How Chipo Built TaskAces: A Marketplace for Communities

When Chipo envisioned TaskAces, it wasn’t just about creating a platform—it was about helping communities thrive. Her goal was to make it easier for people to find reliable help for everyday tasks while building meaningful connections between those in need and those who can provide services.

Chipo wanted the platform to focus on local solutions. For example, when someone posts a request, it gets matched with vendors in their area. This way, the work stays within the community, and local vendors have more opportunities to grow their businesses.

The big idea behind TaskAces wasn’t just to solve problems for individuals but to create a system where everyone benefits:

• Customers get their tasks done by trusted local professionals.
• Vendors have a reliable platform to find work and grow their client base.
• Communities benefit from stronger connections between neighbours and service providers.

TaskAces is about more than just getting the job done—it’s about supporting people and fostering trust within communities. This vision guided every step of the project, and it’s what makes TaskAces stand out as more than just a marketplace. It’s a tool to bring people together.

Developing TaskAces was not just a technical project—it was a journey that required navigating significant business challenges. Transforming the vision of a community marketplace into a reality meant addressing the unique needs of users while ensuring the business was set up for long-term success.

1. Building Trust and Engagement in Communities

TaskAces aimed to connect people within communities, fostering collaboration and trust. However, convincing individuals to embrace this new platform and actively participate was a significant hurdle. Many potential users were skeptical about trying something new, and gaining their trust required a hands-on approach.

Chipo addressed this by immersing herself in the communities TaskAces intended to serve. She attended local events, engaged with community leaders, and sought honest feedback from potential users. By listening to their concerns and needs, Chipo was able to position TaskAces as a valuable solution that addressed real pain points. This grassroots engagement not only built trust but also created early adopters who helped spread the word.

This early trust-building created a strong foundation for TaskAces, making users feel confident about joining and recommending the platform to others.

2. Designing a User-Friendly Business Process

Chipo recognised that the platform’s success relied heavily on its usability. TaskAces had to provide a seamless experience for both customers and vendors, ensuring that tasks could be posted, quotes could be sent, and payments could be made without confusion or frustration.

To achieve this, we collaborated closely with Chipo to design an end-to-end business process that was simple yet effective. Every interaction, from signing up to paying for services, was carefully mapped to reduce friction and encourage repeat use. This streamlined approach ensured that users—many of whom were unfamiliar with similar platforms—could easily navigate and trust TaskAces.

3. Navigating Legal and Compliance Hurdles

Creating a community marketplace comes with legal and regulatory complexities. TaskAces needed to comply with laws governing online transactions, data privacy, and intellectual property rights. These regulations vary depending on the nature of the services offered and the jurisdictions involved.

To address this, Chipo worked closely with legal advisors to ensure that TaskAces met all necessary requirements. Policies for data protection and secure online payments were prioritized to build user trust and protect the business from liability.

4. Building Partnerships and Scaling Awareness

A critical part of TaskAces’ business success lay in forging relationships with community leaders, potential partners, and local organizations. Chipo spent significant time networking, forming partnerships, and spreading awareness of TaskAces. These efforts were essential not only to attract vendors but also to establish TaskAces as a trusted brand within the communities it served.

While the business challenges laid the foundation for TaskAces, the technical side was all about execution. Creating a platform that was efficient, secure, and user-friendly required a series of strategic decisions to balance functionality with resource constraints. From prioritising essential features to implementing cost-effective solutions, every technical challenge was approached with the goal of supporting TaskAces' vision while staying within budget and delivering a seamless user experience.

Here are the key challenges we faced and how we addressed them:

1. Staying Focused on the Essentials

The hardest part was deciding which features to include in the first version and which to save for later. Since we were working with a limited budget and timeline, we chose to build an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) with only the essential features.

This version of TaskAces included all the features that were essential for the platform to work, while leaving the “nice-to-have” features for a later phase.

What We Implemented:

• Authentication system: Customers and vendors can sign up and log in securely to the platform.
• Task submission and email notifications: Customers can submit tasks, and vendors are notified via email.
• Location-based filtering: Using postcodes, tasks are matched with vendors nearby.
• Quote system: Vendors can submit quotes, and customers are notified via email.
• Secure payment system: Customers can view quotes, accept one, and securely pay for the service, ensuring privacy and visibility only to the relevant users.

What We Left Out (For Now):

While these features would add value to the platform, they were not essential for the initial launch and will be implemented in the future:

• Vendor dashboard with a map view: A dashboard to show active requests on a map, allowing vendors to view and quote on relevant jobs more easily.
• Chat system: A built-in chat feature for customer-vendor communication after payment. For now, communication will happen outside the platform via SMS, WhatsApp, or email.
• Automatic vendor payments: Streamlining payment disbursement to vendors after task completion.
• Calendar synchronisation: Automatically syncing booking details with vendors’ calendars.
• Pre-signup request creation: Allowing users to create tasks without signing up first. While this would enhance the user experience, it’s currently limited by the need to associate requests with user accounts.
• Vendor review system: Enabling customers to rate their experience with vendors. While this is a valuable feature for trust-building, it’s been deferred to a later phase.

