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The Interview

Leah Solivan, TaskRabbit founder: How the gig economy falls short

Sep 3, 2026 · 23m

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“People just wanted to own the way they worked, but with that comes these institutional structures that have been built around the history of work that doesn’t allow for benefits programs or paid time off, or insurance. So there were all these things I knew that weighed on me. It wasn’t a perfect system.” The BBC’s Sarah Rogers speaks to Leah Solivan, founder and former chief executive of TaskRabbit, an app that connects people who need one-off tasks done by workers they can hire easily. Typical tasks include: errands, gardening, moving and furniture assembly. Founded in 2008, TaskRabbit helped pioneer the gig economy, giving workers greater control over when and how they worked. But that…