, which a lot of share price forecasting seems to assume.

Second, users of Airtasker will know they are introducing a booking system that enables customers to book jobs directly that are advertised by the workers (i.e. the opposite to the previous model). This is the same approach Fiverr takes, which I'm sure will attract more workers and expand the breadth of jobs because workers don't have to bid on hundreds of different jobs. However Airtasker is retaining its system of advertising jobs which is probably better for local jobs e.g. removalists, specific handy-man tasks etc that are a bit harder to have pre-determined listings for. So, seems like more room for expansion there using a model that has proven to be massively successful.

Fiverr seems to have benefited from Covid, but anecdotally a lot of businesses are moving permanently to a more remote setup because they now have proof it can work, with suitable infrastructure, it reduces costs, and employees are happier. People are more keen to work for themselves and work remotely, leaving big cities and finding somewhere along the coast where the quality of life is great and they don't have to deal with traffic, expenses or general hectic-ness of a city.

So what's stopping Airtasker going the way of Fiverr?

Any insights here are appreciated, I feel this comparison has been lacking from public and media discussion.