By narrowing our focus to the essentials, we ensured TaskAces could launch with a solid foundation, providing the core functionality needed to connect customers and vendors effectively. This approach also keeps the platform scalable and ready for future enhancements.

2. Organising Data Securely

One of the critical challenges of TaskAces was ensuring that sensitive data was accessible only to the right people. The platform handles information like quotes, payments, and user details, all of which need to be protected to maintain trust and compliance. To achieve this, we focused on carefully structuring the database and implementing robust security rules.

Key Solutions:

• Restricting Quote Access: Only the customer who posted the task can view quotes submitted by vendors. This prevents unauthorized access to sensitive pricing details, ensuring privacy for both customers and vendors.
• Protecting Payment Details: Payment information is accessible only to the customer who made the payment and the vendor completing the task. This minimises data exposure and reduces risks.
• Role-Based Access Control: We implemented access rules based on user roles (customer or vendor), ensuring that users only see the information relevant to their role.

The Benefits:

• Enhanced Privacy: By organising data in a way that aligns with strict security rules, we ensured that sensitive information remains confidential.
• Ease of Management: The structured design simplifies the application of new rules or future updates to security.
• Scalability: The design allows us to add new features without compromising data integrity or increasing complexity.

This approach to organising and securing data not only protects users but also ensures that the platform is sustainable and manageable in the long run.

3. Handling Payments with Custom Rules

Integrating a secure and flexible payment system was a crucial component of TaskAces. We used Stripe, a trusted payment platform, as the backbone for processing transactions. However, we also needed to tailor the system to fit the unique requirements of the marketplace.

Custom Features Added:

• Service Charge Flexibility: For tasks that needed to be completed urgently (e.g., within 4 hours), we implemented a feature that automatically adds an extra fee to the final payment. This helps vendors prioritize urgent tasks while ensuring fairness in pricing.
• Seamless Payment Flow: Customers can accept a quote and pay directly through the platform. Payments are processed securely and confirmed via webhook post purchases, and vendors are notified when payments are completed.

The Challenges:

Customising Stripe to handle urgency-based charges required careful implementation. We had to ensure that the extra fees were calculated dynamically based on the timing of the request, all while maintaining a smooth user experience.

The Outcome:

• Flexibility for Users: Customers have more control over their requests, and vendors are fairly compensated for last-minute jobs.
• Secure Transactions: Stripe’s robust security features ensure safe and reliable payments for both customers and vendors.
• Scalability for Future Features: The payment system can easily accommodate additional features like automated vendor payouts in future phases.

4. Efficient Use of Resources

When designing the platform, we needed to implement location-based filtering to match customers with nearby vendors. While calculating the exact distance between job locations and vendors seemed ideal, it posed a significant challenge in terms of computing resources and database operations.

The Problem:

Calculating distances for every task request in real time required significant processing power and database reads, which would have increased costs and slowed down the platform.

The Solution:

We implemented a postcode filtering system instead. This simpler yet effective approach groups vendors and customers based on their postcode regions, significantly reducing the number of calculations needed.

The Results:

• 90% Reduction in Database Operations: By avoiding real-time distance calculations, we achieved a significant reduction in resource consumption.
• Cost-Effective Solution: The streamlined process keeps operational costs low while maintaining functionality.
• Speed and Accuracy: Postcode filtering is fast and still provides accurate matches for most use cases, ensuring a smooth user experience.

This efficient approach allows TaskAces to handle increasing demand as the platform grows while keeping performance high and costs manageable.

One of the most exciting moments for TaskAces came in November 2025, when it was shortlisted as a finalist at the London Business Show. Out of more than 500 startups, TaskAces stood out as one of the top 15 finalists—a remarkable achievement for a project still in its early stages.

The competition was fierce, with some of the most innovative startups pitching their ideas to a panel of industry experts. Chipo had the incredible opportunity to present her app to the judges, including Simon Squibb, explaining how TaskAces helps communities by connecting customers and vendors for essential home and garden services.

Although TaskAces didn’t win the £100,000 award, being a finalist was already a huge accomplishment. The judges provided fantastic feedback, praising the platform for its focus on solving real-world problems and its smart, resource-efficient design. They also highlighted the potential for TaskAces to grow into a key player in the service marketplace space. 

Beyond the competition itself, Chipo made the most of the experience by connecting with fellow entrepreneurs and building valuable new relationships. She exchanged ideas, learned from others’ experiences, and gained fresh insights into how to further develop TaskAces.

