Everyone has the one person in their office who has all the answers: How do you fix that jam in the copier? What’s the formula to find an average in Excel? Where did templates disappear to in Outlook? Unfortunately, that person isn’t usually the assigned IT professional – they’re just proficient.  

Enter Geeker, a new business that wants to help businesses – and your office’s most-helpful employee – get back their time while filling some additional gaps. Beyond offering affordable, pay-as-you-go help to small operators, Geeker also helps its workers make extra cash on their terms by employing freelancers. 

Coming in 2023, which seems poised to be ubiquitous with everyone’s favorite talking point, AI, gig economy-based Geeker sets itself apart by leaning into IRL.  

The East Orange-based startup offers secure, video-based assistance from actual people. Technicians work via screen-share – just like an IT department or contractor – on programs including Microsoft Office, Adobe, Google and Quickbooks. As it continues to introduce new tools, Geeker says it offers businesses a way to reduce overhead and increase productivity.   

It also prides itself on limited wait times; according to the company customers are connected to geeks within minutes and issues are, on average, resolved in about 20 minutes. 

“Even if you have an IT professional company, there’s, you know, the guy that replaces your computer — he’s either not available or he is busy, always backlogged, or he is not going to help you with your Excel problems,” Chief Operating Officer Aharon Fehler told NJBIZ. “So, Geeker was born out of that idea of being able to just have a geek, instead of having to bother … the resident geek in the office. Click a button and you could just find someone right away who’s able to help you.” 

According to a recent study by the National Skills Coalition, nearly all (92%) of office workers use technology to do their jobs. But just under 3% are IT experts. The study found that gap leads to an average of more than 7 hours per month in productivity losses due to technology-related issues.  

“So, the idea of Geeker is basically putting these two things together: That you have these businesses that are losing thousands and thousands of dollars, tens of thousands, with just people wasting their time. Even if people have [an Excel] sheet that’s working, it’s not working well. Or you have that router that you have to reset every day … because they just never got somebody to fix it,” Fehler said. “All this huge amount of time that’s being wasted in the business. And at the same time – just like Uber – you have so many people that are capable of solving it and they’re just sitting waiting. They’d love to take a job and help people.

“It’s just like this balance of, you get instant help. You click a button and because we have a big pool of so many people, you’ll get help within a couple of minutes … And we have already thousands of customers and very, very happy customers,” Fehler said. 

While Geeker launched with the intent to serve individual customers, the COO explained that base isn’t large enough to support a sustainable model. “So, the bigger value is on the business side,” he said, estimating that individuals make up about 17% of Geeker’s users. The bulk of the company’s work is with small shops. 

Geeker offers both pay-as-you-go and subscription options, providing flexibility for customers in addition to being “perfect for a small business on a budget.” 

“And we have some enterprise businesses as well,” Fehler added.  

You get what you give

“We’ve all experienced the pain that comes with technology glitches that prevent us from getting our job done,” Jacob Eisenbach, founder and CEO of Geeker, said in a statement introducing the business. “Compounding the issue is the frustrating pursuit of timely, professional assistance to get unstuck. Geeker acts as an ‘MSP for software,’ connecting customers to experts with a wide-range of knowledge across the software and IT landscape, without requiring users to engage in expensive vendor agreements, interact with ineffective chatbots or cycle through voice-activated help lines with long wait times. With Geeker, workers get problems resolved and can move their project forward, quickly.” 

Fehler said Geeker is focused on working with U.S.-based technicians, even though doing so increases costs, “but it gives a much better quality of service.” 

According to him, there are currently about 100-150 registered geeks. The volume of available technicians varies throughout the course of the day, with a focus on the 9-to-5 window. 

“This is probably one of the things that we focus on the most,” he said. “Try[ing] to juggle that marketplace economics.” 

For now, the organization is still a tight-knit community. Fehler said that the technicians each have direct lines of communication with Eisenbach – including via his cell. One geek confirmed that. “Which I love, because when things are too big, it loses that connection we’re talking about,” this person told NJBIZ. “I personally like things small — I go by less is more; bigger is not always better.” 

That community feeling is also part of the service Geeker brings to the table for customers. 

“Everyone’s going to chatGPT. And there is a huge advantage of it in many ways,” Fehler agreed. “We actually use it on our software side. We have a whole thing that we do with chatGPT to actually create a software. But for an average person that’s stuck with their issues, it’s exactly the opposite of what people need. And, I think today’s day and age, people want that human connection. And people will pay for it.” 

When it comes to customer service, it can be frustrating trying to connect in a connected world. “And I think we’re missing that,” Fehler said. “And people really want someone that will help them.” 

Geeker is available Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Pricing for tech support starts at $1.99 per minute and at $2.50 per minute for IT support. The company offers three tiers for business users: Solopreneur, starting at $99 per month; Small Team for $299 per month with up to four additional users; and Growing Company, which offers unlimited users for $499 per month. 

