First Revenue

Mark this past Saturday (12/8/12) down in the calendar.  Two things of importance happened:

1. DeliveryCrowd, though the help of some early adopter customers, picked up and successfully delivered it's first six orders. 

This was a trial run.  We defined the time window and we knew the folks placing the orders.  Everything else was up to the customer or the DeliveryCrowd algorithm.

Here's how the test worked:

• Customer places order with restaurant of his or her choice.

• Customer uses DeliveryCrowd interface (consumer-facing portal) to signal the need for a pickup.

• The algorithm identifies the best Crowdie who is available to complete the order and assigns it accordingly.

• The Crowdie's smartphone app receives a push message that the order is available for pickup.

• The Crowdie accepts the order and is en route.

• The pickup is made, followed by the delivery.

• The Crowdie is available for the next delivery in queue.

2. Our first revenue was generated.  

The goal of the pilot wasn't to make money (as funny as that sounds), but rather to test the functionality of the systems that will eventually bring the money in.

We collected some though, and that's the important part.

Just because I know you're curious, the total charged to our customers was $9.90.  Plus tips, we ended up at around $20.  This is on the low side of what we'd normally expect, but that's because our two Crowdies (Fran and Ryan) only charged near the bare minimum for their time (partly as a thank you to our initial customers).

We'll keep doing these trials.  After each one we get better. 

Go Crowdie Go!

This past weekend a few of us honorary Crowdies hit the streets, with our smartphones in hand. 

We drove around Lancaster as Ryan dispatched orders across the system.  As pilot trials go, it was refreshingly smooth!  Ryan, Bob, and Logan really did an expert job at making the app production ready.  [Check out our route paths in the image below]

We identified several user interface related items that we'll fix, but overall we are on pace for our restaurant trials.

This means that Fran and Dan will be hitting the streets again, but this time to work with our restaurant partners to coordinate some more advanced testing scenarios. 

Momentum is increasing!

On that note, please take a look at our newly published Facebook page and our Twitter page. 


                                          Image: Trial Runs on 11/17/2012 in Lancaster, PA

Investor Day Presentation Script

Tomorrow, Ryan and I are presenting to a few individuals to garner some feedback.  I've provided the script below.  I think it summarizes the idea well.

---

Tonight, when you think of your dinner plans you have several options.  You could cook at home, go to a restaurant, or get delivery. 

And if you choose delivery, you already know that your options are limited.  Urbanspoon lists over 2200 restaurants in South Central PA and roughly 6% of them deliver.  Of these 135 restaurants 60% of them are either Asian or Italian. 

And even though I personally could eat Kung Pao Chicken or Pizza nightly, you might not have the same appetite. 

You’ve probably noticed an increase in curbside pickup or to-go options at restaurants such as Outback, Applebee’s, Ruby Tuesday’s, Carrabba’s, Macaroni Grill, and others. 

This is because, as the National Restaurant Association points out, 58% of adults said that they would be likely to order food for delivery from their favorite restaurant if provided with the option and 37% of them have already used curbside takeout from these restaurants.

This is where DeliveryCrowd comes in.  When you need delivery, you need DeliveryCrowd. 

DeliveryCrowd is a marketplace where restaurants, consumers, and delivery drivers are linked.  We are not a delivery service or an online ordering system.  Those ideas are already handled by local delivery providers.  Lancaster even has it’s own, called Carryout Courier.  We are also not another Delivery.com, Seamless, GrubHub, or TaskRabbit.  Although, I will point out that these companies have complimentary services and may be a future partnership or acquisition target. 

The DeliveryCrowd process is smooth.  The consumer places his order through his existing relationship with the restaurant.  If you want delivery from the Prince Street Café, you simply call them. 

The Café will enter the order, along with desired pickup time and customer information into the DeliveryCrowd website.  We’ll see the order and use our algorithm to locate the best available driver to deliver the order.  By the way, we call our drivers Crowdies.