Being a finalist was more than just a recognition of the hard work that went into TaskAces—it was a testament to its potential and the strength of Chipo’s vision. It showed that even in a crowded field of innovative startups, TaskAces has what it takes to make an impact.

This milestone was a proud moment for everyone involved in TaskAces, and it’s just the beginning of what’s to come.

The journey of building TaskAces offers valuable insights for anyone looking to create a platform, launch a startup, or tackle a big idea with limited resources. Here are some key takeaways that other businesses can learn from Chipo’s experience:

1. Start Small, But Think Big

Chipo didn’t wait to have every feature or a perfect product before starting. Instead, she focused on building an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) with the essential features to test the idea. This allowed her to launch a functional prototype quickly and gather feedback without overinvesting in features that could wait until later.

2. Prioritise What Matters Most

It’s tempting to try and do everything at once, but staying focused on the core features is key. For TaskAces, features like vendor notifications and secure payments were critical for launch, while others, like a vendor review system, could wait for future phases. Knowing what to prioritize saved time, money, and effort.

3. Focus on Solving Real Problems

At its heart, TaskAces is about helping communities. By staying focused on this purpose, the platform remained user-centered, solving real-world problems in a simple and effective way. This clarity of vision helped guide every decision, from feature selection to user experience design.

5. Learn and Grow from Feedback

The testing phase and the experience at the London Business Show showed the value of listening to feedback. Every insight, whether from users, judges, or peers, helped refine the platform and inspired new ideas for future growth.

6. Celebrate Every Milestone

Being a finalist out of 500+ startups was a huge achievement. It opened doors, built connections, and validated the hard work that had gone into the project. Every step forward, no matter how small, is worth celebrating.

TaskAces is more than just a platform—it’s a story about turning a vision into reality. Whether you’re someone with a business idea or an established entrepreneur looking to grow, there are lessons here that can help you succeed too.

1. Thinking About Starting Your Own Platform?

If you’ve been sitting on an idea, wondering how to start, TaskAces shows that you don’t need to have all the answers or a huge budget to begin. By focusing on the essentials and building a functional prototype, you can test your idea and start making progress. The key is to take that first step, no matter how small.

2. Want to Grow Your Existing Business?

Even if you already have a platform, TaskAces is a great example of how to grow strategically. Adding features like secure payments, location-based matching, or automated notifications doesn’t need to happen all at once. By prioritising what matters most to your users, you can improve your offering without overcomplicating things.

3. For Anyone Who Wants to Make an Impact

TaskAces was built with communities in mind, showing how technology can bring people together and solve everyday problems. If your goal is to help people, support local businesses, or build connections, the TaskAces story proves that even a simple idea can have a big impact.

Why It’s Worth Doing

At the end of the day, TaskAces reminds us that success isn’t about having all the resources—it’s about having the right approach. It’s about starting small, making thoughtful decisions, and staying true to your purpose.

Whether you’re looking to launch your idea or take your business to the next level, the principles behind TaskAces can inspire you to take action. If Chipo’s journey teaches us anything, it’s that with focus, creativity, and determination, you can create something that truly matters.

So, what’s your next step? Let TaskAces show you that turning your vision into reality is possible—you just need to start.

The journey of building TaskAces is a powerful example of how big ideas can come to life with focus, determination, and smart decision-making. From creating an MVP to being shortlisted as a finalist at the London Business Show, Chipo’s story demonstrates the importance of starting small, learning as you go, and staying true to your vision.

But the story doesn’t end here. As TaskAces gears up for its official launch in February 2025, the next steps are all about testing, refining, and preparing to deliver a platform that truly serves its users. With plans to add even more features, like a vendor review system and other enhancements, the future is bright for TaskAces.

What’s Next for You?

Whether you’re looking to start your own business, upgrade your existing platform, or take an idea from concept to reality, now is the time to act. Here are some steps to consider:

• Have an idea? Start with the essentials—just like TaskAces—and focus on creating a simple version of your product or service.
• Need help? Reach out for guidance or support in building your platform.
• Already in business? Think about how you can grow strategically, adding features or improvements that truly matter to your customers.

If you’d like to discuss your ideas, need help with a project, or are curious about how a platform like TaskAces can inspire your own business, let’s connect. Together, we can create something incredible.

Let’s build your vision, one step at a time.

Inspired by TaskAces story?

If you’re as excited about TaskAces as we are, why not visit the site and join the waiting list? By signing up, you’ll stay updated on our progress and be the first to know when TaskAces officially launches.

And who knows? You might even find yourself using TaskAces in the future—whether it’s to find help for a task or offer your own services as a vendor.

Don’t miss your chance to be part of this growing community. Visit www.taskaces.com today, join the waiting list, and stay updated on our journey to launch!