Five years ago, James Spenceley found himself at a Bunnings hardware store facing a conundrum. The Vocus Group founder turned investor had bought a tool bench to clean up his garage over Christmas but it wouldn't fit in his car. What he did next laid the foundations for one of his most pivotal investments.

"Someone had mentioned Airtasker to me, so I posted a job," he tells AFR Weekend. "It was accepted and by the time I got home the person had already collected the tool bench, picked it up and delivered it to my house 20 minutes later for a cost of $40."