kimsterv_again
"We used to ask friends, but we didn't want to keep asking them again and again. A couple of them like doing it, but we still felt like we shouldn't take them for granted." This is exactly the first problem we aimed to solve. Spotwag is a way for your friends to opt-in to help and removes that awkwardness for you feeling like you're taking them for granted. If they're not up for helping, they can simply ignore your request. I mentioned in another comment you'll often be surprised by friends that do want to help toom friends that you wouldn't expect.
You're right about MVP. We have a lot of ideas for making Spotwag more awesome. We want to make it easier to schedule help on Spotwag than it is to call/email/text a bunch of people.
One of our short term priorities is to bring professionals on board and 2nd degree connections. After speaking of hundreds of pet owners, we feel strongly that finding someone you trust is key and a straight airbnb model wasn't going to work.
On your question - the problem is a bit different for different people, but basically we found through talking to pet owners that while they prefer asking friends/ family for help, they don't usually. Asking for help is awkward, intimidating, and coordination with said friends/ family is often difficult. On the other hand, we found the non-pet-owners actually want to help more - they want to be asked for help, so we try to make that whole affair less 'awkward,' and simplify the coordination bit. We believe asking for help should be as easy as picking up the phone to call a kennel.
We want you to be covered for all situations, but for now, we started with your direct friends because you already trust them, and if we can make going to them as easy as going to a professional, we feel it's a win-win for all.
We're currently working on redesigning the entire site with real designers, but would love feedback on the idea, functionality etc.