We’ll do this based on compatibility to pickup times, price requirements, and other parameters to ensure the best Crowdie is matched to the order.  In short, we are crowd-sourcing delivery.  Each Crowdie appears as a blip on our map and we track them real-time using their GPS enabled smartphone.

If we think of this restaurant-Crowdie-consumer relationship from the Crowdie perspective, we see that Crowdie’s are incentivized to perform at their best.  As independent contractors, each Crowdie will have gone through an application process before being given access to our mobile app.  They keep 100% of each transaction.  DeliveryCrowd gets paid through a transaction fee to the restaurant. 

And while DeliveryCrowd is optimized as a scalable delivery solution for businesses, as a consumer, you too can hire a Crowdie.  Simply enter the location and pickup time, and the Crowdie is on his way.  You no longer need to throw the kids in the car and get off the couch; with DeliveryCrowd, your time is better utilized.

Businesses can focus on their core competencies without managing extra labor and the overhead that comes with it; Crowdies can utilize their time to increase their wealth; and consumers have their needs, delivered.

Ryan and I are working hard to bring this solution to life.  Because of our backgrounds, we think we are uniquely qualified to bring this to market.  Ryan is a computer engineer, who started his career at HP and Intel.  Fran is an industrial engineer, who has worked for GE, Ingersoll Rand, and Iron Mountain.  We have spent the past year meeting with prospective customers, developing a business model, and creating the MVP.

We are only days away from launching.  While we expect to generate revenue on day one, we are raising $300,000 of seed investment, which will be used to further development and business expansion.  We project to be cash flow positive between years two and three.

We know the world is ready for DeliveryCrowd.  We’re launching locally, and will begin to add on new businesses quickly.  We plan to operate within Philadelphia by the middle of 2013.   

Thank you for your time; we welcome any questions.

The Co-Founder Advantage

Jim Collins, author of Good to Great and Built to Last, talks about assembling the right people on the bus, and in the right seats, before deciding where to drive it.  Ryan and I took that to heart, particularly as we started this endeavor.

Upon meeting him, and in the initial weeks that followed, I peppered Ryan with plenty of interview-style questions, drilling towards the root of his motivations, experiences, and personality. Ryan did much the same with me.  And in the end, when he asked himself, "can this guy with the (marvelous) beard be trusted," fortunately, his answer was "yes."

We've found that where one of us has weakness, the other has strength.  And when one of us is making bad assumptions, the other one provides checks and balances.  Ultimately, ideas are stronger after they tumble through our ideation process.  And sometimes, what comes out looks nothing like what went in; but, I guarantee it's better.

