Not so Magical
The story of how I left my job, flew to Silicon Valley to try to work for Magic, and the bumpy relationship that ensued
This is an essay I didn’t want to write.
Over the past three months I have been one of Magic’s most engaged and passionate customer. As you are probably aware, Magic is a popular new Silicon Valley startup that allows customers to text a number and ask for whatever goods or services they would like. A team of “magicians” at an office in Palo Alto then fulfills their requests.
When they launched on Feb 22, I signed up and joined within the very first week (day 6 actually). I was impressed with their business model, ease of use and their hard working staff. I had worked with over 50 virtual assistants in the past so I was excited to give Magic a try. After a number of positive tasks competed by their staff I began to promote their work throughout the web. You can see my tweets and positive interactions regarding their company.
I even went so far as to leave my job in Colorado and move to Silicon Valley in the hopes of getting an opportunity to achieve a contractual or full time job with them. I believed in what they were doing and I was a huge fan of the new “Uber for everything” industry that was growing.
I met with their founders and they offered to give me a contract. Both verbally and over text message. I was also given a task to onboard 10 great customers and I went out and tirelessly recruited 62 of some of the best and smartest people I know to join their new service. I tapped my personal network and I wrote a exhaustive 39 page research paper on the work that I had done, sending a copy to each of their 4 founders.
But then something must have happened.
They must have changed their minds. The founders stopped responding to all emails, phone calls and twitter messages.
After 11 days of waiting and over 10 unresponsive messages I decided this was not worth my time. I moved on and began applying to other companies in the valley and began experimenting with building a non profit customer service startup.
But recently things have continued to go downhill.
As of 11:21 AM Thursday June 11th, Magic the service has stopped responding to any and all texts and emails that I have sent them.
They have effectively “banned my account”
This is an issue.
I don’t mind being dismissed as a candidate to their company. That’s just the way things go. I am sure there are many talented and hardworking candidates in their application pool.
But I do mind having my account closed by their founders without a legitimate reason or a single email stating their intentions and what they plan to do to safely care for my financial and personal data.
It is an issue because of the fact that they may still have my credit card on file. And they may be continuing to charge it for a number of the recurring payments that we established.
It is an issue because if they cancel my auto payments then the numerous charities that we have established support for will be cut off.
And it is an issue because it is simply unprofessional. Professionalism and communication is required when there are credit cards and private customer information on file. There are basic levels of customer service that are required to properly practice business in the United States.
This signals some of the dangers of this emerging new economy. When you work closely with a concierge service you establish high levels of trust and sharing of data with them. You allow them to know private details of your work and personal life and so that they can work side by side to assist you.
Conclusion
It’s been three weeks now and I have still haven’t gotten any word from Magic. I have sent them 16 messages and the have ignored every one.
I’m not mad at Magic. I am simply disappointed in their leaders and their decisions. This could have gone so much better. There were countless opportunities along this bumpy journey to open the lines of communication and fix these issues.
I hope this essay serves as a challenge to the “Uber for everything” industry. This is brand new uncharted waters and there will need to be standards and expectations properly put in place. There is a tremendous amount of potential for companies to work with their clients to achieve a collaborative success.Also, I hope that established companies like Sequoia and Y Combinator work to assist their young startup’s that they fund as they go through issues such as these. I feel that there is real potential for some of the technology leaders to provide guidelines for the companies they fund and help grow so that unprofessional issues like this are reduced.
Moving forward
Even with these setbacks, my passion and excitement for this new industry still continues. I believe that these new “Uber for everything” companies have the potential to change the world. And I hope it does so for better.
I will continue to learn, write about, and work with the best companies in this brand new economy.
If there are any questions you have, or anything I can do to help you out. Feel free to connect with me on Twitter.