??Design Choices That Raise The Bar On Mental Health And Privacy

About PalUpNow!

PalUpNow!'s vision is to sustainably improve accessibility and create economic opportunities for those who can help.

PalUpNow!'s mission is to connect people, who need assistance on flights and rides, with Pals.

PalUpNow! creates jobs for Pals that:

??have flexible working hours and locations (including contactless options)

??enable Pals to keep ??% of the fee/gift offered by people seeking Pals

??protect private data

Here's how PalUpNow! works:

??Community members?privately?sign up for help with an offer price (or, gift) for the Pals.?

??Flight Pals, Ride Pals, and coaches sign up with their expectation and keep ??% of what they receive from the community.

??In deserving cases, PalUpNow! makes discretionary contributions.

Read founder Juni Mukherjee's note for more details.

Design Choices That Raise The Bar

PalUpNow! builds social capital, empowers communities, and increases community capacity, all while nurturing your mental health. While polling people, we factored in vulnerable members of our society to prevent them from being further marginalized.

Unlike traditional social media platforms, we don't lure you to click on ads or distract you with alerts and notifications unless they're match alerts. We don’t monetize your online presence, since we understand the downside of such morally bankrupt business strategies and their negative impact on the well-being of our society.

Here are some (arguably, unusual) design choices that make PalUpNow! a rare marketplace with a high bar for mental health and privacy.

Design Choice #1: PalUpNow! Profiles Don't Have Profile Pictures

Without the customary profile picture that we've gotten so used to, our Flights and Rides profiles may seem unattractive and dull.?

Profile pictures can cause:

??. anxiety to people with mental health challenges

??. teenagers and young adults to act irresponsibly.

PalUpNow! has done away with profile pictures. You're beautiful?? the way you are.?

Our profiles are anonymized by design to protect your identity. If you wish, you can upload pictures and videos while leaving reviews for publication on the company's blog.

Design Choice #2: PalUpNow! Profiles Don't Have Contact Information

PalUpNow! profiles (Rides and Flights) are anonymized by design. At all times, you have control of your data via our self-serve platform.

???. We don't share PII (personally identifiable information, like name, email, phone, age group and pronouns) till the platform detects a potential match. Direct communication is restricted to only after users receive the match alerts sent by the platform.

???. Even then, if you want to pause match alerts and would like us to hide your anonymized profile, temporarily deactivate your profile. Reactivate whenever you're ready. No activation fee.

???. Or, delete your data forever.

Design Choice #3: No Need For Accounts/Passwords

Yes, one less password.

For two reasons:

1. We would like to provide elderly and physically/mentally impaired people a seamless experience by removing the hassle of creating accounts and then having to remember passwords. More often than not, they tend to forget their passwords, and then face difficulties in resetting them, only to forget them again.?

While we are proud that most of you can navigate apps with ease, we sincerely request you to empathize with others who can't.?

2. And that's not all.?

Cybersecurity threats have wreaked havoc. Despite their best effort, companies have succumbed to these threats and their customers have had their personal information stolen from their secure accounts. PalUpNow! doesn't want to store your sensitive details any longer than we have to. This limits your exposure, and protects us as well.

Design Choice #4: Ride Pals Can Serve In Contactless Fashion

From lessons learned during the pandemic, people can opt to go contactless. Ride Pals can help via email, phone, or on audio/video calls when physical rides and meetings are unnecessary.

Even otherwise, Ride Pals can ride in the Rider's vehicle, if they don't own one themselves. They are encouraged to take public transportation and walk, whenever possible, to help us achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

We're focused on creating value. Ride Pals can offer their services in any agreed-upon manner that's beneficial to their community.

Design Choice #5: Pals Keep ??% Of What They Earn

Most marketplaces cut a big fee from their helper community to drive growth and make a profit.?

PalUpNow! enables Pals to keep ??% of the fee or gift they earn. Pals can make as much (or as little) depending on their understanding with the people they serve. In deserving cases, PalUpNow! makes discretionary contributions.

Pals can accept gifts. Apart from cash, our Pals were thanked with airline miles, gift cards, hearty meals, snacks and drinks, fresh produce, movie tickets, food coupons, rides when they needed it, and other items they enjoyed.

Design Choice #6: PalUpNow! Makes Age And Gender Optional While Signing Up

We would like to minimize bias and prevent further marginalization of vulnerable members in our society.

Instead of users signing up with:

a. an exact age, we go with a wide range.

b. gender, we go with pronouns.?

Even then, both age range and pronouns are optional.

Design Choice #7: Motor Vehicle Records Are Important Even If Background Check Is Done

A United States background check Includes National Criminal Search (Standard), Sex Offender Search, SSN Trace, Global Watchlist Search, County Criminal Search for the last seven (7) years and Federal Criminal Search for the last ten (10) years.

Other than background checks, PalUpNow! Premium USA?? also includes motor vehicle records. A motor vehicle record (MVR) is a driving history record reported by a government entity that issues driver licenses. In the US, state Departments of Motor Vehicles (DMVs) report these results.

Note that a person may not be a criminal, but they may not be a good driver. This enables Riders and Ride Pals to trust each other on the road.

Design Choice #8: Premium Members Are Matched With Both Basic And Premium Pals

PalUpNow! has two different packages: Basic and Premium. Premium members are those who've undergone verification via our platform. We let you upgrade from Basic to Premium at your own pace, and don't cut you short with a short trial period.

Our match alert system emails you all potential matches. We don't want to limit your choices upfront by eliminating people who aren't verified (yet) or are in the process of verification.

Here's why:

????. People tend to initially insist on Premium Pals, and once they realize that Premium Pals might charge a higher fee, they change their mind.?

????. If Premium Pals aren't available, people may not delay time-sensitive tasks. They may decide to proceed with an unverified Pal.

????. Also, Premium Pals might insist on them getting verified in return, which people may not want to do.

Design Choice #9: PalUpNow! Has An Unconventional Structure

Melvin Conway stated that any organization that designs a system will produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organization's communication structure.

PalUpNow! Rides is architected to be franchisable, and we operate globally out of service areas. We strive to honor Conway’s Law, and our organization follows our architecture.

In addition, we leverage botonomies of global scale to reduce administrative overhead and increase efficiency. We're a rare trailblazing marketplace that enables Pals to keep ??% of their earnings.

Design Choice #10: PalUpNow! Might Screen People Other Than Pals

Some marketplaces enable screenings only for their helper community.?

We believe our Pals need to feel safe too. We have designed PalUpNow! Premium??so that everyone can get verified, not just Pals.?

And we proceed to screen you only after you've provided consent.

????Be A Pal. Get A Pal.

You're not alone. Join the #PalUpNow! movement.?

Sign up at PalUpNow! as a:

1. Flight Pal, if you can help your fellow flyer in airports and in the aircraft.?

2. Ride Pal, if you can give rides and accompaniment for life essentials.

3. Flyer, if you need assistance in airports and aircrafts from your fellow flyer.

4. Rider, if you want someone to drive or accompany you while you take care of life essentials.

Help us better serve underprivileged communities by making a donation and helping someone upgrade to PalUpNow! Premium by sending them our Premium gift card.

#PalUpNow!

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