-Fran


~~~~~~~PROGRESS UPDATE~~~~~~~~

As we get closer to launch later this month, and as the list of to-do items dwindles (and they are replaced with new to-do items) we have two major objectives:

1. Finish the Minimum Viable Product (MVP), which will be used for our initial launch.

2. Secure external funding, which will help us grow our team and expand our service/feature offering.

Ryan is delivering #1 and I'm driving #2.  We've seen progress on both fronts.  Ryan spends most his time with our developers, Bob and Logan, creating and testing.  I spend my time learning about the financing process and interfacing with individuals who have experience in this area.  We've even been approached by folks wanting to invest.  Exciting times!**


**We've been bootstrapping our efforts for quite some time, and we are approaching the point where it makes sense to raise capital.  In fact, not doing so could limit our growth.  Ryan and I believe strongly in lean start-up principles (i.e. be frugal and wise) as we steward resources.  We will continue to champion these practices as we surpass milestones. 

Still moving the needle!

I've been getting some really great feedback and support from the first post.  Thanks for that!

Ryan & Fran:  By some accounts we're normal guys.  By most accounts, we're slightly insane.  We have to be.  We're driven by the same formula.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain

This is why every day is a 16 hour work day (I'm really not exaggerating here).  This is why we continually make the tough decision to spend more time towards DeliveryCrowd than we do with our families.  (note: This is because we believe reaching our goals will allow for more time with them... someday.)

Truth is there are plenty of sacrifices to make; everyone reading this makes them.  Why do you do it?  It's more than collecting a paycheck, isn't it?

Two months from now I'll hold my baby girl in my arms and welcome her into the world.  She'll know what love is from day 1.  And when she reaches up and grabs our fingers for the first time, Caroline and I will know a new kind of love.  We will do everything we can to make her world amazing. 

(note 2: Then from Day 2 and onward she'll have a healthy dose of music theory à la Caroline and business acumen à la yours truly... poor girl.)

Excuse the awful analogy, but in some ways this is what DeliveryCrowd is.  Ryan and I are creating an entity we believe in.  If you talk with us about it, you'll see it too.  And while I'm not suggesting this company is on the same tier as creating life, I am suggesting this is a labor of love.  The better DeliveryCrowd does, the better life shall be for those involved.

Our business clients will have the ability to do more business and scale to the right size, real time.  Our drivers ('crowdies') will make good money and be treated well.  Consumers will have access to food and products, anyway they want it and when they need it. (We just had ourselves a little Journey moment... sorta.)

We are building a company to make the changes we want to see in the world.  In fact, we won't stop until we make it.  We may be 75 years old when it happens, but you'll at least recognize the drive in our  eyes and the satisfaction in our hearts.

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.” - Mark Twain

Inception (but not the DiCaprio kind)

Let's kick this off!

There are plenty of stories to tell and this blog is probably coming later than it should have, but hey, it's here now!

First, let me share a bit of the back story, before I jump into present day.

Then

One year ago, I was invited to join a private group of local entrepreneurs (Thanks, Charlie), for what would prove to be the inception point and catalyst for a remarkable journey.

Not long afterwards, another local startup-centered individual received the same invitation.  His name is Ryan Keener and it turned out that he and I have a lot in common.  We're both  PSU engineers who began our careers at corporate juggernauts (HP, Intel, GE, IR), who found ourselves driven by a unique set of passions, which oftentimes aren't easily satisfied within a "traditional" career path.

While the personality traits required of someone who is willing to leave a respected job in a less-than-competitive job market aren't quickly summarized; optimism, tenacity and a high level of risk tolerance all probably fall within the top ten.

Anyway, after a few coffee-laced chats (usually ending with either the restaurant closing or us being kicked out so other people could be seated), Ryan and I knew we had to make something happen, and it had to be soon.

Enter DeliveryCrowd. (Think crowd-sourced task completion, where smartphone-enabled drivers are connected, real-time, with businesses who need their service.  Restaurants with no delivery option, now have one; and restaurants that already deliver, now have more capacity.)

The DeliveryCrowd story essentially starts with our acceptance into the TechCelerator business accelerator.  This is where Ryan and I, with the help of our highly supportive mentors, Pam and Dick, formulated the idea and pivoted it from a good idea to a great one.

By design, each session was a challenge.  At the end of it, we would either have a better, stronger idea or we would have the clarity to know we need another idea.  Either way we would be better off.

The TechCelerator culminated with a presentation to a Shark Tank style interrogation from individuals whose success we hope to replicate.

Now

Soon after TechCelerator, we applied to and were fortunate enough to be accepted into the Millersville Software Productization Center (SPC).

The SPC is a huge deal and I still can't seem to wipe the smile off my face.  In short, we work hand in hand with some of Millersville's finest students (Bob & Logan - Computer Science; Bri & Adam - Graphic and Interactive Design; and Dan - Business and Marketing) and faculty (Dr. Schwartz, Prof. Mata, Dr. McCaskey & Dr. Irwin).

The quality and talent of the team is top notch and their dedication to making DeliveryCrowd a success is simply refreshing.

There's still plenty of work to be done in the weeks and months ahead, but DeliveryCrowd's implementation milestones are being met and our goals are within eyesight.  Wow.

If you are reading this (and have continued to this point) you are probably someone who has helped us get to this point - so thank you!  If you are here and we have yet to meet, please reach out.  We are a collaborative bunch and want to hear from you!

That's it for now; I'll keep you updated on the progress to come.

-Fran Gillott