I don't think these particular examples are that exciting. Rich people can already get this type of concierge service from existing places, like a personal assistant, virtual personal assistant [1], or a credit card concierge (you probably have one [2]). If you are spending enough money, getting somebody to help you isn't hard.

I still don't understand how the service would apply to the average person, or how it could apply enough to make lots of money. Average people really try to be efficient with their money, and don't pay money for that many things they can do themselves. With annoying tasks like laundry, there are economies of scale so you can actually provide consumers with better service for less money, which is a win/win. But with a concierge, you are always going to have to pay the concierge money, and will they really be able to provide enough expertise to be worth it? I'm skeptical.

1: https://www.zirtual.com/

2: http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/putting-concierg...

Read the beginning of the article, was mildly interested. Kept reading about how he arbitrarily decided to book a helicopter ride and buy an expensive motorcycle through a texting service just to test it out, and was no longer sure if it was honestly a troll or not. Came here to see the comments, apparently was not a troll. Wow.

So the question I have here is, was he aware of how outrageously douchey this article comes off with the examples being off the cuff entirely over-the-top money blowing that he apparently regularly indulges in, or are rich people so in their own world that they don't even realize how normal people live and that writing something like this comes off as absurd to most people?

And another question that comes to mind too. He tried to make a startup that solved a similar problem a while ago, and mentioned this in the article. Are rich people seeking further conveniences for their already rather convenient lives entirely blind to the range of problems middle or lower class people deal with? Do they not care about these types of people and their problems because it simply not relevant to them?

I know this sounds very accusing of rich people, and while I am always personally a little shocked to see money squandered carelessly while so much suffering happens in the world, I honestly do not have anything against these people at all. Everyone has their own path in life and can and should make their own choices as they see fit. I am just honestly curious how it is rationalized, and the thought process surrounding it for people like this.

Edit: Did some googling and turned up these two quora answers:

- http://www.quora.com/Do-rich-people-feel-bad-or-guilty-when-...

- http://www.quora.com/How-do-rich-people-feel-about-the-fact-...

The answers given are essentially "they make excuses for themselves and set up situations that rationalize it, such as 'I deserve this' and 'I could never make enough of a difference', etc." I don't quite feel satisfied with this. I would like to hear an answer from a legitimately very rich person still just out of curiosity!

That was the longest humblebrag I ever read! Still, I'm impressed the the comprehensive coverage of Magic.

So, Justin Kan has done well for himself financially, and used Magic for a bit of fun. But don't write Magic off as just a concierge for the rich.

Things in the past month I've used Magic for:

  * Was in a city without Uber; Magic called a taxi to my location (and took care of payment)
  * Got my car re-keyed with a locksmith
  * Called a few restaurants/bars to try to find my lost wallet
  * Called my doctor's office to figure out what the best insurance for me to get was.
  * Delivered custom-drilled 2x4s at 9pm within an hour
  * Removed a bunch of garbage (since we moved and had lots of boxes)
  * Delivered an Apple Express within an hour
  * I said "find me a nice restaurant within half a mile for 3 people available in the next hour", and they found and made me a reservation.
  * Checked what time my parking garage closed (the hours weren't listed online)
  * Called my upcoming hotel and arranged for a package to be delivered to my room.

I'm still trying to figure out what to use Magic for, but every time I do, it really is magical.

These are the worst examples to demonstrate a service meant for average people.

Magic booked my helicopter ride!

Magic found and bought me a Ducati!

Also look how much back and forth was involved. All of this seems easier doing it yourself.

"Also can you look into getting a helicopter from new haven to jfk"

Concierge service for rich people.

I don't really understand why magic is that innovative. If you are a guy like Justin Kan you can pay(already have) an assistant to do all of these things for you with a higher degree of accountability and a lower threshold of friction. It was fun wading through Kan's experience spending an average Americans salary simply to test drive a new iphone app, and that illustrates why magic probably won't appeal to the average American.

I think Magic could be great as a lower-price-finder for people with a more normal income.

ie.

"I found a rental car for $PRICE at SFO tomorrow. Can you find me anything cheaper?"

If Magic finds you a better deal even with their cut (they work their fee into the price they quote you), they get paid & you still save money.

If you liked the general theme of this, you might also enjoy: http://fourhourworkweek.com/2010/05/01/credit-card-concierge...

I used Magic to have them find me a moving company that could move me from Mountain View to Palo Alto the next day and they delivered pretty much flawlessly. The movers they found me were skilled, cheaper, and available immediately as opposed to the ones I found myself. All in all, I was pretty impressed with the experience.

Meh. That's a lot of input that the author had to provide. It is responding to unstructured/unpredictable messages as well, which takes quite a bit of thinking by the author.

If I had to change a flight, I would guess I could do it faster on Virgin's website rather than through Magic. Same with the helicopter.

That was seriously cool. Many tech companies could learn much from them in terms of customer support. I understand that for these guys this is the product, but still, if you have awesome customer support, it will get you more business.

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Great article but begs the question, how much is a helicopter ride for 4 from New Haven to JFK?

Lots of undue whining in these comments... they can do plain boring stuff too, and a lot of the tasks are free from what I see if there's no purchase involved. Even purchases seem to be a low margin so it might be worth it if you're short on time/effort.

Instead of just proclaiming the future demise of the company why not actually try it out? I'm sure there are plenty of average people getting value out of it. Besides there are also several companies that are successful catering just to the rich. The only way we'll know if this company will work out is by using it and seeing what happens. And if they indeed are unsustainable, might as well get the free help while it's available.