Today, after a few months in private beta we’re thrilled to publicly launch Gigwalk and announce our seed funding. Our free Gigwalk iPhone app is in the App Store, and starting today you can post Gigs for the Gigwalk mobile workforce.

So what is Gigwalk? 

Deploying feet on the street is time consuming, complicated, and messy.  With Gigwalk, businesses can now instantly tap the Gigwalk mobile workforce to capture real-world data with a few simple clicks. 

Turning the world’s iPhones into a mobile workforce

Every day millions of people are getting new smartphones.  While we adore the technology behind these mobile devices, we are far more impressed by the people using them.  So, we decided to bring together people with unique skills, interests, and schedules, turning the world’s iPhones into an instant mobile workforce. 

A network with purpose

Today, the most popular mobile apps are time-consuming games and social networks whose content is at the whim of the user.  Gigwalk flips this, giving businesses the platform to find, coordinate, and guide people using smartphones to solve real-world problems.  Using Gigwalk, businesses now have the power to request very precise data and actions from the Gigwalk mobile workforce. 

Gigwalk @ work for businesses

When we started Gigwalk we knew a handful of ways businesses would benefit from using the Gigwalk mobile workforce.  During the private beta, thanks to customers like TomTom and MenuPages, we quickly realized there are countless ways to use Gigwalk.  Here are a few examples:

Additional industries that are using Gigwalk include real estate, travel, weather, consumer research, advertising, and more.

A community, not a crowd

Some will want to lump Gigwalk with other “crowdsourced” ventures. Crowds are nameless, faceless groups of people whose paths are unlikely to cross.  In contrast, Gigwalkers share their skills, passions, and personalities, helping each other grow and flourish.  For example, elite Gigwalkers Andrew and Jenzie voluntarily built a website sharing their tips and tricks with the larger Gigwalker community.

We are grateful and impressed by the community’s thoughtfulness, passion, and work ethic.  You should meet some of them here.

Gigwalking is not your typical job

Unlike most typical jobs, Gigwalkers have the freedom to choose which Gigs to do and when they want to do them.  Many productive Gigwalkers integrate Gigs into their daily lives; for example, they might do a few Gigs on their way to lunch or in between errands.

Gigwalkers earn Streetcred for high quality work.  This builds their reputation and grants them access to higher paying Gigs.  Some earn as much as $1,000 a month Gigwalking. 

How do I start?

• Become a Gigwalker:  Download our free iPhone app from the App Store and apply to become a Gigwalker.  
• Businesses:  Put Gigwalkers to work by trying a photo-task Gig in one of our current markets or contact us for full access to Gigwalk.

We are thrilled to be unveiling Gigwalk today, taking the first step of a journey to reinvent work for a mobile world.  More to come. 

Ariel, David, and Matt