The company provides education, as well, with a blog offering posts on topics ranging from “Rounding In Excel” to “How To Set Up An Out Of Office Message In Outlook.” It also encourages technicians to offer context for customers. 

“We try to train our geeks to be advisors or guides,” Fehler said. “That they’ll not just fix it for you, but they’ll explain to you, ‘Hey, you know, this is actually how you should have done it.’ Or ‘Hey, if you just fix this little thing, it’s going to work. And oh, by the way, I can see this other problem in your sheet. If you fix this, it’s going to work even better.’” 

Something is happening here

At the beginning of 2023, Forbes suggested that “Gig Workers May Be More Resilient Than Their Salaried Counterparts.” Amid a flurry of tech layoffs – 77,000 workers in the first month-and-a-half of the year, according to the publication – the article reported that people opting into freelance work were seeing higher returns. Forbes said 29% of tech gig workers make more than $100,000 a year freelancing — 6% higher than gig workers overall, and for most respondents (56%) serving as a supplemental source of income.  

Bucking the trend of the larger gig working base (62%), Forbes said just 44% of tech freelancers make their full living from that work. 

Sam Ziegler, a professional drummer, lives in New York. His work with computers dates to 1999 — his work with Geeker began over the summer. 

After interviewing with the company in June, Ziegler told NJBIZ he was taking customers about a month later. In between, he took part in a live, virtual training session that offered an overview of the platform and company protocols, as well as on-demand video assignments. 

In addition to going to school for computers and having professional experience as a technician, Ziegler said he is the previous owner of a computer repair franchise. Fehler also mentioned a retired professor who moonlights as a geek.  

According to the company, Geekers earn an average of $80-$90 per hour when tallying completed sessions. 

“They’re working from home. They’re leveraging an expertise that maybe they didn’t realize they could even make money from,” Fehler explained, adding “we have a lot of fascinating people that are just doing this, like in their spare time.” 

On their technician profiles, Ziegler explained, geeks specify where they have expertise. 

When logged in to accept work, they receive a notification through the company’s interface that a call is incoming, along with a basic description of the issue. Then, they can choose whether to accept the assignment or not.  

Issues Ziegler has faced include trouble connecting to the internet or a specific network; inability to log into a device; a virus alert; being unable to print; router issues; general operating lag; sound card problems and so on. Calls typically last about five to 10 minutes, he said. The longest, though – a very specific incident involving a customer-built computer – went on for three to four hours.  

“I had to adjust the payment on that,” Ziegler said. “I didn’t feel it was, I guess fair that the customer was charged a lot for the kind of issue that she had.” Despite not being able to help the user solve her problem, and perhaps due to the considerable time and effort he expended, Ziegler said he did feel like he was able to help her come to a conclusion. 

Technicians also have the ability to collaborate, passing calls by communicating directly over the Geeker platform or via Slack. They can also promote their work with a shareable URL for users to request their expertise explicitly. 

Allowing technicians to work at their will or whim offers flexibility. According to Forbes, that was the main reason tech gig workers chose to work in that way. “Our research showed that working remotely or from home is more important to tech gig workers than for other gig workers, and many are driven to freelancing by geographic circumstances.” 

As Ziegler, who also travels due to his involvement with an investment property, explained, even if he’s on the road he can still work with Geeker – so long as he has a computer and internet connection.  

According to the company, Ziegler has made more than $5,000 during his tenure. 

“Helping people is my ultimate goal and secondary goal is getting the money,” Ziegler said, chuckling. 

“Do we have to earn a living? Yes. But, the reason why I’m doing what I’m doing – and especially also being a full-time musician – it’s really only to help make people happy and to help people,” he continued. “That is the ultimate goal, that’s the reason why I’m doing the things that I’m doing. And seeing like, almost like a relief [that] their problem is finished, and they don’t have to worry about it anymore. And seeing them smile about it is, is extremely satisfying.” 

Uber for your computer

Fehler joined Geeker in February. As a startup, he said there have been challenges in creating structure, but that a lot of progress has been made during 2023. Looking ahead, scaling up is “a big, a big, big focus for us,” he said, adding: “We want to be like the Uber for your computer, for your office.” 

The business is self-funded; CEO and founder Eisenbach is also owner of East Orange-based Lexington Property Group. 

“Which is a big advantage for us. And we we’re very lucky to be able to have that,” Fehler said, noting that the company is looking to do a seed round soon.  

Another early challenge has been getting the word out about what exactly Geeker does. But, as the executive pointed out, there was a time when Uber was just as unknown. 

“Remember before you used Uber the first time you were like, I’ll just call the car company. It’s so much easier. I already have it on my phone. Why should I download an app?” he said. “And then once you use it for the first time, you’re like, of course. 

“So it’s a little bit like that with us, where it’s hard to explain to somebody that you click a button and then within two minutes somebody’s right there, they fix the problem for you, they’ll explain to you what the problem was, and then you could just click the button anytime you can get them back. But when people experience it,” Fehler explained, then they have that “Aha!” moment.