Nonya Collier, the energetic entrepreneur and "head concierge" behind
Pad Porter, found her inspiration amid the hassles of moving.
Going from a small Rittenhouse Square apartment to a fixer-upper in Fishtown, she recalls being "so overwhelmed with moving, fixing up the house, finding contractors. I wished I had someone to help me out.”
So Collier launched Pad Porter in October as a "concierge for the urbanite home." The startup, based at ic3401 at the
University City Science Center, offers services including package and dry cleaning delivery, household errands, light housekeeping, pet feeding and grocery shopping. Moving help, overseeing contractors, meal preparation, professional organizing and more are also available for an upcharge.
Most of Collier’s clients -- no surprise -- are professional women, many with young children. "There is still a sense that they are primarily responsible for the domestic tasks and feel pressured to get them done," she says tactfully. Pad Porter offers them the luxury of "coming home and putting their feet up and not having this long to-do list."
One client, for example, went on vacation while Pad Porter moved out old furniture, assembled new Ikea items and organized her home office.
Collier differentiates her company from sites that commoditize household services and expensive personal assistant agencies.
"Our business is based on high quality and a trust-based relationship," she explains. Pad Porter carefully matches its client with a personalized concierge and ensures that there won’t be "1,000 strangers coming into your home."
Collier's primary marketing tool so far is attendance at professional networking events. She is also exploring partnerships with community organizations and condominium associations that might offer Pad Porter memberships to their residents. And she is capitalizing on Philadelphia’s housing boom (so far, her services are concentrated in Center City and South Philadelphia) with moving services -- packing, unpacking, lining shelves, etc. -- that connect her to a new customer base.
Unlike most of its Science Center neighbors, Pad Porter doesn’t have a large technology component yet, though Collier expects to eventually develop an app. But residency at 3401 has been worthwhile.
"Finding a community as an entrepreneur takes a lot of effort," she says. "Being in a community like this has been a good investment. Just in terms of finding referrals and resources, I would have spent a lot more time at it."
WRITER IN RESIDENCE is a partnership between the University City Science Center and Flying Kite Media that embeds a reporter on-site at 3711 Market Street. The resulting coverage will provide an inside look at the most intriguing companies, discoveries and technological innovations coming out of this essential Philadelphia institution.