I disagree on Uber for Cleaning Services being the same.
For a cab company, I want a large fleet of cabs, so that I can get the closest one fast. I dont need huge levels of trust in my cab driver. Get me where I want to go, dont kill me in the process, dont rob me.
For a cleaning company, I'm letting those guys inside my house. I need a lot more trust, and I dont want new guys every time. I want a reliable guy that I can use over and over again.
One of those is well suited to a distributed model with interchangeable parts. Uber provides that distributed network, and that is a moat of kinds. Yes they can be replaced, but you still need a comparable distributed network in place to be competitive. That isn't free.
Their power is in their existing network, and the fact that being a network is a value add to what they provide. For a cleaning service, being in a network isn't a competitive benefit - I'm not looking for the closest cleaner, I want one I really trust.
Of course they aren't the same, and all your statements are true, and "Uber for Food" also isn't the same, but the ultimate challenge will be the logistics problem (they admitted that their ultimate problem was logistics), and this problem is equivalent for all three. If you solve this problem for Food, you can beat Uber, beat anything else, just on this one algorithm, or you can offer your algorithm to Uber and other services.
Problem can be defined as pickup and delivery, on the fly, or offline (knowing all of the orders in advance). If you solve the on the fly, you've solved the offline problem. Picking up people, or food, delivering people, or food, problem in its essence ignores the subject and optimizes the pickup/delivery.
I would argue that a recommendation engine would be a far better thing for cleaning services than a logistics solution is. Facebook are a lot closer to the solution for cleaning services than uber is. I want a cleaner who people say are trustworthy and who is reasonably local. I want a driver and food delivery guy who is very local and somewhat trustworthy. Very different domains.
For a cab company, I want a large fleet of cabs, so that I can get the closest one fast. I dont need huge levels of trust in my cab driver. Get me where I want to go, dont kill me in the process, dont rob me.
For a cleaning company, I'm letting those guys inside my house. I need a lot more trust, and I dont want new guys every time. I want a reliable guy that I can use over and over again.
One of those is well suited to a distributed model with interchangeable parts. Uber provides that distributed network, and that is a moat of kinds. Yes they can be replaced, but you still need a comparable distributed network in place to be competitive. That isn't free.
Their power is in their existing network, and the fact that being a network is a value add to what they provide. For a cleaning service, being in a network isn't a competitive benefit - I'm not looking for the closest cleaner, I want one I really trust.